GeorgeUK's "don't fall off" Diary

riquelme

george- thats the trouble with people like me and other gamblers . the slightest thing/ crisis and our coping mechanisms go to pieces. im not looking for excuses but my 1st time i put down to the birth of our 1st child it was a tough time and im not ashamed to say i found it difficult. the recent bad gambling experience i could put down to retiring from football, this was really tough for me as it was not just fun but also where i could get rid of weekly tension/ stress.

so basically what im saying is that perhaps we need to develop better coping mechanisms when things go wrong in our lives, and they do go wrong, we have bad days, we have bad news, we have stresses, we grieve amd we worry. the trick is how to deal with these things without the short term fix of gambling.

im with you my friend, its tough.

25 days without a bet.

best wishes

cantcope

hi George, Sorry to hear about the conv with your Dad. I'm certain he's just worried about you. I had the same with my folks. It takes a long time to build up the trust again. Try not to lose your temper with them, just concentrate on proving to them how serious you are about changing this time

Keep strong xx

Merlot

George:grouphug:

At least your father knows the extend of your debt, give him a few days and I'm sure he will calm a wee bit, your father is grieving too, and he has just found out his son has been gambling again, he tough on him too.

You will get through this, remember if ever feel like a flutter come on here first, and the same goes for riquelme, we are here for you both.

Merlot.x.

GeorgeUK

Won't be around for a few days - going to the funeral and staying over.

LTSB are charging about £4.25 interest per day right now.
Can't wait until i get my nil balance statement and can ask to do a BT - should be around the 20th i think. Here's hoping it'll be a 0% (although anything would be better than the current LTSB rate)

Stay safe guys.
Be good.

embarrassed_about_my_debt

I hope everything goes aswell as it can for you George, my thoughts are with you and your family.

Buffythedebtslayer

Hey George, hope you are ok, just checking in xxx

GeorgeUK

Just a quick post to say i'm back. Will edit this and see what the damage is - and when my RBS statement goes out.

Thanks for the words of support.

Edit:
Statement date is about 20th so will do BT from LTSB for approx £3,400 to RBS after this. Doesn't really matter what rate i get as normal rate will be less than current LTSB rate. Just received an offer from LTSB for 6 months at 0% - hope they still offer that when i don't have a balance for them to charge all that interest from.

Going to set up a DD for the Virgin account as i can't afford to lose that rate - will do the others manually as i need to keep on top of this and i will be forced to get the payments made on time and will be keeping an eye on what i should be overpaying and to where.

Had a word with my brother and it seems that there is no further action being taken with regards the charges. I told my dad i'd discuss what my intentions are with regards paying all this off, and told my mum i'd let her read my online diary. I think i've got it planned ok - not going to be easy but i'm determined to do it.

Hope everyone else is doing ok.

Ames

It sounds like things are looking up then, that your parents have calmed down a bit. It'll be good that your mum reads your diary, maybe it'll help her understand a bit more. I know it's helped me understand OH more.

GeorgeUK

Me again

Not much to report but thought i may as well post.
Not had the RBS statement yet and it's not appearing online - maybe on Monday it will. I'll try contacting them for the BT on Monday or Tuesday - then i'll be able to show my dad my "master plan" for dealing with all this.

Mother had a read of the diary a few days ago. Not sure if she was a little bored by it all but the message i got was definately "talk to us". I don't think she really understood why i'm posting this stuff online but will be keeping all lines of communication open and active.

Just going to update my sig now - payed off some of the HBOS loan that just came off, but the other debts i pay off at the start of the month just after payday. They wanted more money to arrange the payment days so i'll just need to keep on top of it and make sure i always have more than enough in my current account to cover the HBoS loan.

Edit: Just updated my sig (wrongly lol - need to change the 24 to 23) and discovered that my credit limit for LTSB has been increased!!!!
It's now £10,750 (over 2/3 of my take home pay)

dancingfairy

Just popped in to say good luck. Have read some of your posts to others and you seem so nice and helpful. Sorry to hear you are having a tough time. Stay strong. You can do it.
All the best.
df