Did you 'waste' your debt?

LHM

Bit of a strange one this to be honest, just wanted to ask anyone if they really felt they wasted the money they spent that got them into debt?

Of course, I regret getting into a bit of a pickle with money but I don't feel I 'wasted' the money I borrowed. My debt started to accumulate when I was about 25, I hadn't done much travelling (something I always wanted to do) so I decided to travel as much as possible before I was 30. All in all I have been away about 6 times a year in the last 5 years and visited 18 countries in total and had a SUPERB timel!

Now I am 30...(which I celebrated in New York...without adding to my debt! )

Overall, I don't think I WASTED the money I borrowed at all, with hindsight I just wish if I was going to borrow money to travel I would have done a bit of research and just got a loan with a reasonable APR instead of racking up huge credit card debts.

The fact that I don't believe I WASTED the money I spent really motivates me to pay it off.

Roll on end of March - my work bonus will pay off a decent chunk of my debt...NEVER to be accumalated again.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts?!

THE_LONE_RANGER_4

no not realy we enjoyed every minute of it bought some nice stuff ,my only regret is i could have done a lot more with it im currrently working full time paying of debts and trying to start own business i could have started the business then and got going quite well by now .....but i never had the idea then so thats that

LookingAhead

Interesting question and I can see where you are coming from.

Some experiences in life such as travel are unforgettable, expand your mind and put many things in perspective.

Fabulous celebrations (my 30th was fantasic) for milestones in life, I feel, are essential. We have to have things to look back on and say "Yep...I've lived and I've seen & experienced things..." if you know where I am coming from on that.

However I wish I had budgeted more, researched more for cheaper places to stay/visit/things to do and the like. I wish I had saved more towards trips too and not put it all on credit cards!!

I do feel that much of my debt has been wasted due to me going out on the town locally & buying lots of clothes & stuff...things that are utterly forgettable and simply not important.

I wish I'd not bothered so much about 'mediocre' partying here and inconsequential 'accessories' and the like....and saved the money for either my home or for truly special trips away, whether they be in the UK or abroad.

Not all my debt has been accrued by travel & partying, some of it has gone on furniture, car repairs :mad: annual insurances when cash was tight..that sort of thing.

Yet if I had of reigned my spending in a lot sooner and woken up to the fact that I really shouldn't be blowing another £60 on a night out or £100 on an outfit, then I probably would have had the cash wouldn't I??

But I do feel at least some of it wasn't wasted. I have learned some valuable lessons and seen things that make me realise that although I am in debt, I'm still very very lucky by millions of peoples standards and I always try to remember that & count my blessings when it starts to 'bite'.

I really hope this doesn't sound trite or patronising but I say to myself sometimes that if I never go on holiday again, I may still have had Lord knows how much more pleasure & leisure in life than many.

My last comment though is really very un-MSE.........if I had known 10 years ago that Concorde was going to go out of commission...I would have borrowed whatever it would have taken to fly it! :eek: I do not deny it!

Broken_hearted

Yes and no. Some was wasted on junk we don't need, some went on new windows for our house. Other money went on holidays (we were both working at the time). I could go on and on.

headchef

Yes wasted it really. Paying tax man in a panic with CC when I could have called tax man up and negotiated (think it was my upbringing - you never should owe the tax man). Food shopping on plastic - thought i was being sensible in WHAT I was buying but not compared to now (thanks to OS). Basically falling on hard times and NOT preplanning enough (OK camping is cheap but not if you have to drive 300 miles in a petrol guzzling 4x4). Sigh sigh :rolleyes:

Cough cough - but that was then and this is now :A

LHM

LookingAhead wrote:

Interesting question and I can see where you are coming from.

Some experiences in life such as travel are unforgettable, expand your mind and put many things in perspective.

Fabulous celebrations (my 30th was fantasic) for milestones in life, I feel, are essential. We have to have things to look back on and say "Yep...I've lived and I've seen & experienced things..." if you know where I am coming from on that.

However I wish I had budgeted more, researched more for cheaper places to stay/visit/things to do and the like. I wish I had saved more towards trips too and not put it all on credit cards!!

I do feel that much of my debt has been wasted due to me going out on the town locally & buying lots of clothes & stuff...things that are utterly forgettable and simply not important.

I wish I'd not bothered so much about 'mediocre' partying here and inconsequential 'accessories' and the like....and saved the money for either my home or for truly special trips away, whether they be in the UK or abroad.

Not all my debt has been accrued by travel & partying, some of it has gone on furniture, car repairs :mad: annual insurances when cash was tight..that sort of thing.

Yet if I had of reigned my spending in a lot sooner and woken up to the fact that I really shouldn't be blowing another £60 on a night out or £100 on an outfit, then I probably would have had the cash wouldn't I??

But I do feel at least some of it wasn't wasted. I have learned some valuable lessons and seen things that make me realise that although I am in debt, I'm still very very lucky by millions of peoples standards and I always try to remember that & count my blessings when it starts to 'bite'.

I really hope this doesn't sound trite or patronising but I say to myself sometimes that if I never go on holiday again, I may still have had Lord knows how much more pleasure & leisure in life than many.

My last comment though is really very un-MSE.........if I had known 10 years ago that Concorde was going to go out of commission...I would have borrowed whatever it would have taken to fly it! :eek: I do not deny it!

Sounds similar to me, I sometimes can't believe how naive I was. Still, I can look back with a smile...even if I'm paying for it now.

I'm just glad I stumbled accross this site, people on this forum can really help motivate to pay it off.

:T

Broken_hearted

I have loads of photo albums full of pictures of us smiling on holiday. The kids meeting Mickey Mouse, us sailing down the Nile, eating icecream in Paris and such. I want to do it all again but this time we will save up!

LookingAhead

I did get tears in my eyes the other night when watching The Culture Show...Concorde won the best British design of the last 100 years (let's not forget it was an Anglo/French partnership though!) and they had 5 or 10 minutes feature on this beautiful plane.....

I sound so shallow! I'm not really honest.

jenkis02

to quote the late great George Best....

" I spent most of my cash on women, partying and booze - the rest I just wasted!" :eek:

library_lady_2

I'm really the odd one out then - or the only one honest enought to admit it. My debt was a waste, no hols (only flown twice in my life Belguim (1988) and Glasgow (2005)(!!)) but married young (19) started a family young (23) and chose to give up full time work and be with my children - 18 months off after the first then part time work since (sound familiar). Borrowed £250 to get married (nearly 23 years ago - still going strong) and have been in debt ever since sometimes just a little (<£1,000) sometimes a lot (like now!! >£15,000). We must have lived outside our means on the basics, then charges and interest and fees have added meaning we feel like we're chasing our tails, such is the spiralling life of debt. Oh how I wish I listened to those people who said and say if you can't afford it you can't have it instead of the banks who say go on have it now pay later - cause pay indeed you do!! Bitterness creeping in ?.... I hope not more a sigh of "if only"!!! I do have many happy family snaps so that counts I suppose.

mom23

Most of my debt went on home improvements and holidays!!!
So i have now got a gorgeous kitchen etc :j and some lovely holiday photo's + a load of debt :mad:

So maybe it wasn't totally wasted i just regret the way i borrowed it!!
The next holiday we have will be paid for in cash!! (just hope it ain't a saga holiday :rotfl: )