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

hummingbird

Looking forward to hearing the "full gory details" Mr B! Great to hear you had a good summer! I was wondering if I had killed this thread as well:rotfl:

Igamogam

I read your post Mr B and kinda found myself in Angry Bears camp:o But its your choice and your debt and only you know how you are going to repay it!

Think you need to convert the shed into an Anderson Shelter as there is a bombardment of TUTS on their way:eek:

MrBloater

I'm strong enough to handle the tuts - after all it's hardly like I've ever held myself up as a paragon of debtbusting. Guess I could have skulked away and returned in a few months shamefaced saying how I fell off the wagon and begging forgiveness but I've never been into all the confession / repent kinda rubbish. Fact is I saw an oppurtunity, took it, and now have to pay back the princely sum of £50 at the end of the month (and a heck of a lot more over the years I know) The alternative would have been to have had a miserable penny-pinching summer with all events cancelled, the car unfixed and the Bloaters slowly going insane staring at each other over a daily tin of value baked beans. It might have brought plaudits from the hardcore MSE'rs and the struggle might have made for excellent reading on here but I chose life - and on the one hand it was stupid but on the other hand it was a heck of a lot of fun and gave us the best summer ever. One which I'm happy to work three jobs on for the next nine months to pay off. And then do it all over again next summer. Tut tut tut!

kelpie35

MrBloater wrote: »

I'm strong enough to handle the tuts - after all it's hardly like I've ever held myself up as a paragon of debtbusting. Guess I could have skulked away and returned in a few months shamefaced saying how I fell off the wagon and begging forgiveness but I've never been into all the confession / repent kinda rubbish. Fact is I saw an oppurtunity, took it, and now have to pay back the princely sum of £50 at the end of the month (and a heck of a lot more over the years I know) The alternative would have been to have had a miserable penny-pinching summer with all events cancelled, the car unfixed and the Bloaters slowly going insane staring at each other over a daily tin of value baked beans. It might have brought plaudits from the hardcore MSE'rs and the struggle might have made for excellent reading on here but I chose life - and on the one hand it was stupid but on the other hand it was a heck of a lot of fun and gave us the best summer ever. One which I'm happy to work three jobs on for the next nine months to pay off. And then do it all over again next summer. Tut tut tut!

Good for you Mr Bloater....life is too short to worry about the future too much :beer:

You are a hard working family and deserve a break.

You also face up to your responsibilities and I have every faith in you that you will clear all your debts.

gallygirl

You do realise it will now take you longer to get debt free so you'll be able to entertain us for longer :T.

You're obviously not the type to knuckle down and pay your debt off as quickly as you can so no point fighting it - you're too much of a maverick . You're making the minimum payments and things are about to get easier so fair play to you :beer:.

Shower-of-roses

5k, I dream of having that much lolly to fritter. I'm well jell

Off to read sloblady

MrBloater

Maybe this is what a lightbulb moment feels like? Crashing back to earth with a mighty bump after the !!!!less recklessness of the last few weeks - despite getting the helping hand of the credit card that will try and strangle me over the next few years til it is paid back - I somehow managed to find myself with too much month left for the money - and have somehow managed to lose money on an item I sold for £50 on ebay. I forgot that ebay take their fees in the middle of the month, and this led to my home insurance DD bouncing, which led to a £10 fee from the bank and a £25 fee from the insurance company. Taking into account the postage fees (which were included in the sale price) and the ebay and paypal cut, I would have been better off keeping my cherished childhood toy.

Everything is maxed out now - the overdrafts and all the credit cards - total debt now stands at just under 263k - I still don't regret the summer spend - those memories will stay with us forever, plus my car got fixed and we managed to get some much needed carpets - but I'm somewhat less gung-ho about it all. Still, as I said back when I started this, I'm trying to keep a grin on my face while sorting out this mess so no point getting too down about it - everytime I have stared into the face of desperation it doesn't tend to smile back.

Payrise kicks in from the end of this month, and I have now acquired regular Saturday work (woo-hoo) and will also be doing some evening work (way-hey) to bolster things up a bit. Have now done 6 days without a drink and certainly won't be buying any for the next two weeks so that should help the weight.

To-do lists and pie-in-the-sky plans haven't worked over the duration of this diary so far so it's time to re-evaluate. Am hoping the following simple rules will set me in good stead.

- I have to track everything on a daily basis to keep on top of it - simple mistakes have cost me money I don't have, I have to look ahead as well - predict what bumps in the road are going to come along.

- I have to forget about writing/websites/ebaying etc being a viable form of income - they aren't.- they irritate the hell out of me and provide scant reward.

- I have to concentrate on my main job (and the little related on-the-side bits) - it's what I do best, it's who I am and it is pretty good fun most of the time.

- I need to take my health seriously again. I'm not an age where things are going to get any better without me putting in some serious effort. Still undecided about running - the love/hate thing I have going on with is mentally exhausting - but even 20 minutes on Wii Fit is better than nothing.

- But most importantly I have to keep on being a good Dad and try to be a better husband. All the other stuff (good and bad) is nothing without my family and so I got to put them first, and dig us out of this debt hole slowly, surely and try and do it without losing my sense of humour.

Fingers crossed I remember this post in the dark days and can come back to it and realise exactly why I am doing what I am doing.

beanielou

Well said Mr B.
How lucky you are to have a job that is so you & mostly fun

Igamogam

Welcome back Mr B

sidsmum

I think you should be careful with the running and exercise. When I was about 20 years younger, I had an exercise bike and after a while my left knee started hurting and grating when I used it.

To This Day, I have a painful left knee, made worse by unaligned legs and a huge bunion causing the lack of alignment

Good luck with it all, don't try to do too much!