Lbs and £££- you gain some lose some

front_row_3

Hello I will start at the beginning of this sorry tale....
My wife had been working really hard to pay of a lump of debt some of which i racked up myself through poor money management, I didn't really engage with this process.

Subsequently I had been secretly cacking up approx £4k of debt and had been bare face lying about it.

I feel awful and so embarrased about what I have done, I never want to see my wife so upset again. HOWEVER she has been very supportive of me and we have put together a plan of attack....

debt is at present £4508 spread across 2 overdrafts and a credit card and i plan to use this as an online diary to chart my own progress as a motivational tool.

In addition to this I will use this as a way of tracking weight loss for myself, i think that I had a tendancy to comfort eat when i was worried about my secret debt shame. I am aiming to lose 0.5 stone. I will outline my tactics for achieveing this as well as excercise undertaken in future posts.

In summary

24/01/2011

Debt = £4508
Weight = 17.3 st (110.3kg)

I will attemp to post twice a week minimum.......

Yours in £ and lbs

Daeheryn

Best of luck on both fronts! I've newly faced up to my debt and the one thing I've learnt is that this site is a great motivator and encouragement! You've done the hardest bit by publicly facing up to it, well done

front_row_3

Back again....

to go into a bit more detail about the debt I owe:
£2780 to MBNA
£741 to RBS
£986 to HBOS

I will keep this thread updated on its progress.

I had a small personal victory today when I was working in the city centre and was walking past a coffee shop. In the bad old days i would have bought a latte and some kind of cake. Today however I walked past, as I said a small victory but mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow!

On the exercise front had rugby training tonight.

Yours in £ and lbs

front_row_3

A lot has changed this week! My wife is still being 100% supportive and has been so helpful in helping me get to grips with this problem.

She has been saving some money from from a bonus she got from work to clear a credit card she has which is 0%. We have used this to get rid of HBOS and bring RBS (now my only account) back to a positive balance. I will pay her back for this over the few months, i don't know how i would have fixed this without her!

My MBNA credit card is 0% until July so i will keep up the minimun repayments for the time being.

I have reviewed my personnal budget and have £120pm. I will keep a close eye on this through a spening diary.

I did a spin class on Wednesday night and had rugby on Thursday, have a game today. i will try and weigh myself tomorrow.

Yours in £ and lbs

The_Dragon

Sounds as though you are getting there with both bits of your life - go you! :j:j:j:j:j

beanielou

Looking good
Keep plodding & keep posting

front_row_3

Just a quick update, weighed myself at the gym today. weighing in at a sprightly 109.7kg!

Was out for a bit last night and spent £13 on drink which is within budget so pleased with that.

Also been to the gym and cycling with my wife.

Yours in £ and lbs.

front_row_3

Things are still going well, I am keepinging my spending diary up to date and am on track. Need to keep an eye on my spending money for the rest of the month though as I had an unforseen payment for rugby club subscriptions. I suppose one of the long term goals of this is that there will be no such thing as unforseen payments.

My wife is still helping out loads, she is being very supportive and understanding. I feel much happier at home now and I think this has improved our relationship as I am not telling lies and feeling stressed.

Had a weigh in yesterday and came in at 109.25kg, think I need to have smaller/ lower carb evening meals!

Yours in £ and lbs

front_row_3

not a great deal changing at the moment, i'm finding it quite frustrating when you are waiting to be paid so that you can pay off some debt! Am managing to keep my spending diary up to date.

have been managing a lot of no spend days which are always a good feeling when you make it through. Am about to post a couple of items on ebay- evry little helps.

We also got some more Tesco club card vouchers yesterday, we have £61 pounds worth, what do people here spend theirs on?

Not having another weigh in until 20/2 so hopefully there will be a bit more change by then. Not buying extra food/ lattes really helps the waste line!

Yours in £ and lbs

front_row_3

I CAN'T WAIT TO GET PAID ON FRIDAY!!!!

Managing to stay on course with my spenind although I have zero left until pay day. In the past i would go crazy on pay day but all I want to do now is pay some off the debt.

Had a minor set back with my MBNA card this week, I missed a payment (I made it the day before the date but I didn't realise that it took 3 days for money to transfer) I had a chat with them on the phone and I managaed to get them to put me on a rate of 10% instead of the full rate that you would expect to go on after missing a payment. This was a real blow and I was really down about it. However I got a load of support at home and we are sorting it out, plan is to have all debt cleared bu August pay.

I have just finished my first forray into ebay, I sold a tweed flay cap, a dinner suit and a leather jacket all of which came to a grand total of £39.20. I am really happy about this and intend to keep my eyes peeled for more stuff to sell.

I've not had a weigh in for a couple of weeks but I have been eating pretty well (Friday was the exception when i went to a French restaurant with work- snails followed by braised pig cheek with creme brulee to top it off!)

Yours in £ and lbs

front_row_3

Paid today!!!

My wife has once again been great and has really gone out on a limb for me by getting a Barclay Card with 18 months 0% on balance transfers so I can shift my MBNA balance. This is great as it means that we are able to save some money at the same time in order to get our kitchen replaced.

I weighed myself (at the end of the day!) and i haven't gained or lost ant weight however I have had comments saying that I am looking slimmer and my paunch is reducing so I reckon I just need to stick at it and if I am feeling/ looking slimmer then weight will take care of it's self.

Yours in £ and lbs