Today's the day

jack_1992

I've been a little quite for about 10 days as nothing really to write about. It was a matter of waiting and waiting for today, which is payday, so I could start with the EF saving and truly start budgeting and living within my means so much more than the constant reliant on credit.

The priority bills are paid and now I am using my Starling account for their 'Spaces' function which I have round up on one for my change after spending to hope I can save that way without noticing it as much. We'll see! I've also got my EF there ready to go to start building in anticipation of the DMP starting.

I've had some letters & texts etc relating to missed payments as this is the first month I'll be missing payments to start defaulting accounts to then set up the DMP in the coming months. It's a weird feeling. I'm so used to getting paid and pretty much using all that money to just pay off whatever debts I have and having literally nothing left. I didn't realise how much of an awful feeling that was until today. Sure the DMP will be there to pay down the debts but paying them all off with no interest being added will feel amazing I am sure. I cannot wait to see the amounts reducing and not paying off minimum payments only for it to be added back on in interest.

I'm worried about the budgeting but I think that is more because it has been so long since I had money in an account and budgeting as opposed to messing about trying to figure out how I could pay what, where. I even have NSD's ready to go - first month and my aim is 15. I think that's possible.

I'm hopeful and I know that things will be getting better. There's going to be bumps, but when things settle down & I can finally start the DMP and making payments to pay down the debt, that will be a good day. I've even been looking into a self managed DMP and who knows, maybe that is something to look at in the future.

This forum is great to read the advice and help is invaluable. I'm glad to finally getting myself back on track.

Time for the long weekend and to relax and chill out with my little family. Life is finally getting better and I am running my life, not my debt, not my anxiety that has controlled my thoughts every day for so long now.

CRANKY40

Lots of us write our budgets down or use an online app. I have a cash book where I write my starting amount of funds, deduct all the bill amounts, all the amounts that I put away such as presents (I save an amount each month for birthdays and christmas) any savings and then I know how much I have to spend on food and petrol. It's a good idea to write your budget down either on paper or online because you run less of a risk of getting to the last week of the month and running out of money. Good luck. 

jack_1992

CRANKY40 said:

Lots of us write our budgets down or use an online app. I have a cash book where I write my starting amount of funds, deduct all the bill amounts, all the amounts that I put away such as presents (I save an amount each month for birthdays and christmas) any savings and then I know how much I have to spend on food and petrol. It's a good idea to write your budget down wither on paper or online because you run less of a risk of getting to the last week of the month and running out of money. Good luck. 

Thanks for this - that’s a great idea. I’ve actually now started a spreadsheet with everything in so I can see what goes where and know how much is left and as you say, I hope will help me stop getting to the last week and being like damn!

I think this along with my Starling account will help me see where my money is going too so I can see where I could possibly make some savings too.

findingthisdifficult

Spreadsheet is a great idea, I love being able to tweak the budget and see what differences the little tweaks make.  

I also found during my journey, using an app called debit and credit to track what was happening in my bank accounts really useful, really opened my eyes as to how much we were spending on supermarket shops especially those little top up shops! 

Good Luck on your journey, there will be tough times ahead but you will get through it and it will all be worth it in the end.

jack_1992

I'm finding that my spreadsheet is really helping. I can clearly see where everything is going and where I clearly need to be better at saving money as opposed to just spending.

The budget, so far, is going pretty well. I know it's still early in the month but I am on track to do what I set out to do with my budget this month.

With it being a new month, new CC bills etc are now due and the calls are starting. The numbers are blocked as I have told them it should be in writing. I can tell this is the start and as more and more pile up, I can see it happening more but I knew that would be the case. Just need to stay calm and get on with the plan. When they all finally default, I can get my DMP setup and I truly believe this is going to be one of the best things I've done to get it resolved. I don't see any other way really.

jack_1992

Today has been my first wobble and as I lie here now at 11.45pm not able to sleep, this is what I always worried about.

My heart is racing, my mind is overthinking everything. My budget is fine and works for me but I still worry about what if this or that.
Tonight we treated ourselves to a takeaway as had a discount code through Uber. Started ordering and my wife starts adding this, that and the other. Before you know it, the order for the 2 of us is racking up. I ordered it anyway as I just felt if I said no that I’m going to feel awful not being able to get her what she wants. But when the food came and I was eating my dinner, I had this huge overriding guilt of the amount we had spent on this food! I don’t know - I’ve not had a great day in my head and probably blew this all out of proportion in my own head but.
Things are hard enough with her being off on stat maternity and having a little one now. I’ve had to cover so many more expenses and I just feel like I can’t do it all. I try but I can’t do it. It doesn’t stretch that far. That’s partly why I’m in this mess but we are where we are.

Tomorrow is a new day. I hope I manage to get some sleep and rest and can wake up feeling better and have a much better day off. I’m due my first week of annual leave from work in just over a week and I feel like I need this more than ever at the minute.

findingthisdifficult

Is your wife aware of the situation and how you are feeling about it?

I think if I was in your shoes I would also have the same guilt about ordering takeaway, it's difficult to resist the discount codes but so early in your journey it's imperative you don't cave too often.  It's time to start building some funds so that in the future you can treat yourselves and your little one without worrying.