12 months on

andys15

and nearly everyday is a struggle with my mind, over wether I am doing the right thing paying so much off, and watching every penny. I have slipped up along the way, most noticeably last friday, but 40 % has gone now.

winner12

Hi there
Its very hard sometimes seeing all your money spoken for but I think thats the point you are now seeing it warts and all every penny accounted for but dont forget you have paid off 40% not borrowed anymore most people dont budget and have not got a clue where it all goes until they sit down and have to work it out ie DMP SOA etc you are doing the right thing keep going and dont give up you are half way down (nearly) that long road well done:T

andys15

I just think I am doing too much. I pay over £2000 per month on debt. I cannot get out of paying that much as I have set up loans etc to pay that amount off, but its doing our heads in. Our take home pay is £5500 and sometimes we are eating 9p noodles. Sometimes I feel like getting 2 x £18000 loans over 5 years and cutting my outgoings by more than £1200 per month. I change my mind on a daily, hourly basis. I want a new kitchen, I dont want a new kitchen. I want to be debt free, I dont care as long as I dont add to it, etc etc

Tixy

All of us slip up from time to time, and you are still doing brilliantly well.

Hope your slip up wasn't too costly - I'm guessing it might have been.
Maybe work out how many hours it has set you back and then next time you are tempted by a similar night remember that figure. Alternatively if you think the blow out was because of restricting yourself a little too much maybe you could consider just slightly reducing your repayments and building up a small pot for small frivolous spends (and take that card out with you next time not a credit card!).

Edit - sorry just seen your post, so no flexibility at all in the repayments? I'm sure that you don't really want to do the above and cut your payments by that amount, but maybe you could look into rejigging something to reduce them by £200 or so?

andys15

Tixy.

I dont know what i want. The slip up last Friday was a drunken moment of madness which cost me £640. It was covered by my emergency fund, but not happy. Its forgotten now, but since being on MSE I have really started budgeting. Car Tax is paid by saving each month. I now pay house insurance, car insurance etc etc with savings I purposely put to one side each month to cover it. I love being able to pay a years insurance in a oner without it effecting my monthly budget.
It just the sheer amount towards debt is making me unhappy, and I know that I will one day have no debt and be really well off. Does it matter if that one day is in 18 months or 60 months. I am not sure I can take another 18 months of this.

Tixy

This isn't proper money saving advice but I think truthfully if I were in your position in terms of income & debts I would not be paying down my debts as quickly as you are. Yes I'd want to pay them off but not at the expense of enjoying any of the money I was working hard to earn (I'm assuming you work hard, you might not I suppose;)), not at the expense of eating 9p noodles.

Still 5more years in debt is also a long time. Can you sit down and talk about it together? Maybe aim for a compromise and a level of living that is a bit more comfortable but not excessive.

If you do decide to reduce down the rate at which you are paying it off a bit that doesn't mean you have failed or slipped backwards, you are adjusting things so you can sustain it for the rest of the time it takes.

isy1011

Jeez that was a costly drunken moment!

You are doing brilliantly but its a question of balance sometimes and if paying that amount off is causing a strain then maybe you do need to try and give yourselves some treats on a regular basis.

This month my hubby got a slight pay increase and instead of using that to pay off debts( we set aside additional £300 month for that) we decided to just give ourselves the extra spending money so that we could stop having to just buy value food all the time and so that we could get the odd takeaway or item of clothing. It wasnt alot more but £25 extra a week makes a big difference to how we feel and I think it will now be sustainable.