33 years of debt.

[Deleted User]

Since I turned 18, hardly a month has gone by, when I wasn't in debt to someone.

That's around 33 years of, virtually, non-stop debt. :eek:

When I think how much I have paid in interest, over those 33 years, I'm so angry with myself. :mad:

Tixy

I try not to think about it! not quite so long for me, but I've still paid thousands in interest since I was 18.

At least it looks like you will be free of it in the next couple of months :j

[Deleted User]

Tixy wrote: »

At least it looks like you will be free of it in the next couple of months :j

Hopefully July.

If not, then August.

nearlytherenow

I was thinking something similar about myself yesterday. I guess it's like anything else, always easy in hindsight but at the time you just don't realise the nightmare you are putting yourself in. For me, there are two positives I am taking from my situation, the first is that I now feel in control and the end is in sight, and the second is the lessons that I am now teaching my son that it is so much better to save for something once, than 'have it now' and pack back for the forseable future. I hope he listens!

FireWyrm

Its actually not the debt or interest that bothers me although that's bad enough, its the unspecified spending over those years and the sheer scale of the waste that upsets me.

I have been at the top of my profession for the last 5 years. In that time, I have earned £250,000. I have paid about half of that in direct tax, so about £120,000 was notionally 'mine' to spend as I will. It takes around £12,000 a year to run my house and so I should only have spent £60,000 over those years.

Where has the other £60,000 gone then? I have nothing to show for it except a clapped out people carrier I bought for £500 in January, an aging Fiat, a terraced house and still about £10,000 of debt to pay.

THAT makes me sick.

OK..now I'm going to go lay down.

harrys_dad

Well Tixy, Bedsit Bob and Firewyrm you are all regulars on here, and sharing your good advice with others, with nearly 37000 "thanks" between the three of you. If people like you and a board like this had existed when you were younger you would have lived differently I am sure. It is great that you are sharing your experience with others, to help them avoid making the same mistakes,

antonic

You can add my £23700 to that total, as my final DMP payment is due on 3 June 2013.

For me, its about 25 years of wasting money.

FireWyrm

harrys_dad wrote: »

If people like you and a board like this had existed when you were younger you would have lived differently I am sure.

Thanks Harry

harrys_dad wrote: »

It is great that you are sharing your experience with others, to help them avoid making the same mistakes,

Oh it's much worse than I told you above.

I bloody well KNOW how to live frugally. I grew up in a household of financial ineptitude where we were always living hand to mouth because of mistakes my parents made. I swore I wouldnt do it. However, when Dad suffered a stroke (my mother had long since cleared off back to Australia and we had no other family) and a tax bill came in - I took out a loan to cover it off. Unfortunately, that loan led to another bigger one when another problem hit and then somehow 15 years down the line I was standing at a checkout 3 days after pay day and watching my debit card get declined.

I should have known better after the early schooling, but somehow I still didnt learn and I wasted all that money. That £60K was just the last 5 years, what about the other 10? Where has all that money gone? I suspect I've managed to waste the thick end of £100,000 over the course of my life.

I feel sick.

busybumblebee

Wow, thanks to all of you, for your total honesty, you certainly put my situtation into perspective.

I'm so thankful that I've found this forum and site now and not years down the line. I've been in debt before and paid it off and now I'm paying some off again. Before I had an excuse that it was 'because of my ex' which some of it was, but I now realise that most of it was the terrible bad spending habits I'd adopted and my total lack of respect towards money whilst I was with my ex. I might have left him behind years ago but I didn't change my shopping/lack of budgeting habits. Now with the help of this forum and people like you, I will change my habits and I will save for the things I want instead of turning to the credit card. I have a small child who I want to teach the value of money and I want to show him the correct way of doing things instead of what I've done (hopefully he'll take after his dad who is amazing with money!)

On a positive note, 4 weeks down the line after joining the forum, it's the first month I've been in credit 2 weeks after pay day for a very long time. Long shall it last.

I don't feel angry at how much money I've wasted, but I do feel frustrated now that all my hardwork and willpower is going towards paying money back, rather than building it up for my future.

[Deleted User]

FireWyrm wrote: »

I suspect I've managed to waste the thick end of £100,000 over the course of my life.

I haven't wasted anything like that much, but I've certainly wasted many thousands.

I reckon, I could have easily bought myself a brand new car (maybe 2) by now, if I hadn't wasted all that money.

lincroft1710

We all know we shouldn't have got into debt, but we did, we spent unwisely. We've all wasted money at some time or other, I've spent a small fortune on books over the past 45 years and probably only 20% remain on my shelves. Some of us were lucky and for various reasons got back into credit, for others no ladders, just snakes.

None of us are perfect and you are approaching to a time in your life when you will be debt free.