Escaping the clutches of evil Count Debtular

Cherry_Burton

Hello everyone

Last month it finally dawned on me that I am in debt, a lot of debt, about £8200

“How can it be a surprise you own that much?” asked my very financially aware, and comfortably off friend.

That is a very good question, and the answer is that it very sneakily crept up on me slowly but steadily over a few years. A little bit of over spending here, car repairs on the credit card there and worst of all, groceries on the credit card when I was short of cash. Slowly, slowly drip by drip the amount grew like a pernicious weed while I was looking the other way. Until it has started sucking me dry. (Sorry lots of mixed metaphors :)) I always intended to start paying it all back, soon, very soon when I had got myself straight and was not so short of cash. But until now “soon” hasn’t happened.

My problem is that I am a contractor/temp/interim and move from short term job to short term job. When I am in work I earn a good wage and can manage the bills, make repayments and save a little for the inevitable periods when I have no work. Unfortunately, I do not earn enough during the periods in work to pay back the CC and save for the lean times. It is feast or famine but the feast is not sufficient for me to put on enough fat for the famine – if you see what I mean!

I know £8200 is not as large as some others trying to be debt free, but to me it seems like a huge amount and I am quite scared. I am by myself with the kids so I do not have a partner to help pay the bills and I do not have a regular wage, so the future looks very uncertain.

I am trying to control my increasing panic by creating a plan and taking positive action.(More of that in another diary entry) I have decided to keep a diary for two reasons,
1) I can start new ventures full of enthusiasm and fire off like a shooting star. But I know I can soon lose interest and I’m worried I will not keep up the good work. I think that the race to solvency is likely to be a marathon rather than a sprint.
2) I hope to get ongoing support, advice and suggestions about what I can do and where I am going wrong. So please feel free to chip in.

Thanks for reading

CB

GunWharf

Hello Cherry!

Well done for starting your Journey :j

Plenty of good people on here who will encourage and motivate you.

Good luck and lets get this started

Cherry_Burton

How I first fell into the clutches of Count Debtular

Yesterday I started my diary to debt freeness and I thought today I would give a few further details about my situation and how I arrived where I am today.

Once upon a time I had a good job I enjoyed and, what I thought was a good marriage. The old clich!, “You don’t know what you have till it’s gone” is very true in my case. My husband left me and the children so he could pursue his dream of living a free life off the grid. He has not contributed financially since. Of course the emotional turmoil was massive for both me and the children, in fact we still feel the ripples of it years later. Financially we managed as I had a good professional job and life started to settle down again.

The second blow happened when the firm I worked at for over 10 years closed down, just like that, overnight. One day we had jobs the next we were called to a meeting and told that the firm was going into liquidation. Thank you and good bye. Do I sound bitter? Well I am I can not help it. I know firms fold and people are laid off but it is the way it was done that rankles. The recession had hit and it proved impossible to find another similar post. So, rather than take unskilled work, I started temping and here I am.

On the whole I quite like temping, I have met some great people, gained loads of experience and undertaken interesting work at a level I could not have hoped to do if I had stayed at my old firm. The downside, and it is a very big downside, is the periods of worklessness between jobs. That is how I built up the debt by keeping things going at home when the work runs out but the bills don’t.

Still on the bright side we have survived. The older children have grown into fine young people and have left home. Two still live with me but one is going to university in a couple of weeks so it will be just me and my “baby”. I have just started a new 6 months job so I have a bit of time to work on my escape.

Next episode, when our hero outlines a cunning plan to escape from evil Count Debtular.

Cherry_Burton

Hi,

Right so yesterday I detailed how I accumulated the debt I have now so the question is, how do I intend to escape the clutches of evil Count Debtular and build a financially stable life for myself and family?

On the positive side I have a good credit rating so I have already consolidated and shifted the debt onto two 0% credit cards. The 0% period ends summer next year, so together with the new six months contract I have a bit of breathing space to get things in order.

