Onto the straight and narrow...

ChickyPenguin

Hello world 👋

This will be a long first post but I just wanted to get over my anxiety and get the first post out of the way, half of it will be shameful but half of it will be exciting and a bit overwhelming. I have found myself in the unique position as of last night that, with the hopeful help of some partial settlements, I'm going to be able to clear all of my debt in the next couple of months.

A bit of backstory, I've been in debt from the first point I could possibly be in debt from 18 years old, 16 years later I've currently got about £10k 'bad' debt and high rate hire purchase on a car. I've got very poor impulse control which leads onto the shameful bit…

I have had a gambling problem for the last couple of years, nearly got evicted from my rented property and nearly got my car repossessed but managed to scrape by and everything is all back in hand and has been for a while. Did Gamstop, then found sites outside of those to use mostly when I was stressed or depressed which naturally didn't help. Long story short, last night the impossible happened and I spent all night staring at a balance that if all goes to plan will get me debt free if I can get some offers accepted on my larger and older debts that I am currently making small payments on that will not get cleared for 6 or 7 years at the current rate.

I can only take the money out in small increments at a time and from previous experience the small amounts take a few days to be paid out, so it will be probably a couple of months before I have it all, which is why I am here, to track everything and have something keep me accountable to make those payments and finally get this all gone.

My plan for the money is as follows:

• £1000 into an emergency fund
• Money into sinking pots for car related stuff (insurance, MOT, repairs, tax, etc), birthdays and Christmas
• Everything else towards getting my debts paid off

I have made every mistake financially you could ever possibly make, I am also extremely good at self sabotaging but I cannot afford to mess this up and miss out on finally being free. I can't quite believe what my budget will look like once the debts are going and all my money will be mine/going into savings and I spent a long time in the shower last night just staring at the wall in shock.

So, here goes - as I get each amount I'll update with where it's gone and what my debt/savings balances are. Once the bad debt is gone I'll look to start overpaying my car finance.

Current total according to my spreadsheet is £10,020.70. The countdown to £0 starts now.

CP x

Sun_Addict

Welcome to diary land and good luck with your journey. Sounds like you’ve drawn a line in the sand and got some good plans in place. You’re still young and can easily turn your life around. Might be worth checking out lonelygamblers diary as he’s been gamble free for 2 years now, very inspirational.

ChickyPenguin

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82087770#Comment_82087770

Thank you for that recommendation, I had a read through last night when I couldn't sleep, definitely very inspirational!

ChickyPenguin

Didn't sleep well last night at all, I do shift work and sometimes my days off get a little squiffy with being able to sleep at a normal time. I had planned to get up and do park run this morning for the first time in ages but after my alarm went off at 7am I fell back asleep at woke up at 10am, so missed out on that however I did have a nice morning enjoying a cup of coffee in bed, instead.

Just waiting around for the next few hours, I have to take my brother and some of his friends somewhere later in the afternoon so will just be getting some odd jobs done before then, including emptying out my car as it tends to just accumulate things during my set of work shifts. I had hoped to try and get it cleaned for the drive today but thinking about it further, it's only going to get dirty again on the (almost 90 mile there and back!) trip today so seemed a bit pointless considering I'm just dropping off and coming home again.

Cashed out £9 on some surveys last night, a habit I plan to keep up once I have paid everything off and it can just go into savings instead. Also, my regular monthly payments at the end of this month will bring my debt total under £10k and into 4 figures rather than 5 so that will be nice to see as a first milestone whilst I'm building my savings up.

CP x

ChickyPenguin

Still waiting on the first money to be paid out to me, it'll be a long game but I knew that already so just trying to focus on other bits and pieces at the moment. Got caught up on the housework this morning as I am not in work until 4pm, weighed myself after knowing I'd have put on the few kgs I lost recently, lots of sitting around at home and eating rubbish so it wasn't a total surprise to see I'm back where I was, but was a kick up the bottom.

I bought an exercise bike a few months ago cheap off of FB Marketplace so I have no real reason not to exercise it's just much easier to sit and watch TV. I have a subscription for workouts on the bike as I enjoy doing it more to proper music that I know, but just as equally I could just sit and pedal with resistance for the time it takes me to watch an episode of a TV show, so I'll try and get back on it tomorrow before work.

