Green Eyed Debters Rant!!!

mhe

Just need to have a rant and I cant rant to anyone I know cos they'll think im mad so i'm typing it instead. I have a friend who was in debt but has been living a frugal life for the last ?? years and paid everything off. I on the other hand have some debt but have continued to spend what i dont really have as i felt i worked full time if i wanted a treat i should have it and i guess also to trying to afford a lifestyle i wanted but couldnt really have. Today she moved into her new 4 bed detatched home and my lightbulb which was already switched on as i have started working on paying everything off is now burning like a flood light - why - cos iv wanted to move for ages and could really do with an extra bedroom but cant afford it at the mo. I guess i have just realized that you can lie to yourself only for so long. When you live on credit you have a great time for a while but then it affects everything else in your life - guess those pub lunches werent as important as i thoughht at the time .:o
OK - rant over

thevinternet

I know, it's hard not to be jealous of those who aren't in debt. In a way they don't know how lucky they are, but then again, they've often worked very hard and been more frugal than we have, so we can't be too hard on them!!

Just think about it this way - however bad your situation is, someone will be worse off and will actually be jealous of you! For instance, some one who is 50k in debt would love to be a person who's only 20k in debt (although I know we're all aiming for zero!). Even people who have no debt are jealous of those with massive savings / those people who've won the lottery!

At least it's turned your lightbulb up a notch or two...so maybe try to use that jealous energy to work harder on your own debts?

Packed lunch, anyone?

ltm07

Personally i don't get jealous of people who live a lavish lifestyle. I used to want the big house,flash car etc,but i came to realise that i'm content with our 3 bedroomed ex council house & reliable(gone & jinxed it now) Vauxhall Astra! I would never knock anyone for working hard to live a lavish lifestyle,but for us knowing that we will live a very comfortable lifestyle once we're DF is what we're looking forward to. OK we have to work extra hours because of our debts,but in less than 5 years we won't have to do that. There are people i work with who have to do overtime just to fund their bigger houses,expensive cars etc & will have to work longer hours for many years to come.

mrcow

mhe - that's a pretty postive place you're in at the moment. you should put it to your advantage.

Use your feelings of envy to step things up a little with the savings/earnings.......even when you think there aren't......there are always more to be had (trust me!). It's a bit like dieting, it's often good just to ramp it up a little to keep you really motivated. Envy is a good thing if it spurs you on to postive actions. Have a look through the boards and see where other savings can be made or take a look around and see if there's anything you can flog on Ebay (it's free gallery listings up until tomorrow night).