Joining the club

pandapaws

No success around here at the moment...in a well-considered moment of madness we've just bought a caravan but hoping it'll save money in the long run and the kids will love it.

Do you have much free time? I've just got an online job, totally flexible hours, but you need to spare 10 hours or more a week. Can send you the details if you think you'd be interested. It's nothing dodgy - there's stuff on my diary about it.

the_drifter

pm sent PP

Got a few potential expenses coming up. May need to help my mum out with a downstairs loo as she is finding things more difficult. I have managed to rack up quite a few days overtime over the last few months and not got it paid yet so if I can get some more in I would have money to pay for this and still have some leftover for debt reduction.

I did set myself a target of 80k for end of August and 50/50 at the moment if I will hit it but it's still possible which is the main thing

abinanthanb

Wow!! It looks like you will replay your debt in lesser time compared to what you might have taken to build that much debt!!!

Hats off mate. :beer: Keep going...

pandapaws

Definitely. I reckon you'll have overtaken me in the next couple of months, good going.

Pm on its way

pandapaws

About the loo...are you on Freecycle? There are always toilets and things going on my local one. If not, Homebase near us have had loads of loos, sinks and taps for about £20 each lately, maybe yours would be the same. For the work on our house, we've been putting jobs like that out to tender on MyHammer which might be worth a look. We got much cheaper quotes that way than from the guys in the Yellow Pages.

sunboy

Hi all,

This is my first post and I hope you don't mind me butting in on your supportive comments which I think are super. Can anyone pinpoint a time when they suddenly felt "oh crap, things have gotten way out of hand financially" or was it just a gradual build up? I have a good bit of debt racked up over the past 8 years in particularly and have a very unsteady and inconsistent income, but I'm managing to repay all my bills/loans at the end of the month.
I guess I just want to know how seriously I should be looking at this right now.

Any ideas to focus my mind?

Thanks!

Buffythedebtslayer

Sunboy - I think for me it was the realisation that I couldn't pay my debt off. I mean I could make the payments but it wasn't going down. I was just walking around in trench, not unable to say quit my job or go on holiday. it was the real lack of freedom.

Drifter - excellent diaryxx

donny-gal

pandapaws wrote: »

No success around here at the moment...in a well-considered moment of madness we've just bought a caravan but hoping it'll save money in the long run and the kids will love it.

PP - welcome to the world of caravanning. Have you looked at rallying, far cheaper than paying for flashy sites, and kids have just as much fun, if not more. Camping & Caravanning Club do them, as do the Caravan Club, plus many owners clubs. If you want any more details PM me.
DG

the_drifter

sunboy wrote: »

Hi all,

This is my first post and I hope you don't mind me butting in on your supportive comments which I think are super. Can anyone pinpoint a time when they suddenly felt "oh crap, things have gotten way out of hand financially" or was it just a gradual build up? I have a good bit of debt racked up over the past 8 years in particularly and have a very unsteady and inconsistent income, but I'm managing to repay all my bills/loans at the end of the month.
I guess I just want to know how seriously I should be looking at this right now.

Any ideas to focus my mind?

Thanks!

I felt I was making minimum payments but had not sat down and put everything down to understand my full position. It was when they started announcing redundancies at work I started to think - how would I manage if it happened to me. That's when I had my LBM. This lead me to my myriad of spreadsheets and helped to keep me focused, though at times it does feel a long slog.

It is hard - but seeing the progress I have made and seeing where I will get to makes it more than worthwhile.

I would advise you sit down today. It will help you target your debt repayments better and is likely to save you thousands

the_drifter

pandapaws wrote: »

About the loo...are you on Freecycle? There are always toilets and things going on my local one. If not, Homebase near us have had loads of loos, sinks and taps for about £20 each lately, maybe yours would be the same. For the work on our house, we've been putting jobs like that out to tender on MyHammer which might be worth a look. We got much cheaper quotes that way than from the guys in the Yellow Pages.

thanks for the heads up. A major cost seems to be the need to move the electric meter from it's current location. Asked the electric company and it's about £500+. Seeing if there is a way to build around it but not too hopeful.