Indebted Dunce's quest to be debt free

Indebted.Dunce

Shameful stats time (this is not too dissimilar to the walk of shame)


Current account 716
Cash 51
Total assets 767
Current account 2 (overdraft) -122
Barclaycard 1 -5,196
Barclaycard 2 -1,760
Capital One -449
Natwest 1 -704
Natwest 2 -2,153
Family loan 1 -12,870
Family loan 2 -3,203
Season Ticket Loan -239
BL -5,327
NW Loan -4,958
Total liabilities -36,982

Net worth -36,215

I guess my net worth has gone from (37,719) to (36,215), so an improvement for the month of just over £1,500! I must admit that this is a lot better than expected, I must confess a bulk of the difference is due to clever accounting relating to the £250 BT fee that has not been reflected since the transaction has not been processed so I have not recorded it!

Indebted.Dunce

Have a real urge to go try my luck at the tables.:o I have got two voices in my head telling me different things. The first one is saying "go on go try it, what is the worst that will happen? lose £150, it is manageable" but there is another voice going "it is a bloody slippery slope and that one £150 can go a long way towards debt repayment or even treating yourself"!

So far, luckily, the second voice is winning!:) I decided to get myself some dinner, am sat at a little cafe in london munching my dinner and typing this! (Thought if I was busy typing this it would not only keep me busy till the urge passes but more importantly remind me of the promise I have made and totally dissuade me)!

Indebted.Dunce

I am really, really pleased that I resisted the temptation to hit the tables. It was really tough but I somehow managed it. Now I am safely home and in bed. To add to it, there isn't a casino for miles so I can successfully report that crisis has been averted. I make it to be 7 full clean weeks!

I know there will be loads of ups and downs with more times like today and I just have to stay strong and keep reminding myself that "gamblers never win and winners never gamble".

Indebted.Dunce

I have been busy shifting debts to a lower rate but it is still so bloody frustrating seeing the debts go up in the short run!! :oArggghh!! :mad::mad:

All my debts except one is now either at 0% or a low rate (5.9% or 6.9%)!! :j:j

Current account 216
Cash 51
Total assets 267
Current account 2 (overdraft) -494 (not sure of the rate)
Barclaycard 1 -5,196 (5.9%)
Barclaycard 2 -1,760 (0%)
Capital One -449 (0%)
Natwest 1 -704 (0%)
Natwest 2 -2,153 (0%)
Family loan 1 -12,870 (0%)
Family loan 2 -3,153 (0%)
Season Ticket Loan -239 (0%)
MBNA -5,250 (6.9%)
NW Loan -4,958 (17.9% :eek:)
Total liabilities -37,226

Net worth -36,950

That is £400 spent on the transfer fee for MBNA and repayment interest on the Barclayloan:eek::eek: but at least the debt has now been shifted from 20.5% to 6.9% so all the repayments will more or less be going towards the debts!

Indebted.Dunce

I am really not impressed with myself! I thought I had it all covered and all my debts, except one, were low rate! Just found out that the 0% deal on one of my Natwest credit card has expired and the other expires on 12/03/13!! :mad:

I need to be overpaying the Natwest 1 CC (c£700) asap and then tackle the Natwest 2 CC (c£2,150) - I have no idea how I am going to manage to pay it off without incurring interest!!

onamissionEU

Congratulations on getting this far with your Gambling and debt issues. I was in the same boat as you - I racked up unaffordable debts to fund a gambling habit I thought I had under control.
I also lost a decent 6 figure sum over the years and ended up hitting rock bottom. Fortunately I have managed to clear all my debts, stopped gambling & now have a healthy financial & family life. It can be done but it needs to come from within.

The problem with gambling is the little voice telling you "just fifty quid - what harm can it do"... and then having the cash/credit card/means to gamble that money away &&&&& more. The 50 quid leads to 500 quid in a heartbeat.