I have one day less at work this set (now 5 days) as I have some annual leave on Saturday for a big family birthday. I got the gift, card etc in last months pay when I had some money in my gifts pot so it'll just be drinks on the evening and should be able to get a lift home from my brother as he doesn't drink 😊

Another £7 out the other day from surveys, again things I can do whilst I'm sat watching tv I just need to force myself to do it 😂

I'm guessing I need to have done a certain amount of posts until I can do a signature so may just have to waffle away about nonsense until I hit that point!

CP x

ChickyPenguin

Very grateful today for the fact that I have my day of annual leave that drops my number of work days this set to 5. Feeling very tired and in a slump as work is ridiculously busy all the time, so just 2 more shifts to get through, plus with my night shift on Friday I have the last couple of hours off as AL also so it's more like 1.75 shifts to get through 🤞

I haven't done much since getting up today, just drinking a coffee in bed and reading through some diaries. The exercise bike is going to have to wait until tomorrow when I've got some more time (and hopefully energy) but I am at the very least going to do some hip mobility stretches - sitting down for most of the day every day means I have very stiff and tight hips.

I'd been meaning to email my estate agents and raise an issue with my shower door - it's one of those folding ones that is supposed to clip on when closed. When I first moved in, it wasnt even on the runners and I couldn't get it on so someone came out and said they'd got it on but they would make a recommendation for the shower door to be replaced. That was nearly 2 years ago! I'd been having a more frequent issue where it would just ping open whilst in the shower and not stay clipped on for long, well yesterday the clip bit actually just snapped so they will have to replace the shower door now! Just going by previous issues I've raised it won't happen any time soon….

CP x

ChickyPenguin

Oooh a good thing for the day though, I've had an email from the DCA who have my highest debt (around £2.7k) offering a £1.1k reduction for no apparent reason. Gives me confidence that when I have the money to do so I can certainly knock that down if thats what they are offering out of the blue 😊

ChickyPenguin

Work was very hard last night, basically just sat and stared at the wall for ages when I got home 😂

Not in until tonight so today will be a few hours of trying surveys, got some gammon to whack in the slow cooker, then at some point hopefully a little nap! Roll on days off.

CP x

foxgloves

Sorry work is difficult atm.

I also chose debt pretty much as soon as it became an option & overspent my income consistently between the age of 19 & my early 40s, when the anti-debt lightbulb pinged on with a huge flash. Just popping on to say that there is now no bag of new stuff I could come home with which would make me feel as good as finally being debt-free did. The money we used to waste on servicing mostly unneccessary consumer debt is now saved for our future & in 10 sinking fund pots to cover those categories of things we know we will have to buy at some point. I'm not saying I never get tempted as I do enjoy shopping, but I have come to love a simpler, more secure lifestyle.....I feel more at peace environmentally too because I'm no longer buying so much stuff on impulse which invariably ends up in landfill.

Do stick with your plans because debt-free is so worth it.

F

ChickyPenguin

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82095215#Comment_82095215

Thank you, I honestly can't wait for the day it is all gone!

Work will be the same for a while, it's just the nature of the job (sort of emergency services, nothing frontline) I have a rough plan in my head to be out of it within the next 12 months, a decision that will be easier to make once I don't have any debt to think about. For now it's just plodding along and trying to inject some fun/sunshine into my days off 😊

CP x

ChickyPenguin

Last night at work was actually good & fun which made a nice change. Glad for an extra day off though!

Had an interesting conversation as well with a colleague about an insurance company that works specifically with our job sector with big discounts so when the site decides to play ball I will look at what my car insurance would be, they pay any cancellation fees with your current provider and no premium for paying monthly (I will have enough set aside next year to pay in full for the first time ever) so that was a pleasant surprise.

Not much else to report, I'm switching between watching TV and doing chores at a slow pace throughout the day until I need to get ready later on this evening - still need to wrap the gift, it's been on my sideboard for about 5 weeks 😂 I am very much looking forward to letting my hair down a bit this evening ☺️

CP x