The long haul supporters thread...

Keeping_Positive

Excellent news ISOM shows what can happen when you focus on everything.

In_Search_Of_Me

go for it ltm! keep us posted! Thanks kp and bt- just wanted to offer encouragement that you can make inroads if you just keep plodding!

sashanut

Would love to have a DFW number please when you have time/notice this post/etc. TBH am feeling a bit fed up, you can see from my sig have been on MSE for quite a while, found it when at rock bottom.....trouble is I don't think I'm making much progress & am getting downhearted. Well, I suppose I am not getting in any deeper, I have (mostly) stopped spending, have doen all the steps to cut the bills, am an OS regular - but am not making any inroads on the debt athough it is not growing any bigger IYSWIM.:eek:

I had hoped than once I put the brakes on, I could start paying off the CCs, the overdrafts & finally the mortgage but because of the price rises & the fact that we are a small business & due to the credit crunch, have not yet been paid this month, it is hard just to keep paying the bills let alone pay anything off the debts. Have sold stuff on eBay but that money will have to go towards bills (elec & vets) rather than chipping away at the debts.

Glad to have found you guys who are doing so well, I hope to be inspired.

Toffee_Penny

Alright alright you've twisted my arm, I'll join :rotfl: Sitting here tonight I finally feel like things are coming together once and for all. I can finally see a way out, a light at the end of the very dark tunnel of debt. My story might seem familiar to some of you but here goes......

I suppose it all started when I passed my driving test 8 years ago and we wanted to buy a car, not earning much between us we went to the bank with my uncle and was turned down for a small loan. My uncle agreed to take out a loan on our behalf and the lady told my partner to apply for a credit card as this would be a good way to build up a credit history. OH got a credit card and it was great at first going shopping on Saturdays spending a few hundred just like that, on nothing special, a few items from sports shops, clothes for the kids, nothing special just stuff we didn't need just wanted.

The credit cards kept on flowing and new applications were filled in, swapping one balance to the other until we were offered a loan. Brill!! We could get rid of the credit card debt and have just one monthly payment, only it wasn't brill cause as soon as the balances were zero, we spent again and again until, yep you've guessed it a loan AND credit cards.

I wouldn't say we were in denial as we had manageable debt, we could afford the payments, we could afford a few nice holidays and nice clothes even carpets for every room throughout our new house when we moved in. It was great no worries jobs were ok and the payments weren't that bad we didn't worry because the debt seemed ok to us, just a couple of thousand, probably less than 20k.

Whenever the debt on the credit card got too big we just topped up an existing loan or applied for a new one, it was simple and easy, far too easy! Whenever a paymnet was made to creditors we had letters like 'Congratulations your credit limit has increased' everyone threw money at us and like daft fools we kept spending it. We could still afford the payments so whatever, we just didn't care! If I overspent on food shopping, my overdraft would see me through the month, if I wanted clothes I could order them from catalogues and not pay until several months after. If we wanted money in the bank just for having a plus balance we would write a cheque out to ourselves and go shopping. We wanted for nothing.

I discovered my OH had lost over £1000 in one month on a gambling site one day and things just came to a head, words were spoken and we decided to have a break. It went on like this for months blaming everything and anything on each other rather than wake up smell the coffee and realise we had a problem and needed help but we didn't know what to do or who to turn to, we were in the brown stuff, really deep in it, his family thought one of us had cheated as he was always being kicked out and that added to our worries as no one knew of the financial mess we were in. The relationship was fiery, every converstaion was about the uncertainty of his work and worrying of what to do. OH is self employed and work this summer just dried up and slowed down. He even suggested doing a runner! The kids didn't know what was going on and the pressure of trying to find minimum payments of over £1000 a month was stiffling us. It was either make or break for us.

