Redemption is 23 months away

MrsP13

I have been a lurker on this site for some time now but today I have decided to bite the bullet and sign up as a member.

I have found reading other member's DFDs to be immensely inspiring and I have decided to start one myself. I don't expect anybody to read it, but I can tell already that writing this is going to be a worthwhile and carthartic exercise.

My debt free journey started some months ago when my credit card spending crept up on me and went from being managable to being scary.

I have always spent on credit cards, and have throughout the last 5 years or so been in a cycle of spending, panicking, clearing it right down only to spend again (and usually in a big way!) and end up in a worse situation than before.

Whilst scary my debts have never been problematic for me. That is that on paper, my salary is good, my bills and mortgage are always paid, I never miss payments and still manage to achieve a social life and have holidays once a year, so on and so on. But the reason that this time is different to all the other times that I have paid debts only to incur more is that I am sick of my past stupidity and recklessness affecting my life now.

I am a very goal driven person and I have plans for my life including a new home and to start a family with my wonderful husband. If I didnt have this debt hanging around my neck, dragging me down, these things would be achievable much sooner for me and that is precisely the reason why this time I am determined to achieve what I have failed to do several times before.

In the last few months I have transferred all of my credit card debts to 0% interest cards and have determined a monthly budget plan which will enable me to start demolishing my debts at a good pace, so that in 23 months time I shall be free of my debts and free to move on with my life.

The purpose of this diary is to keep me motivated and to serve in future months as a reminder to me of just how far I have come.

I fear that I have rambled on too long (although I could continue berating myself for my past stupidity all day) but that is not and never will be productive. Instead I shall leave you all with my new motto/mantra/pick-me-up line which is

Yes you f*cked up, but you're doing something about it whilst you're young enough to recover from it but old enough to learn from it.

It might be cheesy but its kept me going thus far and hopefully it will continue to do so for the next 23 months

Evcakes

Well done for recognising what you need to do and good luck for the future of your debt busting, so many useful tips on here and popping on reminds me of why I need to clear the debt.

Best wishes Ev x

Tryingagainandagain

You are right - you've acknowledged the problem, come up with a plan and started implementing it.:T


POsting on the site will keep you motivated to stick to it.

Best wishes.

Laura2014

Hi MrsP

I have also just recently joined this forum after many months of reading.

I just wanted to say hi and good luck. :wave:

Your circumstances are very similar to mine. I also need to get a hold on our finances to hopefully be in a postion to start a family.

Take Care

Laura x

MrsP13

Thank you all for your lovely messages of support. I find it amazing how the community on here go out of their way to support others on their journeys.

Well its payday today and as per my budget plan I have made a payment of £340 onto my credit cards today :j

I've also been a bit of a busy bee on eBay and have made £30 from old bits and pieces around the house which I have no need for and was actually going to take to the tip! That money has also gone straight onto my credit cards, as they say every little helps!

I'm still feeling super motivated and my eBay success has definitely helped. Long may the motivation continue, my goal at the moment is to have one of my credit cards paid off by the end of November this year

MrsP13

This week has been pretty horrendous for me - work has been stressful and VILE. Mistakes have happened due to oversights on my behalf and now they are coming back with a vengance to bite my backside. I don't want to moan about it as its my own fault and I shouldn't have made the oversights in the first place....but still my week has been pretty pants.

To make things worse I tortured myself by attending the open day of one of the local new housing developments close to me. My husband and I are desperate to escape our shoe-box home and find refuge in a larger place but unfortunately due to our debts (cards and loans in the region of £30k between us:eek:) we dont stand a cat in Hell's chance of being able to move any time soon. Of course I knew this all before but for some reason I still went in and inevitably felt pretty cr*ppy about it afterwards.

I know that one day we will get a shiny new home and that in the grand scheme of things "one day" is probably a lot closer than I think - but it doesnt stop the hurt right now haha!

Time for me to take a reality check - appreciate what I have already and work towards making dreams become a reality!

On that note i want to end this week's diary on a positive note.......

I forgot to mention in my previous posts that I get paid fortnightly since I started a new job not too long ago. Initially it felt really weird but now I've got used to it, I feel like it makes it easier for me to budget for things.

So with it being payday today another £160 is gone off my cards. I feel pretty good about it and its nice to see the numbers on my cards (although they still total a horrible £8,500) coming down.

Long may it continue :j

MrsP13

So the past few weeks have flown by and I've not had the chance to update my diary as much as I would like. I want to keep on doing it though as it is really motivating

I am pleased to say that my credit card spend this month has been zero and that I've been able to make some more payments which has continued to keep me boosted. I'm going conquer this debt, one pay day at a time