Im serious this time; the debt has to go!

Eyebright

Hello All,

I think I have finally had my LBM. I thought a couple of years ago that I had, but it seems the bulb blew or something, because I am back in the same debt hole. Actually it's probably a deeper debt hole. Don't they say the definition of insanity is repeating the same things over and over again and expecting a different result?

So a couple of years ago we wanted to start saving for a house, but we had some debts to clear first. Nothing hugely insurmountable, so I mostly, (OH is not really in the DFW mind state ) began blitzing my HP debts and the CC debts, both mine and his. OH's pops was really impressed with how hard we (I) were trying so he gave us £15,000 for our deposit. That was great, we were so grateful, but looking back I realise we then rushed into buying a house before we were financially ready.

All the solicitors fees etc, got pushed onto my newly cleared credit card, and OH's so we were back in debt, and now owed pops £15k too, as we both agreed with him we wanted to pay it back. So we currently save £100 a month between us and pay him every time we reach £500.

OH then successfully claimed £32,000 in PPI compensation (can you see how poor he has been with money in the past :eek:), and we used it to:
1)Give £3,000 back to his dad
2) Pay off all the debts CC's, HP debt for the TV and PC
3) Start doing some decorating and essential work to the house
4) Generally used it live beyond our means I now realise

Now that money is almost gone, and we had originally agreed to ensure our joint account had £2000 in it, as a little emergency fund. My CC is now back up to £1200 ish (I will get all my actual figures later, so I can work out a budget).

I'm a bit annoyed actually as my CC had a 0% balance offer, so I used it clear OH's CC, and get it onto 0%, as he doesn't have a great credit score. He agreed to give me money each month, to ensure his debt on my card was cleared before the 0% was up. That was fine and dandy, but not even a month later, he went out and bought himself a £650 mountain bike, and chucked it on his nicely cleared card!!!!!!!!!! :mad:
I don't think he understands that CC money isn't actually his to spend. But then I'm no better, as a couple of months before I spent £350 on a DSLR camera, instead of saving like I knew I was suppposed to...:( and I bought him a laptop for Crimbo last year on the CC, instead of saving for it through the year, or spending less on him.

So to summarise, we have both been idiots, but this last month has brought me down to earth with a bump! I once again have not prepared for Christmas, and have tried to buy all my gifts to others from one wage packet. I have cut back some, but I realise I have stills pent far to much on OH. We have no children I should add. At the moment I have about £100 to my name to last until the 23rd when I get paid, and I still have about half my presents left to buy for others. Luckily my family live in Cheshire and are coming down on the 27th to visit for a few days, and they mostly want money for Crimbo, so i can stick money in their cards from January's paypacket. It will mean I probably end up struggling through January as well, but hey ho!

I still have so much I need to talk about, discuss/plan/plot, but I think this post is already far too long so I will pop back. I will bring the joyous (not) total of my debts, a plan for a sparkly budget to help me get out of this mess, my goals for next year and hopefully a dash more optimism than I currently have at the moment.

Debt sucks, and the worst thing is I know I have no-one else to blame but myself :(:(

Links to Important Posts

2014 Goals

Bird

Its a big moment when the lightbulb suddenly shines straight in your face.

I thought mine had come on a few times, but looking back, it was just flickering. The realisation that you can't continue living how you are is a sobering thought indeed.

Get everything written down, you'll know where you stand with things and can plan your attack better, you can also show your OH the figures in black and white, it'll be harder for him to ignore!

Best of luck with it all!

Eyebright

Thanks for stopping by Bird! I slept really badly last night, as so many thoughts were whizzing round my head. I think once all the figures are in and on paper/spreadsheet on 'puter, I will start to feel a bit better. Just got to scrape through next week to payday.

The plan is not to spend anything apart from Xmas presents for my grandparents tomorrow in town. I'm working then Tues-Fri, and will bring in packed lunch/scrape by on any Xmas treats in the tearoom, Saturday and Sunday will hopefully be spent wrapping and tidying up the house for Xmas.

Food money was sorted out as I put some money at the beginning of the month into the joint account to cover it. I also have a Morrisons £40 voucher from collecting the tickets each week. So we won't starve thankfully! I'm very food orientated you may notice!

My mantra for next week is "I can get through this"...

Hope you are having a lovely weekend Bird!

Bird

Ah the old "too much month left at the end of the money" I know it well! Its actually what spurned me into action this month, when I'd used all the money and still had 3 weeks left before payday!

You can definitely get through it. You'll find once its all out on paper that ways to cut back jump off the page at you. Its also good to see how much you've got for yourself each month, you can plan how it needs to be spent.

The weekend here has been great, junior has been high as a kite, thanks to sweets and chocolate supplied by grandparents (thats their job, after all) but he's set to crash shortly. A quiet evening out at the pub tonight for a match (free food for the teams) and its back to work in the morning.

Eyebright

Hope you had a lovely evening Bird?

I think I'm going to have a bit of a rubbish day!

