Getting Over "The Terrible Mistake" and a Debt Free Target of 2026

Prodigal50

Hi everyone

In January 2022 I had to sit down and tell my wife that not only had I managed to lose over 100K in inheritance but tried to recoup those losses through adding approximately 25k in credit card debt. COVID also caused a huge drop in income. Through a couple of really crazy investments (Avoid AIM investing like the plague) and and COVID I had taken us from financially stable to for the future to having a total of approx 70K in consumer debt ( we were in a lot of consumer debt already - this partially drove the "lets make a fortune" madness of trading shares)

There were some terrible days. Without going into it I'm sure that many here know what those initial days of facing up to the hard truth are like.

I started reading following Dave Ramsey (Total Money Makeover) and Erin Skye Kelly ( Get the Hell Out of Debt.) I sold the car, bought a banger. Sold most of my possessions on ebay. Work has been going well. 

From 70k in debt in Jan 2022 we are now sitting at approx 37K. We are aiming for debt free by the end of 2025.

I have noticed that recently that we have slowed down a bit. There's not much stuff left to sell! 

So after thinking about joining a community I've landed here to document this journey.

And also to maybe share my thoughts and experiences with someone who is having that day when their world is falling apart as they accept the insane thing they have done with their finances. To walk with them as we all look at rebuilding our self esteem and relationship with money.

I have all of the credit cards (approx 19K) stoozed onto interest free until end next year. I'm hoping to get that paid off by then. 

So the target for the end of this year is down to 13k on credit cards and making the regular payments on 2 loans with 3 years/7 years left £400 p/m. Lets see how we get on.

Hope you are all well

We can do this

enthusiasticsaver

Sounds like you are starting to turn this around.  Several on here have tried the get rich quick crazy investing (gambling) scheme and it almost always turns out badly so glad you realised this and found a different way.  Well done on admitting to your mistake to your wife.  I don't think you can be blamed for COVID so not all on you.

Fantastic the credit cards are at 0% and you seem to be in control on the loans. What interest rates are you paying on those?  Is your budget under control and do you have emergency savings? I like some of Dave Ramseys' money makeover scheme but the live off "rice and beans" is tough for a prolonged  period if you have high debt.  If you have your credit cards on 0% then going for a more nuanced balanced budget sounds more sustainable. Which are you going for? 

Prodigal50

Hi. Thanks for replying. 

So I've been working off an excel sheet for the last two years. Last year was just a matter off making end meet. Summer 2022 was the worst. There was a day that the only thing that stopped us defaulting payments was money coming from ebay.   

Two loans were paid off in Dec 2022 which freed up £600pm. This has been going towards paying of the credit cards. 

We are focused on paying off the cards first. The bank loan (9k £250pm 3 years still to pay) feels like a known quantity so for the moment I am letting it just pay off. 

 The credit cards are really scary and felt out of control not long ago. 

Last Nov (cards at their worst)
A 6500 Rate 20%+
B 13000 Rate 20%+
C 9700 Rate 0% till end 2024
D 11000 Rate 20%+

I was making payments of approx 1.2k pm and seeing half  of it just being interest. There were quite a few sleepless nights over that. In Nov we received a lump sum of approx 10k from a work savings scheme ( there will be another 3.5-5k this Nov)

We used the 10k to pay off D. Then shifted A to 0% on D (wife's C/Card). This was to help reapir my credit score. In Feb my credit score had improved enough that the remainder of B could be shifted to a 0% too (E)

July 2023

A 0
B 0
C 9500 0% until end 2024
D 7500 0% until mid 2024
E 9250 0% until end 2024

The plan is that there is approx 1.2k per month that can got towards cards payments + 2 work savings schemes lump sums of approx 3.5k-5k end 2023 and 4.5k 2024. This should allow for all the cards to be paid by end 2024.

I realise it seems a little convoluted but getting those interest rates down felt like a huge win. When things were as bad as they were anything that felt like progress was worth celebrating. 

The challenge now is that we love spending and I've noticed that this summer things have slipped and we are leaking money.  I'm not saying anything about it as my wife had been brilliant about everything.  But come September we need to get back on track.  

So in summary. 

Throwing everything at the credit cards until they are gone.  Then pay down the loan.  Then start saving what had gone into making payments.

Prodigal50

We have an emergency fund of approx 1k.

