Shouldn't I feel happy at this point?

foxgloves

We all feel a touch of the 'green eye' occasionally, it's a perfectly natural part of the human condition......in fact, I read your post & felt really envious because you go camping & we keep thinking we'd love to go camping & we just don't seem to get ourselves sufficiently organised to go & get a tent & just go & do it!! You really have knocked a lot off your debt total & should be very proud of that. I agree that a lot of the spending that is going on around us is probably actually stuck onto credit cards & while I've heard the 0% argument a lot, I've come to the conclusion that even if it's 0%, it's still debt & it still needs paying off. In fact, I always mentally rewrite signs which say '0% credit' with the words '0% debt' as that's what it is. Everyone in it for the long haul is entitled to feel a bit fed -up now & again, it's only human. Tell yourself how brilliantly you've actually done & don't keep beating yourslef up about half-way marks....that will come. There's loads of folk on here who'd dearly love to have paid off what you have. x

mrsb83_2

You are making great progress, but I definitely understand how you feel.

After the initial excitement, it's just plain hard work to keep going.

Definitely set yourself some smaller targets - whilst 50% paid is a great one with a big psychological boost, a few other targets on the way will definitely help.

rdchick

I know how you feel.

I have only been doing this for 3 months and already I am bored of it!!! For me it's because I paid off all the little debts first. All the little niglers and now I have the big daddy debts and feel like poo about them. Just don't know where to start. They all have APRs in the high 20's and I don't think I have any chance of a 0% card or anything because I don't earn enough so... yeah I know how you feel. Also about the holiday thing - seems everyone is going on holiday. We aren't going anywhere. I doubt we can even have a night away for our anniversary like we hoped. Payday has been and gone and my gawd it's gonna be a tight one!! xx

sharronej

Hi Guys, thanks for your continued support. I think maintaining a budget is very difficult especially as you say when the positive feelings around getting to grips with your debt wear off.

I had considered the way I view the debt so rather than lumping it all together I have decided to view it in chunks so rather than looking at £37000.00 I've taken the mortgage of £16,200 off and then segregated the bank loan of £3900 which leaves the real nitty gritty of the cc's which are £17000.00 - they are still scary figures but feel more managable. The snowball calculator has been a massive help and I'll make sure I update it every two or three months so that I can see the difference in black and white. A real priority is scheduling the extra payments through the bank otherwise I can see the extra payments being frittered away into the black hole which is our bank account

I've decided I'm going to go back to my envelopes (piggy banking) to stop the money evaporating - I've been very, very busy lately and have taken my eye off the ball:eek: I think joining some of the challenges is a very good idea.

FOXGLOVES - we are a Scouting family, my husband and I run a group with 70 children so we go camping a lot! We've booked a family camp but having spent two out of the last four weekends camping with dozens of children it doesn't feel quite as luxurious as we'd like a holiday to feel but yes we are lucky to be going. Try car boot sales for equipment other than a tent and if you message me your requirements for a tent i.e. how many people? Do you want to be able to sit inside or stand to full height? I'll help you find a good inexpensive tent which will keep you dry without spending a fortune!

I was thinking about this half way figure and I realised that I would never really be halfway there because it's a transient figure so the other day I decided to work out how much we'd paid off since I found out about our situation in June 09 - it seems unbelievable but we've paid £33000.00 back! So in reality I am almost halfway there :rotfl: .

Thank heavens for this site so we can all help each other stay on the straight and narrow.

RDCHICK - I'm sorry to hear you can't make it away, could you have a special night at home? Perhaps the M&* finest meal - £10 for two including very nice wine? Perhaps a trip to Lush for some nice body massage cream? You could both get dressed up as if you were going out for a meal and maybe spend the weekend pretending you were away - go for a walk in a local beauty spot etc? A real pamper weekend.

determined_new_ms

come over to the small things daily thread - really its all about keeping us going & each day looking at what things syou can do to spend less/reduce the debt. Its a really friendly bunch with lots of feel good camaraderie & when you hit a wall we've all there to get you going again!

sharronej

determined_new_ms wrote: »

come over to the small things daily thread - really its all about keeping us going & each day looking at what things syou can do to spend less/reduce the debt. Its a really friendly bunch with lots of feel good camaraderie & when you hit a wall we've all there to get you going again!

Can't find it Is there a link please?

backinbusiness

You are a scouting family - track it or something!!

Good luck OP - after the initial enthusiasm it can be a long, tiresome and boring slog but very, VERY, worthwhile in the end!

bib x

sharronej

Ha ha tracking is much easier through a field or forest where you look for clues - that I can manage, large websites however are a completely different matter :rotfl:

BEAT_THE_DEBT

You have done sooooo well. And camping is the new black its so in darling lol xx