I WILL be debt free by 27th September 2009

saver03

redrabbit29 wrote: »

That, in my opinion is taking it too far. I agree with scrimping and scraping, however I don't agree with putting your life on hold, or camping out in your own house and putting your health at risk.

You are probably tired and have no motivation becasue your body is crying out for warmth as well as your mental state being down.

Stick the heating on, and it will be a few pounds well spent. It is an essential expenditure.

I did crack and put the heating on last night as I was actually shivering. It is sunny today though and the sun is coming through the window and shinning on me so I am warm.

saver03

I have worked out our budget and have paid my mum some extra and I am now UNDER £10000:j

It feels so much better to only be at 4 figures now, but a bit of a long way until I get down to 3!

Plus since my :idea: I have paid off £12,697.17 :eek: So I am over half way now but still a long way to go.

I must get caught up on college work and get back into my ebaying so I can clear all the boxes and pay more off my debt.

I WILL become more self-disciplined and manage my time better

saver03

I am so tired and after dance class yesterday I am also sore and aching too :mad:

I am just finding it so hard to juggle college, college work and my job at the moment. I really didn't think that it would be so hard. I don't want to make myself ill and something may have to give :mad: It would have to be work but I do love my new job and we really can't afford for me not to work, it's just that they keeping rotaing me in for too many hours and somethimes I work until midnight and my routine is all messed up. What I might do is wait until after my 16 probation period and then speak to them about reducing my hours. If I can last that long :rotfl: Maybe if I give up work I can get back to ebaying and still make enough money to live and also get rid of all these boxes without throwing them out

I am feeling better now that the debt is under £10,000 :j but I still have a shortfall every month :mad: At the moment I pay £500 per month but in order to reach my DFW target I should be paying £840.91 so I have a shortfall of £340.91 :eek: My mum says that she will even accept less from me each month as she doesn't want me making myself ill with all the work I am doing but I really want to reach my goal and start Drama School/University with a clean slate.

The reason everyone is worrying about me getting ill is because when I was at college last time I was working 40 hours a week at Morrisons while still going to college and doing coursework and this made me seriously ill. It was when my crohns disease was diagnosed but it was too late to control it and had to have major surgery and was in hospital for a month. Then if I pushed myself too hard I always got ill and spent 6 years in and out of hospital. I have not been in hospital for over 2 years now (touch wood) and I really would like it to stay that way.

I just don't know what to do anymore

redsquirrel80

You are doing really well but PLEASE don't make yourself ill. There's no point in being debt free by a certain date if you're not well enough to enjoy it and make the most of it. It matters more for Uni to get good results and good experience from college, than to be debt free but not to have got the best out of what you're doing now. Maybe you could take it a bit easier on yourself now and work more hours over the summer to catch up with the money side of things? I think it's good to have a goal, but not if that goal is detrimental to what you actually want to do in life.

saver03

I was relishing the fact that I was only working 1 day which was yesterday and then I was off until next Friday and then the Odeon rang and asked me to work and I foolishly said, "Yes." :mad: I don't know what got into me!! So now I am working 6pm-midnight I must learn how to say no :rotfl:

I must just think about the money and reaching my debt free goal.

Jenna

Hey Saver,

As someone with a long-term health condition (Myalgic Encephalopathy or M.E.) I (unfortunately!) know exactly how difficult it is to balance getting enough rest with finishing your to-do list and trying to over-pay debts.

I don't really have any easy answers except to say listen to your body, it will tell you when it's had enough! One thing that really helps me is knowing my warning signs, for example with me personally if I feel exhausted in the mornings but hyper and full of energy at 1am (and therefore impossible to get to sleep) that's a very bad sign of major stress... and if I don't either get rid of the stress or increase the amount of rest I'm getting within the space of a couple of weeks AT THE LATEST - which is nigh on impossible when I'm crazy hyper at night and can't nod off - then I'm heading for a serious setback in my health.

I try not to take sick days (especially since I'm a contractor and don't get sick pay!) but I'm very lucky in that I can work from home (on my work laptop) and still do my job. If I have to do this, then I can justify it to myself by saying that my work would rather have me working from home once every few months than have my health seriously messed up and have me working from home for 2-3 weeks whilst I recover!

