Hypno's "just for today" diary of rediscovery.

hypno06

lol at the laptop comment, beanie!! How are you feeling today, any better?

beanielou

Very slightly thanks Hypno.
Dopped up to the eyeballs so not very with it!!

hypno06

Glad you are feeling a little better, beanie - I hope the pain subsides soon x

beanielou

Thanks Hypno.
I have had an insight into life as an older person & cant say it fills me with joy.
But on a positive side at least I am still walking and noy in wheelchair yet:D

macgirl

Awww, sorry to hear you're on a bit of a downer. As you say, you do seem to get that way after reaching a milestone.
I know it must be disheartening having to give away your bonus, but it IS fantastic that you can (usually) count on a large lump sum. The alternative is to see your total debt moving downwards at snails pace - like mine

I paid off about double what I owe now before I started posting regularly. Apart from all the lovely friends I have made on here, I have really learnt not to overspend and fritter away cash like I used to.
For me though, I have to be honest and recognise that while I have have significantly curbed my spending, I still need to buy clothes for my job, the kids are growing etc and I can't pay off the debt any quicker. But it has stopped growing and has started going down - so that is good enough for me - for now.

For you, I'm sure this feeling is temporary. You'll recharge your batteries and be back with gusto before you know it! Who knows, next years bonus might be spent on solicitors fees for your new house Chin up xx

Souk08

Great minds and all that ladies! Before i looked on here tonight I was standing at work today thinking 'I don't know if I can do this, I have so much social stuff on and I want to enjoy it!' I too am thinking about reducing my debt payments a wee bit in order to do this. Since I came back from overseas i have really tried to make new friends and build a great social life and now I have one and I want to enjoy it while I have my health so WILL overpay a bit but not panic too much about it XXX

Keeping_Motivated

I think it is more important to try and overpay when all/most of your debt is on high interest or when the amount of debt is threatening your sanity and security. Once your debt is on 0% or very low interest and is 'easily' manageable and very much in control and is going down and you are completely aware of not increasing it, then this is the time that you have to balance your life and sanity against the idea we must have ALL debt gone as soon as possible...

So you are doing the right thing in my opinion to 'let yourself off' and allow the debt to decrease in a way that does not compromise your mental or physical well being..if some money becomes 'available' to overpay and you choose to then all well and good but if it doesn't then you are still in a fantastic position interest rate and debt amount wise.

It is difficult I am sure after so many years of having the 'it must be gone, I must be strict, in control and debt is BAD' mindset but maybe its time to let some of the desperation for it to be gone asap to go and believe that its under control and you have a completely different attitude to money and budgetting etc..

So after all that waffle my opinion is just that its sometimes ok and necessary to let the debt run its course especially if you are as seasoned with money/debt as you now are xx

hypno06

I am glad I am not the only one who is feeling like this!!

KM, what you say makes sense - in years gone by, the majority of my debt was at horrific rates of 29.9% and the like. Now my highest APR is the barclayloan on 8.6% which is not so bad. And if I pay it early, I have to pay a penalty which wipes out any interest saved by paying early (more or less), so really it is just a psychological thing to have it paid earlier.

Of course, if I do ever move, I really need all the debt gone to give me the best chance of a new mortgage but as that is not on the agenda while DS is at school in the village, it won't affect that adversly at the moment.

And, the other thing that will be happening is that my mortgage is reducing - even if the barclayloan is still there, the mortgage will be reducing by a greater rate because of the whopping amount I pay. This time last year, I was still on interest only, so to be paying that down is a big thing for me.

So.....to sum up (!) Yes, it is all going in the right direction. Gone are the days of high APRs and cards up to their limits. And life still lies ahead of me.....

off to scratch and bank - have a good sunny day everyone xx

Different_Corner

Morning Hypno
On the subject of teenagers and study leave I am of the same mindset - let them be. My DS1 is yr 11, still only 15, doing his GCSE's, and as long as he is happy I'm really not bothered what his plans are over the next weeks. Some days there is evidence of Xbox usage, an empty fridge, and much Facebook activity but if you can't do it now....college awaits in September.

I am so proud of the young man he has become after what he's been through in the last 2 years, plus he has an interview on Tuesday

hypno06

Yes, my DD is still only 15 too - she says she is prepared for her exams so I will let her be. I do know, though, that if there were a GCSE in Facebook, she would get an A*.......

Good luck for DS's interview next week!