Been in debt all my adult life, this madness is going to stop!!

TeaRex · 6 July 2017 at 8:01PM

Hello all! :beer:

I want to start by saying I love reading all the diaries on here, it makes me feel so inspired and Im worried my ramblings will not be half as interesting but I can finally see an end in sight and just want to jot down my thoughts and keep really focused!

So a bit of a back story, Ive been in debt for most of my adult life, Ive never been a saver, always a spender, if i saw something I would buy it no questions asked. I remember my first job at the age of 16 I spent my first wages on some (looking back now AWFUL) nike trainers from JD Sports and a denim hooded coat from New Look! :cool::rotfl: This was just a taste of what was to come!

Most of my loans went on cars, I had a personal loan for £5k when I was 19 to get a car, I took out car finance for £11k at the age of 22 to get a brand new car, I put deposits for my ex partners cars on my credit cards, took out a £7.5k loan at the age of 26 so my ex partner could buy a car, it is all so ridiculous looking back now.

Despite all this, my ex partner and I managed to buy a house in 2013. We split up in 2015 and he moved out leaving me to pay for everything. I put the house on the market and the sale went through in Feb 2016. I moved in with my parents. At this time I have worked out that I owed £23643.:eek:

Fast forward a year later, I have moved 180 miles to be with my new partner. We are currently renting a small flat. I haven't spent on a single credit card since my house sold. My current debt is £8461. I am currently trying to pay a minimum of 300 towards my debts per month. Since Jan this year I have paid off 3 of my credit cards and called up to cancel them which is such a good feeling!

My debts are as follows
1- Barclaycard - This has defaulted and I have an agreement with them to pay £1 per month for 12 months then I presume they will review this. I currently owe £4747 here and currently pay £20 per month. Hoping to clear my other debts while this is on a payment plan then up the payments on this final debt.

2- Argos Card - This is open and up to date with payments. I currently owe £1614 on this and pay around £130 per month off of this.

3- Lloyds Credit Card - This is an open account but they won't let me spend or do any sort of balance transfer. I currently owe £2100 on this and try to pay at least £130 off this one too.

I just paid off a Bank of Scotland credit card this month, £190 cleared it completely so this money can go towards a different debt next month! Probably the Argos card as I get the most interest on that one!

Think thats all I will share for now as this is probably a huge opening post and I don't want to run out of things to post on day one!!

Thanks for reading so far, looking forward to words of encouragement and getting stuck in with the debt free wannabe community! Speak soon

TeaRex · 9 July 2017 at 4:22PM

So just a tiny bit more about me, Im 30 and I have a partner who is 33. His children are 3 and 7

Never thought I would be a step mum but I love it and hope to have my own too some day!

So Sunday afternoons are my 'free time' to catch up on work things and just have a few hours of chill time! The kids go back to their mums and my partner goes to work so I have the flat to myself! I normally have a nice cuppa, do my timesheet for work then spend an hour or two doing housework which seems pointless when the kids are back here tomorrow to make a mess again but I like having a tidy flat even if its just for one evening :rotfl:

I think Im going to try and do some ebay tonight. We have boxes and boxes of 'things' that my partner has said he wants to keep but we had a chat earlier where I said that I would rather sell the stuff, pay off some debt and move into a better house/flat than have boxes of stuff we aren't even using or looking at because we want it in our new house! I said it can all be replaced, we need the money now!

So he has agreed that if I get the boxes out while he is at work then we will go through them together when he gets in and ill list it all on ebay.

Not much else to report, its a NSD today so thats one achievement! :j

Mummy_bear · 9 July 2017 at 4:33PM

Just a quick hello :wave: from me

Subscribing and looking forward to your journey

UncannyScot · 9 July 2017 at 5:51PM

Hello and welcome from me too

Looks like you are well on the way to clearing your feet
Look forward to reading your updates

TeaRex · 14 July 2017 at 5:55PM

Was hoping for a DFD today but I forgot my lunch for work so spent £2.90 on a sausage roll, drink and chocolate bar

Sorry for lack of posts, been very busy with work and kids things this week so will post a better update tomorrow!

beanielou · 15 July 2017 at 8:29PM

Happy shiny new diary

TeaRex · 16 July 2017 at 6:14PM

Finally got 10 mins to myself to come and have a little update! My partner has been off work this week so haven't had much time to get on here for updates. He knows about my debt but its obviously mine and mine alone to deal with. He is very supportive though and has never had a credit card or loan himself so if anything that really helps me and after the amount of debt I have been in Im definitely in the 'save up for what you want' camp now!

I have got some things on ebay that are finishing today or in the next couple of days so will have an update on that soon. Whatever 'profit' is made after fees and postage I will pay straight off one of the cards.

Im not sure which one to tackle next to completely clear, I have Argos and Lloyds and they are both pretty much on 21% APRs, one has £1600 balance and one has £2100. Any extra cash I have or money made from ebay I will probably end up paying towards the Lloyds as its easier, I can do it all on my online banking and Ill continue to just make one payment a month to Argos.

My stepson had a play at school which me and his dad went to watch. He did so well, he is only 7 but he had a solo singing part and I just felt so proud watching him and afterwards me and my partner both said we had a little tear in our eyes when he sang! He goes to a special needs school and all of the children did amazingly well.

Not much housework to do today while my partner at work, just got to make myself something to eat so will probably have beans on toast. We got some big bags of grated cheese from his work for free which were going to be thrown out otherwise so trying to find new ideas for them, but its mainly been used in sandwiches or for jacket potatoes!

Think thats it for today...will update more on Tuesday! I have to leave for work at 6:30am tomorrow so once my partner is home it will be bedtime for me!

enthusiasticsaver · 16 July 2017 at 7:42PM

You are doing well in clearing the debt and luckily you are still relatively young so have learnt how to manage your money at a stage in your life when it can be turned around. Once the debt is gone you can then focus on getting a bigger or better home and other aspirations you have for the future.

Good luck.

TeaRex · 18 July 2017 at 5:28PM

Thank you, I hope so! We keep seeing loads of lovely flats coming up to rent which would be affordable even on just my wage but with my debts we can't go for them!

Was such a hectic day yesterday, for my work I go all over the place and am in different offices all the time. Yesterday I left at 6:30am and did not get home until 8:30pm so it was a nightmare! I had an awful headache when I got back so my partner made me some soup and soldiers and a lovely cuppa which helped but I ended up falling asleep on the sofa at about 10!

On a more positive note, I got a letter saying I overpaid tax last year, only £15 (shame there wasn't an extra 0 or 00 on the end!) but I have logged on to my HMRC account online and asked for it to be refunded so once that appears in my account Ill send it straight to my Lloyds CC

I sold something on ebay for around £17 including postage but I wildly underestimated how much it would cost so it looks like its going to be around £12 to post... I don't know whether to try Collect Plus or Hermes instead as they have quoted £6 (I charged £5) so need to decide this as soon as possible!

TeaRex · 19 July 2017 at 5:34PM

Had to just bite the bullet and posted the item for £12..At least it has gone now! So I can work out whats left and will make the payment to my card

Had a letter from work today, we are getting a small pay rise and it will be backdated to the 1st April this year but we won't get it until August payday so thats something to look forward to, hopefully get a small little lump payment as its backdated which will help! Shame the taxman has to take his part!

Hope everyone else has had a good day

LemonadeWages! · 19 July 2017 at 6:13PM

Good luck!

Subscribing and cheering for you !! :j

Been in debt all my adult life, this madness is going to stop!!

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free