Shouldn't I feel happy at this point?

sharronej

Hi all,

Forgive me for jumping in with a post (I tend to read more than I post). I have just updated my snowball calculator which tells me that in the last nine months I have knocked a very respectable £9,280.00 off my debt...so why am I not jumping for joy? Our debt including the mortgage stood at £47,110. in Oct 2010 and is now £37,830 yet instead of feeling happy I'm feeling really despondant and depressed

Has anybody else ever felt like this? I can't even say that we are living on the breadline - ok so we don't have fancy holidays but we'll go away (camping/caravaning) at least three times over the year and eat out at a local pub once a month and although we don't go mad we do treat ourselves so I really have no excuse for the self pity fest I'm indulging in!

Would anybody would like to deliver the kick up the bum I'm clearly needing??

Sharron

palaran

That means if you annualise it you have paid off over a quarter of your overall debt (26% to be exact!).

Which also probably means that you have reduced the amount of interest being added, so in real terms that means you are much closer to paying it all off. Should be really proud of yourself - that's a huge dent to make into your debts.

peainapod

Sorry I don't know why you're feeling like that, I think you should be VERY proud of yourself ! Like palaran says that's a quarter of all your debt ! Congratulations ! Wish I could get rid of mine that fast Keep up the good work, hope you feel better soon, if you don't maybe a quick visit to the gp and tell him how you're feeling. Good luck with it all !

May2013

I know just how you're feeling.

You can see from my signature where I started and where I am now (excl mortgage)...I should be jumping for joy :j...the end is surely in sight...but I feel like I'm wading through treacle .

I can't offer much in the way of a help other than to say that you're not alone...the initial euphoria of tackling the problem has long since gone...but I'm winning and so are you :T

The finishing line is in sight but we're not there yet, we've just hit the pain barrier....time to dig deep and see just how important the win is for us

Thank you for your post...so refreshing to see that someone else is feeling the way I do
You're doing just great and I'm sure you know it....time for a lucozade to boost your energy levels.

Good luck in completing your journey xx

LianneH

I also know exactly how you feel!

I only have 3 pay days left until my horrible debt (exl mortgage) is paid off and today coming home from work I had a wee cry in the car! The constant pressure of "keeping it going" just got to me!

I suppose we have to accept that we will have good days and bad, but the important thing is to keep on going!

Well done with what you have achieved so far!

May2013

LianneH wrote: »

I only have 3 pay days left until my horrible debt (exl mortgage) is paid off and today coming home from work I had a wee cry in the car! The constant pressure of "keeping it going" just got to me!

That sums it up perfectly!!! - REALLY nearly there LianneH...well done you :T

sharronej

Thank you for your replies, it's a relief to know that I'm not going mad and that others have and do feel this way! I suspect that part of my problem relates to my attitude to 'doing a job' which is to work really hard to get more than 50% of the way there - to 'break it's back', It's really only when I've reached that stage that I start to feel that I'm on the home stretch but in this case it's been a slog and yet I'm still £14,000.00 short of the golden half way figure.

I've been having a little sulk because our friends are all jetting off on holiday yet we're going camping (yes, I do know that I'm being ungrateful and that I am very blessed in lots of areas of my life) but it feels overwhelming to think it could be at least another year before I reach my half way mark and the disappointment of being in this financial position in my 40's, having brought my children up and scrimped and scraped for the last 20 years is devastating - all I can think about is if we hadn't been in this mess we could have had a fab holiday and replaced our windows and spent some money on the house etc etc.

I'm in awe of the people on this site who've managed against some really huge odds to get their finances back on track. Your posts are bang on target and very much appreciated - I'm going to strengthen my resolve and try and attack the next 'chunk' of this debt as effieciently as possible. That's where I do fall down a little - I don't keep a strong enough control over cash so I think I'll try and go back to putting everything in envelopes again.

y5d

Don't forget your friends may be increasing their level of debt by flying off on holiday! I had friends who thought I was lucky to be able to fly off on holiday each year - little did any of us know that my husband was putting us in a position to now be relying on the help of the CCCS to keep our heads above water!!

sharronej

y5d wrote: »

Don't forget your friends may be increasing their level of debt by flying off on holiday! I had friends who thought I was lucky to be able to fly off on holiday each year - little did any of us know that my husband was putting us in a position to now be relying on the help of the CCCS to keep our heads above water!!

It's a very valid point I know my friend has put it on the credit cards which she doesn't see as a problem because she swaps and changes onto 0% cards, they have a one account and I know that they jiggle the finances onto that if need be and also that any big borrowing they do goes onto that so her mortgage is more than double it's original figure but again at the moment it's all fine with them and I very much hope it stays that way! I suppose it's a state of mind thing as well - I wonder if this debt would be worrying me if it wasn't restricting our family and social lives? It's very frustrating when you know there's 0%'s out there but you can't get any of them! Thank you for you words of wisdom

MissShoes

sharronej wrote: »

Hi all,

Forgive me for jumping in with a post (I tend to read more than I post). I have just updated my snowball calculator which tells me that in the last nine months I have knocked a very respectable £9,280.00 off my debt...so why am I not jumping for joy? Our debt including the mortgage stood at £47,110. in Oct 2010 and is now £37,830 yet instead of feeling happy I'm feeling really despondant and depressed

Has anybody else ever felt like this? I can't even say that we are living on the breadline - ok so we don't have fancy holidays but we'll go away (camping/caravaning) at least three times over the year and eat out at a local pub once a month and although we don't go mad we do treat ourselves so I really have no excuse for the self pity fest I'm indulging in!

Would anybody would like to deliver the kick up the bum I'm clearly needing??

Sharron

You're doing so well- keep your eyes on the finish line. I have felt like this and someone on MSE said the hardest part of the journey is after the initial rush of activity and saving and cutting and budgeting etc- once everything is in place, keeping going is the hardest part. They were right.

Chin up

Shoes x

positivelypurple

I think you're probably feeling like this because being debt free seems such a long way away. One tip that I picked up here ages ago was to set yourself plenty of mini-goals - I like to call it chunking it down. Then you are getting to 100% of these goals on a regular basis rather than just seeing a very small progress on the whole amount.

Why not join some of the shorter challenges, such as the 1 debt in 100 days one? This may help refocus your efforts as you'll be concentrating on just one little bit.