The 15k Paper Hat - It could be YOU!!!!!

savingholmes

Whenever my OH has done the money we have always been out of control spending and debtwise - we have been married 18 years now. Because I am far from perfect - I have to be in control of the finances to control my impulse to spend - when I am divorced from it I just spend and then wonder later what went wrong.

If anything needs doing finance-wise I do it. If you look at the boards -the vast majority are women.... Yes I agree it would be nice of our other halves helped but the reality is often the best we can hope for is that they don't hinder!

You will be ok. The unknown is always scary. Cost of living up north is way cheaper than London and that has got to help. You have a really good, versatile set of skills and a really good attitude so I am sure you will find a new role once you move. Sometimes you have to just bite the bullet and do it.

A few years ago we owed about £30K - but OH wanted to move to be a student again. We sold our house clearing about £20+K but were still left with debt. We went down to one wage, were unable to live within our means and built the debt back up again... Did the world end? No. Did we lose that house - no luckily we sold it for a profit and bought this one when OH was earning again. Late last year some houses sold on our estate for £15 to £25K less than we bought ours for - ouch! Did the world end then? No. In June this year - a house sold for the right price - woohoo - if I'd got all into a panic over the missing equity it wouldn't have helped at all. Do I feel relief now that it is back again - of course I do! Life is a series of twists and turns - there could be something beautiful hidden behind the next bend but in front of you right now all you can see is a tip. Well walk round it or over it cos the good stuff is still coming your way....

I'm off out now for a bit with a friend but you really will get thro this it is just going to take a bit longer and perhaps be a bit harder than you thought. I didn't plan on losing 3 jobs this year but there we go !! Bad things happen to good people - we just have to press on anyway!

starnac

cafc we moved when we probably shouldn't have. if i had gone back to work after my mat leave our debt would not have been as high as it was but i was so low i felt it was the only option at the time. i am now much happier and am paying the debt off slowly (but surely). i would not change the fact we moved for anything. it was totally the right thing for us even though practically it was a stupid thing to do at the time.

so try not to panic too much

clearmydebts

Evening Starnac and everyone else!

CAFC - I also just wanted to add, we moved to Sussex from Scotland 2 years ago so my OH could study a music course. We were in debt when we moved and should have waited til we cleared them but we didn't. Looking back though, I didn't start to tackle the debt until we went down to one wage.

It also took me 2 months to find a job when we moved down, which didn't help. Now we are moving again cos OH got a job in Reading. We will have 2 wages again, but only for 4 months cos I will be off on maternity.This time, however, we will save a lump sum for when the baby comes along.

I think the move was well worth it though and am glad we did it. Yeah, our debt could be paid off by now but I'm not convinced I would have had my lightbulb moment as soon as I did

clearmydebts

Hi all,

Just to let you all know that I am amending my sig. We have paid off an extra £4,150 of debt that I didn't include. £1,000 was for Oz tickets but it was debt nonetheless. And the other was my OH's credit card that he ran up while in college. I feel that I should add them, as it will make me more motivated.

How is everyone?

starnac

wow CMD well done. we now have 2 people over the £10k mark. you must be really pleased

clearmydebts

starnac wrote: »

wow CMD well done. we now have 2 people over the £10k mark. you must be really pleased

I am pleased with the figure now! I wasn't too pleased during the year that we racked up £4k more debt but OH had some savings so the debt is gone now

I just wish I could have taken that 4k off my remaining figure as it seems to be at 15k for ages

Nevermind, there are a few payments coming in that should bring it down a bit

How are you?

starnac

you've still paid off half of your debt from last year. that's fantastic.

we're okay here. DD was up mega early so i'm still half asleep. had to drop DH off at work, come home, drop step dad off at the hospital and now just passing time before going to pick up lovely lady from church to take her to her physio appt. me and DD will wait around for her then take her home then go pick up DH as he's only working half day.

what a morning. how are you??

clearmydebts

starnac wrote: »

you've still paid off half of your debt from last year. that's fantastic.

we're okay here. DD was up mega early so i'm still half asleep. had to drop DH off at work, come home, drop step dad off at the hospital and now just passing time before going to pick up lovely lady from church to take her to her physio appt. me and DD will wait around for her then take her home then go pick up DH as he's only working half day.

what a morning. how are you??

Wow, you are busy!

I am good. Not sure if I mentioned but we found a place in Reading. It is beautiful - a tad on the expensive side but in a lovely area and we will still be able to save money

starnac

that's fantastic. and def good if it's expensive but you can still save some money. you'll need all the money you can get after baby is born! for something so small they are soooooooo expensive! (worth it though)

my "baby" is 2 on monday. how did that happen??

tirlittan

Good morning all!
It's lovely, sunny, if quite a cold day here.

My balance transfer money came through to my bank account today, so have transfered it into my Finnish account, where hopefully next week, I can pay it off my loan.Will change my sig to relect this new state of affairs, though the loan money will be bit of a guess. Quite excited though, feel I've done something positive towards getting rid of the loan.