I saw Martin on GMTV one day and saw a link to this site, it was on here when I was directed to CCCS website, I put in my details and well..... here I am, on a joint DMP for just over 8 years (I think) with a combined grand total of debt for f, f, f, (still hard to say) 50 thousand pounds! :eek: We haven't spent that much alot of it is added interest, charges, ppi etc over the years, you lot know how it works

Are we ashamed we spent the money? YES

Do we wish we could turn the clock back? YES


But one step at a time, I can't wait for the day we get rid of credit forever, we will be debt free one day, we are learning a very dear lesson and having to budget for the first time in a very long time; no overdrafts to sort out this mess now. If we can't afford it we can't have it but you know what I feel so much better knowing whatever I have in my purse or bank at the end of the month when the direct debits have been sorted is mine, all mine and thats the best feeling when you have woke up to the fact just how much you relied on credit before.

I will get there just like all of you but it took us a few years to build the debt up it will take a few years to get out of it but one day just one day I will get there :rolleyes: we all will xxx

Now I am stuck in a rut of eating, sleeping debt busting ways and challenges thanks to this site. Some days I feel like screaming down the phone to creditors other days I feel like hiding away especially at work when people talk about the credit crunch and the 'silly people' who are in debt and I sit there and think 'if only you knew, if only you knew' I think this is what happens after the LBM and starting out on a DMP, a rollercoaster of emotions thats what it is.

sorry for waffling but I feel so much better for typing that lot out

MissKJ

I am bumping this up! There are so many new threads at the moment and new members, I think it is important for the long hawlers to stay focussed. Isuspect some of the newnies will end up as long hawlers anyway? Any one got any good news? I am fed up!

In_Search_Of_Me

sashanut (145)
toffee penny (146)

In_Search_Of_Me

welcome both...toffee thanks for sharing - you could be me except I only have one income lol! One of the joys of having a lbm is that it has made me see that the joyful things in life dont have to cost money and more often than not now the joy is making money. ie just made and sold a load of jam and made a reasonable profit which feels great - as does the fact that eople really love my jam! used to shop in m&s food...now its lidl and tbh the veg is better at lidl!
hugs misskj...this time of year is tough anyway with longer nights/heating bills/christmas etc but I try to make the best of it - hibernate, snuggle up, enjoy the leaves falling, cold breath and being thankful that I have enough money to heat my house and food in the house. Not trying to dismiss feeling low - we all do and long haul can sometimes feel very, very long and it can be very, very hard going and I hope people will all come on here and have a hug/moan/swap ideas etc for the bumpy road ahead...

dubgirl

Hello everyone, its been a while, welcome to the new faces, I can identify with much of your stories. For those who know me, I am currently in a far better frame of mind than I was, although our situation is still the same. I just try to keep up the PMA and keep reminding myself about the good things in life. Have to admit it is harder to be positive than negative. Spoke to my mum tonight, her and dad are pensioners and of course have a static income. Mum has really changed much of her lifestyle due to current climate and limited funds, She didnt say they were struggling but I have noticed a change in their lifestyle such as they dont appear to go out a great deal now and Mum talks about shopping habits that wouldnt be out of place on the OS board. Hope they are ok x

In_Search_Of_Me

could you not ask them dubgirl and maybe use it as an opportunity to get closer to each other? I know I've been muh closer to my mum since I fessed up and shes been a pillar of strength ever since...

geranium72

Welcome to all the newbies and just dropping in to check up and say hi!

Toffee penny - your story is so familiar - you are not on your own - I think a lot of us have similar stories.

AS fro me - today is the first month in ages I have paid over the minimum to a credit card! Only £25 - but it is the start of things to come

NR mortgage payment gone down too - only £11 but still it's something!

Hope everyone is ok - am off work next week so am going to put my debts back into snowball calc with this months payments gone and see where we are

Millie - I know how you feel but don't try and throw everything at the debt - give your self small treats if you can afford to - didn't you tell me that??

In Search of Me - I loved your post and if we do mothing else today we should look round at the beauty of nature (the FREE beauty! lol) and count our blessings - because even amongst all this debt there are good things