only ONE credit card left + mortgage. current mood: content

fru-girl

Life happened... sorry I've abandoned my thread - have not abandoned the debt fight, I'm still at it - although some unexpected stuff happened, some good, some bad... bottom line is I'm back (almost) to square one, so to speak. Current debt is at £11900, which is less than the one I started the thread with, but not by much. £9000 is sitting at 0% on the BOS card (still the only credit card I have and I'm not using it!) and the rest (almost 3K) I owe to my dad, and we agreed for me to give him £300 per month.

I did get a TV in the end, it was £349 so not cheap at all, but not the 65" either.... I stopped at 49".

That was not what set me back though, it was some last minute holidaying in Feb half term and a completely unexpected family matter I couldn't escape, plus some plane tickets for the summer - flying to see my parents.

Anyhow, I'm quite disappointing with myself at the moment, I'm not making any progress with reducing debt... my light bulb is very dim at the moment.

On the + side I got a bit of a salary increase, only £100 per month but still. And I'm seeing a nice guy, it's the 3rd date and going well. And realized we have not seen a doctor in ages so I'm grateful for our health.

Hope to be back soon and sorry to have disappeared like this... I was hiding from myself too.

EssexHebridean

Ahh yes - we've all been there, head in sand and all that. Reminds me of what my cat used to do - she'd stick her head under the edge of the bed valance and then be utterly astonished we could still see her! :rotfl:

Well you know what the issues are that have got you back there at least so you can deal with them - and you're back and being accountable to yourself again which is probably the other half of the battle - good to have you back, too, we always wonder what's gone on when folk disappear!

Are you intending to stick your extra money from your payrise into an emergency fund so you can avoid that sort of issue in the future? Might be a plan!

fru-girl

Thanks EH, you're kind. I'm using that extra money to pay my dad.

I don't know... I'm very discouraged at the moment, I feel like I don't have enough willpower to reduce spending. That sinking feeling again.

I keep making plans and saying yes to this and that and the other - like for instance in 2 weeks I'm going to Isle of Wight for the weekend with the new guy. Yes I need that kind of alone time with him but it does come at a cost I'm not sure I can afford anymore.

fru-girl

My phantom is still haunting the thread... sorry for not coming here more often, hiding from myself again - but I'm still here so I guess it's not all lost. I'm really struggling at the moment - with my inability to deal with my debt. I've only made minimum payments to my CC in the past couple of months and none to my dad. He's actually told me I could give him back the whole amount when I get the annual bonus in December and that's that. However, in December I was planning to apply for British citizenship for both myself and my child (we're EU citizens with permanent residency). That's about £2,500 in total, and of course, I have not saved for it, as I said I would.

Other than that life's decent, I cannot complain... still seeing the new guy although I have not introduced him to my DD yet. He doesn't have children and I feel like it's better to wait a bit.

I'm off next week in half term. Can't afford to travel anywhere but we're doing some stuff locally and hopefully will relax (and not spend too much!)

fru-girl

almost forgot - a couple of positive things to report:

+ I'm still not using credit cards (only card is BOS which I'm very slowly paying... )
+ have just completely cancelled my Sky TV subscription, will use only Freeview and Netflix
+ have also cancelled my gym membership, I'll be using 10-class packs to pay for my weekly yoga sessions

EssexHebridean

There you go then, there ARE some positives. And love-life sounding good too - nice work lady!

Sounds to me like you already know that you need to pull yourself up short and stop the rot - do you know where the extra money (that you were going to use for payments to your Dad?) has been going? Just on odds and ends or have big things come up that have been necessary and had to use it? All is not lost though - you've got 7 paydays (assuming you're end of the month paid) between now and December so there's still time to make an impact.