Debt support thread #2

[Nerfmother]

Here we are! Can't be bothered to think of an exciting title, sorry

Thanks TalkinPeace. I don't intend to get pregnant whilst I have this debt. I know it's wrong that I haven't told him, but one thing I won't do is put him in a situation where he ends up paying my debts.

It makes sense to overpay by a little bit, I will look into setting up a standing order. I fully intend once I've paid off the big loan to transfer those payments to the smaller one, so I know in reality I'm only looking at 3 years. In addition, my car finance finishes in January so that will be another £200 per month to throw at the debts.

You're so right about spreading out the payments. I've reconsolidated sooooo many times, I must have paid thousands in interest and I probably have always reconsolidated before I've even got as far as paying off capital.

School holidays are always hard for me as I spend most of the time alone so lots of time to think. I normally hit the shops but this week I've done loads of gardening and been to the gym / swimming - I've switched from my nice gym to the council one as it is half the price - I can't get rid of it altogether as I use exercise as a way of controlling my depression.

I've sold loads of stuff on ebay, and thought about putting my ipod up as a way of ensuring I am out of my overdraft at pay day - I use my ipod loads though and selling it won't solve my problem, it will just mask it.

Afterthought, I feel like that too sometimes. It's so overwhelming and miserable and teeny tiny little steps. But, I think ahead - if I pay 10 a month more in a year I'll have overpaid by 120 pounds. Or whatever. I try to imagine myself in a year thinking if only id done this.
But have a moment of being angry and overwhelmed and fed up. It's necessary sometimes.

Afterthought, I feel like that too sometimes. It's so overwhelming and miserable and teeny tiny little steps. But, I think ahead - if I pay 10 a month more in a year I'll have overpaid by 120 pounds. Or whatever. I try to imagine myself in a year thinking if only id done this.
But have a moment of being angry and overwhelmed and fed up. It's necessary sometimes.

Afterthought, I feel like that too sometimes. It's so overwhelming and miserable and teeny tiny little steps. But, I think ahead - if I pay 10 a month more in a year I'll have overpaid by 120 pounds. Or whatever. I try to imagine myself in a year thinking if only id done this.
But have a moment of being angry and overwhelmed and fed up. It's necessary sometimes.

afterthought
Hang onto the ipod and the gym
those ways long term sanity lie

but yes, " shopping " should never EVER become a hobby for anybody not married to a millionaire
and actually, for the sake of the planet, not even then

exercise : be it gardening or walking or cycling or cleaning are good for mind body and spirit
I'm a yoga fan as there are loads of free routines on youtube

and
NO MORE CONSOLIDATING
once you add up the total interest rather than teh amount per monh, you'll see why the push it so hard.

nerf
every £10 counts
an old colleague gave up smoking.
It took him less than a year to set aside money for a two week POSH all inclusive ....

its the thing that the wealthy realise and do not shout about
look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves

I pay my business postage out of the 1p, 2p and 5p coins put aside by the four of us each month

Talkin - week in Skegness would do me at the moment!

TiP I love your post to After. It all seems so overwhelming but you break it down and make it manageable. Inspiring.

TiP, on the 'kicking can further down the road' piece...if Id an opportunity to draw down a loan to repay an existing loan, but at almost half the existing interest rate...same theory apply?

Phone British gas this morning after a sleepless night of worry putting me on a payment plan of £118 a month then once everything is payed off it will go down to between £70-80 feel a little bit better now
Roll on my appointment with money matters in May can't come quick enough x

Well done Mitzi. Much better to contact people rather than worry.

Mum2F I would think you could live with only sporadic access to the desktop version - it's harder to use the app for, eg, seeing what you've spent in previous months (don't know if it's even possible), but it works perfectly for inputting all transactions, even with multiple cards/accounts. Re the loan with lower interest - if the repayments are smaller and the repayment period longer, you could still end up spending more.

Mitsi well done for dealing with it, glad you've managed to arrange a solution.

Spent an utterly pointless £20 today, on wool for knitting socks, of all things. I can and will turn the wool into socks at least, which can be given as gifts, but it was a completely 'I want to spend money right now' purchase, with no forethought or planning, so am cross with myself. I think I got carried away with being out for a walk in the sunshine and feeling physically ok for pretty much the first time since the c-section!

One thing I am looking forward to about DH going back to work next week is being back in charge of the food budget - he spent £95 on god yesterday and failed to get about £20 of stuff that we actually need (he did manage to buy batteries, four bars of chocolate, juice cartons and an extension lead though ).