In the same sort of way if I don't work OT, sleep for half the weekend, or don't do my daily clicks etc, I do start to feel guilty and I definitely worry about money a lot - probably more than I should (I know OH thinks so :rotfl: !!). HOWEVER the thing I keep repeating to myself (maybe it will sink in one day :rolleyes: ?!) is that 1) money is NOT the be all and end all of life, 2) if I mess up my health I will have to take unpaid sick leave and that will only increase my debts and 3) that there is no point in being DF if I'm too ill to enjoy it / care.

That has probably made it sound like I think it's easy believe me I don't, for example the last week has been a toss up between me working OT and being exhausted (but not worrying about money so much) or not working OT and being relatively OK energy wise, but worrying about money loads!

Oh one other thought - when you're considering doing/not doing something (e.g. turning on heating, working an extra shift, etc) imagine that you have to give your best friend / Mum the same advice. Are you going to tell them to damage their health / freeze?! You can't take this one too seriously but it is a tongue in cheek sort of way to give yourself a touch of perspective on it all (and I know when I'm tired / stressed / ill, it does become difficult to see anything except a huge mound of overwhelming debt!!).

OK hope some of that helped, good luck & take it steady! xx

saver03

But unfortunately I really need to get caught up on my college work so I will be busy all day :mad: I know that when I am upto date with the day to day work and my log book I will feel less pressure and I can fully concentrate on my assignments and get my distinctions. I just need to focus and get caught up, but it just seems like I have a lot to do and I am finding it a touch overwhelming. I think maybe I should break it down into sections and it won't over face me.

I am glad that my debt is finally under £10,000 :j but I don't want to get in a rut and just plod along with it. I must stay focused and keep my target in sight so I definately achieve and and be debt free by 30. Only 345 days and £9250 to go :eek: This makes it £26.81 a day and that sounds doable but when it's £804.91 a month it just sounds :eek:
On a good note the landlord is definately sorting us out a new boiler :T so hopefully the gas will be a lot less, fingers crossed.

Well I must go so I can get caught up with college work as I would like to start doing ebay again so I can make more money and watch the boxes go down.

My 12 month goals:

• Finish College with as many Distinctions as possible
• Pay off my debt - £1250/£10500
• Clear my ebay boxes - 0/25
• Save some money for drama school/university - £43.32

I WILL STAY FOCUSED AND MANAGE MY TIME BETTER

saver03

Well I am now finished college for nearly 2 weeks as it is half term next week :j but I will be doing extra hours at work as they called today and I still haven't learnt to say, "No." :mad: I guess the money will be useful but I could have probably done with catching up on some sleep. We also have more college work to do for over the week off so I better make sure I get caught up on everything and then I can to work on my actual assignments and get the distinctions I want.

I get my 1st pay from the Odeon tomorrow and I hope that it is a good one and then I can throw the extra at my debt. I really must work hard at getting my debts cleared before I go to drama school/university and get some more :rotfl:

I really just need to manage my time better but I am still finding it hard as I am just so tired all the time. Well on that note I must go and shower and have an early night in preparation for my 4pm-midnight shift tomorrow :eek: Plus it will be very busy due to High School Musical 3 :mad: so I better have a major lie in :rotfl:

saver03

But to make matters worse I think I am getting a cold as my throat is so sore :mad: But I did get a mega lie in last night :A

I have 2 days off work now but I have LOTS of college work to do so there is no rest for the wicked. I must have really bad :rotfl: I probably shouldn't have taken on so many hours but I really do want to reach my DFW goal.

Sometimes I think it would be best if I didn't work as the shifts are so strange and finishing at midnight is just totally messing up my routine and making me feel worse. I would then be left with 4 days to stay ahead with my college work and I could also do some ebaying to make some extra money. Unlike at the moment where I have so much college work to catch up on and I don't want to rush it and get bad marks, well if I can get it all finished on time. Plus I can't do any ebaying as I need to get caught up on college work first. I would also be able to get sufficient sleep and get to bed at reasonable hours, as when I finish at midnight I get home about 12.15-12.30am and then I need to chill out before bed as I find my mind is still buzzing so I usually don't get to sleep until 1.30am and it is just no good for my health. :mad: I want to get the best marks at college as otherwise there is no point going but at this rate I will be struggling to get passes let alone the distinctions I want :mad:

I just don't know what to do anymore ANY advice would be greatly received.

EMminently

WOW that's amazing! I'm also going to be 30 on 27th sept 09! a 1979 baby! I may join you in your challenge to be debt free by then - if that's ok..? I have slightly further to go though - i don't know what my debts are at the moment, so i guess that's the first step. good to see you here - thanks for the inspiration!:j