Change is gonna come....

Onefortheroad

Hello everyone, newbie here
:wave:
I have been looking at these diary pages for months, even years, with a view to getting my act together and making myself accountable. I've racked up debt - £10k's worth. I have learned that wanting something now and paying over the odds for it by a loan or credit card just doesn't work, financially or emotionally... for the first time I have prepared a budget and will stick to it. I am so determined to get out of this mess I can feel a brand new me coming on (go me!). I have contacted Stepchange and have been on a dmp with them since March this year - will clear the debt in just under three years all being well. I am hoping this diary will keep me on the straight and narrow. It would also be good to have people to talk to - I'm a bit of a loner and have no friends to lean on..


That's it for now, just wanted to say hello and that I congratulate you all with your efforts to get rid of the debt.

doingitanyway

We are all friendly here.

Good luck with your journey

jwil

Good luck

beanielou

Hello & welcome :wave:
We are a friendly bunch

pidge04

Welcome!

You've come to the right place!

Good luck to you!

Onefortheroad

Thank you all for your replies - I am very nervous about doing this without falling back into my old ways, but I am going to do it otherwise I'll never change. I get paid on the 18th of the month and to be honest, although I've got a budget in place, I'm still worried I'm going to run out of money. You just don't realise do you, how much you actually use/rely on the old credit card...
Plus I've got some birthdays coming up over the next week or so, then at the start of July my daughter is 16 - need to get creative on that one - any ideas? - all welcome!! (please... )
Just at work at the moment, but am already thinking about other areas in my life to improve - not least the weight situation - a good five stone to lose :eek:, a house do decorate and a garden to tidy and for the first time, I'm looking forward to doing it all.

Working_Mum

Hello and welcome,
It sounds like you are in the right space to start to sort things out!!!

This Forum has threads for all things MSE - gardens, decorating, weight loss, alcohol freedom, you name it there is probably a thread from someone who can help, motivate and inspire!!

Good luck

jwil

It won't help for the immediate birthdays, but surveys are a good way of building up a stash of vouchers that can be used to buy gifts.

Onefortheroad

Hi all, advice please. In my efforts to get things started with the dmp asap I skipped the most important thing of saving up an emergency fund. I now need to reduce my payment to stepchange so I can pay for two new tyres. I am also thinking that I should keep the payment reduced to build up my buffer. The other half of me says go self managed but start payments in a few months. Just wondering how easy this would be?

jwil

It was easy to go self managed. I use the NEDCAB site which calculates the payments and generates all the letters for you. https://nedcab.cabmoney.org.uk/dmp.asp

Make sure your budget is not too tight, and allow enough time to build up your emergency fund. You can pay token payments if you want to show willing and just tell them when you will start paying the full amount.

Onefortheroad

Thanks jwil - I've taken more time to read through other posts and now I'm ready to take action. Have received an email from stepchange asking me to call them now I've cancelled my dd to them which I will do and explain myself. I've also been out today and brought envelopes and stamps and am going to start writing letters to creditors tomorrow offering £5 to each whilst I put money aside for emergencies after I've paid for the two new tyres that is. I feel better now. Really appreciate your response. I will be using the nedcab letter templates - thanks for the link.