OH has left me a list of things he needs for his side of the family for Xmas that he didn't get yesterday. I told him last night I had no money left, so he needed to leave me some money, but all he said was, "Just chuck it on the CC" :mad::mad::mad: I don't want to, but I'm now going to have to (that basically meant he has no money left either I'm thinking). Oh and my niece txt and asked me to grab something for her bff as she is in school today, and she will pay me back later. How do I say no?
I've written this month off anyway until payday. But that's not the point. I was so, so, so hoping to end the month not having increased my debts, but actually I think it was a bit of a big ask. I MUST BE PREPARED NEXT YEAR!!!!
We are going to sit down and have a serious chat after Christmas though, and I am going to spell it out for him. That next year we will NOT be using our CC's for anything. We are clearing them. Preferably I want him to get rid of his completely, as I don't think he will ever to be able to resist temptation if there is something he really wants. We only need one for emergencies, until I can get us set up with a decent emergency fund.

I am going to do a balance transfer hopefully though, as the MSE email had a 29 month barclay card, or a 24 month Lloyds card in it. At the moment not all of my debt on my current CC is at 0%, so I figure I might as well switch, and close my current CC down. I'm leaning towards Loyds atm, as although it's 24 months, which is shorter time the transfer fee is less (1.5% as opposed to 2.79%), and 24 months is plenty of time to clear a £1200ish debt, well maybe £1300 by the end of today...

Right I'd best go and get this over with. See you all later! I'm hoping to sit down this afternoon and plot out a budget to start afresh with on payday, that will set me right and put me on the straight and narrow.

(feels better to end the post on a positive note and smiley face)

LAM2011

Good luck Eyebright - you will do it


I remember in the beginning feeling sick and waking up in the night with my mind in overdrive. Christmas is always a hard time to start debt busting but if you get through this - you will be strong for 2014.


Get a notebook - you will be surprised looking back where you spent and where you made money. I used it and then referred back to in in my second year of debt busting for some ideas.

Eyebright

Thanks for the support and advice LAM. I have asked for a notebook from Father Christmas, and managed to resist buying myself a pretty one whilst I was out in town earlier!
I think having to account for where the money is going by writing it down will help to curb my enthusiasm for spending money.

I'm looking forward to getting paid next Monday, not so that I can go out and spend money, but so I can plot and plan how not to spend it! I'm not a whizz with excel, so we will see if I can make a spreadsheet that works for me, if not I will go "old skool" and write it down on paper!

Eyebright

Morning diary,

Back to work this morning, hence the early post! I'm afraid yesterday didn't go well, put things on the CC and still haven't even finished the shopping Mainly it's my grandparents who dont really want anything. I was thinking of popping into Morrisons and getting them a shopping voucher. Seems more useful than an ornament they don't particularly want.

Am also going to make it be known at work that I might be in the market for a bit of OT. Help up my income. Especially as OH showed me the shed yesterday, the floor is rotting, so it is going to need replacing next Spring. Bah humbug, we always need to buy something!

Got to dash, will post more later.

Eyebright

Lordy, what a busy day! Got home and went straight back out to the gym, just got out of shower now, just waiting for the pizza to finish cooking in the oven.

Have had a thought and am hoping we can put one of the council tax payments from the months we don't pay it towards a shed. That's £117 right there! The other payment is getting skirting boards for the living room, which we haven't had in over 3 months :eek: Any surplus from the budget between now and February's council payment we don't have pay, (which I'm using) will go towards the shed. I'm determined it won't go on the CC or any stupid HP agreement etc etc etc!

Other than that I'm just bumbling through the week, I checked this morning and I have £63 in my bank account. A work colleague who owed me £10 paid me today, which went straight to another colleague who is buying Christmas food, off of our little group for tomorrow. Still at least it didn't come out of my bank, and it's something everyone in the dept does every year. Makes for a very fattening December!!! But good fun.

Still working on my budget for next month, where I start my debt crushing and being more frugal/sensible. I will live within my means from now on! I'm trying to budget where every last penny will go, to try and cover me for all eventualities etc. It's making my head spin
Will do my balance transfer once all the Christmas spends have gone on the card. Then I can close the old one once I transfer.

I will then also post a total for my debt figure, to go on my siggy as a motivator when I want to splurge on things I don't need! Might also look into joining some challenges.

To end the post on a positive note, I've managed to make a few savings! Re-mortgaging to save £56 a month and shave 3 years off the mortgage (very pleased about that), sorted out the house insurance- gone from £26.50 a month to £15.03 and water bill come through and it's going down by a whopping £4.50 a month :rotfl:oh and finally convinced OH to switch from Sky (full package :eek:) to Virgin (smaller package), which is half the price we were paying with Sky. Oh and also convinced OH to only put 1 line on the lottery from 4, meaning we've gone from £64 :eek: a month to £8. Feeling good!

rubywhatashmoo

Just caught up with your diary this far - it feels amazing when you manage to find places to tweak cash from without feeling like you're missing out doesn't it?!

Eyebright

Thanks for dropping by Ruby were you up early or late??? I was sound asleep last night!

I have to say, for the first time since I had my LBM, I slept like a baby. I think it was because I knew I had taken some steps towards saving money. I'm really pleased that through no hardship or change to our life (well apart from a few less tv channels, but I barely watch TV anyway), we have managed to save some cash! Only problem was I didn't want to get up when my alarm went off! And on that note I have to dash, work calls...