I want to stop drowning

enthusiasticsaver

Or keep going as you are until the debt is even higher.

Moneywhizz

I read along with your diary and have always hoped that you would manage to start paying this debt down so that you can live without such stress and worry. However it seems that you are really begin to drown in it all. As others have advised you must stop spending on credit cards. If you can't pay cash then you can't afford to buy it whatever that might be. Is there a chance you can cancel the latest holiday? I would take the advice from ES and begin to manage your own DMP. I hope you can take steps to begin to turn your life around.

debtaghh

I will look into dmp as that's not something I'm familiar with. Our debt has gone down over the years.

enthusiasticsaver

debtaghh wrote: »

I will look into dmp as that's not something I'm familiar with. Our debt has gone down over the years.

It has gone down because she started to control spending which is good but in reality a £500 shortfall cannot be ignored. It will increase again if you don't stop using the cards.

debtaghh

The shortfall isn't every month. It only has been the last couple. Plus yes we shouldn't have booked the holiday. We don't use the credit cards for food etc or on a daily basis

motivated

Hi debtaghh

I am self managing our DMP with the help of NEDCAB. It was all so easy to do and not as scary as it sounds. It saves all the info such as budgets, creditors etc. It generates all letters for you and away you go. I set up SOs for the monthly payments to creditors and I can honestly say everything has been fine.

As for the credit cards we too booked holidays on them over the years. I am probably still paying them as we balance transferred etc.
I couldn't even tell you which card the holiday ended up on.:o

The scariest part was knowing we wouldn't have access to credit anymore, our credit scores would be trashed etc. But things came to a head when we were both continually worrying and arguing about money.

Once we bit the bullet and sent letters to creditors the reality really kicked in and then we knew we had to crack on and tackle the mess we were/are in.

Onto today and we are still in debt yes but all debts are now defaulted so no interest to be added. We are paying back all of our debt albeit at a slower pace. All creditors have been fine and things are so much calmer now.

I like the fact that we are in charge and we can have a meal out or cinema without feeling guilty. We budget for everything and only wish we saw the light years ago.

Keep your chin up
:A

enthusiasticsaver

I think motivated speaks a lot of sense. It makes no difference whether it is food, holidays, clothes or Xmas which ends up on a credit card. You are living a life you cannot afford. The scariest bit will be accepting you have no more access to credit but at least you will be able to manage to live without juggling cards.

debtaghh

Morning,

Life has been very busy lately. I'm not liking my job and really want more hours which they don't have.

Money is rubbish but I'm on a mission to try and sort it out in the new year.

Thanks for all the advice and support this year. I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas.

Let's hope 2019 is a debt busting year for all!

enthusiasticsaver

Lovely to hear from you and good luck for 2019. I hope you manage to sort out a new job and the debt situation. Have a nice Christmas.

debtaghh

I didn't think I'd get back on here before Xmas but have a spare five mins. I have really been thinking things through and reading some of my diary and reality has hit me and please don't judge but I don't think I had my true light bulb moment! I have been so use to being in debt that I have forgotten how not to live without the credit. Whilst I have been disciplined in certain areas I have been awful in other areas! I was doing so well until about May and then things started to slide. I was writing down every penny I spent and I think that worked for me as it was shocking!

I've looked at some of the challenges but I think for many challenge will be to shop more at Aldi as I have been slacking with this. My challenge will also be log every penny I spend from Jan 1st. I need to meal plan more and get the food bill down.