Spendy couple of days, had to get eyebrows and lip threaded as sun in Turkey seemed to make them all grow back much quicker than normal (is this even possible?!?) which was £7.50 a bit sooner than I had expected.

£24 in dentist, have been referred to have the other wisdom tooth out off the back of it now though and operation should be free as the last one was.

Resisted going out for coffee today (at home alone on school holidays and DH is at work) and made myself a coffee in a little cafetiere and read my book on the sofa. Sadly also ate most of a Frys Peppermint Cream bar and now feel a bit ill.

Need to have at least one pair of my shoes re-heeled and 2 skirts altered but will wait til after April payday (25th) as I want to use my surplus this month to clear DH's smallest credit card so he can close it down.

possibly your DH serves a demanding god - batteries, 4 bars of chocolate, juice cartons and and an extension lead are a very odd selection of offerings

Possibly I had that earlier. I've just wasted twenty quid on nothing. I think I need to avoid going out.
I don't get itchy feet to go shopping etc but once I've spent something it's almost like I have to do more!

But, I have remembered to pay the interest off my loan.

Talkinpeace you need to change your name to Talkinsense!!! I'm sure that's been said before

It's so true about the pennies. Dp works in Wilmslow and Alderley edge and thinks its hilarious the amount of range rovers he sees parked up outside aldi and lidl.

My old boss was loaded, but getting her to pay any invoices was a nightmare, particularly for any work done by carpenters etc! She would find a minor excuse every time.

The rich are canny and tight and we could all learn from that I'm sure!!

Oh and I am impatiently awaiting a cheque for march nvoice and once it's cleared, CC1 will be cleared! Whoop whoop!!!

wages have been messed up again, im now £40 down this week as the cock up means ive paid extra tax.

im looking at my spreadsheet and there's nowhere I can streamline anymore. I spend £30 per week for everything food wise.

im going to have to suspended our oil heating payment this month now because this cock up means I have £20 to cover food and fuel till 2nd may!

Currently looking for a new job in case my job isnt needed anymore when I tell them im pregnant

Definitely having a down couple of days.

Your all doing fab though. Im enjoying reading your posts, it is helping me stay on track

Oh no winter, didn't that just happen recently with wages not being paid?
Congratulations

yeah last week

Here's a bit of impetus for anyone needing to think pennies count:

Letter today from Lloyd's - my five year 6k loan is quite recent (few months in).

The additional payment of 47.96 has saved 21.06 interest.

I'm planning on paying my pay rise 150 PCM each month off the loan from next month on.

Afternoon all. Term ends here in 20 minutes and I am going to the Pub. I care not about the expense, it has been the longest term in history. Wine 'o' clock is at 3pm today

Whoa Nerf, that is unbelievable. I'm really shocked by that.

Sorry you have been messed around again Winter.

I'm out of money this month and onto the credit cards Roll on the 25th and payday.

Me too pixie. I showed my mum and we were both stunned. Definitely a bit of a boost as it feels like slow progress.

Nerf - that is interesting about your loan, I was under the impression that making overpayments wouldn't reduce the interest. I might check the terms and conditions of mine. Thinking about it, one of my loans is from a P2P and I pay the interest at the end, so paying it quicker must reduce the interest.

I went out with a friend yesterday - 'cheap' night out - we went to pizza hut (had a voucher so £15 each) followed by bingo. We got lucky at Bingo and won £110 between the two of us - we always split so went home with £55 each. The night out had cost £25 with the dinner and bingo, my petrol probably cost a fiver so came home with £30 profit :)

At the start of this year, I started writing down everything I was spending. It shocked me what I was spending and I think I was expecting to just instantly stop. I think it has been more of a gradual realisation. I also need to remind myself that my aim was to stop spending before I started my new job, as the pay rise will mean a real difference in my attempt to pay things off. I've almost achieved that.

One thing that has been really bizarre is that I've always felt my account has to be on 0 not minus at the end of the month if I'm going to make a change the next month. That has normally meant me making a cash transfer from a credit card to take it back to 0 (again just moving a problem, not solving it).

Another thing that I pondered over last night was how I seem to be able to think about consequences in other aspects of my life but not in relation to money.

Soooo glad I found this thread, where people don't judge and life still goes on when you have debts (on another site I used I was told I should be having bread and water until the debts were paid).