Debts and discipline

foxgloves

You have to want to be debt-free more than you want to spend money on really pretty average lunches & pints at the pub! It's a bit like dieting.....you can set your sights on the prize of getting slimmer & fitter or you can enjoy the short-term pleasures of a bar of chocolate or a big pizza. The only thing is that if you choose the latter & go for the short term pleasures, they will just mean postponing the inevitable. You can save loads of money by being strict with yourself & not frittering it away on unnecessary bits & pieces. Me & my husband were among the world's worst for this.....when we finally got our acts together to start making packed lunches for work, we were stunned to find it saved us around £2,000 a year!! You do have to change your mindset, but if you do it now, you should be out of debt not long into your 30s.....we carried on with our naughty ways until we were around 40 before finally cracking it & paying the last of it off last year. If buying lunches out & spending £50 at the pub on the way home GENUINELY mean more to you than getting yourself debt-free, you'll find it difficult, but if you really think about it, I bet you'd much rather have the satisfaction of getting youself into a stronger financial position. After all, there are no situations in life that are improved by being in debt. Good luck with it.

artnoble

foxgloves wrote: »

You have to want to be debt-free more than you want to spend money on really pretty average lunches & pints at the pub! It's a bit like dieting.....you can set your sights on the prize of getting slimmer & fitter or you can enjoy the short-term pleasures of a bar of chocolate or a big pizza. The only thing is that if you choose the latter & go for the short term pleasures, they will just mean postponing the inevitable. You can save loads of money by being strict with yourself & not frittering it away on unnecessary bits & pieces. Me & my husband were among the world's worst for this.....when we finally got our acts together to start making packed lunches for work, we were stunned to find it saved us around £2,000 a year!! You do have to change your mindset, but if you do it now, you should be out of debt not long into your 30s.....we carried on with our naughty ways until we were around 40 before finally cracking it & paying the last of it off last year. If buying lunches out & spending £50 at the pub on the way home GENUINELY mean more to you than getting yourself debt-free, you'll find it difficult, but if you really think about it, I bet you'd much rather have the satisfaction of getting youself into a stronger financial position. After all, there are no situations in life that are improved by being in debt. Good luck with it.

Wow thank you, that just hit home to me. I'm going to save that post.

I guess the sense of satisfaction and achievement was a fantastic feeling. I just want to know I have the power to do it.

I've now decided to contact one of the charities. I believe paying a lump sum to someone would be far easier to manage then paying a few creditors.

I really need to do this now..

foxgloves

Glad you found my post helpful. You WILL do it, if you focus on that bigger prize. Having finally cracked the debt problem, we have applied exactly the same mindset to weight-loss......the other big thing we always failed at, & have so far lost over 3 stone (him!) & 4 stone (me!). We are finding it's just the same mental process as paying off our debts. FOCUS on the big long term goal & how great you will feel & the positive benefits to your life of being debt-free, PLAN ahead so you are not caught out with unexpected bills, BUDGET like crazy & remember that every extra bit of money thrown at that debt will pay it off quicker. If you've got things you can list on ebay, do it, obviously no-one's saying you can never treat yourself to a pint (what sort of life would that be?!), but if it's often £50 down the pub like you say in your original post, just 4 of those sessions is another £200 whacked off the debt. Go on, go for it! Great feeling to see the last bit of it disappear. You feel you've won instead of the banks, credit card companies, for a change!

YoungBusinessman

Posters on here keep PM'ing me to say well done dealing with debts at young age...you say you dont want to be in this position at 40, 40 year old says 50 etc. I am 21 and say i want out of this getting paid to pay to bank lifestyle, its holding me back and my surplus income would be a very impressive figure had i not racked up enough debt so i have minimum payments totalling more than £800 a month.

I can relate to almost everything you have said. Onwards and upwards though, lets get debt free together.

thatsean

Art, get an afternoon to yourself, a supply of tea and a pad and pencil and ring around. Creditors are pretty helpful i've found when you're trying to track down debts in order to pay them. I had an account with HSBC/Metropolitan that had been passed from pillar to post, i tracked it down, passed on the details to Payplan and got a letter dated the following day that they had accepted Payplan's offer. It seems that making it easy for them can work out!

artnoble

foxgloves wrote: »

Glad you found my post helpful. You WILL do it, if you focus on that bigger prize. Having finally cracked the debt problem, we have applied exactly the same mindset to weight-loss......the other big thing we always failed at, & have so far lost over 3 stone (him!) & 4 stone (me!). We are finding it's just the same mental process as paying off our debts. FOCUS on the big long term goal & how great you will feel & the positive benefits to your life of being debt-free, PLAN ahead so you are not caught out with unexpected bills, BUDGET like crazy & remember that every extra bit of money thrown at that debt will pay it off quicker. If you've got things you can list on ebay, do it, obviously no-one's saying you can never treat yourself to a pint (what sort of life would that be?!), but if it's often £50 down the pub like you say in your original post, just 4 of those sessions is another £200 whacked off the debt. Go on, go for it! Great feeling to see the last bit of it disappear. You feel you've won instead of the banks, credit card companies, for a change!

Cheers foxgloves.

You really do talk allot of sense. Making those changes and budgeting needs to be done.

Instead of throwing letters away I've been keeping them, hopefully I'll get some more over the coming weeks and be able to work through what I owe.

I also want to lose weight and get myself fitter so combining the two what an achievement that would be. I have joined a gym (not money saving I know) but its only £4 a week so I definitely get my moneys worth.

I really need to get the working for the weekend out my head and change my mind set. Monday - Thursday I'm great but when it comes to friday afternoon everything goes to pot. I need a hobby something to concentrate on other than work.

Thanks thatsean and YoungBusinessman your posts are very helpful

artnoble

azlan wrote: »

There is a brilliant spreadsheet for tracking all spend/making a budget created by cw18 on the OS board that I use here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/39711066#Comment_39711066 - it's post 360 - last one on page 18.

I've just downloaded it, its very thorough. I'll see if I can get me head round it.