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

craigywv

hello mr bloater stumbled across this thread by accident was quite taken back by the name of the thread I have only read a few pages from the start but noticed its from 2011 before I satart reading it have you managed to reduce the amount you owe much also your weight I noticed when you started was 23 stone I not being nosy but admire your sense of humour and bravery at accepting things come to a head and need dealt with WELL DONE YOU!!!I will be reading this from start to finish like a well anticipated book. its not often a man does this sort of thing. take care

ANewBeginning

Mr Bloater

I have followed you from day one. Don't give up. If only to keep us all safe in the knowledge that we are not alone and we are not bad people. We, for whatever reasons, have just been not so savvy with money!
And in my case, food too!

Your posts are far from boring. You have shown us all that you are an accomplished writer, witty and intuitive. Keep them going. It must be cathartic?

After Christmas I will be getting back on the pay debts off and lose weight treadmill. To be honest I don't know which one stresses me out more. I weigh less than I did 5 years ago and am £18k less in debt than I was 3 years ago. As hard as it is, we have to celebrate these small feats.

All the very best to you and your family. See you on the other side of enforced festivities. xx

MrBloater

Going to keep this upbeat so will focus on the positives, targets and trying to encapsulate my goal.

Positives
1) Well, I'm back posting on here so obviously I haven't totally fallen off the radar.

2) First contract signed for extra work so that's another £550 in the bag for a few evenings work at the end of May. Hoping for a couple more contracts to come my way soon.

3) Backdated payrise in this month's pay packet is another few quid that had been unaccounted for. Plus from next month I'm on a slightly higher scale to reflect my promotion.

Targets
1) We need £5k by June for a summer holiday that we've already put a deposit down on. Nothing elaborate or fancy (despite the cost) - all this on air fares and car hire. It's the price of having transatlantic (and geographically remote) family. So the plan is to pay down a CC and then bung this back onto it so in case anything goes wrong with the airline etc we will be protected.

2) We've seen a really nice house that we'd like to buy. Only 4 roads along from us so the same catchment area so no school moves for the little Bloaters and a lovely big garden (enough space for a whole complex of sheds). Only trouble is it's a shade under 600k. Which is over double what our current house is worth. But if we took all the money that we spend on payments to the CCs each month we could likely double the amount of money we throw at the mortgage. It's an insane plan and with our credit history and level of debt nobody would touch us with a bargepole. But I've always been a big fan of going for insane plans. If I hadn't gone against the grain I would likely have eked out a living laying driveways. And considering the onslaught I faced at the end of last year, the fact I've got through this one and come out of it at a higher level than I was at before shows that underneath all the selfdoubt and stress about petty rubbish like ebay, I have some resilience.

And so to my goal.

My kids have a Dad who's a survivor, a fighter, a scrapper. But now they need a Dad who's a bit wiser too. It's time to start taking the debt and the exercise seriously. Even if it's a penny more than the minimum payment on the various CC's then that's a penny well spent. A £5 bottle of wine lasts an hour, but 50p extra on each of the 10 cards we have will make more of a long term difference. A daily 5k run at stupid o'clock every morning is fantastic, but even a 5 minute stint on the Wii Fit is better than nothing. And this place is fantastic. I need this forum, this diary, I need this little grey box to type my thoughts into cos otherwise they will rattle around in my head and drive me loopy.

Igamogam

I sense a new old Mr B emerging if that makes sense!

A Happy Christmas to you and yours and here is to a productive 2014 with new goals, holidays, extra 50ps and all that:D

When I see house prices like that...................._pale_

ani_26

MrBloater wrote: »

Going to keep this upbeat so will focus on the positives, targets and trying to encapsulate my goal.



Targets

1) We need £5k by June for a summer holiday that we've already put a deposit down on.

£5k on a summer holiday? :eek:

2) We've seen a really nice house that we'd like to buy. Only trouble is it's a shade under 600k. Which is over double what our current house is worth.


Wouldn't you be better downsizing rather than upsizing, (and increasing / doubling your mortgage?)




A £5 bottle of wine lasts an hour,



Mr Bloater :eek: :doh::think::whistle:

I'm shocked # speechless.


There's little to say except to wish you and yours a happy xmas and a prosperous # lucky, new year. :rotfl:


ani xx

ani_26

Igamogam wrote: »

I sense a new old Mr B emerging if that makes sense!

Really? It seems like the old Mr Bloater, to me, (forgive me, Mr B.)


Mr B, i truly worry, from what i read, you definitely haven't experienced your lightbulb moment yet, and at some point in the future, you will be engulfed by raging fire.


Consolidaton, or increasing your debt, is never the way forward, believe me, and there may come a time when you will have to downsize whether you wish to or not, and this will leave you with no choices in your future, at all.

julie2710

Hi Mr B

Just wanted to delurk, I've been lurking since the start and I know you've visited my diary too.

I want to say that I absolutely understand where you are coming from with the feeling that such tiny amounts of money spent are immaterial to the huge sums owed! I've done it and still do sometimes if I'm honest. When you owe so much it seems pointless to not treat yourself to a £1.39 coffee after all its a drop in the ocean isn't it? This year I have been doing (well trying to do) the extra payment a week challenge. Even if its only the cost of that one coffee! I round the credit card payments up to the nearest £1 too every month. Over the year I've overpaid by more than I would ever have imagined. I still look at what I owe though and beat myself up that I haven't done enough but that's where this place is so great because everyone else sees things differently.

Hang in there, little steps and yes sometimes we take a little step backwards too. The path to debt free might be a fast sprint for some, for others it's going to be a winding path through the woods with a couple of detours here and there, just make sure you don't wander so far off the path that the wolf catches you.

New year is looming and like many of us on here, I suspect, time to take stock, see what's worked and what hasn't, set some new goals and start back on that path.

Good luck Mr B you're heading in the right direction generally. Hope the Bloater family have a great Christmas.

macman

If you want (you don't 'need') a £5K holiday and a £600K new house in your circumstances, then now I begin to understand why you were £301K in debt at the start of this thread...

*Robin*

^^^ Seconded (what Julie wrote)!

MrB, just de-lurking to say you have inspired me to start de-cluttering my own Shed of Doom. :T

ps. Harking back to the car. A few years ago speed-humps* were installed across all exits from my home. Not long after, m' van had to go into the garage when a shocker failed. Mechanic told me it's important to replace both sides and ensure van is evenly loaded to avoid air-bags going off if I hit a hump too fast.. He was happy, getting loads of extra business from exactly the mishap you experienced.

* The big bumps.

gallygirl

Crikey, I've obviously read a different post to everyone else . I thought Mr B was saying that he's realised what he could be doing with his money rather than paying off debt so wants to pay it down asap.

Mr B have you come across Tilly Tidies? I know in the past you've been after grand gestures but something like this may just keep your interest up, and fit with your '50p off the debt' ethos. Basically, log onto your bank account and whatever the odd pennies are you transfer that to a savings account/mortgage/credit card etc. (Not if you're overdrawn though ). I send anything over 50p over to a different account, anything under 50p gets a pound to accompany it as it's too little to go on it's own :cool:). Trvial amounts, but £200+ this year which does make a difference :T.

Here's hoping your lightbulb stays on :j.