Another noob comes onboard...

naughtymonkey

Hi all!

I've been busy lurking on here for a while, and finally got the finger out and properly registered. :rolleyes:

Bit of background first....

Its dead simple to be honest, I was simply living beyond my means and just hammered the credit cards. Then (before reading the excellent advice on here) I did the dreaded Consolidation Loan which did clear the credit cards, but then also left them clear for more spending. Yes, I should have shredded them to avoid temptation, but the joys of working for a recently nationalised bank (it Really has Been Silly recently *hint hint*) meant that the salary never quite lived up to the outgoings.
I changed jobs and moved approx 150 miles to be with my fiancee, but then ended up driving 100 miles a day commuting to work so the finances were even more stretched. 2000 miles a month just going to work!
Long story short, everything was getting out of hand, my fiancee and I drifted then split up in Nov, and I moved out to my own place in Aberdeen.

I guess this was the point of the LBM, things were just getting crazy and I had to do something about it. At the time of working through the finances it was pretty scary stuff, iirc the debt was something in the region of £48k :eek:

Managed to get that down to approx £35k by selling my car, just got the rest of the mess to work through now! I've started on a DMP with Payplan, after reading good reviews on here they seemed a no-brainer choice. Not a moment too soon since the phonecalls started coming.... I guess I can take some satisfaction in being able to say I had never missed a payment so I suppose it counts for something.

Thinking back, before the LBM was some of my darkest days, it was a huge relief to speak to someone to help sort out the mess.

I think I have managed to pick up some good ideas from here too, managed almost two weeks of no spending! then managed to make £15 last the next fortnight. I decided back in Jan that this year is going to be MY year, so I'm going to be working loads to help clear things asap, as well as doing my hardest to lose the belly that appeared .

i've also decided that anything I buy in the future will be from my own hard earned, no more credit (not that I'd get any for a while after the DMP!) - if there's anything I need then I'll just have to save for it. If our parents and grandparents managed to survive then why shouldn't we?

So its just a big HELLO from me to all you lovely peeps on here! Looking forward to kicking the butt off the debt :cool: I'll get my sig updated with the details of how everything is sitting, I love seeing how people have done so well!

Naarwich

Welcome to the fold NaughtyMonkey! Sounds like you've already got yourself well prepared for the next steps. I'm also pretty new however I've found that keeping a diary really helps to keep your focus and the support provided by others on the site is invaluable. Good luck in yuor journey to Debt Free heaven!

elsie52

Hiya Naughtymonkey :T:T

Well done for taking the first steps and posting on here. We are also on a DMP and its the best thing we have done. Its pretty scary stuff :eek: when you realise the extent of our debts, but even scarier not to be dealing with them...it had to end somewhere. !
We also don't buy anything unless it is with cash....and its a great feeling, knowing that we have had to save or sell something to raise the cash.

Its a long slog in our case, but good luck for the future and I hope we see your name around the boards. :beer:

naughtymonkey

Thanks peeps!

I thought sorting this out has been one of the worst times in my life, but it has been (touch wood) surprisingly comfortable? I won't use easy because it isn't, but I have felt pangs of relief at the light at the (distant!) end of the tunnel.

I guess all I want to do now is get it all paid off! Then I'll maybe treat myself to a holiday lol. I'll try to get a Diary thread going, even if its just a weekly update sort of thing. But I'll deffo get the signature sorted with figures.

Good Luck everyone on your journey to a happier place

Numpty_Monkey

Welcome along fellow monkey:D

You've done really well:T
Join in some of the challanges and things :A

Glad you can see the light at the end of the tunnel:D:j

meema

Hiya, I'm in a similar position to you & Elsie so just wanted to say good luck! I'm on a mission to get it all cleared within the next 3 years & making lots of sacrifices (well that's how I see it) to do it! It's not really in my nature to be thrifty but I'm learning

You should definately get your SOA up here & let ppl do their magic

Horace

Welcome Naughty Monkey - its great to have another chimp so Numpty won't be so lonely:rotfl:

We have all done the stupid things like spend too much, although I am now debtfree, I still spend on cards but make sure I pay them off each month. The people on here are great - they have helped me enormously so as Numpty says join in the challenges. I save up all my £2 coins, I try and make £10 a day free money as well as having No Spend Days. The moneysaving oldstyle board has useful tips on how to make food stretch further and how to make nutritious cheap meals.

Keeping a spending diary helps and if I want stuff, I either look on freecycle or in the local charity shops. I also look on the freebies board to see if they have anything that I can apply for - a freebie is a freebie. I have become so mean that any sachets of goop that I find in magazines get taken out and put into a pot in the bathroom so that on the odd occasion when I go away, I have free shampoo, face cream, soap etc. Oh and I collect money off coupons and use them when I do my shopping.

We will help you crack it. Good luck on your journey.

Horace x

naughtymonkey

Numpty_Monkey wrote: »

Welcome along fellow monkey:D

You've done really well:T
Join in some of the challanges and things :A

Glad you can see the light at the end of the tunnel:D:j

Seems to be quite a few monkeys on here!!

I've got a coppers jar ( I know its not as swish as a £2 pot) but it all goes in the same, going to get a 20p one on the go next methinks. It'll be nice to be able to build up some savings, then after 6 months or whatever it'll get transferred over to the DMP to top up things from there. The boss has also very kindly agreed to lots of overtime, which is exactly what I need. I think that if I basically work me little monkey socks off for a year it should be enough to at least half the outstanding debt. Its like I've got enough debt for a couple but its only me sorting it out now! All the extra work as well is helping to keep my mind off my ex, leaving her was probably the hardest thing I've ever done

But I'll get there, I know I will. I've thrown myself into my work, and I WILL succeed with the rest of my goals for the year. The only pounds I'm happy to throw away are the belly related ones (not massively overweight just want to feel and look a bit better)

I'll be keeping my eyes out for the challenges, see if there's anything I can get stuck into..... Oh this'll be NSD number 4!

cydney65

Hi

Just wanted to say welcome as one newbie to another. I also went silly on cards, cleared them, then spent on them again. I even committed Martin's biggest sin of getting a life of balance card for 3.9% and then spending on it at 21.9% argh! I'm getting there though and today finally admitted to my OH exactly how much debt I was in. She then said she knew as she had looked at a couple of my posts on here! Big weight off my shoulders.

Good luck to everybody on their respective journeys.

Numpty_Monkey

I think the thing that this site teaches you is it's the little things that count, the coopers jar is a good start


the overtime is brilliant:T just remember to have a bit of you time:o

naughtymonkey

Numpty_Monkey wrote: »

the overtime is brilliant:T just remember to have a bit of you time:o

I think that's where the problem started, TOO MUCH me time!

I can't believe I made the mistake of spending on the empty cards, but I guess its just all been part of life's learning curve. My outlook on like has changed a fair bit over the last 3 months or so, I no longer have any regrets about anything I've done - they only make you bitter and upset and can really stall your plans for making things better. No, I treat everything now as something to have learned from, whether its been a good thing or otherwise. Yes it might sound like some mumbo-jumbo but if I can look back on this time in life and think "that was some mess but you sorted it out" then its a Brucey bonus