Looking Forward

Red_Athena

I joined the forum last month, and as we head into September I'm a month away from the first payment of my DMP being paid to StepChange. The diaries in here have been a great help for me, along with the main DFW board, so I decided to create my own as I'm going to be here a while!

The basics:

Just over £35k debt
Just over 6 years of DMP (based on current salary and outgoings)
First payment will be made in October, at my request
£1k emergency fund

I've named this diary looking forward, as looking backwards is what has led me to this point. I've used spending as an emotional crutch to try to find anything to make me feel better about myself, or avoid thinking about how I see myself. Some of it was living costs when I took a lower paying job for 2 years due to problems at a previous job, some of it was emotional after a traumatic time, but really most of it was just waste and excess. I'm done hating myself for it, I'm where I am and I can only go forwards from here.

My LBM was when I finally opened up to my partner about it all. He knew I had debt, but he thought I was coping with it. And I was - it was all on 0% and I had all of these grand plans to snowball. I'd been happily shunting the 0% around until the inevitable happened - no more 0%. I did a lot of thinking and realised that very soon I wouldn't be able to make my minimums. So I told him, he was fantastic and support and everything that you'd hope :j I'd been hugely stressed about talk of saving for a deposit for a house and he was just so calm about that not happening for 5-6 years. Which is no small thing heading into our 40s.

So now, I'm on my way with my DMP and working on low self esteem and mild anxiety.

I've got spreadsheets, I've got a budget, I've got monthly spends and I've got a brand new Help To Buy ISA - I thought that even putting £50 per month into that would be a great motivator. It would be amazing to get to the end of my DMP and have £2-£3k waiting.

So here I go!

Red_Athena

So I've done my intro post, but I thought that I'd add a new one for what I'm planning for Sept.

This is the second and last month of not paying towards my debts. It's the last month before it actually starts to REDUCE! :beer: (Creditors allowing :rotfl: ). I've had a few responses to my holding letters, but I'm happy to just let StepChange get on with it for now. I plan on going self managed a little further down the line, but for now I just want it to be easy. I've been stressed about money for far too long, I want a break.

I've set up a spreadsheet for my outgoings, joint outgoings and my spending diary. I use the spending app, but I love a good spreadsheet

I've decided to put £50 per month into an ISA for a psychological boost. I told my partner that we both needed to pay a little more into the joint account as I was ending up propping it up myself every month and he agreed, so that's in better shape too. I guess what I need to do now is think about Christmas - present budgets and all of that - and decide how much of my disposable I want to save towards that. My challenge is going to be keeping my emergency fund as an ACTUAL emergency fund and not just extra money sitting right there. Which is exactly how I've treated every credit card ever

I'm also going to get myself occupied with some health and fitness - I have weight to lose and I'm feeling like the time is right as I'm taking control!

UncannyScot

Hello and welcome :hello:

You'll soon find that we are a very welcoming and supporting bunch on here.
Join in, visit folks diaries and read and say hello.

If you need any info or advice on anything just post up and some nice DFW will pop along to help.
Will follow your journey

GlendaSugarbean

Sounds like you are very much on it! I'm a new mortgagee at the ripe age of 43 and could have got a 28 year mortgage, so try not to stress about that

Red_Athena

UncannyScot wrote: »

Hello and welcome :hello:

You'll soon find that we are a very welcoming and supporting bunch on here.
Join in, visit folks diaries and read and say hello.

If you need any info or advice on anything just post up and some nice DFW will pop along to help.
Will follow your journey

Thanks for the welcome I'm definitely planning on sticking around and getting involved!

Red_Athena

GlendaSugarbean wrote: »

Sounds like you are very much on it! I'm a new mortgagee at the ripe age of 43 and could have got a 28 year mortgage, so try not to stress about that

Oh that's really good to hear, thank you! Congrats on the house :T

Red_Athena

So far so good in September. I mean, I know it’s only day two but I’m feeling positive 😂

I’ve decided to try for some no spend days (NSD) in sept. I’m not very good at not spending AT ALL, so I’ll set the bar fairly low I think. Maybe 10. Hopefully I’ll smash it, but it’ll be useful to see just how much mindless spending I really do.

I went out on Friday and Saturday nights, but I used cash that I already had lying around the house. I didn’t drink alcohol last night so my total spend was under £10 I think. I did have a few on Friday, but nothing heavy. No plans to spend anything today, I’m not going out so the only temptation would be books on Amazon or starting some Christmas shopping - I’ve already seen something to buy for my bf. Which reminds me, I did say I was going to start a spreadsheet for Christmas spends. I’ll get on that today I think.

chocolatebum

good luck with your NSD's . my weakness is books on amazon, i kid myself that they are for uni but in reality i just love books no matter what kind they are. My idea of heaven is to have a library in my house, very unlikely to happen but i can dream :rotfl:

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary

Red_Athena

chocolatebum wrote: »

good luck with your NSD's . my weakness is books on amazon, i kid myself that they are for uni but in reality i just love books no matter what kind they are. My idea of heaven is to have a library in my house, very unlikely to happen but i can dream :rotfl:

Me too! I read so much, and it’s so easy to just buy more :j

Red_Athena

beanielou wrote: »

Happy shiny new diary

Thank you