What inspired you to have LBM?

mdeebee

determined_new_ms wrote: »

Like many others my LBM flickered on & off, had one and then met my now oh and a lot of money (I couldn't afford) was spent on dates, going out, new clothes etc etc. Then i got an inhertitance of £5000 last year and put it towards the debt & cleared loads, but not 2 overdrafts, I was paying these off but still spending money freely (I look back now with amazement that even this time last year I would spend £200-250 each months on clothes alone, 2 holidays aboard last year one in Aug & and another in Dec...), then on 17th Dec last year I wrote my car off. As my work is a 40 mile round trip & both my home & work are too remote to use public transport I had to get a car & put it on my cc. At this point I took a good long look at my financial situation.I was starting 2010 with more debt than I had when I'd got the inheritance(£6500)! On New Years day I was with my oh & friends & we wrote a list of things we wanted to achieve and then and there I decided that was it 2010 was going to be the year I was free of the trianny. Its been extremely tougth at times but I've learned to change my attitude to money, I now only spend what I have. I have £30 in my purse till payday, last night was discussing with oh his mother's birthday on monday and possibly going out, I was suggesting I cook at ours as I haven't got much money till monday. I was a little frustrated with oh as I think he still feels that using the od is a viable option whereas to me I ONLY HAVE £30!
I think my LB is definately on now!

Incidentally I have become more creative to still have as good a lifestyle & we are having 3 holidays this year! 1 was oh's cousins wedding in Holland for a long weekend, no travel costs as we went in his parents car, no accomm costs & minimum spending money. 2 sun holidays in corwall (had a fantastic time!) and for holiday no 3 we have hosted for foreign students for 9 weeks & saved all of this money & we go to Turkey in 1 month :T

I know you haven't been to Turkey yet but I'm already thinking of your return journey!

If you are going to need to eat at the airport, either take out a mortgage before you go or take your own crisps, snacks, sweets and so on to the airport, as food there is extremely expensive (£13 for a Big Mac Meal, £8 for a horrible sandwich, crisps £3.50). I made a stand and only bought water at £2.50 for a small bottle of the type I can buy in the 99p store for a six pack!

At least !!!!!! Turpin wore a mask!

Have a great holiday!

ms_london

I had an enforced lightbulb moment. This was when it got to the stage where I couldn't borrow any more money and my credit cards / loans / overdrafts / store cards were maxed out. At the time I wasn't happy, but I am so thankful that there was a point where my creditors said 'no more', otherwise I would have continued spending. At that point it was £19,000 (a lot of it being extortionate rates of interest!) and I had nothing at all to show for it. Repaying the debt was not a fun experience, but it certainly taught me some valuable lessons for life! xx

*zippy*

Mine was a few days after taking out a £21k loan to consolidate cc's and start a business, I took it out without a care, but a few days later it suddenly hit me what I had done and we would spend 7 years paying it off.

mooomin

I needed some quick cash and was going to do a consolidation loan (again) with a little top-up on it. When I realised that that was going to take me over £10,000 debt I changed my mind and threw myself into the DFW life with abandon.

I now owe less than £1400 (Have cleared the rest in 2 years) and should be debt-free by December.

I love this site :smileyhea

mummytofour

Back in August 2007 the credit crunch first started to hit and intrest rates with MBNA went up. It was not until January 2008 that my intrest rate with MBNA shot up to 34% this was basically the straw that broke the camels back as I could no longer afford the repayments.

I went to the CCCS where I got loads and loads of hep. I currently have a plan to try and pay off my DMP in the next 12 months....

dbushes

My LB flickered in 2008 and then again in June 2010 but finally my LBM was on 4th August 2010. This was 1 week after my friends flew out to a holiday and I couldn't go because I had NO MONEY. Not only did I not have any money but I had NO CREDIT on my credit cards. I spent the evening looking through all of my credit card bills and knowing that I could not go on.

I now spend at least an hour a day looking at ways to save money and make changes where I can. This is still a work in progress but it is in progress.

Thanks to Martin of MSE for making this site happen to help the likes of me.

Bx

p.s. Emotional spending and eating I do believe goes hand in hand. I am working on that part of my life too.

Motivatedworkingmum

My LBM came in December 2008 just as the financial world came crashing around us all. Just a few months before I had given up my well paid full time job (god I hated that job) for a part time job (god I love my part time job!) to spend more time at home and being able to do the 'mummy thing' with my children, like take them to school! It was christmas time and although up until that time all our debts had been affordable the shock of thinking 'what if one of us lost our jobs' really hit home. At that point too it seemed as if everyone was being made redundant. I had never added up what we actually owed and at that point it was just under £19,000. So on 01/01/09 the plan started. Lots of reading on this site, stopping spending £120 per week at Mr T's on rubbish food, no spending spree's on clothes and just being aware of where our money went. Before I would say 'can't believe my shopping bill was £125 this week' and ' isn't it terrible my hairdressers trip this month cost £120'! It was almost as if it showed that we had alot of money (we didn't!) and it was something to be proud of!!!!!!Things have obviously changed. Now when my friends say the same things I want to shake them and get them to realise the error of their ways! Almost £15,000 has been cleared of this debt now and it feels great. I would say that although we have been really strict with ourselves, we have had a life aswell, although we do things now that are much cheaper. My partner does get frustrated when my head is buried in my spreadsheets every night and I'm reading this site but its has helped us achieve clearing the debt. I just wonder where we would be now had we not have had our LBM.

LilacPixie

Mines flickers more than anything. OH is just beyond help i think.

Mines came when i added up all the debt we have, compared to our joint annual income. roughly 2 times. OH views debt as a nesessity and is very much for the I deserve it, give me now and i'll pay make over 5 years. I am of the mind that some debt is essential (like mortgages) but we shouldn't pay any more interest than is essential. The idea of a 25 year mortgage lasting 25 years scares me a bit.

We have never missed a payment its just the usual, 1k on a card, pay off £300 at start of month then put £300 back on the card

I have came to the conclusion we do a budget than is on the harsh side of normal, stick to it for a few months then it all crumbles and some of what has been paid off is ramped up again and we get no further forward.

Now I have sort of reached a happy medium, we spend and we overpay so debt is reducing slowly but surely, we still get treats so don't feel deprived and all is reasonably good. Well apart from my OH wanting to spend 20k on a car!!!!

crisispoint914

p.s. Emotional spending and eating I do believe goes hand in hand. I am working on that part of my life too.

I think this is so true, my ex would not and could not understand this. Which led to a further £17k when I left a mix of new house and needing house things and "make me feel better" spending

OnwardAndUpward81

In July 2007, I had been with my partner for 3 months and as stupid as it sounds I knew he was the one. However, how you can't settle down with someone and build a future if you're sitting on grands and grands of debt. He also made me realise that all the money spending was due to me having confidence issues. Once I got with him I no longer felt the need to constantly buy clothes, bags, shoes and nice cars. I also now recognise that when I do have the " I feel s***" days I get drawn towards the shops, this is good as it stops me in my tracks.