Do it for your future self

Waywardgirl3

Hey all,

Here i am again, my third diary and each time i come back with more and more debt.

I have been feeling so hopeless recently, this debt has been weighing on me so heavy - was it 100 percent my own fault by living beyond my means (yes) but its making me not want to exist i feel so trapped to be honest. 

I’m not suicidal but i can finally see why people take their own lives after running up huge debts, it feels inescapable and so so lonely. 

So i’m restarting a diary to help. Help me keep chipping away, help me not feel so alone. I’m not going to get into the minutiae of how i ran this all up, I know how and it was basically just doing a lot of stuff (big life changes) that quite frankly i couldn’t afford. 

A bit about me - i am 32, animal crazy gal who lives in a small town in the countryside , i have a horse (i know its a ridiculous expense but they are my reason for living), a dog, a cat and a very understanding partner ❤️No kiddies now or on the horizon (not for me)

i have a demanding specialised public sector job, an autoimmune disease and depression but like to keep active despite all this!

Looking back on my other diaries such as my one from 2022 i would kill to have that level of debt again (and i thought it was huge!). Hoping that when i finally look back on this diary i am proud of how far I’ve come. 

Sooooo drumroll…

Here are my debts in order of priority:

• virgin cc - £10,702 (26.49% interest - this is my number 1 priority until Christmas as the interest is KILLING me)
• MBNA CC 2 - £5,354 (0% until March 2026 then 20.44%)
• HSBC cc - £956.49 (interest free until May 2026 but then goes up to 27%!! Will be my priority to pay this off completely before then.)
• MBNA CC 1 - £5,847.34 (23.44% interest)
• Barclays cc - £7599.96 (lowest priority credit card - 0% until May 2027.
• HSBC LOAN - £6,114.64 (9% interest rate, fixed payments of £110 per month)
• M&S car loan - approx £12,000 (lowest priority debt - fixed payments of £170)

Debt total of around 49k!

Any thoughts/advice on my order of priority appreciated! 

Another thing i should say is that i wont be doing a DMP - i can afford my minimums. This is just going to be a hard hard graft but i know i can do it I’ve done hard things before. I also know that this is likely going yo take a long time so i will need to build some savings pots along the way to stop me going back into debt. My current emergency fund is a laughable £200.

Right I’ve got that off my chest and its off to bed - tomorrow is a new day.

in_need_of_direction

Well done on having an emergency fund. How much can you afford to pay towards your debt each month?

FootyFanDan

Even a little emergency fund is a good start, its sounds like everything is pretty full on so well done for acknowledging and wanting to make some changes. You also need to be kind to yourself throughout this process, as you say it might be a long one. I am wishing you all the luck.

Waywardgirl3

in_need_of_direction said:

Well done on having an emergency fund. How much can you afford to pay towards your debt each month?

Thankyou, it feels so small but suppose it’s one tyre/ a routine vet visit. Just want to have more as more expensive car problems/ vet visits feel inevitable. 

I can afford to pay over a grand a month, though my paychecks are variable and tbh with the virgin card my minimums aren’t far off this which is shocking! 

Waywardgirl3

So early morning long dog walk to kick start the bank holiday monday and beat the heat!

Then i have a day of life admin/sorting the house out which I am quite looking forward to.

A niggling voice in my head is telling me that I should turn on my laptop and log some more overtime hours but i’ve already done 16 hours this weekend and i had promised my self the day off. We shall see. I may log on and do just a few hours whilst my partner is at the gym. I am very lucky in that overtime is constantly available to me and well paid -  but after today my next planned day off is the 19th of September as a result.

Smudgeismydog

Morning,
 
Give yourself the day off and enjoy the sunshine, 16 hours of overtime is plenty this weekend.

Well done for starting your thread, you’ve got this
x

13thlegion

Waywardgirl3 said:

Thankyou, it feels so small but suppose it’s one tyre/ a routine vet visit. Just want to have more as more expensive car problems/ vet visits feel inevitable. 

What may be useful, and has been useful in my own journey, is separating out true emergencies from irregular expenses. Such as with an 'envelope' system, or virtual pots like with Monzo or Chase bank accounts, or even just categories in an Excel spreadsheet.

E.g. it is inevitable a tyre needs replacing at some point so put £10 a month into a tyres fund. You always pay it so never miss it, but then when it happens the cost doesn't affect anything else. I have such categories for xmas, the washing machine, mobiles phones (I am my kids own insurance) the car etc. Even the dog has his own money! 

It's a bit like paying for things on credit/layaway just in advance not after the fact. Earning you interest not costing you. It does mean you end up with a little less each month towards the debt but fewer bumps in the road. And it leaves your emergency fund for real unexpected events too. 

It was such a a great feeling in the past year to pay the dog's insurance excess, and ay another time for a new sofa, in cash without adding to or reducing debt repayments.

GrubbyGirl_2

Take a look around your house and sort out anything you don't use or need.  I don't have a debt problem but I decided it was crazy keeping all this "stuff" that I wasn't using.  I am gradually putting things up for sale on Facebook market place and I'm amazed at how much money I am getting back.

The important thing is to not just spend it again.  Use it towards your debts and don't be tempted to buy more stuff

Waywardgirl3

Thanks all, i didn't end up working. Had a lovely morning 2 hour dog walk round the countryside, sat in the sun for a bit and sorted the house out - feel much better for it and it’s been a lovely NSD. Finishing strong with a bubble bath and early night. A lot to be grateful for in my life atm. 

Good idea on the sinking funds. I actually have these set up on monzo for; horse, dog, car, house/garden, gifts, adventures and christmas! I just actually need to start allocating bits of money to them as they are all empty - bar i think Christmas has £10 in and horse pot £20. 

In terms of selling stuff yes this is something i am definitely doing! I have made £52 pounds this week from vinted so far and need to post the rest of my parcels tomorrow.