The 1st & most important thing I would advise you to do is cut up ALL of your credit cards. You do not need one for "emergencys" and your emergency will inevitably be gambling. The second thing you MUST DO AFTER EACH PAYMENT is to reduce your credit limit on each card. I lost count of the amount of time I went through old statements to get card numbers and exp dates so that I could make an online deposit for the purpose of gambling - because I knew I had a little credit limit available after making payments.
It may sound overkill - but if you have no physical means of getting money/credit you can not gamble it. You only need to fall of the wagon once to undo all the good work.
I also found that using cards or "debt" to gamble was "not real money".... Now that I have "real" money and no debt, the thought of losing it gambling is shocking to me! I earnt that cash and have no intention of giving it to Mr Hill or Mr Tote!
I would also suggest making all min payments then concentrating on paying off each account in turn rather than spreading payments. The feeling of paying off a card is GREAT! Check out "Snowballing" posts here on MSE.

Good luck & if you need any further advise feel free to ask!

Hiddenidenity

Well done on getting this far

Look forward to reading xx

Indebted.Dunce

Thanks onamission!

onamissionEU wrote: »

The problem with gambling is the little voice telling you "just fifty quid - what harm can it do"... and then having the cash/credit card/means to gamble that money away &&&&& more. The 50 quid leads to 500 quid in a heartbeat.

This is something that I can absolutely associate with, except the 50 quid is generally a few thousand pounds.

onamissionEU wrote: »

The 1st & most important thing I would advise you to do is cut up ALL of your credit cards.

All, except a very low limit credit card and a basic cashcard which gives me access to no more than £50 per week, have been cut up. I am also in the process of gradually closing down all my accounts as they get paid off.

Luckily, I am hooked to actual live tables rather than online and even if I were to be hooked there would be no way for me to be able to actually trackback expiry dates and security numbers.

As for going back to the casinos, I don't think I would be going there due to the fact that I have got myself a highly embarrassing cashcard similar to what 13 year old kids have. Additionally, I feel massively embarrassed at the thought of walking into casinos with that card and gambling £50 since these are the same places where the croupiers know me by my first name and I previously gambled £'000s and tipped at least £100 per session. I know it sounds really bad but part of the reason why I opted for the cashcard was to make me feel that way and I guess if it stops me gambling then I am all for it.

onamissionEU wrote: »

You only need to fall of the wagon once to undo all the good work.

Boy! Can I relate to the post or what? This is exactly what has happened to me time and time again! How I wish I did not bother to "test my willpower by walking in and out of a casino without gambling or having gambled only £20 for fun like the rest of the people". The sooner I realise that I am incapable, and I will never be capable, of gambling a very small amount for fun like "normal people", the better it will be.

Thanks a lot for the insightful post and it is always inspiring to hear from people who have "managed to clear all their debts, stopped gambling & now have a healthy financial & family life".

Indebted.Dunce

Thanks HI!

I am not very good with words but someone told me that keeping a log of emotions can be therapeutic so I am hoping to use this space for my benefit to rant and rave, and keep myself on the straight and narrow.

In an ideal world, I am hoping to re-read this diary a couple of years from now when I am debt free to remind myself that it can be done. I am also hoping to re-read it a few years from now when I have managed to clear all my debts, stopped gambling, have a healthy financial and family life just like onamission so that I can remember my first baby steps towards it but more importantly what gambling could have done to me.

For now, one step at a time and as they say in at the GA "just for today, I will not gamble"

Indebted.Dunce

Thought I would jot down a quick update as I risk slipping into old ways. Its not that I have not been on the site, I have just been lurking.

Its been over 8 weeks since I paid my "friends" a visit and I would be lying if I said it has been an easy 8 weeks (but I suppose I didn't expect them to be). In addition to the incident reported below, there have been other times when I have been tempted as well which I would like to think I have coped well with.

I suppose there isn't much to report on, work life is still super busy. On a financial side, I am still plodding along - I have repaid the barclaycard loan with the MBNA money and now barclays are offering me another loan! :rotfl: is it polite to tell them to go stick it.... (just remembered that this is a family site so am not going to finish that sentence) :rotfl:. I overspent a bit last week (by abt £50) :( but I will swallow that cause I had a great time and I didn't gamble!:) (Is that a wrong attitude?)

I have rambled enough, I ought to get back to slavery, but before I got I ought to remind myself something (think of it as the quote of the week :rotfl:) I guess thus far, I am winning the battle but there is a long, long way to go before the war has been won! So for that reason, I shall remind myself that "gamblers never win and winners never gamble".