Took the first step.

DentInTheDebt

Today I took some steps forward.

1) I admitted my finances are out of control - I owe £25,327 in unsecured debt.

2) I talked about it with my family.

3) I gave notice on my property and agreed to move in with my parents, at the age of 35, to focus on paying off my debts.

With a good income £42K pa and minimal outgoings (thanks to my parents letting me stay rent and utility free) I should be debt free within 18 months.

I’ve never asked my parents to borrow a single penny my whole life so I feel uncomfortable taking advantage of them by “sponging” off them by living rent free, but they insist it’s the right thing to do. It probably is, but today has been a little overwhelming and it’s only 9:20am.

Here goes!

[Deleted User]

Good luck on your journey x

System

Good luck with it all.

Maybe you can treat your parents from time to time whilst staying with them . All in budget of course .

Onebrokelady

Good luck,you have taken that first step and its lovely that your family are on board to help you out at this time,Im sure they know how much you appreciate their being able to help you, well done in telling them and getting help

DentInTheDebt

Thanks all. It really is a relief starting to deal with this problem in a more proactive way. I feel like I’m taking control and responsibility.

It's been a busy 24 hours. I've given notice to the landlord, started changing addresses, deleting direct debits, cutting up all credit cards and I've even drawn together a 12 month budget - with forecasted "final payment" dates too for what I can realistically pay off this year.

I've decided to pay my overdraft down first - all though it's interest free, I owe £2.2k, I clear it each month bunny pay day I’m back in the same position, this one is important to me as after a bit of reflection I've accepted that I avoid logging into my internet banking as I don't like looking at this number - this 'bury my head in the sand' attitude has most definitely added to my issues - I used to look every day what was in my account, but have been afraid to. From a personal perspective clearing this would be a psychological win.

After the overdraft I’m going to clear my credit card with a balance of £1.9k – I’ve moved this to a 0% deal for 6 months and closed the old account.

I then have 3 personal loans, £3.4k, £5.8k and £9.2k which I will overpay in ascending order. As I pay off each account I can snowball the repayments and should be debt free by September 2019.


Here goes!!