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

Prodigal50

Thanks so much for checking in :-)

Prodigal50

Hello everyone. 

Well it's been an eventful month. 

Most importantly, my depression is really started to lift and I'm getting a lot more positive about life. 

I've been worrying so much about money for the last 3 years and beating myself up. Following some of the threads here has really helped as it inspired me to sit down and think about what caused me to take such a leave of my senses and to engage in such a spree of financial madness.

Looking back I was able to see that there are mitigating circumstances which are a bit too personal to share here. I feel better about myself realising that I wasn't just being stupid but was a bit of an emotional mess. I'd just like to say to anyone who has emotional problems that you are not alone and that being honest about them to yourself might help with your financial journey. I feel better for recognising that I was very vulnerable when I made the terrible mistake and being mindful of how my mood affects my relationship with money.

It's so good to know that I'm not the only person in this situation. 

So in May

I've been paying off £10 from CC1 every day along with £400 DD
£400 DD from CC2
I've also Tilly saved around £125 into my emergency fund
Paying off loans
£100 into regular saver account for hols next year
£100 into ISA


I'll update my sig with the exact figures. 

Take care everyone and here's to a good June :-)

Prodigal50

Coming into summer is always a tough time as my work is quite seasonal and July/August are very lean months. 

I had enough put away for the monthly budget but a couple of unexpected costs cleared most of my emergency fund.

I've also had to reduce my credit cards down to minimum payments until things pickup and I'll be using overdrafts etc to get by. 

It feels a bit disappointing but not nearly as bad as it would have felt at the start of the year. 

There not much I can do about the surprise costs that come up. It's not the end of the world. 

 This month a couple of people said that I had become noticeably more thrifty. I know that when I get out of this situation I will be so much more careful in the future. 

Prodigal50

This year hasn't gone at all to plan. It's been a year of big problems and big ticket item spend and that continued during the summer when funds were tight. I've easily spent 12-15k on things that I thought about carefully. There was just no avoiding it. 

In the end I booked a holiday too. Being honest we had an amazing time. It was so worth it.

But back on the wagon now! I think we can still make our debt free goal of end of 2026 but it's going to take patience and hard work.

Strangely, over the summer my depression has lifted. I just feel a lot better about life. Such a relief.

So feeling positive about the future and will be more realistic and gentle with myself too. This isn't a sprint.