Lost the plot...so back.

This has been a good earning week - several jobs came up and I must've paid in £500 this week. That is just less than the £590 I laid out on the house, so the recovery is back on. I suppose I'll have to start saving for my tax bill soon but for now, I'll keep chip chip chipping.

What a sorry old mess we create for ourselves.

Ye Gods! Someone's got it in for me. Vacuum cleaner packed up while cleaning up all the plaster dust etc. It's been erratic for a while. Changed filters etc but I suspect the motor's had it = it's nearly 20 years old.

Have gambled away at least 50 new vacs this year. Going to have to find more sources of income

Hey, Milkman... been following, and kind of happy that you are facing life trials and tribulations in a positive way... not good to dwell on the loses and the number of vacuum cleaners though... ( mine was the number of time I could have taken my kids out)... but as time passes, and you buy a new vacuum, and I take my kids out... it becomes irrelevant... we learn to be happy again.

Stay well.

Jon

Thanks milkman

GamblingsDef NOT appealing!

Thanks so much for highlighting my error 🙂

Its good to read that things are going well for you. Good luck with the vaccum-maybe use it as a good excuse to leave the housework?!

Take care

Irene

x

Hi bud, hope all is well, did you get your hover sorted?

Hope your winning the battle this week.

I get paid on Thursday and can actually feel the pressure lift a little as the day approaches.

Keep strong

Pat

Not gambled.

No chance of doing so. Sometimes I find myself looking back at my life and I realise how great a part that gambling has quietly played all my life. I was always skint, despite earning well from the age of 22. The only reason I didn't go under was that I didn't get a credit card til I was 37, and so didn't build up huge debts. I now have 4 cards and £16k split between them (plus £3k to a friend). I have already paid another one off and closed it.The remaining debt is £5k with interest and the rest without. It's going to take some shifting, but progress is being made. Slowly.

Hey Milkman.. I was, and still am, in a similar debt situation, not quite as much, but close. Have you thought about going to "stepchange", they may be able to help by organising your payments for you on a Debt Management Plan. The reason why I mention this is because not only do you only have one payment to make a month, but in a lot of cases they can get the creditors to stop the interest, so every penny you pay comes off your debt. For years I was paying creditors loads and only seeing my debt come down by small amounts. Also, they are a charity, not a company, and so there is no charge.

Just a thought, maybe worth looking into.

Jon

Hi bud, still on the go. Had a bank holiday here Monday so spent the weekend at diy. The wages are well spent but on bills and shopping. Hope your doing ok. The debt is a nightmare I am in survival mode now until after Christmas, will work on the debt from then.

Keep strong.

Pat

Thanks for the replies.

Jon, I am aware of stepchange because a friend of mine went through it. I'm not prepared to do it, several reasons - one, my OH doesn't know about any of this and I want to keep it that way, two, 'only' £5500 of the debt is interest-bearing, and I reckon I can clear this by Easter, so I'm not paying much interest really and three, it crucifies your credit rating for a while, and I need my good rating to deal with other lines of credit I occasionally take. Additionally, while I really do believe that everyone is free and should do what's best for them, without opinion from others, for myself I believe in paying back the money I took on credit. I am capable of clearing it, just have to suffer a little.

Julie - we're the same age, similar debt (if you include the hp on the car!) and the same time to pay it back. A ball ache, yes; but not impossible.

Today I had an influx of cash, £600. £200 went on the new vac, £400 to the credit card. That brings the one I want to clear down to £3400, from £5k originally. I'll be pleased when it gets under £3k, it'll start to look like I'm winning (on that one at least - three more to go at after that. This one is the most expensive, though).

Have found myself ruing recent events, ie not cashing out with £11k and then blowing it all. My only consolation is that if I'd got it into my account, I would've blown more than that at a later date. I think in some sick way I'm getting pleasure from micro-managing my finances now. In fact, I'm sure a large part of it is all to do with some OCD with money and control etc etc which manifests itself in gambling addiction. Not to mention greed, of course

Hi milk man

How are you?

NI

still gamble free.

Managing and rearranging debts to reduce the interest.

Not a lot of fun, but progress is being made.

What a numptee I am. Quite calm about the gambling side, though, and no urges. Pretty sick of it all.

2 years to be debt-free.

Feel a bit down about the debts. I can survive, but such a lot of work to do. Feel like I'm permanently working for nothing.

Telling myself that 'it could be worse' (which it could, a LOT) doesn't always help

*edit*

Just counted, 2 months and 5 days, where does the time go?

Hi MM

I just wanted to pop in and give you a bit of cheerleading. You always sound like such a nice guy!

And I'm hugely impressed at how well you're doing - even though you're focused on your debts at the moment and feeling bad about it, don't forget how every single day for the last 2 months 5 days, you've done the right thing. I think you need to allow yourself a bit of "feeling good about yourself" for that. (I know sometimes that can only come in momentary flashes especially when you're beset with regrets.) From the perspective of someone outside your head, you're doing great. 🙂

It COULD be worse, you could be in the horrible panic sweat of a gambling binge right now.

Can you take time each day to get out in nature at all? It helps me to be reminded that here I am, physically alive and well, not starving or in danger, and that the world can be a beautiful place outside of any thoughts of money.

I know you have to focus on repaying debts and I completely get that "micromanaging" thing - that feeling of a bit of control over something, the possibility of "feeling better" eventually - but since you can't make time go any quicker and you can't pay them all back *right now*, it might help improve your mood if you try to get a bit of light and space between you and the thoughts of money/debt. I always find getting out in nature and being reminded of the physical reality of things helps with that.

Anyway this might make no sense to you at all but I thought it might be useful to make you feel a bit better and maybe more relaxed. Just keep going, one foot in front of the other, that's how you walk a thousand miles. You're doing everything you need to do.

All the best

FF

No concious thought of gambling. Dreaming about it though, which is unsettling.

Struggling to bring the debts down, but am stable for now. Most of it is interest-free for at least a year, by which time I hope to have made significant progress.

A few weeks ago I blew 11k in one night. The actual drop form 11 to zero took abut 20 mins of maxed-out betting. I haven't been able to type that until now, because I can't recognise myself in that action.

Just plodding on and getting on with it at the moment. I have reduced my 20k debt by 2k already, and closed a CC. The next should be finished by Easter, and I'll close that one too.

Ive been dreaming about it too

Been waking up wondering have I won or lost or what the hell is going on, its amazing how gambling even follows you in your sleep

That's some loss in one day but its a testament to how strong you are that you can just pick yourself up and start whacking off large amounts of the debt

I always find the first two days after gambling losses just awful Its like nothing in life could possibly cheer you up.

Conversations with people happen but you aren't really listening

And generally you just want to be on your own to think about what you have lost. That's me usually anyway

After 2 days more rational thinking tends to come in and the 'how do I fix this' brain kicks in

Your well into the fix it brain now

Keep it going