Stop being a Wimp!... DMP Journey

Brogden

Great stuff to read this Ellie :beer: !!

Very motivating for everybody. Well done you !!

And just like you........there's nobody at Brogden Towers who encourages me with my efforts. It's just as well that we are such dynamic prime movers Ellie !!

Congrats again.

Brogden x

Ellieseleven

Good for you EE, I have found YNAB so helpful and it really is keeping me on track with my spending;)

Thanks Brogden, I do hope my ramblings help someone out there:)

Ellie xx

Ellieseleven

I've been doing survey's on OnePoll since about February (thanks Puzzcat) and have reached the target £40;) it's amazing how a change of mindset impacts on your life. A few years ago I would never have had the patience to do surveys for a paltry £40 but now I feel a sense of achievement for sticking with it and my £40 will go towards my Winter fund.

I'm still using YNAB and have stayed within my budget, I've cut back on groceries quite a bit (I've not got much else with any wiggle room).

Some good news in my job, I'm going to go on the on-call rota so this will bump up my salary and will help towards the Winter when OH has no work. I've stopped including anything he earns in my budget anyway, this leaves him free to spend his money on beer and tobacco without impacting on me. It makes things easier when trying to sort out how much money I have for the month if I don't include his money.

I need to ring Santander to check on how much I owe them on a loan as Noddle shows less than Stepchange. This loan was for 10k originally and will be the first of my debts to be finished;) I either owe £25 or £43 but this is hugely exciting for me as it is the first of my 11 debts to go.

As I go into 2016, I have been busy dissecting my debts and breaking them down into milestones (which I do anyway). I have so many targets in this final year of my DMP and everything that I have been through over the last 5 or so years will now start to come to fruition. My mountain of debt will come under 10k before the end of 2015 and then one by one throughout 2016 each debt will be paid and each default will start to drop off my credit file. It's been a long journey but is one that I am so glad that I have taken. At the beginning I felt such a failure and was so afraid to take that step into the world of DMP but now I feel so empowered and look forward to a debt free life. I have felt resentful at times of others who buy new cars and go on several holidays a year but I can honestly say this period of my life will have been worth the sacrifice and hard work. 26% of my income goes to paying my debt each month and I can now look forward to having that chunk of money to do with as I please.

Debt comes into my thoughts a lot of the time still but in a different way now than it did in 2010...back then I was so stressed, worried and didn't know which way to turn. I felt suicidal and thought there was no way out but fast-forward to now and things couldn't be more different. I have a optimistic outlook for the future and they say everything happens for a reason, I had 6 credit cards for many years and was always able to service the debt but if I had carried on using them I don't think that I would ever have been able to stop work:eek: Now I will have several years before I retire where I will be able to save a good amount of money for a comfortable life.

I still have approx. 17 months to go before I am debt free but once I had reached half way, I think the burden of debt became lighter and as the months pass and the debt diminishes I feel so determined. It's so hard in the beginning when you are looking at whatever mountain you have (mine was 46k give or take) but by breaking everything down into smaller chunks (and not looking at the bigger picture) I felt able to cope. Now I can look that total amount in the face and think "soon you will be gone!";)


Going to stop waffling now and go and do my thrifty grocery shopping for the week;)

Take care all
Ellie xx

[Deleted User]

It's really great to hear how things are getting better for you month on month:T. Every time you check in to post there's another achievement to tell us about.

As someone who is treading the same pathway as you (albeit quite a way behind you) I get such encouragement and inspiration from what you've done and what, hopefully, lies in store for me too:j

Looking forward to your next instalment. Onwards and upwards:beer:

Chrysalis1976

What a great post, wishing you all the best in your final stage of dfw. I hope you walk a little taller and lighter with all you have achieved.

Keep going strong, many well-wishers behind you.

C x

Ellieseleven

The further along the journey you get Carbootcrazy, I find, the more inspired you become. It's been a long journey with twists and turns but each step brings us closer to our goal:o

I will be cheering you on all the way too!

Ellieseleven

Good to hear from you Chrysalis and thank you for your kind words:o

Ellie xx

[Deleted User]

Ellieseleven wrote: »

The further along the journey you get Carbootcrazy, I find, the more inspired you become. It's been a long journey with twists and turns but each step brings us closer to our goal:o

I will be cheering you on all the way too!

:A:A:A

By the end of May next year I should be half way through my DMP:j. There'll still be a long, long way to go and a lot of payments to make but once I'm on the homeward stretch I'll feel so much happier:). Whoever would have thought I'd be feeling so happy at the prospect of only around £28,400 worth of debt:rotfl:

Ellieseleven

The halfway mark for me made a big difference psychologically, it's as though I reached the summit and then started the descent down the other side.

I know the happy feeling even though the total debt would frighten the life out of some people but everything is relative I suppose. 28,400 is a huge achievement when you look at the overall picture and shows how far you have come:cool:

Take care
Ellie xx

jodles16

Hi Ellie,

Have read your diary and just wanted to say you are amazing!! You have been on such a roller coaster and I am so amazed by how practical and level headed you are! Fabulously well done on smashing your debts and bringing the DFD forward, inspirational!

Jodles