Light at the end of the tunnel

Whitewolf0158

Hi all.

It's been a while since I posted and I guess I'm just posting as I've got a lot on my mind at the moment. A few years ago I tried to support my retired parents look after my nephews following my brother's marriage falling apart, their pension isn't great and they were left to look after 2 little boys sometimes for 5 days a week.

I can't remember how long this carried on for but I know I began putting my hand in my pocket to support them as living with my parents still I felt bad watching them struggle. Over time my funds dried up and being soft I didn't want to disappoint my parents so I began borrowing from payday lenders to make up for the short fall. I very quickly fell into the trap of borrowing more money to cover other lenders or rolling over debts to try and keep afloat. I had my fair share of sleepless nights, letters through the door and endless phone calls until I went for help.

I've been on a DMP for about 3 years and I am coming into the last month of my DMP, I've managed to clear just shy of £10,000 in that time and things at home have improved to the point where I think I'll be able to move out at last next year. I'm finding the prospect of being in the clear for the first time in my adult life a little daunting though, I'm excited to get the last few quid seen to but I'm really not sure where to go from here.

Suggestions or comments from those that have been here before would be appreciated but failing that maybe some inspiration on how to get it off my mind once I'm done would be awesome.

Thanks for listening.

sourcrates

Hi,

The thing is, its probebley not going to be the utopia you assume it will be, chances are you will get back into debt at some point in your life, it`ll be a question of how you manage it, unless you can stick to your budget and live within your means, but temptation is everywhere.

Congratulations on what you have achieved so far, just going off on a different tangent, have you thought about reclaiming interest and charges from payday lenders, who may of lent to you irresponsibly ?

Big thread on reclaiming on this forum, also see the debtcamal website for more info.

roxy7699

My advice is create a budget for things you have to pay for and equally things you want to do be it the cinema or a future goal.
I use YNAB (the old style one) there is a new one now however, you could learn the format and replicate in excel.

Well done on what you have achieved so far.