And so it begins

chester81

Hello everyone,

I am a long time lurker but have decided to bite the bullet and deal with what I call the 'toxic' areas of my life, one of them being the level of debt that I have accrued.

I am 35, married with a son. I have a good job that I do enjoy, a comfortable home and a lovely family. I am very lucky in many ways, however there are 3 areas of my life that I need to address - the 'toxic' aspects of my life -

1 - our debt. We owe over 40K on loans and cards. There is no need for it as we have good incomes. It is largely due to years of financial disorganization and a lack of planning. I am now at an age where I would like to moving to a bigger house etc. At the moment our debt is preventing this and therefore it needs to be sorted, We have drawn up a plan to repay it within 2.5 years BUT we have to stick to it.


The next 2 'toxic' areas of my life are not necessarily money related but they do form part of the journey that I am about to embark upon so I'll continue -

2 - My health an fitness. In recent years I have gone from a slim and fit guy to a slghtly out of shape 35 year old. At 6'4" and 14 stone, I am not fat, however I have gained over a stone with most of the fat collecting around my middle. I feel disappointed in myself and really need to take more care of my health. Getting older, gaining fat around the middle, stressed over debt and working 60 hours a week doesn't sound like a recipe for happiness and longevity to me!!

3 - my worklife balance - I LOVE my job but it is taking over my life and this needs to be addressed. I am often working until midnight at home on my laptop. I am starting to feel a little resentful over the amount of my life that is taken up by work. Not sure how I am going to address this one but it does need to be addressed.

I am thinking of starting a diary to track my progress.

jaydeeuk1

Your situation was near identical to mine, must be 2 years now since I cleared the last of my £20k. I was a workaholic but in the end it worked out ok as it meant I paid off my debts within a year, so 2 and a bit years seems feasible. Good luck!

crazy_cat_lady

Good luck with it all. Plenty of inspiration on here.

heartbreak_star

Best of luck

HBS x

System

I can see a fix for at least two of these...service your debt, pay it off, then reduce hours of job or get a less-paid but stress free job because now you don't need the money to pay the debt. 40K debt...that's probably £1k a month?

I wouldn't be at all surprised if staying up late contributes to your expanding waistline.

I believe it's 'boom' they say

rockm87

Hi and welcome!!

lots of inspiration here, and I'd suggest also logging onto the Mr Money Mustache blog. This will help with all 3 elements of your life!

also I'd put together a statement of affairs: http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

to really get to grips with where your money is going, and what you can do to tighten your belt!

chesky

With regard to your work : do you make yourself work all the hours God sends - i.e are you a workaholic who would act the same if you were self-employed? Or are you being pressured by your management to deliver almost impossible goals?

andyfromotley

Hey are you me?

I could say snap. Fast forward 12 years and i was in the Cardiac Ward diagnosed with heart failure!! I am now retired on grounds of ill health but Luckily (thank god!!) had a brilliant pension to fall back on or i would be well and truly screwed.

Makes the changes dude!

chester81

Hi,, thanks for post

It would be nice to not feel so pressured to earn. Not sure if I would be able to move jobs straight away as we do need to move house etc, however it would be nice to know that I'm not slogging my guts out just to service debts!

The late nights are definitely a factor in my growing cut. Couple of glasses of wine, pringles and crisps have become my standard nighttime snack. It needs to stop!

chester81

Pleased to hear that you are on the mend! This definitely gives me some food for thought ( or less food perhaps!)

chester81

chesky wrote: »

With regard to your work : do you make yourself work all the hours God sends - i.e are you a workaholic who would act the same if you were self-employed? Or are you being pressured by your management to deliver almost impossible goals?

I do put a lot of the pressure on myself. I am at senior management level so I feel that I have to set a good example at all times.