Hi ODAAT....i have reached 50 days and 100 days more than a couple of times before lol....maybe even done 200 days once so I guess 300 or 365 days is now my target as a way of improvement on my last attempts! Not had a single thought since my last post, it feels like the only thing left of my addiction is this god awful debt. I feel completely normal in myself, I stress less about the husband finding out and I know that one day this will all be a horrible memory and a hard life lesson.
So today is day 57...I have hit my next target which was to clear my debt of a few hundred pound that was interest bearing (catalogue account that I used over xmas). I need to have a think about what my next target will be, my other debts are at least 1.5k and can't easily be cleared in one fell swoop so I will have a think and get back to you 🙂
Had a great time at the weekend, detox was finally over and I thoroughly enjoyed myself and didn't spend that much money either which was an added bonus!
Going to treat myself to some new carpet at the weekend, i've been dying to get it done for ages and it will be a small reward for getting to the 2 month mark gamble free.
Day 60....2 months free which means 2 months of debt repayments that haven't been ruined by losing more money.
I have had a think about my next financial target....we (my OH and I) lent £5k to someone we know who was in trouble last year. This was an unused overdraft and they were advised of the interest on it. They have paid back about £1200 so far but I have a feeling that the Bank will want to close this OD off as we don't actually use the bank account for our wages anymore. So there is £3.8k that needs paying back and this is my next target. I get a bonus at the end of this month and I think with this along with some online selling I can get it down to £1k by the end of March and then use March's wages to pay off the last grand. By getting rid of this I'm hoping to improve both of our credit scores with the next aim being to clear my final loan a year early in June. It's a big target but I think it will be the most beneficial. I feel a bit sick that I am paying someone elses debt off but they will not be told that I have done this which means that any payments they make can either go off my other debts or put into a savings account. The interest on the OD is just ridiculous and they have not paid anything off it the past 3 months which means the debt has gone back up by £200.
Apart from the above not had a single thought of you know what. I feel happy, content, I have a few quid in the bank if I need it. I've paid all my bills, it's payday next week. Going to do some home improvements this weekend. All is good. Let's hope it stays that way.
Awesome update 🙂 & so good to hear you're not being troubled by the urges! I know you have done this well before so nake sure you you stay on your guard!
Home improvements sound like a great way of keeping busy...Hope the OH is more useful than mine 😉
Keep strong, keep winning - ODAAT
Day 65...spent slightly more than hoped on home improvements at the weekend (£600!) but at least it wasn't £600 or more on gambling. I have paid an initial £900 off the overdraft, am thinking my previous target may take a bit longer than the end of March but I will keep chipping away over the next 5 weeks and hopefully I won't be far off! Still no urges, haven't even played the lottery in the last 65 days which is something I still used to do when quitting previous times as it wasn't something i ever wasted stupid money on. Looking forward to a few drinks on Friday night and then off to see a friend on Sunday so will be a nice busy weekend that will keep me out of trouble! xx
You seem very smart and focused on your financial goals; I really think u can do this!!!
Day 74....so I used my savings and moved some money off a credit card to clear that overdraft. It was really getting to me and I feel better for having cleared it now. Any repayments I get off the person who was supposed to pay this overdraft off with be going right back into the savings account. Have done a complete U turn over the past week, I was dead set on savings loads of money each month and having thousands in the bank at the end of the year but (a) why would I need all that money in the bank? I'm not planning on moving and any home improvements would not cost thousands! (b) if i was to fall off this wagon again I would probably console myself by the fact I have used my savings and not added to the debt which is very very dangerous! So from now on I concentrate only on paying the debts off.
Need to have a think about my next challenge. Really need to pick my credit score up by June so that I can get accepted for another balance transfer card.....
Well done,
74 days and a good strong and positive post.
Suzanne xx
Day 85....had the absolute shock of my life today. Randomly checked one of my credit card accounts that I have 10k interest free on and I had underpaid by £7 last month and they had removed my promotional rate! Got on the live chat and absolutely begged for it back, thank god they accepted my apologies and thank goodness I had been fine with all previous payments and THANKS goodness that i randomly checked the account today because the next payment is due in a few days and I would have underpaid again and probably would have never got the 0% rate back. Wow - that was more scary than losing money to you know what and I thank my lucky stars that I could fix the situation!!!!!!! Squeaky b*m time!
On the plus side I got a promotional rate for one of my exisiting credit cards, a nice 6.9% for the life of the balance which is perfect 🙂 so I am in the process of clearing any balance on it so that I can make full use of the offer 🙂 so by the end of this month I should have got the OD to zero and moved a good chunk of money to a long term low rate. Really hoping that my credit score starts to pick up over the next couple of months, could do with it being fair/good by June when my next balance transfer offer runs out! I swear when all this debt is cleared I have no idea what I will spend my time thinking about!
Back to day one tomorrow actually had to laugh it's so pathetic. Put a bet on united, £250 up then went to casino and ended up £350 down. I mean how many times do you have to do it before u realise that u are an absolute t**d head!!?!! I almost expect it of myself now. I can go for months without a bet n then I just get bored of the daily grind and need a bit of an escape and boom money down the drain. Not gonna let it get to me have come a long way with the debts in the last few months and this is a minor set back that can be sorted out in a month or two. More upset that I'm back at day 1 AGAIN Jesus wept how many years has this been going on?! It's just laughable! I guess I should be thankful that I didn't waste everything I deposited n actually withdrew £300 now I have that glorious waiting game to play to get the funds back in my bank.
Tomorrow is a new day....
Day 17....not even thought about quitting, at this stage in the recovery it just happens as I have no interest. I could probably get to 30 or even 60 days quite easily and then just blow a load of money through sheer boredom. I have an aim in sight and that is the 5th May when one of my 0% deals ends and my credit rating should improve enough that I can move it again. I will not jeopardise that so hopefully I am safe for the next 4 weeks.
The debts are drving me mental at the minute. I have a 4 week wait to see if I am going to be able to shift my up and coming interest bearing credit card debt. I need to stop stressing....even if i have to pay interest on these cards for a few months it's not the end of the bloody world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi there,
take it easy on yourself here, the debts will keep decreasing in time. Us addicts struggle with patience, but that's one of the keys in recovery.
you're doing well, take it steady, as you rightly say - this is not the end of the world!
Keep making the right choice, things will get better.
Sandra
Day 25...finding it much harder this time round but not entirely sure why. I have deleted my finance spreadsheet in a bid to stop counting every penny in my bank. I just want to try and be a normal person who plans for the weekend and looks forward to going out instead of panicking about how much money it is going to cost. I am under no illusion that despite all this debt I am a very lucky person who has a brilliant life! So why do i always feel the need to have this extra buzz from gambling? I really don't get it sometimes.
Anyway, I have a few days off work after today which will be nice. When I'm at home i don't tend to think as much about the debt as I am busy but when I am in work I can sit for hours and hours trying to fgure out how to get rid if these debts! Like I said in a previous post, I need to make it to the 5th May and then hopefully i can move some credit card debt that will be interest bearing at this point. If I'm really lucky I will be able to get one of the cards that has an interest free offer on cash so that I can pay off my final loan and will free up £200 a month. Wow - this time last year I would never have thought i could be loan free - this time last year I think I had 4 loans totally £732 in monthly repayments and now I am down to this last one which has about £2.5k left to pay off.
I need to keep positive, stop focusing on money and get my diary booked up with things I enjoy doing so I don't feel the need to have that gambling buzz
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