What inspired you to have LBM?

kayho123

:money::money::money::money:

So i have read a lot of posts on here about the LBM and how lots of you have not only change the way you deal with your finances but also other areas of life.

I find it really interesting how debt management and weightloss for example seem to tie in together.

So i thought i would start this thread and allow us to share what finally pushed us to have the LBM and why we are all starting to take control after years of spending etc

Mine LBM was prompted by a bad break up and finding myself alone completely and wanting to have some financial independence.

For me i found it hard to get a bank account at first and then when that RBS Key Account debit card came throught the door i clicked :jWOW I AM ON MY OWN NOW:j time to get sorted!

SO LETS SHARE THAT LBM :T:T:T

:money::money::money::money:

pinkarsenalprincess

My LBM came when I finally started sorting out the spare room (also known as our wardrobe). We only bought the house(or first one) 9 months ago and it was already a mess. Looking at all the unworn clothes and thinking about how much money I wasted really upset me. It all reminded me that I was shopping compulsively to cope with the loss of my best friend in 2008. Then another sudden bereavement 2 weeks ago sent me off shopping again and when I got home, dumped the bags in the wardrobe room and then didn't return to them a few days later I knew something had to be done.

I am 25. I have a lovely house, a lovely partner, a great job and I want to start a family. But I have £4000 of overdraft hanging over me, all wasted money on clothes, shoes and jewellery I just didn't need.

kayho123

thanks for sharing i found that sometimes in the past i have spent cash to get over sadness for example the passing of my grandma and now i am paying it all back i actually feel better than i did spending it in the first place

no spending feels as good as debt free feels!

pinkarsenalprincess

How do I add the little message bit at the bottom of my posts?

kayho123

if u go to user cp there is an option to edit signature u can do it there xx

pinkarsenalprincess

Thanks!

pinkarsenalprincess

kayho123 wrote: »

thanks for sharing i found that sometimes in the past i have spent cash to get over sadness for example the passing of my grandma and now i am paying it all back i actually feel better than i did spending it in the first place

no spending feels as good as debt free feels!

It's what I have been doing 4 or 5 times a week for the past two years. Sticking my head in the sand and not admitting the fact that I am not coping with the loss at all.

I can understand the point about paying it back feeling better. When I look at all the stuff accumulated it makes me feel awful. Just writing my budget and making a vow to stick to it has made me feel better. Can't wait unil payday when I can make my first repayment

Pinky15

My lightbulb moment really smacked me in the mouth when we applied for a loan for an extension and were turned down. After realising the amount we had consolidated and not paid off I nearly passed out.
Now we could really use the money we are wasting paying off debt which we have nothing to show for but.... we are happier than ever, waste less, shop about more, and our debt is coming down. This board has been really supportive!! Ps great thread:)

Hannah_10

I wanted a loan of £4k to get a decent vehicle for once and no one would lend to me. I filled out a loan application online and got a call back from a different company. Remarkably they didn't seem to find it hard to get me a loan, through a particular high-street building society they said, for X-amount of APR they said (very good rate) and over the term I wanted too... Was all so easy, too easy, but then something smelled of fish because the building society they named had already refused me at a far higher APR... Towards the end of the call a fee was demanded to "process" the application and alarm-bells went off in my head. I queried that I didn't find this to be normal practice and that I thought that he should send me the paperwork to review as an offer then if I was happy with it I would make the processing payment. He had a tantrum. I happen to be pretty resistant to tantrums and so at this point correctly identified that it was a scam, complete with pressure tactics.

On hanging up I rang my bank, cancelled my card and had a chat with customer services who said that I'd been quite lucky, that so-called loan provider generate a lot of complaints to the bank, they're well known for it. My bank marked my account so that absolutly nothing can be taken out by the scam operators. I was lucky in that I clearly refused permission and then got to the bank before they did. Had they tried to put my card through I might have been over a year awaiting the return of the "processing fee".

The loan company? Yes Loans. I'd never heard of them at that point, but of course now I've hit the internet for a bit I realise how low they really are. From that point I was plagued with spam emails and calls from debt-write-off companies, accident-claims companies, loans companies, apparent money advisors and all sorts. I ended up shelling out for call barring/caller display and got a new email.

It all broke then, the frustration of not being able to break free from the bad debts from when I got ill a few years back and the more recent crisis that had made me want to run to the vehicle-dealers for comfort. I cried for hours. Then decided there had to be another way, there has to be a way to get free of this debt-albatross rotting around my neck, so I can live again. A £4k vehicle hardly seems a total excess, it's not like a want a brand new Audi soft top or anything, just £4k for something my illness wont stop me using!

That vehicle I wanted a loan for, it's a motorbike (I live to ride- when not too ill to). The saddest thing is, it's about the cheapest I could ride in my current health, if I could have bought it I would be riding now, but as I couldn't I had to sell my powerful sportsbike and get a measly citroen instead. More tears of frustration, life has been very unfair to me the last 5 years.

I joined MSE to learn about the best high interest savings but pretty quickly realised after reading an article by Martin that I can't save for anything until I've cleared the debts and so, began the very painful process of getting debt free. I've saved a photo of the bike I need (I maintain it is a need- only another biker would understand) as my desktop background for inspiration.

sofababe

My LBM came in the shape of a court bailiff arriving to take my stuff after I didn't pay my council tax as I had "better things" to spend the money on. I'm appalled at the way the council behaved, I made them an offer and they ignored it and sent the bailiff in. But I owed it and I had to ring my mum in tears and panic and ask to borrow the money to pay him when he came back 2 days later. My mum made me feel like a little kid again, telling me off for spending money on a holiday when I owed it to the council. I owed £268 C/T but by the time it had gone thru court, then the bailiff it was £429. I had a DMP years ago but had stopped paying it about 3 years ago. I've been ignoring letters and phone calls ever since. But no more, I'm in the process of sending out "prove it" letters as I have no records on paper (I burnt everything one day in a "mad moment" after my ex OH left me). I will work it all out and get them all paid off but its gonna take time. If I'd dealt with it in the first place I'd be debt free by now

foxgloves

For me, I think it was adding up how much of our income each month was going straight into debt repayment: 1 car loan, 1 other loan, 1 credit card, 1 overdraft (Me) and 1 car loan, 1 bigger loan, 2 credit cards & 1 big overdraft (husband). It just struck me what we could be doing if we didn't have to pay all those debts because that money would be our 'disposable income'. It made me realise that in constantly overspending to have loads of fairly small stuff.....medium-high end makeup/skincare brands, boots, shoes, clothes, eating out, treats, 8-10 magazines a month sometimes, etc, etc, I was just delaying or even preventing myself being able to do some of the bigger things I'd like to do. Never having an emergency fund also encouraged me to get debts paid so I could start one, as every single car bill, home repair bill, etc, just had to go staright onto credit. Partner had LBM a couple of months later. We've had the odd slip up - who doesn't? - but we've stayed with it and now budget every month and......this is the bit that 10 years ago I just wouldn't have 'got', feel much happier being in control than I was when I was 'treating myself' to loads of stuff. The 1980s/90s were terrible times for making people think they could have whatever they wanted whether they had the means to pay or not. Banks started lending very irrepsonsibly & it's meant there are a lot of people paying the true price now.