This business is hard

Stewart_78

Cheers guys. I could sell up and rent and be debt free and that puts me a hell of a lot better off than many. I know that. It's just the day to day. Just gets you down sometimes when others are having the fun and they don't even work an hour a week. Life is fleeting. Makes you wonder.....

NinjaSavingKat

You are teaching your children a very valuable lesson. That's the difference! You are doing it the right way. Paying off what you borrowed and asked for. Keep at it. If you can't - sell up! It's not a bad thing to rent long term!

[Deleted User]

Have you seriously considered bankruptcy? Might be a viable option, from what you say, there is several more years of serious financial struggle. With bankruptcy your debts are usually wiped. Worth thinking about.

Malkin157

Stewart_78 wrote: »

Cheers guys. I could sell up and rent and be debt free and that puts me a hell of a lot better off than many. I know that. It's just the day to day. Just gets you down sometimes when others are having the fun and they don't even work an hour a week. Life is fleeting. Makes you wonder.....

Why not do this then? Isn't it better to be saving and keeping all your earnt money for another house than it is to be struggling and paying interest on your debts?

This country seems to have an irrational fear of renting. Owning a home isn't necessarily the dream or cash cow everyone seems to think it is. Not since 2007 anyway.

Stewart_78

Not a chance I'm afraid. What I have now is not ever going to be possible again. The place I live, the freedom my kids have, the things we can do. Hard to explain but we are rich in many ways. Poor in cash terms. The temptation to convert all our wealth to cash terms is strong but then we would only be poor. At the moment I am rich and poor at the same time. Not sure if that makes any sense.

owen_money

Depends how old your kids are. I took 7 years to pay off my debt, but my kids were 7 & 9 when I started and being young they didn't really miss out on too much as they only wanted cheap things and didn't worry about holidays. When they are 16 and 18 you need a whole lot more money so i am glad I'm debt free now. Just stick at it, its great when it all paid off

Stewart_78

Thanks, my eldest is 8. They don't really crave stuff yet but I know they know that their friends have stuff that they can't.

Fortunately one of my business suppliers has a loyalty scheme that comes up with freebies so at least we can get them some gadgets for Xmas and stuff although the last 'reward' went straight onto ebay to pay the leccy bill. Bah.

sistafromanothermista

Stewart_78 wrote: »

Thanks, my eldest is 8. They don't really crave stuff yet but I know they know that their friends have stuff that they can't.

Fortunately one of my business suppliers has a loyalty scheme that comes up with freebies so at least we can get them some gadgets for Xmas and stuff although the last 'reward' went straight onto ebay to pay the leccy bill. Bah.

Hi Stewart, i feel your pain:(
We're doing it the hard way too. With 2 teenage boys it's not easy i can tell you.
Always wanting the latest things etc.
Believe me when i say it will get easier, think of all the extra cash you will have once you're debt free! Also, now you are a true MSE, you will know NEVER to get into a financial pickle again.

Keep at it, we've put every spare penny (well nearly) into getting this debt/millstone from around our neck for over a year now.

It seems a long way off but you will get there, you just have to stay determined.

JustinCredibleGillespie

Deleted User wrote: »

Have you seriously considered bankruptcy? Might be a viable option, from what you say, there is several more years of serious financial struggle. With bankruptcy your debts are usually wiped. Worth thinking about.

I have to agree with this. If you can free yourself of this struggle then do it. You can then give your kids what they need. Time and love is free, yes, but during the summer holidays etc they'll want to go on days out to theme parks, to the swimming pool or even to McDonalds. I wouldnt deprive them over having to pay a bank back. The banks will always be there but your kids' youth wont. I have been through bankruptcy in Sept 2011 and I can tell you that it most certainly was the best decision of my life and for once I can actually save money instead of paying debts. My life has done a 360 since I was discharged.

My advice would be to go for it. Its not as frowned upon as it once was, I'm sure in this climate we all know at least one person who has gone through it and came out the other side a different person, and I can also tell you that you will never get yourself into any kind of unmanagable debt again, its also a very valuable lesson.

Just my opinion.

I wish you all the best.

JCG

xx

Larac

Personally I think a lot of people are still living on credit to fulfil their life style. If you read the other boards you will see quite a large amount of correspondence around people struggling to move their debt from one card to the other or being refused loans as they are maxed out on their existing cards. Lines of credit are gradually being withdrawn so eventually a few others will get a LBM and be on this board! I also struggle with the DMP at times, so are trying to build up doing some part time work along side my FT role to build up emergency funds and money for short holidays etc as I am currently in for the long haul like yourself as living on the edge was doing my head in.