Phase one
Stop spending – obviously not totally as we still need to live, but stop spending on all the rubbish I tend to flitter away money on at the moment. You know the things, buying lunch at work instead of spending the time to make a pack lunch, picking up newspapers and magazines, getting takeaways because I haven’t planned an evening meal, buying sweets and chocolate for a sugar rush when filling up with petrol, being tempted to try new make up- I have enough nail varnish to paint the Forth Bridge. The essence here is the need to plan and really think about what I am buying, cooking and eating. Make do and mend rather than buy new, cook everything from scratch rather than takeaways and keep out of shops. I have joined a few of the challenges like NSD, September grocery challenge and weekly challenge. I know they are not for everyone and many people probably already live that way naturally but it is a new way of operating for me.

Save – save as much as I can after paying the mortgage, household bills, groceries, petrol and slightly more than the minimum on the cards and other essential expenditure. I have worked out using the SOA calculator that, if I am really careful I could save £450 per month over the next 6 months and still have an additional fund for expected bills like car tax and Christmas. That would be more than I have managed in the past and would tie us over while I look for more work. It is not a permanent solution because it will only reduce the debt by about £1200.

Find a permanent job. This is the key as it will be a real struggle to pay off the debt and not rack up more if I have another period of unemployment. I look in the trade press every week and there are jobs advertised in my profession but they all seem to be in London and the South East. Frankly, I would not blame the Scots if they vote for independence. I only wish they would take up with them! The further north you go the fewer jobs there are and they seem to run out altogether north of Lincoln. I have looked at unskilled jobs like shop work etc. and certainly don’t think I am above it but it does not pay enough to cover my bills. Job Plan B will be to have a new temp contract lined up when this current one runs out.

Phase 2
Build up an emergency fund of £6000 so I have something behind me in case of further periods of unemployment to break the debt cycle. The idea of having savings seems quite strange and alien. I find it hard to believe that I could be the type of person who would have savings, but why not? It is good to have an ambition or aim.

Phase 3
Pay off the mortgage early. I have a small mortgage but it has another 14 years to run so it has the potential to cost me a lot of money. The good part is that the repayments are small so I can easily afford them but if I could get straight, build up an emergency fund I could really start to make inroads into the principal.

Well that is it. If you have managed to read this far without falling asleep well done. If you have any views on my situation or plan I would welcome them. Just please be gentle.

CB

Cherry_Burton

Oh dear the ups and downs of tackling debt. Over the weekend I learnt how to log on to the websites of the credit card companies and I found out that I owe £60 less than I thought. Yay, go me. Happy days.:j

Then I received a red reminder for a bill I had totally forgotten about. Oh hell, £75 I have to find. I feel pretty s*** I can tell you. It means that I will not be able to save the £450 I was hoping this month.:(:(

To try prevent this type of thing happening again I have signed up for the free trial of YNAB, You Need a Budget. It has taken me all weekend to sort it out and I am still not sure I have it right but I will persevere as I don't want any other nasty little surprises.

On the positive side I have achieved 6 NSD so far in September and I am well within my grocery target for September. So onward and upward.

Bye for now, thanks for reading.

CB

Cherry_Burton

Hi, I've been away for a long time from my diary due to being ill. Unfortunately this has a terrible adverse effect on my plans to become debt free as I haven't been able to work.

When I was ill I did not have the energy to think about spending, debts or very much actually, except feeling sorry for myself. Even when I started to feel better I could not seem able to get my debt slayer head on.

I have now resolved to start again. The first job will be to work out my current money position. Once I have done that I'll return to outline the position and how I am going to rectify the situation.

Good night folks

Cherry_Burton

Hi, another month and very slow progress. On the downside I ran up more debt while I was off work sick. I was on sick pay and it is nowhere near enough to live on I thought the employer might finish me altogether, but they were very good. On the positive side, a loan I made years ago (when my situation was much different) has just been repaid, hooray. Total unexpected and sooooooooooo welcome. I know pressure was put on the person concerned by other friends because of my situation.

I still feel exhausted from the illness, the worry and ups and downs. I'm hoping I can stay well and do some good work so I am given a contract extension or at least a good reference. I'm also applying for permanent jobs, although it may be difficult given my recent sick days off.

After all the comings and goings the new total of the debt is £7600

See you later

CB

beanielou

Keep plodding.

Cherry_Burton

Hi

Thank you for taking the time to offer a word of encouragement

CB

in_need_of_direction

You can do this. You managed to hold your family together on your own, dealing with debt should be child's play.

submarine76

I think it's all about taking the small steps in the right direction. I'm at the start of my journey but feeling much better and much more in control. :O)