OMG How stupid could I have been ???

EMPTY_PURSE_5

Have just over 100k equity in the house, so I think I use that too much as an excuse to be able to have debt ... cos if anything happened least would have the equity ... where as I should be maximising that equity by not having any debt on CC.

Why did I all of a sudden become clever !!! Scaring myself now ... just got to act on it now.

ZTD

EMPTY_PURSE wrote:

Why did I all of a sudden become clever !!! Scaring myself now ... just got to act on it now.

You haven't suddenly become clever - you always were. It's just now the veil has been lifted from your eyes, and suddenly, you're no longer blind.

That's the difference.

Mrs_Sparkle

EMPTY_PURSE wrote:

Have just over 100k equity in the house, so I think I use that too much as an excuse to be able to have debt ... cos if anything happened least would have the equity ... where as I should be maximising that equity by not having any debt on CC.

Why did I all of a sudden become clever !!! Scaring myself now ... just got to act on it now.

I know hun, I'm just the same... I have £80K equity in the house so could be debt-free tomorrow and I'm pretty comfortable with my repayments and the amount of stuff I have on 0% until Dec 07 so I suppose I don't really stress too much about it. I should stress more I think then I'd pay things off a bit quicker!

steve700

Mrs_Sparkle wrote:

I know hun, I'm just the same... I have £80K equity in the house so could be debt-free tomorrow

But you wouldn't have anywhere to live would you?

Although 80k would pay rent for quite some time..............

oops_a_daisy

Hi empty purse, I think the pocket money is a good idea. It will certainly make you think twice about spending. I am useless at keeping a spending diary - it lasts approx half a day and then I forget. I am going to start keeping receipts as mentioned above and total up my spending that way. Good luck and when I first came on here I didnt think I was in too much debt as it was manageable - but I soon got into the swing of things when I worked out how much money I was wasting and how much money I could actually save just by being more money savvy. Have a look on the old style threads to pick up on tips for meal planning so that you dont have to go into the supermarket and be tempted so often. Good luck - OOPS

bobbadog

Hi emptypurse! you've made the first and hardest step. Glad you've found the DFW board! keep track either by spending diary (i have 'stickies' all over my mac desktop to remind me), or by having pocket money 'cash' and hiding your cards (i hide my switch from myself). Best of luck. x

Sinkingindebt_2

Do you know until I did a SOA i didnt know what debt I had I would have guessed 15K but its 25k I was shocked, so maybe we can help if you list it all, no pressure, just thinknig we can offr soem support and advice on which debts to handle 1st etc

Good Luck

xxx

EMPTY_PURSE_5

Its not anywhere near £ 25k thank god .... all we have is CC, Sofa and 1 car, no overdrafts ... although OH does have a loan of approx £ 4000, but that gets taken directly from his salary ... so that doesnt get taken into account when we calculate income as we never see that money.

Sinkingindebt_2

Im not suggesting it was, just saying its always more than anyone estimates until you write it down thats all...Good Luck xxx

climbgirl

I'd second the thought that just under £10K is a major debt and you need to get onto this :eek:

Leaving it is only going to make it worse. And saying "but I've got over
£100K equity in the house" doesn't make the debt any better, it's all about cashflow. Having an equal amount of savings makes you essentially debtfree, but if the banks decide to call in those debts tomorrow, you'd be in trouble.

In terms of cutting out the spending on crap, it's all about discipline! Why are you concerned if you spend 49p on a card in the supermarket?! Unless there's limits you don't have to round it up. I switched less than a pound at sainsburys the other day for lunch, they didn't bat an eyelid.

Start a spending diary. Take our your weekly allowance so you know how much you've got to spend. I budget a realistic amount, but take out about two-thirds of it and try and stick to that. If I can, yay money left over. If not, I haven't blown the budget, even if I feel like I have.

And be disciplined! Don't buy ANYTHING until you've asked yourself do I really need it? Answer, then ask again! There's a big, big difference between need and want. And most of the crap spending falls into the want category I'm guessing.