Living in absolute DENIAL

Nickyj

Thanks for your lovely replies Lucy and Suze. I owed somewhere in the region of £18,000. It took a lot of determination and cutting back. I literally sold everything I didn't use / need on eBay and threw that at my debts. I worked full time but also did Avon on the side and for a while did waitressing in the evenings. It's all worked out well as I was desperate for another baby but my husband refused all the time I was in debt but my second baby is due in 5 weeks ))) Good luck girls, you can do it! I will be popping by regularly to check on your progress xxxx

foxgloves

Firewyrm....I completely agree. If you look at the adverts (I usually tune them out), there is generally nothing featured that is actually necessary. Cleaning products are a good example, when you think how many ads there are for these. When I started debt-busting, I used up what I'd got, then switched to Stardrops for all cleaning, diluted in a recycled sparay bottle. House is still clean......and a decent amount of money saved as one bottle of Stardrops has lasted me for a whole year. Ads make us think we need a different product for every job/room/surface & that's just nonsense. Air freshner type products are another growing nonsense with silly little plastic things that puff out some chemicals when people walk by, etc, things which plug in & actually waste electricity to make our homes smell of artificial flowers? Try it.....watch the ad breaks carefully & see how few things are necessary....or even that nice! I don't buy a quarter of the rubbish I used to buy, & it's a good feeling. It helped pay off our debts & now it's helping keep us debt-free.

TakingControl

TrickyWicky wrote: »

You cleared £45k in 3 years? How on earth did you do that?

I moved in with a friend and rent a room which saved me a lot of money. I then sold absolutely everything I didn't need to survive. Clothes were only bought if I really had no other choice and then mostly from charity shops and ebay. I was on a DMP, managed to pay some smallr debt off and increase payments on the bigger ones. My biggest one accepted a F&F after 15 months of 55% of the debt and I had a 1 PPI repayment which cleared another one.

For 3 years I existed, I didn't live but its done now and I have learned to become obsessed about budgeting :rotfl:

MrsH070707

Me, Me, Me! My Husband and I have spent years ignoring the warning signs and living way beyond our means because we both earnt good salaries and'deserved' to reward ourselves.

I, too, dream of the day I can call my salary my own - I currently pay out a whopping £1900 a MONTH on debt repayments - and that DOESN'T include my mortgage!

Dave33

I posted on here last week but just thought I'd check back to read a few of the inspirational messages

I am to be debt free by January 2016, it's a long way off but it's getting closer by the day.

Good luck to all

Skint_but_Optimistic

Hi there and best of luck. I had over 70 grand worth of debt a couple of years ago but I owe my fast reduction to full and final settlements.

Good luck with your journey.

FireWyrm

I've finally taken steps to clear out and close my storage lockup which is now costing £71 a month :eek:. It didnt sound so bad back before VAT when it was only £50 every 4 weeks but seriously, if I havnt seen the stuff for the last 4 years, did I really need to store it in the first place? I think not. Last payment went this month and the account will be closed on the 1st February.

I've got two items on ebay, some old stop smoking patches and a filofax I shouldnt have bought so, another £30 to come along there. I'm going to have a clear out at the weekend and see what else needs to be fleabayed, like a tonne of wool bought for projects that never happened...they can all go.

Happy news this week, we were given a new TV (ours was on its last legs with annoying lines across the screen) and a new printer (needs ink, but we'll cross that bridge later).

With regard to the adverts, it is simply astonishing the sheer amount of s**t you dont need. Cushioned toilet paper for twice the price of standard stuff...really?! How stupid are we really. Lets just stop and right now. Dont let them win.

whitewing

sneaking in to lurk.

Shelski_2

MrsH070707 wrote: »

Me, Me, Me! My Husband and I have spent years ignoring the warning signs and living way beyond our means because we both earnt good salaries and'deserved' to reward ourselves.

I, too, dream of the day I can call my salary my own - I currently pay out a whopping £1900 a MONTH on debt repayments - and that DOESN'T include my mortgage!

Mine is just over £1200 without the mortgage but I will get there!! One debt at a time. In 12 months one loan will be paid off freeing up an extra £400 per month. Hoping to have 2 od paid off by then as well.

Lucy1010

foxgloves wrote: »

Firewyrm....I completely agree. If you look at the adverts (I usually tune them out), there is generally nothing featured that is actually necessary. Cleaning products are a good example, when you think how many ads there are for these. When I started debt-busting, I used up what I'd got, then switched to Stardrops for all cleaning, diluted in a recycled sparay bottle. House is still clean......and a decent amount of money saved as one bottle of Stardrops has lasted me for a whole year. Ads make us think we need a different product for every job/room/surface & that's just nonsense. Air freshner type products are another growing nonsense with silly little plastic things that puff out some chemicals when people walk by, etc, things which plug in & actually waste electricity to make our homes smell of artificial flowers? Try it.....watch the ad breaks carefully & see how few things are necessary....or even that nice! I don't buy a quarter of the rubbish I used to buy, & it's a good feeling. It helped pay off our debts & now it's helping keep us debt-free.

Hi Foxgloves

I am VERY guilty of this, I am a slave to packaging and marketing.... I spend so much on air wicks and expensive cleaning products to 'make my job easier'. What is star drops? What do you use instead of plug ins because I love having the house to smell good... your tips on saving on these expensive items would be much appreciated

Thanks
Lucy x