My SOA - bitter reading......

vka1

Hi,

Thanks so much for reponse. It does make a difference to hear from folk who're finding their way. I think i'm just learning that it's not so much about cutting back, but learning to live differently. Walking vs the pub etc....

I'm coming the end of my first month of spreadsheet obessession and it's been an eye opener.....not sure it can be described as nifty or pretty quite yet, but I hope a year from I'm sounding more like you!

Best of luck ploughing onwards and upwards,

V

bertman

Paid off a major loan that free's up a good bit of cash now. This extra each month is going to be used to blast some smaller high interest debts to the end of the year, we should be in a far better position this year end than last year!!
We have downsized one car to a small Ford that has just cost £0to tax for a year.. We use my company car for every private trip now, I get a fuel benefit which means I pay a hunk of tax each month, but it saves in the long run as all the local trips that add up are in effect free..
I have also got a great bargain bike off Ebay, the guy selling it told me it needed the gears sorting out, so an afternoon in the garden with a screwdriver, spanners and google helped me get this roadworthy. I am now half a stone lighter, fitter and putting in about 12 miles a night after work.
At the moment we are paying the debts off nicely, but there are still big debts that need sorting out. None of the CC companies will reduce their interest anymore but we pay as much as possible to each one every month. As we don't use any CC anymore (apart from a capitol for work which is paid in full each month) it makes sense for us to get loans that are cheaper then the CC but that will be next year, I don't think we will get anyone to offer us one at the moment.

Just wanted to update the thread. Thanks everyone for their support.

kdenty

Sounds like your making progress.

I wish I could ride a bike but I would be too nervous of all the traffic on the main roads round here. When I was a kid in Cumbria I could cycle round my estate and never see a car.

We are thinking our next car might be a small Ford too to save on fuel and tax. But need to save a bit before we can swap.

Hovel_lady

Just caught up with this and wanted to say hello.
Sometimes debt clearing is a long process (we're looking at 8 years) but it'll be so worth it in the end.
Good luck with the rest of it

May2013

Hi Bertman

Just wanted to stop by and say well done on the amazing progress you've made so far and to thank you for sharing your story…very honest and very inspirational!!
Like you, I had a sizeable lump of debt to shift, I’m now about to enter year 5 of my journey, I’m still living to a very very tight budget but to be honest it’s become a way of life now so it no longer feels like a hardship. The benefits of snowballing are really beginning to kick in for me and it looks like they are about to for you too, hopefully you will see some of the smaller CC balances disappear before the end of the year. Good luck in the months ahead. I look forward to reading your next update.

bertman

Thanks all, I like to add the updates as its not always plain sailing but this forum and website has helped out tremendously over the last couple of years, especially in the really dark hours that we have all had.

bertman

OMG!!! September has been a really weird month, if I rewind a bit to earlier this year - beginning of July I caught sight of myself in a mirrror and thought I was starting to look a bit porky So I got hold of a mountain bike off Ebay, it needed a bit of work doing but I googled all the help I needed and set off for a 30 minute ride - and turned back up at home absolutley knackered!! I didn't realise how unfit I was, its was years since I had last exercised or even got on a bike, so I left it a day while my joints and muscles stopped aching and then did 7 miles a day for two weeks until I felt better with it, this was a combination of hills and lanes. After a couple of weeks this started to get easier so I started longer journeys after work and started doing a 15 mile circuit, the first time was over an hour and a half but now its down to 60 minutes, its great time to think - and get to see some pretty good views, all the wildlife etc.. and some pretty incredible sunsets. But I have also got soaked as well!! So after 3 months I have now lost just over a stone and feel a lot better, I have cut out bread and potatoes and caffeine - I am drinking these flavoured tea's now and feel pretty good. This seems to have helped at work where I feel a little more alive now and more focussed.
The debts are still there but we have managed to drop some good chunks off the major debts now, still an awful long way to go though, probably about 5 years still until it gets manageable, we are serious budgetiers now, we look for all the cheaper things at the supermarkets and I think we are now experts at who sells what and at what price. Its amazing at the differences in the major stores, I still think Asda comes out cheaper - I am amazed how many people don't use the price guarantee though, a couple of quid here and there soon mounts up!!
One big bit of really unexpected news though - we are going to be parents!!!!! This was a real bolt out of the blue. We are really not sure how we are going to cope as we need both salaries, the debts won't go away and we don't now want to go on a DMP as we have battled this so far ourselves. Its still early days yet but we are getting quite excited at the prospect, probably won't think that once we have disturbed nights sleeps!!!
I am sorry for a bit of a ramble, but this helps in the overall process of beating the debts, and making sure we are NEVER in this situation again. It really hacks me off the amount we throw at the debts each month - this should be our money to enjoy... It wouldn't be so bad if we had something to show for this but 90% of the debts were made trying to keep afloat a dying business:(
The financial companies have been absolute sh*ts, they won't help at all!!! One major card (Barclaycard) has increased our credit limit on one card last month by £2000.... But they won't reduce any interest to help us out... There is something rotten in the whole business..
If you have got this far - thanks for reading... I do look at the forum week in week out and know that we are not alone, but I don't update my story that often now.
Take care all.

vka1

Congratulations on the impending parenthood! Lovely to see good news in these forums.

Well done also on the continuing debt busting (I agree re Asda) and the mountain biking. Who needs an expensive gym membership?

V

JLL

Ah bless congratulations on becoming parent, that's brilliant news. You are like us, we know what's cheaper and where. You'll soon know where the nappys are cheaper.

All the best for the future

jellybean39

hi there

Welcome and be proud to dealing with your debts.
The changing to interest only, we looked at this with santnader as our mortgage is 1831 amonth but they said it would mean doing a new application which meant 8k penalty as we wer tied in and it owuld have to be done a hardship ground which would damage our credit file and then our credit card companies could call in other debts or even put up interst rates. That is when we decided we needed to sort this mess out, and when we actually took stock was surprising what rubbish we were and had been spending our money on hence the 40k debt on credit cards and loans. Been in debt pretty much since i was 18 and 40 next month so about time to take stock.
I think that they have let u do interest only is great you can get those highest interest payments paid off.
Have a look at www.whatsthecost.com and do your snowball best thing i ever done. Gives me so much motivation that i have a peek at it quite a few times a day!!!! Sad i know.
Good louck will subscribe to seee how u getting on x