Here are exact details of the debts
The loan is 5.9% balance £8751.45
Card C £8277.98 0% until end 2024
Card D I'll check with my good lady later
Card E  £9112.60 0% until end 2024

Spinayarn

Hi Prodigal50 - welcome to the boards. Firstly I wanted to say a huge well done on what you have achieved so far. I’m pretty much a newbie but I’m also using the Dave Ramsey principles. I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been to have that conversation with your wife - that really cannot have been easy. I guess I would say to keep talking to your wife as you don’t to undo the good work you have done.

I find reading diaries on here really motivating and I also listen to the Ramsey show on podcasts. Sometimes he can be rather irritating and a bit smug, but overall I like to hear the positivity of the fact that becoming debt free is totally doable.

enthusiasticsaver

Yes I find Dave Ramsey a bit smug and irritating but the philosophy behind his message is sound just a bit gazelle intense for some and I don't like him telling people to stop making pension payments while paying off debt.  He also doesn't seem to recognise that 0% debt is not necessarily a bad thing and that you can still live a bit while paying down debt. If it helps people deal with their debt though then that can only be good. 

Prodigal50

Thanks for commenting. I'll get a read through some of the diaries tonight hopefully.

Dave Ramsey is quite intense and I know that style isn't for everyone. I think that moving to 0% was a big thing for us - knowing that so much money was being paid out to just meet interest costs was really heartbreaking. Even so his very blunt approach was helpful. My approach to finances needed that.


We could probably pay things down quicker but my teenager still gets all the things they want and they will never know about the worries of the last few years.

It actually feels quite good to be more responsible - in the past we've been in debt and put money on the mortgage to pay it off or had help from family.

I think the positive that will come out of all of this is that we are working together as a team now and we are much better with our money than we ever were.

I know we will never ever be in this position again and that does mean there is light at the end of the tunnel.

enthusiasticsaver

Is it worth putting some of that £1.2k per month and the savings schemes  into savings accounts so it is ready to pay off the cards at end of 2024?  As the cards are 0% and interest rates have increased recently you could get some good rates on a regular saver.  Or tackle the loan first as you are paying interest on that? 

Prodigal50

I can't believe it had been so long since I posted here! It's time for a bit of.an update.

So 2023 went quite well but 2024 got off to a tough start. 

In January my banger car died with no chance of being fixed. That cost me £2300 for the car and about £500 maintenance for 18 months driving- about 1.9k a year. I decided to spend a bit more on a car that would perhaps last longer and be more cost effective over 5-7 years  That meant taking out another loan of 12k.

Cards are very expensive at the moment so I ended up spending 7.7k on a car with the hope that it will last 5 years. That left me with about 4k in the bank. 

Sadly we had an emergency bill in the house too that cost 3k to repair. 

I felt pretty low for a few months after that. It just felt like I wasn't getting anywhere after all of this hard work.

So by the of January we were back to  much the same level of debt as we were start of 2023.

A kick in the head but here is today's situation (monthly payment in brackets). The bank loans include the interest owing.

Credit card 1 £8889 (£400p/m 0%)
Credit card 2 £12875 (£400p/m 0%)
Bank loan 1 £7000 (£250)
Bank loan 2 £12400 (£213)

I have had to revise my hopes of being debt free until the end of 2026.

I've started to feel better about things this last while. I don't feel so guilty about getting us into this situation. I needed a car so there was just no way of getting around borrowing to buy it. The emergency repair had to be done. 

That's life. 

But

No matter how long it takes, I will have that day when I have no debt.

KeepOnKnitting

I know you felt like you had a set-back in January, but just imagine where you would have been if you hadn't made such progress in 2023. Maybe your more expensive car had needed replacing, and your £3000 home emergency still needed covering, but you hadn't cleared a bunch of stuff, the debt would be huge now compared to where it is.

As for buying bangers, my usual approach has been the cheapest thing with the longest MOT and the lowest repair costs. My sweet-spot for car buying used to be at about £500, but I agree that costs have soared in the used car market.

Prodigal50

Thanks for commenting.

I do a lot of miles with work (around 15k a year) and meet a lot of clients face to face so in the rush to get a new car I thought getting something nice that would be reliable was important. 

I don't realise how much it would affect me emotionally to spend that much money.


 I had terrible sleepless nights worrying that I had spent the money foolishly on a car with something wrong with it. 

It seems ok though and none of us have a crystal ball.

Perhaps I will pay cash for my next car. That would be nice. 

I've read some of the post on the forum. They are very inspiring. I'm very privileged to be in the position I'm in and I can save even more if I really try.