DFB35 Diary

DFB35

Dear Diary, I have been reading this forum for the last few days and found it very inspiring! I am in debt and have been since getting my first credit card at 21.. so have been in various degrees of debt for 10 years now.

My aim is to become debt free by 35! I had a few light bulb moments over the years but feel like I have finally woken up and faced the facts in August 2014. I am pleased to say I have not accumulated any further debt since then. Fingers crossed this is how it will stay, however its still very early days and before becoming so sensible i had one last spend on a holiday we had in August - so the real test will be no holiday this year (or for foreseeable future atm).

I will post a little bit more about me and my debt situation later on today, just wanted to finally take the plunge and create a diary.

Total debt exc mortgage £19,337 (according to Noddle so a month or so behind)

DFB35

The "how I got into debt" story.. I think i this place is great as reading other peoples diaries, I feel like i can also share my story without being judged.

It first started when me and my husband got our first place together, we spent a few years at his parents working, saving for a deposit and finishing our education (we had a surprise baby quite young so I moved in with him and his parents).

As soon as we got our place we applied for a credit card to get a few things that our savings didnt stretch to and booked a holiday for us and our little girl who was 4 by this point. We never been away together AND it was my first ever holiday as i come from quite a poor background.

So this all sounds sensible so far.. what doesnt sound quite so sensible is the fact this holdiay cost us £1500 (in 2006!) as my OH was really keen to go somewhere nice and he was used to stay at 4* plus hotels. I am not blaming him as I was very happy to go too

I dont think this holiday was ever paid off to be honest! Then there was another holiday in 2007 (which cost £2000), a few luxury items etc..

Also at this point to my mum and all the outside world it looked like we were doing very well - both in full time well paid jobs, own our own house etc.. So my mum was struggling and I have put at least £2000 on credit card for her. These included some tickets to see a dying relative and when my mum moved house, to help her furnish her place. It might have been more, but i felt very generous "oh just stick it on my credit card attitude". Again I am not blaming my mum who thought we could afford it..

Roll on to 2008 and we had our second child, not worrying about credit debt, and funnily enough we always had an excellent credit rating so i would just shift one card to another.

A few years later we took a loan as we were moving to a bigger place and needed money to pay our stamp duty/ solicitors/ few other bits.

Then we got a car on credit

And finally another holiday in 2014, a few other bits in between and in Aug when we come back from holiday I realised we owed nearly 10k on credit cards... So I had a bit of a wake up call and took another loan to pay these off.

So things as they stand now:

Car loan -£1,632
Loan 1 -£6,812
Loan 2 -10,893

Total £19,337

Not including Mortgage -£157,324

The car loan runs out in October this year, but the other two loans are finishing 2018 & 2021 respectively - when taking them out I was after the lower monthly payments and wasnt worried about tying myself for 7 years!)

The plan is to pay everything off (apart from Mortgage) by my 35th birthday (2019) and I want to share my journey with you

clearmydebts

Welcome on board. I have subscribed. I am a few years folder than you (still in my 30s) and had my first LBM at around your age. I wish I had persevered! But I'm back on the wagon again.

I look forward to sharing your debt free journey with you!

moneyonmymindsam

Sincere Good Luck DFB35 You can do it ..!!!

DFB35

Nice to meet you and thank you! Will have a read of your diaries in a mo!

DFB35

Ok, just read back on my story and realised that I sounded very defensive... Hubby wants expensive holidays, mums trouble and there is poor little me getting into debt through no fault of my own ... All of this is true but I also have a few things to admit..

A few times I went through a period in my life where I'd become fixated on having a certain thing.... In particular it was a very expensive designer bags and expensive diamond ring... I seemed to have developed a very disturbing cycle where I would buy a designer bag (and we talking upwards of £500+ per bag). Then feel absolutely sick that I've spent this money on a bag so wear it a few times and then sell it on eBay at a loss... This is very weird behaviour but I feel like I can be 100% honest on here. I have done this with about 5 or 6 bags!!! And you can't return it to the shop as they give you a voucher so I would literally sell it at 200 loss at a time?!! What the hell?!

The diamond ring and one designer purse are the only things I have kept after all that buying then taking back malarkey....

Also I seem to go through periods of ups and downs where I would spend lots of money and feel temporarily up and then come crashing down...

And holidays, as I mentioned before... We have decided not to go this year, having been on credit card only in August 2014 (pre LBM)... But in January I felt a massive down and very nearly booked one. But I didnt. And again was looking last night but haven't booked.

