Debt mutual support thread number 4 .... every journey starts with the hardest first step

[TalkinPeace]

This thread follows on from Nerf's incredibly useful
FIRST www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/1969188-Can-we-have-a-support-thread-for-people-who-are-massively-in-debt
and then SECOND
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/2011878-Debt-support-thread-2?
and my THIRD
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/a2062902-Debt-Number-3-For-those-who-feel-they-are-drowning-and-want-a-way-out?msgid=48505428#48505428
threads about realising you are in and supporting each other out of debt.

I am not in debt, any more.
Here is a link to some spreadsheets that might help
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/1987219-SPREADSHEETS-for-Debt-Control-Budgeting-Mortgages-etc

and lots of people use this
YouNeedABudget

The important thing to remember is

• yesterday is as past as the Crimean War

( we will not judge how you got into debt, but we will support you on the way out )

• this is an anonymous forum

( we will not tell your employer, family or friends of the reality of your numbers )

• this thread is about supporting people through the huge mindset changes needed to come out of debt

( feel free to offload all of the feelings that drive you to want to spend, that make it hard to save and that generally make life crap at times )

Join in, bare your soul and come out the other end.
Its worth it.
You are worth it.
The long term results for you, your marriage and your children are worth it.

Snowie
I admit that we have lit the woodburner this evening (free wood) because I have masses of laundry to dry and its cold here compared with california
BUT
normally, thermal socks and baggy jumpers and all staying in the same room does the trick

))))) Ikea ((((( Why buy new when you can get better quality for the same price second hand?
And do you need it or just want it : as there is a HUGE difference

Car service delays are a false economy if you need a car to earn a living
All other purchase delays are generally a good thing

Talkin hope you had a wonderful holiday .

heating? !

we put the heating on when dh thinks it's necessary. that sounds very patriarchal, byt it's because he's a postman and feels that if he's been traipsing around outside in all weathers and he's paying for it, he deserves a bit of heat wgen he wants it
I personally put on a cardi.

ooh. I might be making some money!
I go on a website where you share pictures into the public domain (that's the aim of the site - anyone can download the pictures free of charge and everyone wgo yploads agrees to it. it's paid for by having links to a paid-for pictures website and also voluntary donations)

anyway, tgey were asking for people to go on and help with ragging. I thought "yeah, I could help out with that" and offered. then got an email fom admin saying they pay 1cent (euro) per tag!
potential to earn €10 in an hour if I'm quick enough.
don't mind how much or little I get, because I didn't expect to be paid for it

just have to hope I'm good enough at it!

Right. Countdown to payday (Tues)

We have £54 and it WILL last us.

We've sorted out this weekend with dog walking/dinner with family/swimming (paid for in gym trial)/bike riding... Also got a free voucher for soft play.

Meal planned.

That money needs to purchase milk and gift for family dinner hosts. Will probably be wine.

4 days! We can do it!

Hi all, long time no post and have just read all the updates.

Spendy month here, have ynab'd this morning and have £11 left until end of month.

Partly this is due to spending on house stuff - paint, etc as have painted some windows and external doors. Partly just because it is August and kids are at home.

Actually have plenty in the bank but it is all "spoken for" in ynab. Got child benefit early today. Have been sending it as "income for next month" in ynab and was planning to use the additional chb payment in December but I might have to pull that in as "income for this month" to make August work ynab-wise.

Back to school here next week but only remaining necessary purchase is a laundry pen

Many of us scraping the pennies on payday countdown then. I am blummin determined to get budget working better next month!

What do you think you'll do different Kinky?

I look at the beginning if the month and think its a good amount to last us but then it gets to the last few days and we're nearly out.

The good news is that debt is being paid off without incurring anymore so that in itself is great.

I think August is tricky as it's long, and having kids off school can feel like a long slog. But then there's always something I guess.

Stick to my budget my be a start!

I've set up all my envelope bank accounts and I will use them properly now.

You're right though, August has messed us up due to holiday and DDs 16th. Lots of spends. I'll be back at work and DCs back at school, so too busy to spend as much.

Afternoon all...made it to pay day with petrol and housekeeping budget left over which I have consolidated and put as extra payment to loan. No additional debt incurred and have filled up all my envelopes for the month ahead. Once I receive child benefit and maintenance from x I can overpay just over 600pnd to loan, that's double the actual fixed repayment amount...but I'm also sat looking at my sorry state for a house. I've done all the small bits that I can...decorated bedrooms etc, but I'm at stage where I can no longer avoid the big stuff. Granted some of it is cosmetic but I always have in the back of my mind that I could well be redundant in 18-24mths (I already am but currently on temporary reprieve)...what if I can never afford to do the house afterwards?

