The "Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2012" challenge - PART 3!!!

Ruthy1604

Hello all,

I've had a horrible couple of weeks. My lovely mum has been poorly for a few weeks & the doctors tests showed nothing. It all came to a head last weekend & mum was taken into hospital and diagnosed with bowel cancer. She is so weak at the moment, they cannot start chemo, but she has had an operation to bypass the tumor & is starting very slowly to eat again.

As you can imagine, all thoughts of debt busting have gone out of the window, but on the other hand I havent wanted to spend money. I am spending loads on train fares to get from the Midlands to Cornwall, but I really can't think about that at the moment & will carry it forward to my 2013 debt.

I am supposed to be going to Florida in 11 days & all my family are telling me to go, but I have just lost all my excitement. I need to buck up my ideas a bit for the kids sakes

Anyway, I have made a few payments so far this month & have finally paid Mr Branstons card off (well mine anyway )

#306 Ruthy1604 £14117.52/16779.81 84.13%

fallenwiccan

Ruthy1604 wrote: »

Hello all,

I've had a horrible couple of weeks. My lovely mum has been poorly for a few weeks & the doctors tests showed nothing. It all came to a head last weekend & mum was taken into hospital and diagnosed with bowel cancer. She is so weak at the moment, they cannot start chemo, but she has had an operation to bypass the tumor & is starting very slowly to eat again.

As you can imagine, all thoughts of debt busting have gone out of the window, but on the other hand I havent wanted to spend money. I am spending loads on train fares to get from the Midlands to Cornwall, but I really can't think about that at the moment & will carry it forward to my 2013 debt.

I am supposed to be going to Florida in 11 days & all my family are telling me to go, but I have just lost all my excitement. I need to buck up my ideas a bit for the kids sakes

Anyway, I have made a few payments so far this month & have finally paid Mr Branstons card off (well mine anyway )

#306 Ruthy1604 £14117.52/16779.81 84.13%

Oh no Ruthy

My OH's Mam was diagnosed with bowel cancer on my birthday last year. She's been officially in remission for a few months now. It was hard at times, she was so low, she lost so much weight but she got through it. We laughed, we cried and we fought it together as a family and she did it on her own when that was too much to bear.

Go on holiday and bring back wonderful photos and stories that you can share with her when she can't get up and can't face the day at all. We put a TV in OH's parents bedroom as she couldn't get out of bed for weeks when they gave her a chemo overdose (her weight was borderline between two doses so they gave her the higher which wasn't great with her) they'd never had one before but it helped. I'm thinking of you and yours. Call Macmillan if you need someone to talk to, they support the whole family not just the person with the illness as this will effect everyone's lives.

lemonpopsicle

Oh Ruthy that's terrible news, sending hugs down the magic waves. You're in my thoughts.
Just a little payment to declare from fleabay sale
No.069 £7155 / £7719 = 92.69%

mumof3plusoh

Ruthy, so sorry to hear your news. Sending you hug and lots of love to you and your family xxxx

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

seriousDFW wrote: »

Jemma, thanks for including me in your mega reply!

I am pleased that I've paid off a chunk of debt, but I can't deny that I feel guilty and frustrated with myself because I know I could have been DF by now if I'd really worked hard at it.

To be honest, my OH and I haven't really adjusted our lifestyles very much at all so I know we have wasted a lot of money. We are our own worst enemy, both of us have our weaknesses and we can't seem to be strong in the face of temptation!

However, I am hoping that we will be DF by the end of January and that seems really close now. Work is manic at the moment so hopefully being busy will make the time fly by and then come January 28th we will be having a massive celebration!

I am inspired by all other posters here though. I shudder to think what state our finances would be in if I hadn't found MSE, and I doubt I would have paid off anywhere near as much debt without the inspiring stories of others on this particular challenge thread.

So another 'thank you' Jemma and it's great to read about all the positive things going on in your life. I genuinely have no doubt whatsoever that you are a very strong person and will succeed in getting where you want to be in life!

This really rang bells with me as we too are our own worst enemy. If we'd been good with money, we'd have our mortgage paid off in 4 years :eek: but we're not . Never mind, at least we're doing something about it now. The fact that you'll be debt free by the end of Jan is brilliant!

mumsiemum wrote: »

. . . have not posted for months, but have still been paying off debts. My summer went really well - I don't get paid much over the summer and usually rely on CCs. This time I did some casual work and sold stuff on ebay, car boot, traded oldmobile phones in - anything to cover costs!! I managed it without using CC so my debt did not increase as it would normally. :j:j

I was on target to clear by end of 2012 but a reduction in hours at work mean this cannot happen now. :mad: I was totally gutted as I have worked so hard to make this happen - almost gave up trying.:o

Anyway after reading loads of diaries/threads on here I have been motivated to regroup and aim for May 2013. It will be really tough to meet but I need to get rid of this debt as no one in my family know about it. I feel terrible for getting into this mess and I feel I am depriving the kids of things they would have normally had. My mood is not great and TBH I think that affects them more than the 'stuff'. I am full of guilt which I was hoping would ease once debts were paid of by 2012. That's why I have struggled with dealing with job cut.

