Little By Little...

GlendaSugarbean

Making min payments in your situation is a massive win. Keep plodding along...

redmel1621

You're both right, simply being able to plod along is a massive win and I should be grateful.

Once I find myself in a settled job, I will feel better. I don't think my chosen career will ever 'not be stressful' but I'm hoping it will become easier once I find a place I can settle into.

I've given myself a bit of a shake and have caught up on YNAB, so I feel a little bit better.

BabyStepper

In the past I always dreaded January and credit card statements as I tried to sort out the damage of Christmas, which usually involved a lot of guilt and panic. This year the debt continued to go down, my situation has kept on improving, and baby steps in the right direction are still happening. I'm really in the mood for celebrating the small wins just now. You're doing it mel, sometimes its just a bit slower but that's alright.

redmel1621

BabyStepper wrote: »

In the past I always dreaded January and credit card statements as I tried to sort out the damage of Christmas, which usually involved a lot of guilt and panic. This year the debt continued to go down, my situation has kept on improving, and baby steps in the right direction are still happening. I'm really in the mood for celebrating the small wins just now. You're doing it mel, sometimes its just a bit slower but that's alright.

That is fantastic :beer: Well done!

Baby steps is definitely the way to go and we should all focus on the small wins.

:money:

GlendaSugarbean

Look at it this way: your debt busting plans are sustainable because you've managed to weather some fairly stressful life and income changes while maintaining progress. Small and sustainable is going to work over the long term, rather than throwing everything at the problem and then crashing because you don't have a buffer.

BabyStepper

GlendaSugarbean wrote: »

Look at it this way: your debt busting plans are sustainable because you've managed to weather some fairly stressful life and income changes while maintaining progress. Small and sustainable is going to work over the long term, rather than throwing everything at the problem and then crashing because you don't have a buffer.

Ooh I like that, avoiding crashing is really important, think I've crashed so many times in life I can't even remember them all. Not any more (hopefully)!

redmel1621

Thanks for the supportive posts, it really mean the world right now.

Payday happened and I allocated it all on YNAB. I've covered most of the bills and debt payments for the beginning of the month. Child benefit goes in on Tuesday and I need to use that towards DS's South Africa school trip. It is supposed to be £300 this month, which is a bit of a silly amount for January.

DH still has no work. The company he is waiting for said he'll have work end of Jan, but still no word form them (or his inside man) I'm hoping he gets something soon. I'm keen to get cracking on my 2019 plans.

redmel1621

I'm just popping in to update a couple of debt payments that I forgot to do earlier in the month.

I've just been looking at our figures and I'm pretty pleased with how things are going. This s going to be a long and slow process, but it is definitely still going in the right direction.
At its highest our debt amount was £31495.52.
At our LBM, the middle of last year, we owed £26060.05.
We currently owe £22605.80.

I'm hopeful we can get that down to around £15000 by the end of this year and reduce our monthly payments a bit further.

I just need to find a job I like as I absolutely hate it where I am. I'm not even sure I can stick it out until summer, which is when my contract ends.

DD265

That's great progress - and it's not as though circumstances have remained consistent to help so I think you've done really well considering!

redmel1621

FML.

I have been signed off for 2wks with stress/anxiety. I've been barely sleeping and waking up having panic attacks, constantly tearful and struggling to even go in to work.

This will take me to half term and then I have a week off for half term. I am going to hand my notice in before half term, as the deadline in the end of Feb to be able to leave at Easter. I will ask if they will release me early from my contract, but it is not very often this happens, so I won't hold my breath.

I really don't know what my next step is regarding work. I hate hanging round the house not earning, so not working isn't an option. Working part time isn't ideal either for financial reasons. I'm not sure whether to completely leave the sector I have spent so many years training to get into, or persevere. Lots of soul searching to be done over the next few weeks/months. Once I am officially released from my contract, I will go with agencies and see how I feel.

1st of Feb means payments have gone out and I've got enough in the bank to cover most bills for the entire of Feb. We just need DH to get into work now. He has kind of had a job offer, but nothing has been agreed yet. It is doing a slightly different job and is less money... not ideal, but depending how much less could be worth it. Although, in any case, the position hasn't actually been created yet and is still in 'talks' about whether it will be.
*pointless ramble*

Just going to update figures.