Redemption - The journey of a recovering gambling addict.

Lonelygambler

Christmas was excellent. 

This week we have more festive days and friends booked in most days till Friday. 

Haven’t really spent any ‘spending’ money. Took the family out for dinner this evening with clubcard vouchers which was nice. 

However the festive period has brought back a lot of memories and it has been hard not to gamble. It’s been really painful at times, stupidly I watched a few instagram rolls of high stakes blackjack. So my feed is now ruined with gambling, I’ve deleted the app for the time being as I can’t be seeing it. 

During one session a few years ago I had a swing of £2000 on a table. I won that night but lost it further down the line and then some. When gambling money never felt really. Only a few days later when looking at negative balance. 

I’ve found a snowballing website which has said if I pay £1050 a month towards debt I’ll be clear in 24 months. 

This includes by bank loan for my car, and would mean clearing 2 years earlier than predicted. Total CC debt payment would be £700 a month. 

This is just about doable but leaves no real money for holidays or anything. I need to talk to my wife about it. 

Also need to confirm our primary school preference for our eldest who starts next year. 

LG 

mark55man

snowballing is a good thing, but putting too much strain on your day to day quality of life isn't. really what difference does a couple of months make and that final 5-10% extra can cause the most painful cuts in lifestyle.  I belong to the softly softly (steady steady) wing of the MSE, and TBH its probably taken me longer to get through my spending problems, but equally I haven't completely put my family life on hold - sure I reduced the exoticness and even the overseaness of my holidays but we did take them.   I think the harder core is more for singles or couples with no resident children. Just my opinion  

I seem to recall that your kids are youngish - my biggest regret is taking more expensive holidays when mine were too young to really appreciate and then cutting them when the GFC hit in 2007 - kids will enjoy a seaside break with sandcastle and ice cream well up to their early teens - even a bit older if you are happy to give them a bit of freedom - your OH may not be so keen on this plan but most seaside towns have nice restaurants which might be enough compensation especially if you are close enough to the centre to walk. 

Purplelady65

It sounds as if you have had a great Christmas and managed some challenging moments really well. As you are paying your debts off quickly anyway and at no interest then I don’t really see the need to put more pressure on yourself to pay them off any quicker at the expense of quality family time and holidays. Children grow up so quickly that the experience and memories of family activities and holidays are to be treasured. I had a significant amount of personal debt at one time. However I was always able to survive the debt and the interest I paid was minimal as I was always able to get credit cards with no interest rates and did balance transfers. One of the main reasons was quite a lot of family holidays / travel - long haul, short haul and UK based with a lot of touring around. It’s all paid off now and it’s probably not very MSE to say but I’ve no regrets as we had some amazing experiences. 

Lonelygambler

Morning and happy New Years Eve. 

Thanks for the engagement on my diary. 

My wife and I share different thoughts on debt and to be honest I’m sick of having it although it’s never been on a high interest repayment plan. 

I think I will be making minimum payments on all accounts and then seeing how much I have left at the end of each month and paying a figure off. This could be up to £700 a month extra on the total debt. 

Holidays with a 3 and 2 year old have been mega stressful tbh, however things are getting slightly easier. 

Ha ha ha 

lucielle

I know you need to factor in fun things otherwise it would be dire. However waiting until the end of the month and paying off whatever’s left didn’t work for me, as I’d always find something to spend it on. Would it be better to have a fun spends budget and then you can make an overpayment?
L

Lonelygambler

Thanks for the engagement. I have a monthly allowance of £200 for fun spends. 

So everything else is put in an account called extra debt. 

Lonelygambler

Happy New Year 

11 Months without a gamble. 

Hopefully logging on to a lived experience group this evening as I haven’t been on for a while due to holidays and Xmas. 

Went to M&S yesterday and saved a lot on food as they are closed today so had LOTs on yellow label. 

Happy New Year to me! Ha 

Lonelygambler

Thought I would update as I’ve spent some money on myself! 

I’ve bought two new suits from vinted. I wear suit and tie and every day and I wanted to freshen up my collection. 

I really only wear M&S suits and they are very cheap on vinted - £25 for a full suit!! 

I think nearly a full year without buying myself is a great achievement and I will now continue not to be buying myself anything. 

Secondly we had a trip to IKEA yesterday to buy some arts and crafts storage for our boys. So this is now all sorted and our kitchen dinner space is not an arts and crafts mess! 

Hope everyone has a great Friday. 

LG 

mark55man

very good prices for an M&S suit

Love IKEA - flat pack assembly is mostly restful 

Lonelygambler

Feeling good today with a £1000 overpayment to my CC balance.