£77,366.35 reasons to be debt free!

GVP_2

I've just signed up (gonna get round to doing a diary, signiture etc in a bit), anyways, from reading your bit above it seems like we're in a similar situation.

Good luck with it, I'll be following with interest.

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Hi In My Dreams. Just wanted to add my well wishes to you on your dfjourney. I have to say in my philosophical moments Ive actually appreciated being in debt to be able to learn from, and be amongst such positive, supportive people on this site. Like you my DFD is 2015, and thats not that far away. We may be able to make it a lot sooner with grit and determination. Good luck, and dont look back, just forward. Every day is a day nearer to that DF moment!

In_my_dreams

I suppose in the grand scheme of things, 2015 is not too far away. I just want to make sure I don't set myself up to fail by cutting back too much, but I do know that I need the occasional kick up the butt and reminders along the journey. I suppose money saving needs to become a habit.

Eaten my lunch at my desk which I packed at home, cancelled a weekend away we had planned and no plans for tonight, so feeling good so far!

What I need to drill into myself is that "if" I buy that thing for £12, yes it will make my debt bigger, I don't need it and the debt has built up because of the little extras. I'm hoping that writing it all down and showing OH at the end of the week will make me think twice about buying/doing anything!

GVP_2

In_my_dreams wrote: »

I suppose in the grand scheme of things, 2015 is not too far away. I just want to make sure I don't set myself up to fail by cutting back too much, but I do know that I need the occasional kick up the butt and reminders along the journey. I suppose money saving needs to become a habit.

Eaten my lunch at my desk which I packed at home, cancelled a weekend away we had planned and no plans for tonight, so feeling good so far!

What I need to drill into myself is that "if" I buy that thing for £12, yes it will make my debt bigger, I don't need it and the debt has built up because of the little extras. I'm hoping that writing it all down and showing OH at the end of the week will make me think twice about buying/doing anything!

Couldn't agree more with this. The main reaosn I joined up here is to give myself the kick up the backside I needed. I feel if you've got a few people watching/encouraging you, you become more determined to do it.

I know what you're saying about the little things too. I just worked out that when I used to buy a cup of tea at work each day, I was spending £375 a year on tea! I now take a flask from home It's the little things that can make a big difference in the long run..

Primula

Hello & welcome
One good thing is to keep a spending diary of absolutely everything you spend money on, it really does make you think more about what you are about to buy or what you have bought.
Good luck.
P
x

In_my_dreams

Well, kind of my first official week in to debt busting. Just sat down (which is a rarity on a Saturday afternoon) and have logged into spending diary and sorted out this week's spends and spoke to OH about them...........without an argument, which is most refreshing!

We have had to spend £40 on childcare this week, £111.26 on kitting the kids out for school, all courtesy of Tescos and just the shoes to go. From our £75 pocket money we have only spent £42.62 and looking over it, we could have not spend most of that! Used a babysitter so I could go running, indulged in chocolate and wine mid-week due to money stress (!!) and me and OH went out as free babysitter. So in all, the only essential spend was £15.62 and we could have had £60 left in the pot :mad:

Was good to sit and chat about it though and work out what we could cut back on and how £60 a week would be £240 extra a month off the debt, which is £2,880 per year which is............dah de dahhhhhh.................12 months off our DFD bringing it forward to March 2014..................a very very sobering thought indeed!

Going to spend the rest of the day seeing if I can get food out of the cupboards to make two decent meals without going to the shop so I can have no spend day :j then it's a hunt for ebay stuff day and get some extra funds in.

Will also try and make the time to read through the other diaries and get to know you all as it looks like I'm here for a while :cool:

In_my_dreams

Just been to do the weekly shop. I decided to try it in person rather than online and trundled off with my detailed list and the amount of debt on the display part of my purse - just to remind me!! I forgot how long it took to do the shopping in person. TBH it was probably to do with the fact that I spent so much time comparing prices per kg etc and deciding what was cheaper to buy! I must have looked like a woman obsessed.

Overspent :mad: and so I then spent 20 mins in the car dissecting my receipt, eating half a pack of chocolate hob nobs and then got told off by OH when I got home for ruining my appetite as he had cooked something of an economic nature :rolleyes: I only overspent by about £10 but it annoyed me and I think there were a few impulse buy things, so maybe back to online shopping??

Have got enough in for the week though, and hopefully no trips to the local shops which end up spending £10 - £15 on nothing. Packed lunches every day this week as well.

OH was a bit fed up today, only recently that he found out how bad it was and he has his moments of making me feel like it is all my fault, saying he never spends anything...........even though the house, kids, cars, pets are his............it is just me who spends *sigh*. Keeping my head down and getting on with it.

Our spending diaries arrived today and we have one each and a central one for food/petrol so that we can keep track of everything.

2015 just seems sooooo far away! Been messing with the whatsthecost today and if we did stick to DFD re unsecured loans, mortgage could be cleared 6 years after that, so I HAVE to stick to this! If I did pay everything off we would have £3,000 spare case every month based on our current salaries................In My Dreams!!!

hypno06

When you are in the early days of debtbusting, you will have a whole load of emotions - elation at being in control, grieving for the things you can no longer afford (even though you couldn't afford them in the first place!), jealousy of those who can afford them around you (even though they probably can't afford them either), anger with OH as he just "doesn't get it", frustration with OH as he gets angry with you because you "just don't get it either".........etc.......etc.......etc

But this will settle down - you will find yourselves in a new "routine" before you know it. But remember that with all big life changes, they take time and effort to get right. Remember when you had babies - there was a fair amount of trial and error in being a new mum with a screaming baba, I would bet......but you live, learn, and adjust, and get ready for the next challenge.......

In_my_dreams

Thanks Hypno, that sums up exactly how this last week has been. OH is angry with me as I didn't tell him how bad it was. Fair do's I didn't spell out the figure, but I didn't hide the CC bills, he chose not to open them and they are in his name as welll! He even made BT's when I asked him to so it was never hidden. Even now he just doesn't open the post, never checks a bank balance. I have had to force him to sit down and look at what we have left every month.

He hates the feeling that we are in debt and says he doesn't think he can cope with the next five years, have tried to suggest we are now in the driving seat and need to make this a challenge and feel good that we are tackling it all. To me, the fact we could be loan and mortgage free in 11 years is amazing and the world will be our oyster. He just can't see the bright side at the moment and I really hope he does soon.

Last night he went on about how rich our friends are and just doesn't get that they probably aren't, as I know a lot of people think we are loaded............and we are most definitely not!

Hoping my sense of humour and optimism will get us through. We share one thing however, our OH's inability to know what account to use and how to get a balance

hypno06

We still go through the emotions of debtbusting from time to time, but generally things have settled down - I do the finances, and he works and asks me how to pay for milk.......occasionally I get frustrated that he has no idea, but then I remind myself that I prefer to be in charge anyway, so it is best that way

My OH doesn't open anything either - we have joint bank accounts but he just leaves the statements for me to open and to deal with if needed. Ah well, we are getting there!!

You'll get there too! Honest!!