I think this is it.

tobedifferent

Hello all,

Well I've finally done it and worked out exactly how much I owe, and I'm stunned. I'm 28 with no assets and my debt as of this moment is £26999.86!! :eek: My debt free date currently stands at November 2010!! :eek:

I've hammered my budget and saved on all bills, my budget looks great but my problem is sticking to my budget, i just keep overspending, not into more debt but keeping in the mess that i'm in. But if I stick to my current budget which has the most modest estimate of my SE earnings I can shave this back to Oct 2009 already :T It'll probably be even sooner as the interest on my HSBC loan is front loaded so I only know the total included all the interest (I put this on the snowball as 0% as I can't overpay anyway just settle early).

I think this is def the lightbulb I've written it out on a card and popped it in to my purse to look at when I get the 'urge.' Next I'll get a sig sorted and kick myself into shape - grrrrrrrrr...

Right thats it DEBT FREE HERE I COME!!

TBD
xx

MCBIRNIE25

Hi TBD, you have taken that all important 1st step posting on here, well done, we will all offer our support to keep you on the yellow brick road.
Regards,
MCBIRNIE25

cmorlife

Hiya,

Im 27 and £24,500 ish in debt, again with no assets. Payplan are phoning me tonite at 8pm to try and give me some advice, I have also started to try and claim back bank charges. I sent all my letters off today. Hopefully this will be a head start in clearing some debt. But iv only really started to take action over the last week, but like yourself it will prob be 5 yrs or so until im debt free. Bring it on!

llh189

tobedifferent,

I have had my lightbulb moment too, but always having a problem sticking to my budget, the only way I have found to manage it is to leave cash and cards at home, when I go food shopping I only take what I have budgeted for, even with this approach I still fall of the wagon, even having a pound in my purse makes me want to buy stuff from the vending machine at work - so I have to be really strict with myself - no money unless I really need it, I keep a spending diary and I always fill in the "what have you spent today"thread feal really proud when I get a no spend day, bottom line you have to be really tough with yourself, it is soooooooooooo hard though.

HTH

Lisa

Glass_Half_Empty??

I thought my 7,400 was bad:eek:
Good luck mate, sounds like your gonna need it.
Just imagine what it will feel like to finally say "I am debt free" now thats worth a :beer: or two
This is what is gonna keep me going until I am.

pms

tobedifferent wrote:

Hello all,

Well I've finally done it and worked out exactly how much I owe, and I'm stunned. I'm 28 with no assets and my debt as of this moment is £26999.86!! :eek: My debt free date currently stands at November 2010!! :eek:

I've hammered my budget and saved on all bills, my budget looks great but my problem is sticking to my budget, i just keep overspending, not into more debt but keeping in the mess that i'm in. But if I stick to my current budget which has the most modest estimate of my SE earnings I can shave this back to Oct 2009 already :T It'll probably be even sooner as the interest on my HSBC loan is front loaded so I only know the total included all the interest (I put this on the snowball as 0% as I can't overpay anyway just settle early).

I think this is def the lightbulb I've written it out on a card and popped it in to my purse to look at when I get the 'urge.' Next I'll get a sig sorted and kick myself into shape - grrrrrrrrr...

Right thats it DEBT FREE HERE I COME!!

TBD
xx

Looks to me like you and I have alot in common. We are both the same age and have built up huge debts with no assets (mine were just over £20,000). Like you I was shocked when I actually worked out the exact amount I owed through loans and credit cards and an overdraft.

My debt free date is looking like March 2009, thanks to a Protected Trust Deed otherwise god only knows when I would be debt free.

Good Luck in meeting your target date

LJD1_2

Hiya
Well done on working out what you owe, sometimes I think that is the hardest bit. I'm the same as you and not good at sticking to budget but having to tell people on here what i've spent often makes me behave, they're scary! Only joking! Good luck with everything.

Annie_Fanny

Tobedifferent

Well done on making so much progress. You have tackled one of the first hurdles so keep on going!

If it would help you could post up a full Statement of Affairs (SOA) here? Basically it is a list of your incomings and outgoings so that we can try and help you claw back some extra cash which you could use to target your debt.
You may have done a budget but you may have missed something off or some of us DFWs may suggest some sneaky ways to save money!

Have a look at this post for details of posting an SOA:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=107280

Good luck and keep us up to date on your progress.

Annie
Xx