Just feeling a bit torn today...been off for 2 weeks so maybe I'm just seeing the faults more than I do normally :o/

Payday! Pmoney will go out into various household and emergency fund pots on Tuesday, but we still have £80 in the household pot from last month due to me being ill and groceries not being done. Am planning to live out of the cupboards for a week then do a big shop/batch cook for going back to work.

I have returned to the Chalet School dilemma - I have the full set, all either HB or the new GGBP facsimile editions and there are about 60 of them - if I sold them all I'd get around £600-700 as they are all worth at least £10 and some considerably more. I can list them through the FOCS magazine for free, no comissions or taxes, and the buyers pay postage etc. But will I regret it???? It's taken me 20 years to build the collection.

On the other hand I know them by heart and there are so many great books out there I haven't read...

Well august has been a disaster tbh.
Kids back at school next week.
Dh gets paid next week...thank goodness.
Spent more on hols than planned, but not too bad.
I have sent something back to amazon so that's £15 back.
Also, spent the rest of my gift card at ikea on a pole for the new (free) door curtain...hoping that cuts the heating bill down come winter.
Will be putting some more stuff on e bay later - Hoping it sells as quickly as the last lot!
Haven't heard from the 2 jobs I applied for :( the last date for applications was Monday so was hoping I might have heard something either way by now.
The new carpet should be fitted within the next couple of weeks. Am covering the manky sofas with throws ;)

peonies you will regret it.
sell things that you won't miss - cds you haven't listened to for years, clothes that don't fit, books that maybe you've not got the series or you didn't enjoy.
or duplicates.
never sell sonething that you love, because you will always regret that.

Do you really need to sell them MissA? You are paying down your debt at an eye watering rate.

Missa...oh I do know what you mean wrt books!
I will always love print books, and still buy them but how many of us have the space or storage for 100s of books? :(
I agree totally..?so many books, so little time!! :)
Dh has sold some more stuff on e bay so we have made £250 this month!

Oh, and my bedroom is looking lovely :)
My new curtains and bed runner and vase which cost me exactly £0 :)
Also got the new door curtain and will be putting that up today.

badvoc everyone has space and storage for hundreds of books!
people very rarely use the space above their doors or in their stairwell.

Nickel...I have issues with piles of "stuff" - even books! :)
I can't fit in any more bookcases :( what I really need is a library :)

Hi everyone.

I posted on the 3rd thread but then went into a spot of denial about my debt and decided I needed to shift my focus to combating my shopping habit, then the debt would follow - trying to deal with my debt without addressing what had caused it was just the wrong way round!

I've just been doing my sums and my debt hit a peak at £25,300 in March this year. Since then, I've paid off £1,200 which isn't much but I'm quite proud because for the last 5 years my debt has increased each month, most rapidly in the last 2 years.

I received a tax rebate this month which I've put into savings for my 'what if' fund - I debated paying it off the debt but decided having an emergency fund would be much better for my financial anxiety issues as I won't be worrying about emergencies.

So that's me, I hope I can report by next pay day that I've paid another £1k off!

Welcome back Afterthought...def agree on having an emergency fund. Mines stands at 500pnd, will put to 1000 once I've hit next goal (repaid personal loan by Dec) ...

Afterthought that's fantastic. What a turnaround.

We have our 1k emergency fund and I do feel better having it there.

We get paid on tues but I can see them in the pending payments section.

So I'm into septembers budget with it all allocated.

After all our direct debits, standing orders and allocated saving pots I have divided the rest up week by week.

Kind of ynab but not

Each week the amount needs to pay for food, fuel and entertainment.

Sorry but to go against the grain I'd sell all the books I could.

For every square foot of space taken up by something I have to pay for it in having a bigger house; I have to work more/longer to pay for it all. Not for me I'm afraid.

I do love to read though, and if the magic of kindle wasn't here I'd just use the library/charity shop and pass them all on when read.

Talkin peace you're right of course and after a read I lost the catalogue anyway. Main thing we need from there is storage we are falling over everything in here. Plus cheap blankets to replace the ones I used for DDs curtains ! Agree re car service but no spare cash till now :/

shuffles in Hi, please could I join?

I posted on the Credit Crunch section and was directed here - I'm in a proper mess at the moment but trying to sort it out.

My DH and I are in around £7k debt including paying £3.5k this weekend for a house move (renting in London). We're moving to a new flat (better insulated and closer to work - it's slightly higher rent but will work out cheaper in the long run because we'll be paying less in transport/bills.

Nobody knows I'm in debt and I'm embarrassed about some of the stupid things I've wasted money on in the last few months. But looking forward to some frugal autumnal living to help get myself out of this state! Spent last night on Frugal Queen and Mortgage Free in Three on recommendations from here.

Meant to add, I've been looking at You Need a Budget, do you have to pay to use it and is it worth it?

I think you get a free trail but pay after that.