Debt Demolisher

enthusiasticsaver

You have come an incredibly long way in less than a year Motivated. If you read your first few diary entries and then the last few pages of very positive posts the changes are wonderful to read about. You are saving, you are on top of your debts, you are budgeting and thinking about where your money is going. Well done you :beer::beer:

motivated

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

You have come an incredibly long way in less than a year Motivated. If you read your first few diary entries and then the last few pages of very positive posts the changes are wonderful to read about. You are saving, you are on top of your debts, you are budgeting and thinking about where your money is going. Well done you :beer::beer:

Hi enthusiastic saver and thanks for popping in.

I did just as you said and re read the first couple of pages of my diary :eek: It reminded me of the huge rows me and DH had because of all this. Blaming each other and so on. Petrified of asking for help and getting the ball rolling. All that worry and the worst thing that’s happened is a few letters from creditors. They have all been great to be honest and hopefully they continue to be so.

Onto today, although we haven’t made a massive dent in the overall debt we have a solid plan in place now. The worst of it is over (I hope) and starting in January we will continue to move forward and each month we will be decreasing the total. My short term goal will definitely be finished and I will add the money I’m paying on that to the monthly payments elsewhere and knock one debt off at a time

I am feeling positive again and can’t wait for January.

• New year
• New start
• New challenges
• New lower overall debt total

:A
M

motivated

After a heads up from enthusiasticsaver I thought I would check all updated credit reports and all accounts are now showing as defaulted and we did manage to make a slight difference to our debt total to the tune of £2531. Not a huge amount but considering it’s Christmas and this time last year I was out trashing the CCs (again) Not this year though :beer:

I didn’t think we had made a difference at all to be honest. We started on our DMP around April I think. Another boost for me

Payday Friday too so more payments going which will bring our total into the next thousand down :eek:
M

enthusiasticsaver

I think sometimes when people are battling huge amounts of debt and the totals don't seem to go down a lot in the first few months or years it is easy to get disheartened and think you are not making a difference. You most definitely are though and next year you will see an even bigger difference until the way you are with money now - saving for things, not relying on credit cards becomes second nature. Keep setting yourself short term goals and acknowledge them. Celebrate (in an MSE style of course) when you pay off £1000 or £500 and the snowball effect will eventually kick in. £2531 reduction (really since April not January by the time the DMP started) is a wonderful start. Have a good MSE Christmas.

motivated

Thanks again

Our first payment to SC went 1st April I paid a couple then went self managed and I will certainly be keeping track of £500 targets which will give me something to aim for every month.

As time goes on we will be increasing payments to the bigger ones as the smaller debts fall off

We have lots of snow here too
M

Chrystal

I think you've done brilliantly and it's lovely to hear you sounding so positive.

£2531 in about 7 months! That's something to give yourself a pat on the back for. :beer:

motivated

Chrystal wrote: »

I think you've done brilliantly and it's lovely to hear you sounding so positive.

£2531 in about 7 months! That's something to give yourself a pat on the back for. :beer:

Thankyou Crystal

It has made me realise that we have made progress. This time last year I was sitting here panicking and not looking forward to Christmas at all. Wracked up the CCs not even taking account of how much we’d spent on them. :mad: Hard lesson learned there.

I’m in a very reflective mood today and have thought about the vet bills we had in May and the car tax and insurance all paid for this year without a CC. Car insurance and tax are due again in the next couple of months and will be paid for in cash again this year :T

Thanks to all who have made me feel positive like never before today :A

EmmaMicawber

When I get frustrated that the debt isn't going down faster it also really helps to think where we would have been if we hadn't 'seen the light' last Christmas. We would have kept adding to the debt, not kept it stable.

If OH had continued to add to his debt at the rate he was we would have increased our debt by another £9000 or so this year.

If you think of it like that, your actual progress in numbers is
= (debt paid off this year) + (additional debt not accrued)
= loads!!

So well done!!

Chrystal

Fabulous that you're feeling so positive.

I think feeling 'in control' takes away the panic and makes such a massive difference to how we handle things. You're doing so well and next year will be even better. (((hugs)))

motivated

EmmaMicawber wrote: »

When I get frustrated that the debt isn't going down faster it also really helps to think where we would have been if we hadn't 'seen the light' last Christmas. We would have kept adding to the debt, not kept it stable.

If OH had continued to add to his debt at the rate he was we would have increased our debt by another £9000 or so this year.

If you think of it like that, your actual progress in numbers is
= (debt paid off this year) + (additional debt not accrued)
= loads!!

So well done!!

Emma you’re so right about the amounts that could’ve been added to the debt. It was so easy to do without a seconds thought. Booked a holiday, bought things willy nilly and then had all good intentions of paying it all off. Didn’t make the deadline before the 0% ran out so transferred it. Lost track of it and so the cycle continued. :mad:

Thanks for helping me see it like that

Chrystal wrote: »

Fabulous that you're feeling so positive.

I think feeling 'in control' takes away the panic and makes such a massive difference to how we handle things. You're doing so well and next year will be even better. (((hugs)))

Crystal I definitely agree about feeling in control. As it stands at the moment I do feel in control. My plan all works out on paper and in my head. I just need to make sure it works out in reality.

Today at work I craftily logged into my NEDCAB account and printed off up to date letters to creditors saying I will be increasing the payments from January albeit not massively but working it out it means that over the next 12 months we would have paid off ( runs off to get calculator) £6170:88 from CCs and Loans alone. Our Short term target will be history and fingers crossed I may be able to add bits and pieces as we trudge along.

We will also be saving for car insurance, tax and Christmas again. We just need to be disciplined with it all and hopefully once we get into the swing of it and it becomes second nature we will start to see a difference.
M