Is anyone in debt but NOT stressed?

[chickenlicker]

Hi,

I am dealing with a high level of non-mortgage debt at the moment. I am able to meet the payments, but it constantly worries me.

Is anyone else dealing with a high level of non-mortgage debt without being overly worried, or stressed? If so - what is your secret??

Thanks

They would be rather foolish if they weren’t stressed at all!!

everyone on MN will tell you your husband should leave you, that you're a gambler and you should be crying into your pillow every night over it.

Better idea, pop over to the MSE Debt Free Wannabe board, you absolutely won't be the worst off person there and people treat debt a lot more rationally than they do here.

There's no point worrying about debt if you're paying it off and ideally it's not increasing. What is a good idea is seeing if you can pay if off a bit earlier or finding a way to reduce your use of credit to pay for things.

I’ve got about 8k on credit cards but it’s all interest free and I can manage the payments no problem. I’m not stressed at all about it. I’ve had a big pay rise recently so I’m planning to have it all paid off by this time next year.

I wouldn't consider my debt high but since I was a student many moons ago I've always had some sort of debt. I'll always take advantage of 0% payments on things like phones, had lease cars, move money around on 0% credit cards, released equity from the house to fund extension etc etc. It's never stressed me out as I use it to my advantage and am on top of it all. Lots of people frown on non-mortgage debt but if you're savvy with it and don't borrow more than you can afford then it can be a helpful thing. Right now I have a lease car and about £4K in credit card debt. DH has about the same in credit card debt. We're both reasonably high earners and could pay it off in a couple of month if we wanted to but given it's on 0% we're just chipping away at it instead.

Agree with @QforCucumber about MSE. I was in big debt and that forum was a life saver. It was a stressful time but once I had stopped adding to the debt and was clearer about how I was going to get it paid off I felt a lot less stressed. Good luck.

no I think normal to be stressed if it is high, I feel for you

I done a debt consolidation loan so I’m just making the one monthly payment, rather then lots of different credit and store cards. Lots of silliness from my early 20’s catching up on me, but my payments have came down quite a bit and I’m managing to save a towards little emergencies fund. If you can consolidate then maybe that would help.

I was in debt in the late 00s and found the debt free wannabe board such a great help back then.
I dealt with debt stress (badly) by throwing all my spare cash at it but did enjoy spreadsheets and planning in a weird way

No point stressing. Just pay what you can afford, as long as they know so they not adding interest.

Get it all onto a zero interest. It’s shocking how high a credit limit they will give you, but you MUST MUST MUST shut down the card you move it off as soon as you move it or you’ll be tempted to stick something on it and then a year later you are twice as badly off.

I made the last payment on a £17k credit card debt a few months ago. The best thing I did was directly contact the lender, who put me on a low interest payment plan. I cried on the phone but they were brilliant.

Was I stressed? No, because my head was so firmly in the sand until I reached my limit and had to make that phone call.