Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally

HairyHandofDartmoor

🤣🤗🤩😎😁🙄🐗🐱🐵🏠🤬😱 emoji testing 😁

DrSpendingLittle

HairyHandofDartmoor said:

🤣🤗🤩😎😁🙄🐗🐱🐵🏠🤬😱 emoji testing 😁

Looking forward to your use of emojis, Hairy! 

elizabethhull

HairyHandofDartmoor said:

elizabethhull said:

I was hoping this new forum would allow me to change my username to a more anonymised one - but no ! I went through the so-called 'proper channels' over a year ago and was totally ignored.
When I was first a member (years ago) I never imagined being part of a group like this and did not realise I should have chosen a proper username.

Have you emailed the forum team and asked them how to change it?

Yes I have but no reply
Thank you for your lovely comment, sunshinegirl.

df-MRes_student

HairyHandofDartmoor said:

My DH and I have been in debt for 34 Years, apart from brief periods, ever since I was offered my first credit card at the tender age of19.

Our debts were caused by us being impulsive spenders and not being very skilled at budgeting or managing our money, so we know it is our own fault. We always believed that one day we would have more money, mysteriously, and that this would bail us out .

Our full light bulb moment came when we realised, "What if we never have any more money than we do right now?"

A couple of years ago we were coping with the minimum payments, but didn't have enough to overpay on any of them. We were forking out £1300 a month in minimum payments, and the interest alone was £1000 a month :mad:.

But then in 2015 our small business started to bring in less, and a family bereavement, and illness affected our ability to work. We could no longer afford the minimum repayments and we were scared we would lose our home. We were stricken with stress and depression .

Step Change shone a light in the darkness for us and they arranged for us to make token payments of £1 a month to our creditors. This saved our sanity and we were reassured that our home was unlikely to be taken from us.

My DH recently turned 55 and drew out his pension so that we could make full and final offers to our creditors. All but one accepted an offer of 50% of what we owed (which is all we had to offer). We are continuing negotiations with the final creditor and hope to be debt free by Christmas :T.

Being so close to being debt free has made me realise what a heavy burden the debts have been all these years, like living our lives wearing lead boots.

Once we are debt free we will still need to live very frugally because we have no emergency fund or savings, and our income can be irregular. I hope that starting a diary will help to focus me on frugal living, avoid impulsive spends, and keep my spirits up. Because frugal living can be a lonely and isolating experience.

This site and Step Change has helped me so much, and I hope that my diary will help to inspire others that it's never too late to change your life .

Hi HairyHandofDartmoor,
You have clearly had a very difficult time over the years. I just wanted to post a congratulatory message of support and to say how inspiring you are for dealing with things head-on. It's very easy and completely understandable to think that things will change and get better. Of course, that's not always the case and when health issues crop up that can make finances extremely difficult indeed. Congrats on getting to where you are now! I hope the support you receive here helps push you through to the finish line to achieving debt-free status by the end of the year.

All the very best,

Onebrokelady

Hello,can you see me 😀

foxgloves

Yes, OBL! You're wearing jeans, boots & a nice warm jumper & look very nice!
F x

Onebrokelady

foxgloves said:

Yes, OBL! You're wearing jeans, boots & a nice warm jumper & look very nice!
F x

Omg,how do you know what I'm wearing,this forums goooood 😂

Willowtree222

Are you on a horse OBL? X

Onebrokelady

Nicnak said:

Are you on a horse OBL? X

Yes I am,but the pictures so tiny it's not worth having on there 😂

Onebrokelady

HairyHandofDartmoor said:

What do people think of the new forum? I'm sad that I've lost my profile picture and ALL of my likes  . The new empojis are a bit rubbish too compared with the old ones. So I'm not amazingly impressed so far  .

Also the writing is so small that I'm struggling to read it even with my reading glasses on  .

I don't like it😟I can't get on my profile by the normal way,I can't see which diaries I'm subscribed to,I can't log in normally,I'm only on here now because I bookmarked my diary on my iPad so can get back to the site from there,my name is spread over two lines so doesn't make sense and people's badges are covering part of their posts,I think I will give it a month for them to sort it out then if it's still not good I will call it a day,it's too much of a faff now to look at anything 😟