When I took our last loan to consolidate our debts I kept 2 credit cards one of which has 10k credit limit (why on earth would they give such a huge credit limit?!)

I think step 1. Would be to cut up and cancel that card - what do you think?
Step 2. Would be to do a proper budget to allocate some money toward a future holiday perhaps in a separate account...

But I will leave that for next post

stepuptothepl8

My thoughts on step 1: CUT IT UP AND CANCEL IT NOW!!! And yes, I know I'm shouting.. You know it's the right thing to do.

Step 2: sounds logical

I've subscribed. Good luck!

snowscreamer

DFB35 wrote: »

Ok, just read back on my story and realised that I sounded very defensive... Hubby wants expensive holidays, mums trouble and there is poor little me getting into debt through no fault of my own ... All of this is true but I also have a few things to admit..

A few times I went through a period in my life where I'd become fixated on having a certain thing.... In particular it was a very expensive designer bags and expensive diamond ring... I seemed to have developed a very disturbing cycle where I would buy a designer bag (and we talking upwards of £500+ per bag). Then feel absolutely sick that I've spent this money on a bag so wear it a few times and then sell it on eBay at a loss... This is very weird behaviour but I feel like I can be 100% honest on here. I have done this with about 5 or 6 bags!!! And you can't return it to the shop as they give you a voucher so I would literally sell it at 200 loss at a time?!! What the hell?!

The diamond ring and one designer purse are the only things I have kept after all that buying then taking back malarkey....

Also I seem to go through periods of ups and downs where I would spend lots of money and feel temporarily up and then come crashing down...

And holidays, as I mentioned before... We have decided not to go this year, having been on credit card only in August 2014 (pre LBM)... But in January I felt a massive down and very nearly booked one. But I didnt. And again was looking last night but haven't booked.

When I took our last loan to consolidate our debts I kept 2 credit cards one of which has 10k credit limit (why on earth would they give such a huge credit limit?!)

I think step 1. Would be to cut up and cancel that card - what do you think?
Step 2. Would be to do a proper budget to allocate some money toward a future holiday perhaps in a separate account...

But I will leave that for next post

Hey DDB35,

You can save for multiple things including holidays without opening a new bank account - you just need YNAB http://www.youneedabudget.com/.
Absolutely transformed spending in this household; spending £1000+ less a month while saving for holidays, yearly bills etc. and I don't even feel like we're living austerely - what good value we must have been getting for that extra £1000!!

Have subscribed and I wish you good luck

PS. I am totally addicted to YNAB, but if you get it you'll understand!!

DFB35

stepuptothepl8 wrote: »

My thoughts on step 1: CUT IT UP AND CANCEL IT NOW!!! And yes, I know I'm shouting.. You know it's the right thing to do.

Step 2: sounds logical

I've subscribed. Good luck!

Thank you for your support! I think the main reason Ive not cancelled it is because I feel like it's a massive emergency net.... But is it really an emergency net or a way further into debt?! Arghhhh

When I took my resent consolidation loan they warned me that although I have a good credit rating I am up to the limit of personal borrowing and what they called a "heavy borrowing" or something along those lines... This and also my mums trouble with money was a massive wake up call as if I get into more debt I probably won't be able to borrow more..and there's no one who would be able to help us. Sounds very weird talking about this openly! But is really an eye opener!

What I ultimately aim to achieve becoming debt free is that if anything goes wrong we are able to manage on one salary (preferably my husbands ) at least for awhile or have net savings to enable us to find another job... And I'm talking like that due to a few problems in both our jobs which made me realise that things can change at a moments notice and we can end up without income (both our companies were taken over - separate companies just a coincidence! My husbands one had a lot of redundancies, mine a bit less but still makes you think!)

Anyway I WILL cancel that card and will report once it's done! Would like to keep the other one which has 3k limit for big purchases but always paid off same month.

Thank you

DFB35

snowscreamer wrote: »

Hey DDB35,

You can save for multiple things including holidays without opening a new bank account - you just need YNAB
Absolutely transformed spending in this household; spending £1000+ less a month while saving for holidays, yearly bills etc. and I don't even feel like we're lovely austerely - what good value we must have been getting for that extra £1000!!

Have subscribed and I wish you good luck

PS. I am totally addicted to YNAB, but if you get it you'll understand!!

Thank you! Will check it out now

DFB35

I have downloaded the YNAB app, had a quick read of a few more diaries! So inspiring..

Need to go now and get on with my housework! But will be back with a plan of action!!