The long haul supporters thread...

john_boot

Looks like Im also going to be in this for the long haul .. at the moment Im just focusing on 1 mth at a time rather than thinking about the debt free day, but Im feeling motivated to stick it out and get rid of the debt!

In_Search_Of_Me

thriftyscotslass (152)
john boot (153)

Welcome both...say hi to people and tell us a bit about yourselves!

sashanut

hi all
So far I haven't worked out a DFD for us; I daren't because it seems each time I think we might be able to start chipping away at our debt we get hit by some kind of crisis. I know the debts are of our own making of course, but ATM we seem to be having such a struggle to pay all our day to day bills & minimum payments on all the CCs without paying anything extra off our debt. The idea was to up our income & use that money to pay off some of the debts but because our small business indirectly is paid via the LA - & they have invested heavily in Iceland; they are taking forerever to pay us, therefore any money I make over & above is just about keeping our heads above water. Having said that I only just realised that we get fined £40 every month if our mortgage payment is late - & we can't pay it if we don't get paid - gah!!

john_boot

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

thriftyscotslass (152)
john boot (153)

Welcome both...say hi to people and tell us a bit about yourselves!

Thanks for the warm welome and Hi to everyone else

A little bit about me... well, Im a 30 something who has managed to snowball myself into debt and Ive recently had my 'lightbulb' moment and realise that I need to snowball my way out of it (£31K).

Ive been lurking the board for a few weeks and took the plunge to actually sign up a few days ago.... My turning point was from last payday (which was nearly a month ago), so its early days for me, but thankfully my turning point has come whilst my head is slightly above water.

This is certainly a great board and theres loads of useful info, knowledge and people with similar circumstances etc, so Im slowly getting through stuff..

Umm, thats all I can think of really

Happytogetdebtfree

Hi john a very very warm welcome to the board and im so glad your ready to tackle your debt and i wish you all the luck that you may require sometimes this journey is hard and harder when the day to day crap is coming through the door but alas these journeys wisen us and im sailing along nicely and plan to be debt free in less than 2 years hehe just got to keep plugging at it :d you should post a soa up so we can see where you can cut down and save and cut debt x

black_taxi_2

yeah---john

i had same lightbulb moment like you this year.cleared of first bank small loan today.£2868.07.what matters is change of direction--no more loans--clear debt slowly but surely.

the total debt always looks like everest--but first step is getting the plane there.

i found best way was to target each loan seperately.im sure you have to advised to clear credit card debt first.

all the best

thriftyscotslass

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

thriftyscotslass (152)
john boot (153)

Welcome both...say hi to people and tell us a bit about yourselves!

Hello everyone :hello:

I'm also a newbie to the MSE boards.
Why join a Long Haulers support thread when you are debt free? The answer - fear. My LBM came in 1992 after the birth of our son and it took DH and I 15 long years to become debt free - but we did it, one small step at a time.

It looks like 2009 is going to be a tough year for us - I will be out of work in 4 weeks with nothing definite lined up for the New Year. I am determined that no matter what, we will not fall into the same traps as we did all those years ago.

Soooo if you'll have me, I feel like an original long hauler who would like to stick around for a long time to come - at least this time, I won't feel as if we're on our own.

In_Search_Of_Me

Thanks for that encouragement for us long haulers - always good to know it can be done!! As for me still plugging away at it but being honest this year hasnt been the best dfw wise so will start the new year wth a clean slate, hopefully with lessons learned and moving forward. Like many, I find it hard to get the balance between wanting to be debt free and living a life but do recognise that this year comes under the "could do better" category if I'm honest. Onwards and upwards and less debt than at the start of the year but the goal for next year is to really get the cc's down...

john_boot

Thanks for the encouragement happytobedebtfree & black taxi.

Blacktaxi, yepp Im attacking one debt at a time.. and I agree with you about the change of direction (i.e for me its about drawing the line in the sand and saying no more debt accumulation, only debt clearance even if its only small chunks at a time).

Well I put a few things on ebay last week which netted me about £100 (I was inspired by the £10 a day thread for that one), so Im really happy as it all helps... tommorow Ill go through the loft and see what else I can get rid of as Im a bit of a hoarder

ltm07

Hello all! Well not been getting on here as much lately, been struck down with flu all week & to be honest, sometimes I need to take a break from here for a few days. Well my mate has been bitting & bobbing doing the bathroom & has still not finished everything. The problem with the leak is still there though so can't use the shower til it is fixed. Not told him yet, as he is so busy on other jobs & I get the impression that he is trying to please too many people & taking too much on. Going to have a chat with him though to see if we would be better gong through insurance. OK it would be £100 excess & it would probably mean a few days inconvenience, but at least we would know that the bathroom is sorted once & for all. So far we have paid out £80 in labour(£40 to my mate & £40 to the plasterer, who plastered the kitchen ceiling) & around £70 for materials, so even trying to get the problem fixed 'on the cheap' is working out expensive! On another negative we have noticed some damp on the top of our bedroom wall. Got a horrible feeling that water getting through from the roof/fascias. It's a bit of a nightmare at the moment, but just watching the news & reading some posts on here about folk being made redundant & losing their homes makes us count our blessings. OH been doing loads of extra shifts & I have carried on working my day off, so that's helped us to stay on top of things the best we can. Reset our monthly payments on the snowball calculator. We did set the payment at £250 per month, but we are going to try a new strategy. The average we have paid off per month since LBM is £190.21, so set the payments at that. So the aim now is to try & improve on our monthly average every month IKWIM, so we can keep bringing DFD nearer. Thanks for reading & I hope all is well with you good people!