301k in debt and morbidly obese - things aren't great!

miggy

Keep up the good work, Mr B - if you can do it in November, foggy, cold and grey as it currently is, you can do it any time! You made a very impressive and prolonged start but it's hard to keep up impetus on several fronts, so if we can give you any encouragement, just shout.

And do tell about the off-cast overalls. We need to know.

MrBloater

Mr Bloater's Stats Blast Month 3 (22nd October - 22nd November)

Total debt
Was: £297.3k
Is: £295.5k

Credit Card debt
Was: £48.1k
Is: £48.1k

Loan debt
Was: £25.4k
Is: £23.7k

Overdraft
Was: £3.5k
Is: £3.8k

Mortgage
Was: £220.3k
Is: £219.7k

Weight
Was: 22.07 stone / BMI 38.34
Is: Not Known - Damned if I'm gonna depress myself this evening by jumping on the scales. This has been enough hard work.

Major fear about this diary
Was: Not overtaking the Matrix matriarchs on page viewing figures in the next couple of weeks...
Is: Keeping this diary going for the next couple of weeks.

And just to address a couple of questions - there is sod all equity in the house - it was a 100% mortgage taken out in 2007 (great timing), and I am never taking on more debt to pay off debt - could have easily got another loan and then stuck our heads in the sand for another year making the same old mistakes, or we can do this the painful slow way and set the kids a good example. Anyways, Bloater house is full of flu (except me) so I better see if I can make myself useful.

Dorastar

Well I am still mightily impressed by your progress so far and remember November is the carpiest month around in terms of illness and psychological stuff too - my dh works with people with mental health issues and a lot of them hibernate their way through November. You have started loads of serious changes - weightloss, budgeting, paying off debts, had Ofsod, running and still being there for Mrs B and the little Bloaters - give yourself a pat on the back for how well you've done so far and do what you can for now to keep going.

Northern_Lassy

Totals look encouraging so stick with it Mr B! I am badly need a bit of light relief at the moment...not much fun at Northern Towers today...Am in need of a witty novel to read, will pay handsomely...no pressure

cocalls

Mr B it's time for some tough love-although your overall debt has gone down, it looks like it's just the normal mort and loan payments that have gone out, your od has gone up and your cc's are still the same. So i presume you're still spending on those cc's-STOP NOW. Although i suppose some of those are xmas pressies-have you budgeted for xmas? Maybe allocate each person their money and see how much your debt is going to go up when you put it on the cc and then try and make cut backs elsewhere.

Ok lecture over-keep going, i'm presuming you're a teacher, i'm thinking an english secondary school teacher, if so just holding that job down is stressful enough! Keep plugging away,maybe target one cc to get rid of as it'll give you a focus.

Karmacat

When everyone's got flu is *not* the time to do anything new - just keep going, and get through it - look after yourself too, as much as you can.

Good to see your stats up there, means that you're still trying to focus on it. And you know, MrB, one of the first posts I made on your thread was something to the effect that you can't keep up the light and cheery tone all the time, making everything into a brill story ... why do you think I said that? Because the kind of stuff you've been going through over the last few weeks is well known to us all, especially for people with larger debts. You're human, you know? And you're a human with two tiny little kids and a full time job, as well as a relationship with the woman you love to keep going. Do what you can, do it as cheaply as possible, throw whatever you can at the debts. Remember that your kids are (mostly) too young to have been caught up in the worst consumer hype of Christmas, so you don't need to throw hundreds and hundreds of pounds at their presents.

Take care.

klfairy

Hello Mr Bloater. I'm very new and spent basically the whole of yesterday just reading your thread. It has been a great help because I've picked up a lot of hints and tips as well as found your progress rather inspiring.

Keep going Mr B

MrsMoo2U

Hello Mr B, good advice there from KC. I remember early on in your diary that you posted something about noticing that diaries seem to run out of steam after a month or so (I cant find it now). Given the place you are in now perhaps you understand why that is. It's hard to keep up the perkiness sometimes but thats ok too. You cheer so many people up from your posting so maybe now is the time to let others cheer you up and for you to coast a little rather than pushing yourself. Sometimes things get too much and taking a step back and plodding is a good way to reassess.

Chin up Mr B, whilst its down you cant see the cardboard for the dinosaurs

sealady

One little positive there are probably less than 20 get ups until the holidays.

I'm sure your mojo will reappear soon and you will have us all eating out your hand with your wonderful words.

MrBloater

All the sick Bloaters are now in bed and apparently sleeping so the wine has come out closely followed by a nosey on the forum - which is a good sign. Sage words and all of them appreciated - thankyou. Am making no secret of the fact that the debt is not going down as fast as it should be, and could reel off a litany of justifications as to why it hasn't, but the cold hard figures remain, and indeed were it not for the 500 banked from eBay then things woulda been a lot bleaker. But the upside is that the debt is being serviced, no missed payments and had we gone on how we were, then we would have hit the wall mid-September, the changes we have implemented have meant that whilst we're veering near the edge, we have got DD's birthday and a fairly hefty Christmas all done and dusted, and come Jan/Feb there is daylight with the end of a loan and no council tax. This will help little snowballs to be thrown. With the debt reduction, as with the weightloss, its about getting the balance and making it sustainable. I could go on the cabbage soup diet for a week (and I am bloody minded enough to do it - I went coldturkey from smoking 40 a day just before DD was born) and would lose oodles, but it would go back on the next week, same as stopping all treats and things that make life bearable could be done, and we could eat celery sticks taken from the bins at the back of the Co-Op for a month, but couldn't sustain that forever, so I'd rather try and earn a little more, spend a little less, exercise a little more, eat rubbish a little less, and make these small but incremental changes that will stick. Much as I love the dramatic gestures, it's gonna be a long journey and I can't sacrifice our lifestyle for short periods of intensive misery, which will then be overcompensated for in the good times.