DFW Book - Recognising The Signs Before It Happens Again

postingalwaysposting

when you say to yourself its budgeted... :rolleyes: and clearly its not. When you allow yourself treats but this money is taken from debt repayments or savings. Thinking with your heart ie i want/ i need instead of with an mse head. When you sell things on ebay then fritter away your profit (sitting in your paypal account) back on ebay

But then i cant really answer this one as i dont listen and enter back into debt less than a year after my dfd :rolleyes:

hope_strong

I think the main danger is thinking you're 'safe'.

Starting to go out shopping again, allowing yourself to look at all the nice things.

Stopping reading the forum because you 'don't need it anymore'.

BUT ....

The main early warning sign that you're in danger of building up debt is when you accept an overdraft, credit card or other credit that you have not planned for using MSE techniques. My card just increased my limit to - wait for it - £9500 unasked, becasue I use it for work and pay it off.

That potential money now sits there tempting me, so my task now is to ring them and tell them to reduce the limit to an amount needed for my work expenses.

If you don't want debt again, don't borrow again. I've been there three times now and don't want to go back again, I really don't.

-Hope

beanielou

Taking cash out on your credit card-just this once.
Ordering something for someone & paying by credit card & not paying money straight off the card when they pay you.

sanfrancisco

If you even comtemplate getting into debt for a second after you are debt free you have not had your lightbulb moment. The freedom of being debt free is like a drug that I could never give up.

oops_a_daisy

I think the danger signs are when you start dipping into the overdraft again and yes it is a 'free' overdraft but means that you are not budgetting properly. Once you get to a debt free status you then get complacent and some of the things that got you there like sticking to grocery budgets can go out of the window with just one take away. I also think that everything that you learn throughout your debt free journey does stick with you so it is easier to recognise the signs and get back on the straight and narrow. Laziness can also creep in when you can not be bothered to shop around as you dont really have to anymore.

sammiboo

I personally am really scared of dropping into old ways, as I have been doing well at getting the debt down.

I have found myself thinking "i'll just buy that its not much" but you do it again and again. Then all those things that "arent much" soon become a lot!!!

I have also paid off my overdraft knowing that if a spend extra this month it wont matter that much as i wont be going over my overdraft. I have to keep telling myself not to think that way and rely on the money that is mine.

It doesnt help aswell when things you have to pay for you dont expect such as the car breaking etc, this can lead into putting it on the card to deal with later but in reality it wont.

ms_london

It can be very easy to slip into your old ways thats for sure. I think initially after my DFD I was just as cautious, still a bit frugal with my $$$ & perhaps overley so. But since I left for Australia, and the fact that I had all of my savings just sitting there & no income coming in, I just didnt budget - I did have moments where I saw my savings hit a certain mark and panicked and cut back on my spending, but generally I didnt monitor what I was spending - but I guess that is the fun of travelling hey?

I do still have a credit card but havent paid a penny of interest on it since I got it in December 05, but I do sometimes have the mentality of putting things on the credit card because it doesnt feel like "real money" - but I also pay it off in full each month so I guess I havent done too much damage! Although lately I have been saving my wages but spending on my credit card therefore depleting my UK savings, which kind of defeats the object of saving my wages! :rolleyes:

Still, it is important to strike a balance between budgeting and not depriving yourself, but I will never get into debt again - apart from a mortgage which is slightly different.

The worrying (and annoying) thing is that half the travellers I have met out here wont think twice about running up their credit cards & loans whilst theyre here and returning home with debt. :eek: I want to send them here but they'd probably tell me to *&$(# off !! Oh well. I can see their point, its no different to me running up the 19,000 of debt I spent is it, and perhaps it would have been better spent on a round-the-world trip, but its done now.

MSE Sue - you said just a couple of lines, oooops!! :rotfl:

frugalpam

I can identify with all of these been there and got the T shirt with most of them.
For me, it was always the unexpected bill like a car repair or the washer conking out, and realising I had not budgeted and would have to pay with plastic or use my overdraft facility - and knew I was close to the limits on both. And that there was still another 2 weeks to payday - and I'd Ebayed everything I could Ebay. That awful sickly feeling of 'how I am going to survive til payday'.
I'm never ever going there again. I know to the penny what I've got to spend and what I owe, these days

Pam

Molanole

There are some good ones here. Early warning signs for me include:

:mad: When the credit card sneaks out to pay for something, and honestly, you will pay it back next month, but never do.

:mad: When you start moving stuff from your big one off savings for car tax, insurance etc, into your current account because you've not budgeted well this month.

:mad: When you find yourself looking at consolidation loans thinking that they would make your life easier, forgetting that consolidation loans combined with my lack of will power are the things that exacerbated my situation in the first place.

Former_MSE_Sue

thanks for all of these - a huge thank you to everyone who's contributed so far on the boards to all my please for quotes, thoughts and opinions and been so honest and open - obviously I don't want to clog up the boards by thanking everyone every time but really appreciate all your help - till my next plea.....cheers Sue x