Just another debt free wanabee

Upsidedown

So here I am, about to confess all. I have a strange feeling I might feel so much better when i'm done, so here goes:

I've been in debt since I was 18 and able to get credit. It started of with a credit card, then 2, then a loan to pay them off, but not cancel, then maxing them out again and getting another loan and still not cancelling them.

I have always worked, mostly 2 jobs, just to keep the payments going, at one point my full time job paid all my bills, whilst my part time job paid for what I call the 'weekly' spends.

In 2004 I started a DMP with Payplan, which has been going along VERY slowly.

I since met my husband and I feel have passed my bad spending habits and poor money management on to him.

We have accumilated sereval thousand pounds worth of debt since we have been together and now also have a mortgage together.

I suppose the total sum is in the region of 50k plus our 115k mortgage :eek:
We also have a beautiful 2 year old daughter and so pay for child care.

We have mortgage arrears, but have a plan in place to pay them off by December now that our rate has reduced dramatically, nursery fee arrears, water arrears and council tax arrears, with an arrangement in place.

The debts aren't out of control, in a sence that I have got aggrements in place for each one, but what I really want out of this is to make a focused effort to pay off our debts so that it doesn't have a heavy impact on our daughters life.

My budgeting skills have greatly improved over the years, but I still have the habit of getting money and blowing it. Sometimes I don't know what is wrong with me. I got my bonus in April and spent the lot within a week. The guilt that follows is unreal and I made myself take things back to the shop as a kind of punishment.

Any advise is welcome, I know reading some of your guys plans is really helpful!

From another debt free wanabee

hypno06

Welcome to DFW.

You need to break this down into steps and address each one individually and then as a whole. So, address the issues behind the spending - what gets your heart racing, why do you feel guilty, what do you need and what do you just want etc.

Check that your budgets are realistic, and if you are not sticking to them, look at why not, and what needs changing, and how realistic it is to make that change etc.

And don't expect it all to change in one day - things have taken a while to get to this point and they will take a while to sort out.

In the meantime, keep on visiting this board - there is a lot of support on here.

Fire_Fox

Welcome to MSE and DFW!

Can you complete a Statement of Affairs so we can see how best to help you? The general advice is that mortgage, council tax, food and utilities are priority bills so these should be paid before any others.
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html