Getting out of this debt sharknado

enthusiasticsaver

You are doing really well. £2200+ paid off in less than one month. Good on you for reminding your OH why he cannot go out and spend when you have so much debt. Debt is borrowing from your future self. It would be great to see those cards down at £28500 and presumably the loan at about £12k by January 2019. I suppose it depends on whether you find a job though fairly soon?

Treadingonplaymobil

I love your 'gazelle year' plan. It will be so great if you can get that big chunk paid off. Wish I was staring down the same plan, but ours is a bit more lame!

Honeysucklelou2

Just read through your diary Emma. Well done on getting the debt figures down so much in the last year. Sounds like you have a good plan for the coming year and what a good idea to total the monies paid each week. It's really motivational.

I'll be reading with interest. My DD1 also started uni last September and has managed to put some of her loan into a savings account so that she has an emergency buffer. Hopefully she'll be better than me at managing her finances.

EmmaMicawber

Honeysucklelou2 wrote: »

Just read through your diary Emma. Well done on getting the debt figures down so much in the last year. Sounds like you have a good plan for the coming year and what a good idea to total the monies paid each week. It's really motivational.

I'll be reading with interest. My DD1 also started uni last September and has managed to put some of her loan into a savings account so that she has an emergency buffer. Hopefully she'll be better than me at managing her finances.

Thanks for popping in honeysuckle.
So far DD seems to be doing pretty well with the budgeting. She works a couple of hours a week as well, though it is not regular hours, usually around £20-30 a week which helps. Some of her friends already have a £2000 overdraft after one term of uni :eek: DD will definitely be better than me at finances- but that wouldn't be too difficult! Sounds like your DD has it sorted as well. Has she settled in well? Mine is loving it.

EmmaMicawber

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

I love your 'gazelle year' plan. It will be so great if you can get that big chunk paid off. Wish I was staring down the same plan, but ours is a bit more lame!

Thanks for the support Treading- our plan all depends on me getting paid work which I sometimes think is never going to happen at this rate! Your signature is amazing- you paid off so much last year- over £23K is fantastic.

And once the debt is gone, which WILL happen, think of all the spare money we'll have from learning our moneysaving ways through this process :cool:. I know I'll never waste money on food like I used to (and what I thre away was often bought at Waitrose prices), or new mobiles, new cars etc. Our aims are to travel and enjoy / help the kids.

EmmaMicawber

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

You are doing really well. £2200+ paid off in less than one month. Good on you for reminding your OH why he cannot go out and spend when you have so much debt. Debt is borrowing from your future self. It would be great to see those cards down at £28500 and presumably the loan at about £12k by January 2019. I suppose it depends on whether you find a job though fairly soon?

Thanks enthusiastic, yes the plan needs a wage from me. I'm getting quite frustrated that I haven't managed to find something, especially as my tax-free months are ebbing away (would be tax-free as I haven't earned anything this financial year).

EmmaMicawber

I've been awake since 5am this morning as the wind here has been horrendous. The roofer hasn't had chance to fix the tiles which blew off last week so I'm hoping these new winds don't rip more off.

It is these unexpected events with unknown costs which I really hate- grrr!
Yesterday I bought and fitted a new headlamp bulb and wiper blade in preparation for my car's MOT in a couple of weeks. I'm ashamed to say it's the first time I've ever done more than refuel the car, I would have normally paid Halfords to do it so a bit saved there.

Back to the job search.

Kazzywazzy39

Hello, I have been following your thread. Hope you don't mind if I jump on. Its lovely to see every one supporting each other on here and sharing ideas. I too have many a sleepless night as to how I ended up having to look on here in the first place but many years of bad luck through no fault of our own has been the issue. I will now be paying for that bad luck for the next 5 years minimum. There is light at the end of the tunnel but its a very long tunnel and quite suffocating at the moment but its good to know I am not alone in this!

EmmaMicawber

Kazzywazzy39 wrote: »

Hello, I have been following your thread. Hope you don't mind if I jump on. Its lovely to see every one supporting each other on here and sharing ideas. I too have many a sleepless night as to how I ended up having to look on here in the first place but many years of bad luck through no fault of our own has been the issue. I will now be paying for that bad luck for the next 5 years minimum. There is light at the end of the tunnel but its a very long tunnel and quite suffocating at the moment but its good to know I am not alone in this!

Welcome aboard Kazzy! I'm sorry to hear that you've ended up here because of events beyond your control - you've done the right thing joining MSE. The people on here are so knowledgeable and supportive it won't feel as though you're doing this by yourself. And as soon as you have a plan you will feel the weight being lifted from your shoulders.

There's a lot to read on here, but you might want to start by visiting the stepchange website or giving them a call if your debts are causing you a lot of worry to get an idea of where to start. I called them when I first realised what a mess we were in and they were lovely, non-judgmental and supportive and talked through my options. There is no need to even give your name. Oh, and something they said to me was that they the majority of people don't take as long to get debt-free as the dates they calculate at the start first suggest. I think it's because people get better at spending less and circumstance eg pay rises often make the date come closer over time. That has certainly happened for us, so it may not be as long as you think now.

There are so many ideas for debt-busting on here and lots of us to cheer you along the way- I know that the debt-free wannabes is the club that no-one really wants to join but it's very supportive and will make the journey a lot more bearable, particularly if, like me, people in real life don't know your situation. The other things that help me when it all seems insurmountable is Dave Ramsey's debt-free screams - you can find them on youtube. It helps me to remember that it is possible to pay off a lot of debt without earning a fortune and lots of people have done it already.

Sorry for the essay! Do keep posting and popping in to say hi and if you've any questions, ask away (though I'm no expert )

Honeysucklelou2

Well done for doing the headlamp bulb and wiper blade. I had to do one of my headlight bulbs a couple of weeks ago and felt quite a sense of achievement at managing it and not having to go to a garage.

My DD has settled into uni and is happy there. She has made friends and is enjoying the opportunity to join in with different societies and clubs.

Good luck with the job search.