How do people stay positive

magpies79

Again appreciate the response the site and members have honestly help me a lot days are gone where I have the latest iPhone or 36 month £60 a month contracts think that’s what makes this more annoying you feel like your doing the right thing and get a set back…..on the 0% I get paid every 4 weeks so means 1 month I get paid twice or like my due date payments on my 0% pay £150 each so £300 aren’t due when I get nov pay but dec pay.

so paid payments on cards that were due by 11th of nov.
I get paid again 8th of nov then again 6th of December so basically in nov I’ll have £300 that i don’t need to pay towards the 2 cards as the due date will be like 12th of December should I now use that £300 towards the card that mot will have on I did plan to just make an extra payment to the 0%.

hope that makes sense feel like I’ve waffled on there lol

MrFrugalFever

It'll always feel like you've hit some bumps in the road in the journey of life but they are just that, bumps, which can all be overcome in some way shape or form.

Personally for me, i'd be absolutely hell bent on clearing the debt (irrespective of 0% apr or not) with every spare £1 you have. 

Go back to basics, as suggested in previous posts and analyse your monthly (4 weekly) spending and be honest with yourself about what is and is not necessary.

Can you pick up a small amount of overtime at work to pay back your £600 bill?

Hit Zable with all you've got then work on the earliest finishing 0% card first.

You can't plan for the unexpected but what you can do is plan on what is expected and scrutinise your budget accordingly to enable you to be in a debt free, savings positive situation that can help reduce the stress and impact of an unexpected scenario as the one you have experienced.

Good luck and don't give up - it's a long road for some with many bumps but there really is light at the end of the tunnel.

magpies79

So I’ve been doing overtime all year which was to pay for our holiday rather then on a credit card and leave it so least that’s change but there is always overtime available so i could do some.

ive got back pay coming don’t know how much that will be but I want to get rid of my overdraft that £900 I’m not in it anymore but I would like to take away that chance.

and that was my thinking want them 0% cleared as soon as possible as I think that when stuff is going to change for the better as I’m clearing debt and not just moving it.
I’ll definitely do a SOA at sum point as I know it will give a better insight into my situation 

YBR

As  PP said, it's bumps in the road. They're normal and I think that's the attitude that makes it easier.

I think we can often think we've getting sorted and "normal " means everything going well but that's not true. There's always set-backs or issues to solve. That doesn't change the shock and/or disappointment but it perhaps means we face each bump as just the next thing to solve, re-plan, find a new way forward.

You do seem to well on your way to doing that.

MattMattMattUK

I think it often depends how much of a plan one has. I ran up debts after I turned 18 and had the benefit of a lot of "free" money for a few years, that was until the cards were all maxed out, I had taken a loan to clear them off and then maxed them out again and I had to do something about it. 

I had a full time office job and I also did bar work, so I was working 09:00-17:30 in an office Monday to Friday then 18:00-00:00 after and then a twelve hour shift on a Saturday or Sunday and sometimes a six hour shift on the other one. It did mean I cleared the debts off quite quickly but it was pretty draining, however I decided that the choice of working like that for a year, rather than slowly chipping away at them for 5+ years was going to be the better option, I also carried on after for a bit to get some savings behind me, so it ended up being about two years of doing that. 

My motivation was that I had a plan, I had an end goal of being debt free, then the goal of having some savings and being able to buy a car. To me that was the motivation, it kept me slogging away even if it was exhausting. I think the key is to set the goals and realise the progress you are making towards them, that when you come out of the other side life will be a lot better, a lot more comfortable and you can then go from strength to strength. 

CliveOfIndia

MrFrugalFever said:

You can't plan for the unexpected but what you can do is plan on what is expected

This is one of the key points, and one which so often gets overlooked by people.

"Oh what, wait, it's Christmas already?  S'pose I'd better break out the credit card to get something for the kids".  Well, Christmas tends to come around at roughly the same time most years, so it really shouldn't be a surprise.

OK, obviously tongue in cheek, but so many folk don't budget for it.  You can often rationalise presents (agree to stop sending a box of choccies every year to Auntie Flo and receiving one from her in return, when neither of you really want them, you're only doing it because - well, you just do).

Set a sensible budget for presents that you do want to buy - £100 per child, £20 per nephew/niece, £10 per parent, whatever it may be.  You can then put aside the appropriate amount every month so that come December you've got your Christmas budget sorted.  Don't forget any extra food & drink you might want to buy as well.

Same with birthdays, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, whatever dates you personally celebrate - you know they're coming, you probably know roughly what you're looking to spend, so plan ahead.

Same with holidays - you've already mentioned that, so well done.  But yep - holidays are usually planned many months in advance, so save up for it.  Or maybe even, decide you can't afford a holiday this year and just budget for a few lower-cost weekends away.

Whatever works for you, and whatever you can realistically afford.

Planning ahead and budgeting really is key.  Once you start to get a realistic grip on what your unavoidable expenses are and what your discretionary spending looks like, you can plan ahead.  This takes so much stress out of everything, and once you see yourself starting to make a real dent in your debts you get a big sense of satisfaction - and a feeling that yes, you really can do this

magpies79

And think that’s the thing I’m I trying to run before I can walk my ability at the moment to pay debts off at the rate I’m doing while trying to build up an emergency fund isn’t possible well when I get chance I’ll post my SOA up maybe that’s something people can help me with.

And your absolutely right Xmas mot and birthdays don’t just appear so like I said I have myself to blame because I know I should be budgeting for these now over the year i suppose the plan is it’s like a scale isn’t it as over time my payments towards debts decrease In turn you start to become more reliant on your current account which is money you actually have.

Just more mad with myself that I’ve had to use a credit card when the plan is to get rid and pay off in total what I use and with the mot I can’t.

Brenster

Consider Debt, as Negative Wealth.  Get satisfaction seeing it reduce, dont set unrealistic timescales / repayment amounts, however do pay as much as you can afford whilst allowing yourself a reasonable standard of living (This is the area which requires the self discipline!), i have been on the journey and am on the other side now building savings and planning for the future.  I am still not spending (the same as i did on my debt free journey), the only difference is the number in the bank is a positive and not a negative, and the number accumulates more quickly without the need for paying interest / overdraft penalties.  But the lossons learned from the debt payback, certainlly create positive saving patterns once you have paid of and start building savings.
Good Luck