Newbie! My story.....

albanchick · 18 July 2007 at 4:34PM

Hi all,

Been lurking for a while on here and thought would share my story.

I got married just over 2 years ago and my husband & I were renting a small flat in East London. All was perfect except the fact I hadn't told him about the £15,000 worth of debt I was in. I was terrified at the prospect of telling him knowing how disappointed he'd be in me and I kept putting it off and off, until one day he started going on about getting a mortgage. I couldn't bear it anymore so told him, he was really supportive although totally shell-shocked aswell.

After some tears and "Oh my god, what are we going to do?" we both agreed that the only way forward was to pay the debt off as quickly as possible and work out how to realistically do it. I was determined that I was going to get myself out of this mess and with my husband's support I knew I could do it.

The first thing I did was simple - I got a second job, evenings at a bookmakers which then turned into some weekend work aswell. It was tough at first working 2 jobs (as I work full time) but I soon got used to it and in 5 months I had paid off 1 of my credit cards. The trick is not to spend a PENNY of that extra income on anything other than clearer those debts.

The second thing I did was to move back into my parents house. Not ideal, esp being married, but it had to be done. Luckily my parents are fantastic and agreed that we'd pay no rent/no bills just pay for our food. Immediately that was £400 month saved and paid straight off my other credit card, which had £5500. I was religious with my budget and looked at all ways to save money, getting rid of all the payment protection on all my credit cards was a MAJOR saver. Taking sandwiches to work instead of buying lunch out was also another major saver. All those things I found really added up and I almost become obsessed with saving money!

It's now a year and a half on and in 2 months I will be DEBT FREE!!!! :j It's been a long hard slog but the feeling of paying off those debts is so good. I'm still working my 2nd job and the money I earn from that now goes into a savings account for when my husband & I get our own place next year.

angelavdavis · 18 July 2007 at 4:39PM

Congratulations on making it this far and on the fact that you got your lbm before getting yourselves in even more debt to buy your home.

Looks like you might need to join the Mortgage free Wannabee board soon!!!

Reya · 18 July 2007 at 4:45PM

Congratulations on your imminent freedom from debt! And thank you so much for sharing this, because it's very important to see that it can be done, and posts like this are such great encouragement for everyone else on board the Debt-Clearing Train

albanchick · 18 July 2007 at 4:51PM

Thank you so much.

That's the reason I felt so compelled to post, I know what it's like to hit rock bottom and think you can't get out of the debt nightmare. It isn't easy but it IS possible. It's a case of being tough and ruthless with yourself but being realistic at the same time. I gave myself 2 years to pay it all off and that was the quickest I was ever gonna do it. I was really lucky as I had a lot of support, esp from my parents giving me the luxury of rent-free accomodation, but even so people should try and stay positive.

I wish everyone happy debt-free life!