5,000 miles and even more pounds

Sarahwithlove

That's great about the bonus money from your old job. I bet its nice to be back in the UK with friends and family. Have you thought about a temp job in a supermarket or RM the post company for over Xmas period and apply for other things in the mean time? 

Smashingitnow

Right. Haven't updated in ages. I'm still unemployed.
But...having got my debt down to about £6k (thanks to my mystery and undocumented by any paperwork bonus payment) and having it all bar £800 on 0% cards, I can manage my minimum repayments
In fact I've been paying quite a bit more than the minimum and so I'm quite pleased with that.
I've been barely spending anything (because I just have the £409 Universal Credit to live on) but I've been just as happy if not happier than when I was getting through £1,500 on random spending a month (I know, I know). SO that's a nice thing to have come from it,
I will hopefully get a job soon and then be able to finally blitz the debt, though realistically I'm going to have to find a flat deposit and as I have NO furniture (not even any plates, mugs or cutlery) I am going to have to do some shopping!! But I am very determined...makes me sick to think how high my debt was and if I hadn't taken action when I did, then I'd be in a right pickle now! Never want to have that over me again and want to build an emergency fund.
I still have some cards to shut and juggle. From next week I should only have ONE credit card with a balance, ZERO loans and ONE credit card which I will keep in case of a dire emergency but otherwise not use at all (dire emergency meaning dental bill or something literally unavoidable). Sadly I still have £1.5k on PayPal but that will need to wait.
I HOPE I can get a job in the new year. I've got eight applications in, which are all quite strong. So far I've had a lot of luck getting interviews, but no offers...

moneyonmymindsam

So nice to hear your doing well, nice to have that bit of time to recharge your batteries. Roll on 2021 and a Job.

Glad your OK and agree thank goodness your debt was mainly tackled before we all knew the sort of year we would have. 

Have a brilliant NYE 😊👍😀🎉😇

Smashingitnow

I'm here to update after 2.5 years.

It's quite a story.

Shortly after my last post I had a breakdown, quit my job and returned to the UK to live with family.

I got a £10k tax repayment from the country I was living in which helped me almost clear my debts and the small amount left, around £2k, was on interest free cards so I could manage the payments on universal credit.

I was unemployed for 8 long months.

In the two years since starting work I have yet again built up nearly £20k of debt on a salary of £80k.

This is because my salary was much lower until recently and on retuning to this country I had only the clothes I stood in. I have had to buy furniture, clothes, and a (relatively cheap and old car).

I feel sick to be back in the same situation.

A lot of the debt has been built up by buying things to cheer myself up...mainly glasses of wine out in the pub or takeaways. 

In the last month I've tried to tackle this again.

I've moved nearly all debt to interest free.

I've paid off £1k this month and hope to pay off more.

Debts are

Barclaycard £1k
Virgin £6k
MBNA £8k
Paypal £2800
Car £1100

I feel sick about it as my new job whilst well paid is not at all secure.

I have savings of about £120 

I'm single.

I hope to be able to repay £1k of the debt each month...possibly up to £1.5k per month.

Please support me. I feel so ashamed.

Smashingitnow

I just read my post from December 2020. Forgot I had updated then.

That has made me feel a lot better since I obviously had 6k of debt then.

So in the last two years it is 14k I've added...not quite so bad but still shocking.

And I have got the car and furniture to show for some of that.

Smashingitnow

Accurate figures:

Paypal 2508.33
Virgin 5500
Barclaycard 999.54
MBNA 8423.77
Car 1320

Priority is pay off PayPal as I can't balance transfer that and minimum payment on that is about £75 per month.

Made a £300 payment to Barclaycard this morning. Realistically should be able to make another £300 - £600 payment this month. That figure will depend on how economical I can be.

Hoping for an offer from Barclaycard which will let me transfer around £5k from MBNA that is interest bearing.

NeverendingDMP

At least you have realised and started your debt busting journey again. You can do it. 

jokono

Just read your story from the beginning, quite the roller coaster! Lots of shame goes with debt, I see that mentioned time and time again. But you are back here and doing something about it. You will soon feel better and somehow lighter as things start moving. Good luck!

Smashingitnow

Thanks @jokono and @NeverendingDMP.

I got my Paypal statement and have paid double the minimum payment. 

I should also earn £90 this week for a small job I'm doing. That can go to PayPal.

I spent a little too much this weekend as I was away camping but can have a cheap week. Nothing too disastrous.

Tomorrow I'm going to see how much of the remaining Barclaycard I can move interest free.

Next month I can clear the majority of PayPal and what's left on Barclaycard...so in under a month the minimum payments will actually be a third of what they were in April.

Smashingitnow

I hate this bit of the month...and by bit I mean the three weeks leading up to next payday!!

Living on a budget. Conscious debts aren't going down and can't make any additional payments for 21 days!!

I'm a little hopeful that I may have more in my business account than I need to cover taxes I will owe...so when my accountant can advise there could be a few hundred I could put to the debt