I am looking for other work and am prepared to work hard but I think my age is against me (52).

I keep reminding my self that I have paid off a big chunk of what I owe so I shouldn't feel bad - I just wanted it gone by the end of the year.

I know you guys are really supportive of eachother and I hope you don't mind me barging back in. I just need to be among others in the same situation - who understand and know what it's like to deal with debts like this.

OK time to stop moaning and get on with it.

MM

I'm glad you're not going to give up as to be debt free by May 2013 is still brilliant :j. Try not to feel guilty as you are doing your best .

parsniphead wrote: »

Hi all

A quick update for this month.

#103

£3490/19000 -18%

Ok so I'm not going to achieve paying off all my debt:mad: but I will keep going as reading the thread keeps me going.

Thank you all.

Yes - keep going - there's plenty of us who will not be debt free by Christmas.

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

Ruthy - so sorry to hear your news *hugs*.

jakes-mum

Ahh Ruthy, big virtual hugs to your mum and everyone

Hugs to everyone else feeling down at the minute, we seem to be going through a thread lull again, a bit of pre christmas 'only 2 months to go and we arn't going to make it' blues. Regardless if each of us make the xmas deadline or not, we are all closer to being debt free than we were and a darned sight closer than if we hadnt tried at all :eek:

I shall end with a completely off topic and unimportant post (in the hope of making you all smile slightly) what is it with men and putting dirty crockery in the sink and then filling EACH item with water rather than emptying the dishwasher and reloading it? seriously, just went to start dinner and there is 3 plates, 7 cups, 4 bowls all filled with water and the cutlery stuffed in a pint glass on the side (also with water in it!)

SpagBol

Huge hugs Ruthy xxxx

suzitiger

jakes-mum wrote: »

I shall end with a completely off topic and unimportant post (in the hope of making you all smile slightly) what is it with men and putting dirty crockery in the sink and then filling EACH item with water rather than emptying the dishwasher and reloading it? seriously, just went to start dinner and there is 3 plates, 7 cups, 4 bowls all filled with water and the cutlery stuffed in a pint glass on the side (also with water in it!)

Hahahahahahahaahahaaaaaaaaaa :rotfl:ROTFL I thought this was just my one, YES what IS it with that? Drives me bonkers haha! We don't have a dishwasher but my OH leaves always puts everything dirty in the sink, fills the bowl up for things to 'soak' and doesnt wash them. He also never scrapes things so there is usually a lot of food scraps blocking the sink when u empty the cold slimy water. It makes the washing up actually HARDER to do because you have to clean the sink, washing up bowl and unblock the plug before you can make a start. This usallly puts me off I have to say hahaha.

Ruthy1604 wrote: »

Hello all,

I've had a horrible couple of weeks. My lovely mum has been poorly for a few weeks & the doctors tests showed nothing. It all came to a head last weekend & mum was taken into hospital and diagnosed with bowel cancer. She is so weak at the moment, they cannot start chemo, but she has had an operation to bypass the tumor & is starting very slowly to eat again.

As you can imagine, all thoughts of debt busting have gone out of the window, but on the other hand I havent wanted to spend money. I am spending loads on train fares to get from the Midlands to Cornwall, but I really can't think about that at the moment & will carry it forward to my 2013 debt.

Ohhhhhh Ruthy big hugs to you, my thoughts are with you and your family. I am glad she has finally had a diagnoisis and that you can now work on getting her better

SpagBol

I am going to declare money off my OD...even though I haven't reduced the limit yet or indeed decided which OD to reduce (we have three...wait for it...this might ruin your breakfast...I have one of £2.5k, DH one of £3.5k and a joint one of £5k!! :eek::eek::eek:)

They are all high interest, obviously (roughly 19% I would say but the ones DH is linked to are slightly lower APR as he has a nifty account) so I think I'll reduce mine first.

Anyway, by sundown (feeling a bit Shakespearean about it ) I will have decided and reduced one by £600 so:

#084 £14,381 / £58,000 24.79%

:j:j

The mortgage/salary date debacle has worked in our favour and effectively we have a mortgage holiday this month so I'm using half the money to pay off some of my OD instead :T Next month is DH's bonus month so will cover the increased mortgage (although not double payment strangely) and pay off a bit of OD :j