SortingMyMessedUpLife

twoyearsfromnow

Good morning everyone.

Kids got me up early today so decided to make a start on sorting out my 'messed up life'. I will be possitive, and get things done.

My challenges:

1. At the moment I have loans and credit card debts of £25,500. My current mortgage deal runs out September next year so I want to get my debts reduced by then to under £10,000 so I can get a half decent re-mortgage deal.

2. I want to then pay off the remaining £10,000 within the following 6 months. So should be debt free by March 2016!

3. I currently weigh 17st 6lb. My ideal weight is around 12st, so quite a bit to lose. So first goal is to lose 2lb each week so I weigh 15st 6lb at Christmas.

That is enough for now.
I will put in details later, but off to be possitive and get things done today. :j

Aloofdragon

So many times weightloss and money juggling go hand in hand!!

Good luck lovely I will be here to follow x

BroodyLass

same issues here! :-)

asparagus1968

wishing you luck on your journey.


have you any ideas how you are going to approach these challenges?

peaceandfreedom

Aloofdragon wrote: »

So many times weightloss and money juggling go hand in hand!!

And so often successfully tackling one leads to success in tackling the other.

I guess it's a sign of new-found determination. Twoyears - good luck with it all, you sound in exactly the right frame of mind. :T

foxgloves

Hi,
Had to reply to your post. In 2011, we became debt-free after more than 2 decades of overspending. We earned decent money & so borrowing was very easy. We never bothered to budget, lived out of overdrafts, spent on credit cards & had various loans, which we consolidated 3 times but no change to the debt situation as we just carried on with the toxic mix of overspending & never budgeting. So, in debt from age 19, I got to my early 40s & decided we had to change. Major lightbulb moment time! Paid off my overdraft first so it would be easier to budget, then snowballed my other debts. My husband (reluctant at first) soon wanted in on the act & from then, we joined up our finances properly, set budgets & tackled the rest of our debts together.
The skills needed for becoming debt-free were mainly discipline with planning, getting ourselves very organised & thinking ahead to avoid potential temptations, etc. These are exactly the skills needed to tackle big weight loss. I was overweight all my adult life, but in Jan 2011, I decided to have one final serious attempt at losing weight. Using exactly the discipline & planning skills I developed for debt-busting, I found I was successfully shifting weight at last. I have lost 6 stones in total & my partner has lost 4. I have dropped from size 26 to size 16 & feel much healthier. Cutting out over-large portions & take-aways alone saves both money & calories. We found our food supplies were lasting much longer without the food 'free for all'. While I'd still like to lose an additional couple of stones, my age & the fact I've been dieting so long are starting to hinder my progress, but I have maintained the 6 stone weight loss, I haven't lapsed. I update my daily calorie sheet just like I update my budgets regularly. Calorie journal & spending journal are very similar, really. There is only so much money/calories in your financial/food budget, so its up to you to maximise them sensibly. This is rather a long post, but I wanted to explain how for us, tackling one problem has really helped us develop the exact same skill set needed to tackle the other one. The day I went in a fitting room & zipped a pair of size 16 skinny jeans right to the top when my size 24 pair wouldn't even meet in the middle when I started, was a feeling I won't forget! Start it now. If I can do it.....and I was a very spendy foodie, anyone can. Good luck! x

justjoda

Me and the hubby been talking about sorting our finances out but today we finally sat down and really looked at our spending. Debts (loan and 3 credit cards total just shy of 15k with outgoings spiralling. After reviewing it we have cancelled monthly prescription card (not used for ages) bt sports (he'll need to go round his friends to watch motorbikes and I can stream football) reduced our sky package (debating a move to free view!) switched electricity provider (£70 a month saving) claimed back an electricity over payment £750. A bit addictive now sat here trying to find more ways to save! Any thoughts help or tips appreciated

Kitty777

Waheey! Welcome

It is a hard road ahead, but so worth it when you get there!!
Do you have a debt free plan?

twoyearsfromnow

Thanks all.

No specific plans for anything at the moment. Just cut back and pay off the cards\loans, starting ith the highest interest.
Hopefully update in a month or so and things will be going in the right direction.

twoyearsfromnow

Been a good month money wise.
Debt now down to £23,900, although won't shoot down so fast next month. Unexpected injection helped this month. :cool:

If I can reduce it by £1,000 a month it will be £14,000 by August next year - just ready for when I have to redo the mortgage.
If I can repay more than £1,000 a month then all the better - I hope to reach the under £10,000 target by August so this may be achievable.

Also starting overpaying £400 a month off the mortgage for the next 10 months as well. I know it would be better to repay debts rather than overpay, but £12,000 are on 0% cards. Also other half didn't want to pay off my debts. Will also show that we can afford a higher payment when we come to apply next year. That's the hope anyway.

So current position:
£70,000 interest mortgage (deal runs out next Sept)
£18,900 repayment mortgage. (few years to run)
£22,500 debts.
House worth £160,000
Me: bad credit rating
wife: good credit rating
Joing salaries around £80,000

So I am presuming I shouldn't have a problem next year with the remortgage.
I am also aware that with such a high joint salary I shouldn't be in the mess I am - but that's life

monz

You can do it once you put your mind to it xx