Long battle to be free of debt

Robf

Stepping into the light after years of unemployment and personal issues I will not bore you with I am beginning to understand the scope and scale of my financial position. In many ways not knowing was a blessing, I could make guesses and assumptions but not stress too much as I was not sure. I have been in the same job for about a year now and am finally starting to make some headway with my debts.
I think the next job ought to be shinning that new found light on my debts to get some clarity about what my actual situation is and start making a real plan to move forward. I have to admit that I feel extreme stress everytime I start thinking about the next steps. I am not sure where to begin, how to work out my actual current debt balance without alerting my creditors that I am once again fair game (they have been largely leaving me alone for the past 18 months).
So, next steps:
Work out how much I still owe and to whom
Plan a monthly payments schedule that will not put me back into the brown stuff immediately
Devise a way of keeping a record of everything going forward, one that I am likely to stick to
Hope to hell I do not go through another mass redundancy scenario

I would appreciate any advice any of you may have.
I intend to post monthly updates regarding my progress on this journey / battle

UncannyScot

Hi an welcome Robf
Many of us here are in or have faced similar situation as yourself.
First steps, do a Statement Of Affairs (SOA) for yourself; I will try and find the link for you or perhaps some other kind soul on here will beat me to it...
Also, get FREE professional help with things. I personally recommend going to see the financial / debt advisor at your local Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). They can help you get to grips with things and help ensure that you have a plan that doesn't land you in the brown stuff
One important thing to remember is that your debt is not insurmountable, it can be dealt with, it can be beaten.
We are all here to help and support each other so, welcome to the fold and join in as much as you can (we are a friendly bunch)

Robf

Hi all,

So, I’ve not been posting updates as fighting my way through my debt sent me down the depression rabbit hole. I discovered I was nearly £50k in and that was painful.

I’m now down to 16k but once again am looking for a job. This is feeling scary again. The difference is I feel more confident about getting the next job.

Depression, now there is an anchor. The simple truth is that there are days when I can’t figure out where to start and I go through the whole day doing a whole lot of nothing, starting one thing and being too distracted about something else to continue with it so moving on to something else but getting distracted by my thoughts again... and on and on until it’s 2:30 am and I have not completed anything. That’s been my daily routine for weeks.

I suppose I need to just pull myself up by my bootstraps, shake it off, dust myself off and soldier on. The thing is, I’m not sure how. Every morning I start the day with the intention, every day I find myself still awake in the wee hours.