7 Months on and things are getting brighter!

d11wtq

I feel good I remember visiting these forums in February in a right mess. I hadn't paid bills for 5 months, was receiving calls to my parent's house from bailiffs (no actual visits were made), had debts I could not (read, did not believe I could) handle and was feeling generally very depressed.

You guys really kicked me into shape and helped get me on my feet! I called all my creditors very nervously, agreed to pay amounts that quite literally put me on the brink of having no money for myself, moved to a house in Salford (not a nice part!) from Didsbury to pay half the rent I was paying, stopped going out once a week and started going out Monthly and started getting the bus to work.

Here I am in August, still pretty skint because I'm still paying my debts off but you know what? I feel great and it doesn't seem like I've been paying these debts for very long at all now. My first one just zeroed thi month! Yay!

16 Jan 2006  	Original Debt  	£308.19
15 Feb 2006 	Debit Card 	£30.00
14 Mar 2006 	Direct Debit 	£50.00
12 Apr 2006 	Direct Debit 	£50.00
12 May 2006 	Direct Debit 	£50.00
14 Jun 2006 	Direct Debit 	£50.00
13 Jul 2006 	Direct Debit 	£50.00
14 Aug 2006 	Direct Debit 	£28.19
  	Balance 	£0.00

That leaves me an extra £50 per month to pay off another debt at twice the speed. That feels great because I can see how the time it takes to pay things off is going to get quicker and quicker as I can use the money from debts I was previously paying to pay off exisitng debts even faster - exponentially!

I just wanted to say a big thank you to you all for your support back in Feb anyway You really have helped me!

Anyone just facing their lightbulb moment now! You can do it, once you make start on tackling it, you can actually look at it as a project you want to complete and gain the satisfaction of reaching goals! It soon moves along... go for it!

lil'H

Hey d11, i'm relitively new on here, and whilst my debts aren't huge I've reallised in time to stop making them worse! It's so good to here of your success so far, really inspiring. I love this site for the sheer fact it's made me face my situation and seeing someone making real progress is always great. Well done you, good luck shifting all the rest!

lil'H

lifebegins

That's fantastic. Keep up the good work! I know what you mean about it feeling great. I'm only 1 month past my lightbulb moment but feel so much better now that I have a plan I'm working to.

Anyway, Didsbury is not that different from Salford in some ways. When I lived in Didsbury first my car radio and gearknob were nicked, 2 weeks later they stole the windscreen and a month later finally came back and just took the whole car! At least you're away from the temptation of all those great bars/ restaurants and worst of all M&S simply food.

Whats your next target?

cathybird

well done!!!! feeling in control is all....

d11wtq

lifebegins wrote:

Whats your next target?

Not the egg loan that's for sure... that has a fixed end date at least so I just go along with that for now and focus on the others.

The extra £50 is *definitely* going on the Style card (Wescot in my signature). Even though the money is in the hands of the debt collectors I'm still paying store card interest rates on it! If I can get that belanace down to zero over the next 8 months or so (I'm being realistic) I'll be happy, and in 8 months my other debts will be lower too. The HSBC managed loan is a stinger.... almost as bad as a store card.

EDIT | Wow... that's pretty harsh about your car! My friend's GF's car had half the engine, the radiator, the air bag and the headlights stolen (clearly by somebody who'd had a crash).

FrugalJo

It's great to see progress, well Done D11 !! It's always inspiring to hear everyones triumphs.
Jo