Road to gamble/debt free

PositiveStep · 11 October 2016 at 9:57PM

Hi,

So I've been lurking here for a short while and I've decided to make an account and start a new thread. I guess this is mainly so I'm sort of held accountable for what I do if I slip up (I think it will help).

Basically, I've developed a bit of an online gambling problem over the past few years and have ran up a pretty big sum of debt (by my standards anyway). I know a lot of people have had it a lot worse but I feel I'm in a very sticky situation and I want to get it out of it, starting today. I've tried giving up for a while now but I slipped up today and kind of have a "enough is enough" moment today. So I've sat down and worked out my total debt (which I've never done, and it's scary).

A breakdown of my debts are roughly...

Credit card 1 - £2000
Credit card 2 - £2000
Credit card 3 - £3000
Overdraft 1 - £1500
Overdraft 2 - £1600

And I currently have a couple of payday loans on the go for about £1500 in total, but I hope to repay that early and cut a big sum of interest from it. I know payday loans are pretty damn bad and a last resort, but I needed money quick for some rent/holiday cash. I'm confident I'm able to meet the repayments on that and get it out of the way ASAP before hitting late repayments or getting into a vicious cycle. I'll be focusing on clearing that before touching anything else.

So I guess this is my diary to document the day I gave up gambling (i.e. today!!) (I hope...), and to watch my debts go down and down and down....

Let's see how it goes. I'd be interested in hearing any gambling debt success stories so if you have been in a similar situation or you have read a success story on here, drop me a link

Also any tips on everyday savings? I think I've cut down a lot on random spending but any suggestions are welcome.

The beginning...
Total debt - £11,524.48
Days gone without gambling - 0 (Last gamble - 11th October 2016).

Thanks for reading,
Positive.

[Deleted User] · 11 October 2016 at 10:13PM

Hi,

Good luck on your journey.

Pmo2
X

PositiveStep · 12 October 2016 at 5:22PM

Thank you very much Purple!

fourthtimelucky · 12 October 2016 at 5:43PM

Best of luck with it all. I'll follow with interest.

jools1985 · 12 October 2016 at 11:56PM

Good luck to you. It is so easy to develop an interest for online gambling. If you can get over that then you will have a great launchpad to becoming debt free.

chevalier · 13 October 2016 at 1:29AM

I guess my advice would be to install gamblock (i think it is called) on your computer to stop access to the sites. You can also self exclude yourself from the sites you currently use would that help as well?
good luck
chev

PositiveStep · 14 October 2016 at 9:16AM

Hi Chev,

Thanks for replying

I use k9 web protection on my web browser (recently downloaded) and I've self excluded myself from a whole bunch of website which has helped massively. Still quite easy to just create a new account on my phone though.

I slipped up yesterday which is annoying, but I'm still feeling pretty determined! My debts are going to go up this month, but after payday they will definitely start going down. Still feeling positive

[Deleted User] · 14 October 2016 at 10:13AM

Hi,

Everyone has a blip now and again, well done for recognising it and your determination to sort it.

Pmo2
x

PositiveStep · 17 October 2016 at 4:24PM

Finally got a decent gambling block browser on my phone and have disabled Safari. Think this will really help

Debt is creeping up but as I said, that was expected until next payday as I'm going on a city break at the end of this month! Going to be my last holiday for a while until this debt is cleared I think!

HEROWHENZERO · 17 October 2016 at 5:25PM

Hi Positive Step,

Great first step to accepting you have a gambling problem, and that you are tackling your debt problems. I too am in the same boat. If you haven't already, get yourself along to a GA meeting. If you have a program it really helps to stay gambling free. Every day without gambling is a good day and deserves a pat on the back.

Good luck with your journey, you are certainly not alone.

Hero

PositiveStep · 18 October 2016 at 5:31PM

HEROWHENZERO wrote: »

Hi Positive Step,

Great first step to accepting you have a gambling problem, and that you are tackling your debt problems. I too am in the same boat. If you haven't already, get yourself along to a GA meeting. If you have a program it really helps to stay gambling free. Every day without gambling is a good day and deserves a pat on the back.

Good luck with your journey, you are certainly not alone.

Hero

Hi Hero,

Thank you so much for posting. I have subscribed to your diary to support your progress - it seems like you've been through a lot but are making amazing progress staying gamble free and getting that debt down - congrats!

I haven't been to a GA meeting as the thought of it fills me with dread to be honest, and I sort of see it as a "last resort" type thing which I guess probably isn't the best outlook... I'll do some research on it and see how I feel.

Thanks
Positive

Road to gamble/debt free

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