The long haul supporters thread...

Keeping_Positive

Tom tom appears ok now managed to figure out the web site and reset it. Figures crossed or I may be lost in Stoke on Trent tomorrow! Never organised enough to do a back up map print.

Just spent £55 on kids clothes, darn things keep eating and then growing not helping my budget at all! Got some good tesco points and its good value for money so not too bad. I always use second hand where poss.

Glad to hear your feeling better. Dont push yourself too hard or you'll end up worse off.

poorbabe

So over the weekend (or late last week - can't remember exactly :rolleyes:) my Sky digibox gave up the ghost and died. I checked MSE tech board and found a relevant post and tried the suggestion. No joy. Prior to that I'd phoned Sky and between us we figured out that the software was out of date and couldn't be updated. I'd given up my Sky channels so just had the free channels. Adequate.

I told myself I could live with just the 5 channels for a couple of months then get a Freeview box. Could I eck :cool:, I watched videos, couldn't get my DVD player to work, spent even more time on the computer even did a little housework :rotfl: but that didn't cut it, so I researched Freeview boxes online as well as digiboxes. I didn't want a brand new box and I came to realise that I will, eventually, want to go back to Sky so the decision to get a digibox was easy.

Managed to get one on Ebay for £14 plus delivery. It arrived today, collected by a kind neighbour :T. I plugged it in and voila! It works fine. But I can't believe how quickly it zips through the channels etc :eek:. My old box must have been pretty knackered as I always thought the slow pace was standard :rotfl::rotfl:

I also bought a steam cleaner that I'd wanted for over a year. Doesn't help my debt reduction at all, but I can enjoy my life a little better (digibox not steamer :rotfl:), whilst I work on the DR.

........... and the sealed jar continues to slowly fill.............:A

poorandindenial

Poorbabe - you got an absolute bargain for the digibox and who knows, with all that telly to watch you might save money on other things. Or something.;)

I finally got round to cancelling the rubbish on my mobile contract that I don't need, saving myself £12 a month:T.

Insurance - gone
Itemised billing - gone
Unlimited wap access - gone.

Lets just hope I don't lose my phone now....

That'll have jinxed it:p

In_Search_Of_Me

well poorbabe imagine what you would have done re LBM! There are things you cant live without & I can relate to that one! I was OK going down to freeview channels with virgin (after some tears) but would not get rid of it all - whether right or not I do rely on TV for background noise & entertainment so its a no brainer for me!! Well done on getting a bargain!
I realised that I'm getting close to paying amost £10,000 off my debt since I started which I'm chuffed with - need to get the CC's down as these are pretty much where they were when I started due to the diet I did (lighterlife) & my "blip" last year....
Well done P&ID - every little helps in saved interest with teh extra money you pay off in the savings!
I'm finally getting my head round the concept of paying off more CC with extra money I get coming in rather than thinking yipee I can buy x, y or z (or on a bad day a-z!!)....

jonnyboy80

Evening all...this month is going soooo slowly bill wise and I don't get paid til next week!! Had to replaced 2 tyres on my car (£170) and went to the dentist on monday (£87). Both of which have really stretched me big time... Oh well guess that's the joy of being a long hauler!!!

In_Search_Of_Me

Phoenixchick (108)

Welcome PC - why not tell us a bit about you!

Hang in there jonnyboy! Some months are just like that - feel like youre doing wel & then wham! Although how did you manage to spent that much on only 2 tyres! Are they gold plated!!!

phoenixchick

Hi,
Well I'm officially a longhauler now! I did try to do the snowball thing but I think I made some mistakes - at least I hope I did :eek: . It gave me a DFD of 2050! and paying £101,000,000 in interest. That can't be right?!? I will sit down tomorrow and do it properly.

If debts are with DCAs what do you put down for the APR?

Good luck to everyone out there. Plodding away, one step at a time!

Queen.Bess

Hi ISOM and all other long haulers! Can I join please?! I'm here for quite a while to come too! I've set my own Debt Free Day, and links slightly with the Olympic Challenge!! In that I've set my target of being Debt Free by London 2012. So being as that's 4.5 years away, I suspect I'll be here for a while!

In_Search_Of_Me

welcome Queen Bess - no 109 for you!

Seeing as we're here for a while I thought it would be intersting to know why people got into debt so will kick off with my own somewhat pathetic tale!

I'm 38 and wasnt doing too badly until bizarrly got a goodish paying job after uni. I spent 6 years studying & living on virtually nothing & left uni with about £7000 debt - not bad for an income of £2500 odd a year!!
Anyway then got a job that paidwell & basically went mad with money! If I wanted it I got it. I HAD no budget and laughed at those who did. I thought nothing of putting £500 on cc and would actually panic if I couldnt buy something in the shops. When the CC's got to £7000 I would panic & consodate until one day I could consolodate no more.
I was mortgaged to the hilt, coudnt get credit & there lay my LBM.
I couldnt understand why they wuldnt give me money (Northern rock even said no!) so sat down & worked out that I was over 37000 in debt and was a whisker away from deep doodoo.
A friend gave me details of the site & I havent looked back! I am a changed person too. I looked at why I was spending (stress/depression) and learned to enjoy the simple things again. I can honestly say that while its hard (cos I'm gonna be here for a loooong time!) I am 100% happier than I ever was when I was spending.
I do miss nice holidays and the fact that my actions impact on others but most have been great & supportive. My mum sends me tesco cards occasionally! Thankfully by the time she will need support I'll be debt free! My friends have been fab and I've made some lovely friends here, I now shop but do so with less abandon (think I'll always have the buzz of shopping!) and have saved loads on car insurance, surveys etc....plus won a skiing hol that I would never have entered!
So while I loathe being in debt (its the interest that gets me!!) I am changing over time! I now realise the simple fact that if I overspend its not going to go away - thats a tough lesson and one thats taken a while bizzarly to go through! Have also just realised that I need to pay extra funds that come in off to cc's rather than thinking "yipee what can I buy" which I did until last week! So my long hauling friends its baby setps that will lead to leaps and one day I will scream from my laptop that I am debt free while sipping a very nice bottle of moet while knowing that now I can cos I can afford it....then I'll start on the mortgage!

Keeping_Positive

Thanks for that ISOM.

Ill add mine for those who are interested.

Mine is a slow build up after getting my first credit card at 18. It was beginning of January and I had spent my wages. Then at 20 had my first child and my OH went on long term sick. As mentioned in previous posts we almost lost the house at one point. Anyways OH useless with money so left to me and ten years later (three beautiful children and OH still not at work) after consolidation number.... I think four I realised I really really couldnt go on.

I did stabalise the debt for a while at around £7K but in the last two years and a mix of family c**p I have somehow added another £10k :eek: . This does include interest as its a loan.

My plan is to still enjoy things such as budget holidays etc but to make such the debt does not increase again. Its going to be tight because even though I am only paying off £220 a month (a drop compared to others) when I work out the yearly budget planner there doesnt seem to be much room for manover.

I pay my cc in full every month and have kept in budget for the last four months :j. I meal plan,quidco, pigsback so far. If Im really good I hope to build up some emergency savings and maybe start to overpay the loan. I need to work out if this is worth overpaying first.

Weaknesses to improve on are MUST start and stick to spending diary and make lunches for work.