I'm SUCH an idiot

Jennykins

So I've been slowly chipping away at my debts & have a plan to have the credit cards cleared by the end of 2010. So what did I do last Friday? Bought two T in the Park tickets........ I could kick myself. £420 on a credit card, just like that. The line up looks great, loads of my mates are going but the reality is i cannot afford to go!!! Obviously I'm going to have to try to sell the tickets but they dont get posted out til just before the event so it's not like I can sell them now!! What an idiot. Adding to my debt stress was not what I needed right now. Nothing anyone can do, I just had to try and get it out my system before I start crying at the never ending mess I am in through my own stupidity. Sure I can blame my parents bad attitude towards money & thinking debt is okay etc etc but really my bro grew up in the same house as me and he has no debt & even has savings and investments. I feel like such a failure in comparison and need to figure my way out of this being strict with myself for a while & then going mad as a reward for being so good!!!

immoral_angeluk

Instead of selling them, why don't you budget for the other costs such as travel and spending etc, but then find other ways to make up the money you spent using ebay, etc?

I'm of the mind that if you don't have some kind of life while repaying your debt you'll just go crazy/get depressed and just be more prone to impulse retail therapy etc and make your situation worse. It's much better to budget for one off treats imho.

JimmyTheWig

Agree with immoral angel, but we're talking a lot of money to make back!!

Do you know people who might want to go but don't have tickets yet? If you've got friends going it might be easier to find a buyer that way and they should give you an honest price for them.

Are you even allowed to sell them on eBay?

I presume you are not able to return them to the box office? Worth a phone call.
Or can you return them under the DSR? Does anyone know?

kindofagilr

You could sell them on ebay and tell them winner you will post them once you receive them, thats what people usually do?

redlady_1

Can you not cancel them?

JA1000

TWO TICKETS?

So you only have to find £210, and get the money for they other ticket from whoever you bought it for then phone your brother and say you have bought your Christmas present and birthday present from him to you, he will be so please he doesn't have to worry about what to buy you that he will give you the £210

irishmist_2

Don't panic and you're not an idiot - you're human.
Agree with the others - get a pal to buy one ticket at full cost so you've someone to go with, budget for the rest (it's your summer holiday!), and work out how much you need to raise to cover the cost by surveys, overtime, carboots, ebaying, babysitting etc etc.Look out on freecycle for a tent if you haven't got one etc. You have 4 months, so if you raised £75 a month between now and then you could do it with lots of spending money. Also like JA1000's idea - tell all your family it's what you want for your birthday, all donations gratefully received.
Have done both this and Glastonbury and once there easy to do cheaply and I think you get a lot for your money.
There are loads of much more rubbishy things you could have spent your money on, and you should see some great acts and have a blast.

For the future though, you might find it helpful to make your cards less accessible if you are prone to impulse buying that you later regret - maybe your brother could keep them for you for emergencies

Best wishes and stop beating yourself up!

dan77_2

Your not an idiot but agree with others, you pay for 1 ticket and get whoever the other ticket was for to pay for there own.

In the height of my debt days when I owed in excess of £30,000 I went on a 5 day holiday to Cornwall it cost £400 and I felt very guilty, but if I had just stayed at home for 5 years doing nothing I would have gone mad!

Saying that I used money I had saved and I also made sure I had paid off some debts in full before hand, I wouldn't have added it to a credit card.

End of the day we are all human and make mistakes, but remember to pass on the cost of ticket number 2 and start saving for travel and other expenses now.

Ostinato

I know this is totally random but I would be interested in buying the tickets off you... Ill pm you?

saxysarah

loads of fab ideas here ;-) i'd echo all of them esp the 'ive just got your xmas/birthday present from you to me' brill!! and again Don't beat yourself up - you say you are trying your best to chip away at the cards etc so you've had a bit of a slip we are only human! and don't forget using the snowball calculator to prioritise your debts so they get paid off quicker.

I would also chop up all your cards so you are not tempted to do something similar and maybe squeeze a fiver or tenner a month out of your budget to put to one side for the odd treat ;-)