Time To Throw My Hat In The Ring!

LoLo

hi just wanted to add that barclaycard offer LOB at 6.9% with no transfer fee. If you have a high enough limit you may want to think of doing this.

JulieBarlow

LoLo wrote:

hi just wanted to add that barclaycard offer LOB at 6.9% with no transfer fee. If you have a high enough limit you may want to think of doing this.

Thanks, yes I did realise this after my original post and I have a £8350 limit with them so I am going to see how much of my Tesco card debt I can pay this month then transfer the remainder to the Barclaycard LOB so that I know where I am. Then I will be in credit and I have devised a payment plan for myself (I am good with numbers!) that I am pretty sure I can stick to as long as my income doesn't drop drastically.

Thanks to everyone for their advice. I know the gambling thing is my main concern too but I really am determined to kick it. I have cancelled all my accounts and had replies frm all the companies saying they won't allow me to re-open them or use my card details on any new username which means my opportunity for gambling has been pretty much removed. I have thought about using the Gamblock but have decided against it because there are some websites that I need to use for my job that have been blocked before when I have tried parental controls to block gambling sites and I am worried about this causing a problem for me. When I get the urge to gamble I will either come on here or turn my computer off and go out somewhere to cry! Sunday I had a really rough time thanks to work and kids causing one stress after another but I didn't do my normal escape but instead I scrubbed the house clean to beat my stress whilst crying!! A lot cheaper and I now have a spotless downstairs until the kids get home! Once the debt is gone I don't think I will have an urge to try again as it is the possibility of quick money that appeals to me even though the rational part of me knows I won't win. I have also now stuck a picture of my 3 kids with big grins on their faces next to my computer so when it gets a struggle to see my way out of the debt I can look at their faces and know I am doing it for them so that they can have a happy mum.

Anyway I've waffled on for long enough and made myself cry again in the process (I can solve the national water crisis single-handed!!). Thanks again for your help and I am going to keep on posting updates so that I can keep in my mind that I am heading in the right direction.

Mirtos

Just wanted to show my support. Glad you feel better after taking control. Grit your teeth - it'll be worth it!

Compulsive_Gambler

Hi there

What you have done with the picture is basically put a barrier to prevent you gambling with the pictures but you will need to do more (such as closing the accounts down etc etc)

How much do you trust your OH? would it be feasible to make him a co signee of the business so that you won't get tempted into using money from the business. Also what about your personal money? can you give this over to him for the time being including all your id. The thing with Gambling is that it requires three things

1) time
2) place
3) money

Well your always gonna have the time and place arn't you so the logical one to take out of the equation is money! If you can trust you OH get him to have ur wages paid into his account and then when you require money you have to ask. It may sound childish but its something that has to be done for the immediate future.

If you do borrow money then you need to get a reciept for things etc etc etc



Whilst you say that you don't think you will gamble again its probably only day 2 or 3 since your last bet and things are high as you have got them of your chest and things look high but give it a few weeks and you could easily fall into the old habits and traps. I'm not trying to put you down or anything but what you have written i have heard many times before and have seen many a good person fall into the wayside. So please just be careful and if you slip or have a troublesome day then by all mean come on here or do some houseowrk but also look at

http://www.gamblersanonymous.org.uk/share

the reason for this is that by reading peoples own problems will make you feel better about yourself and give you that bit of resolve to carry on the abstinance. Its a selfish thing but hey we are all compulsive!

You may get fed up of me but i am only here to help and give you advice and i cannot stress how good GA is and whilst you neglected to say why you can't goto the meetings i would hope that you try and get over those problems!

right one last thing before you go!, make sure your OH knows everything about the debt, the reason why (and i am presuming he knows about your problem!) is that if say you neglect to tell him about say 6k of debt and he then thinks everything is paid of at one pt and then a letter comes from the bank saying...'wheres our payment!!!!?' your OH will more than likely think your back at it and then you will have lost all the progress you made with him!

anyway give me a message (applies to anyone) if you need some help

Compulsive Gambler