Breaking the shackles.

dearlouise

Haven't really had a good time since I last posted. Worked non-stop over the Summer, started new job, have been working in some form 24/7 constantly. I worked the 2nd job in half term, currently working both until the end of November.

I'll be honest I'm exhausted. I don't feel I'm making much progress. I turn 30 next month & look a the situation I'm in.

I'm utterly miserable and depressed.

Ratison

How are you getting on with chipping away at the debt? Hopefully being back on the forum means you can get some extra inspiration to really get things sorted.

Good luck x

MissShoes

I remember doing something similar when I was a new-ish teacher. Teaching, tutoring and babysitting whilst all the other teachers recharged and relaxed over the holidays- it can be soul-destroying, particularly over the first week or so of a new term.

Are you building in some time just for you? a bath, pyjamas and early night or day of DIY pampering or going for a walk or curling up for an afternoon with a cuppa and a good book?

Keep going- the debt didn't appear overnight so it won't disappear quickly but you are going in the right direction.

Chin up,

Shoes

beanielou

Keep plodding!!

monz

Hope you're ok. Xx

dearlouise

Overdue Update Alert!

I'm not sure if it was the milestone birthday this month or the approaching New Year but I have a new found drive to banish this debt...!

I've made an improvement today, by taking advantage of a 0% offer that came at the right time. I'd paid off my HSBC CC (hoorah!) with the intent to closing it down completely this holiday. However I received a flyer in the post offering 0% on balance transfers for 18 months. This annoyed me slightly as HSBC offered to increase my limit a couple of months back & I said no (trying to reduce debt & all that). So I called them just before Christmas & asked for the increase (only an additional £1000) so I could transfer the WHOLE of my Post Office CC to the HSBC... they declined! I also applied for a Halifax 0% CC for £1000 for the remaining balance, also declined. I did think with paying off some debt, it would put me in a better position for lending. Clearly not!

Anyhow. This was the state of my debt 12 months ago:

HSBC CC £2,900
HSBC overdraft £2,000
Post Office CC £5,200
Barclays CC £11,300
EX HUSBAND CC £10,000
TOTAL DEBT - £31,400

Today it looks like this:

HSBC CC £2850 (however this is now 0%)
HSBC overdraft £2250 ...still live in this as it's a better rate than the CC's
Post Office CC £900
Barclays CC £10868
EX HUSBAND CC £8062
TOTAL DEBT - £24930

Recent hiccups haven't helped the balance. Car needed new brake discs and pads which was over £100 to fix for my MOT, needed 2 tyres (part worn was still £50), cat was sick for 5 weeks which cost over £300 to do tests... But I'm still not happy with that. I thought I would have paid off more than £6470. However I didn't really start debt busting properly until April after I split up with ex.

Moving on... I'm going to spend the next few days making a plan on how I can improve that figure to try my very best to get it underneath £15000. Nearly 10k in the next 12 months?! Not sure if I can achieve that... I also need to pay for a few renovations to the 'garage/workshop/annexe' to turn it into a 'granny flat' so I can live there from March/April - that is likely to cost a few thousand. So that's nearly 2/3 of my salary. Can I live on 1/3 of my salary for 12 months?! That's what I'm going to spend the next few days plotting.

Hope everyone is well. I'm going to do a tour of the diaries for some inspiration & guidance.

beanielou

6.5 K in a year is blooming good

monz

Glad you are back x

dearlouise

I've had a pretty good first week back at work. I've made about £100 on eBay, which went straight onto the PO card. Since my last post I've paid off £230 to it.

I don't have much work to do this weekend so I'm going to list more stuff on eBay and also try to find an additional part time income now the school holiday job has ended.