I have two love/hate relationships in my life - food and money. These are relationships that I crave to be in but also wish there was an escape hatch. Money is horrid. We need it for everything but when we have it - it never lasts long enough, it never goes far enough and we always, always, always have to have more. Then the clever-dick banks come along and tempt us with loans and credit cards telling us in their smooth, silky voices that this will take away all our problems and how lucky we will be. It's utter rot. If I could destroy one thing in this world it would be credit. It is the bane of our lives and encourages us to live outside of our means giving in to the gimme, gimme, gimme mentality of society. The very idea of credit actually sickens me to my very core and I am so ashamed of the debt I have amassed by being so stupid to entertain the notion that I can borrow, borrow, borrow and make the repayments without getting myself into really, really, really big hole.
It doesn't help that life throws you curve balls along the way and washing machines blow up, cars break down, clothes wear out, you keep having to buy the damn food and little things like solicitors and divorces just add the finishing touches. I caved in to Excel and creating a pay back spreadsheet - it is in no way idealistic (for once), it is based on the bare facts and not the rose tinted spectacles that say oh yes I can pay twice as much that month because I will definitely not spend it on anything else. This is a master plan. An iron cast solution. A no-brainer. A no-fail. A win-win - well you get the idea. This should work. I can feel it in my water. And the good news people? Debt free in 14 months - hear the bell toll to mark the beginning of that countdown and the death of my debts. 14 months - it's much less than I thought however I am sure it will seem like eons of hell as I live through the firm yet firm repayment plan.
My post-repayment plan? Watch this space ;)
I totally understand you on this one. My problem is not that I live above and beyond my means, I simply do not make enough to make ends meet which is horribly frustrating. I don't even want much other than to be comfortable. My needs are simple. But I understand how hard it is to get yourself out of debt - so I wish you lots of good luck on that.
ReplyDeleteA divorce is a bitch to go through on the finances, especially when it is actually you who pays for it and not the other half huh. The other big one about splitting up is to be left with a huge debt of a £140K mortgage to pay for too, you should try that one on top of the relationship breakdown??
ReplyDeleteAs for Solicitor's they can also get really expensive, especially ones that are hired and paid for when a little bit of homework would have told you that there was nothing a solicitor could do about the situation. Could have saved a hell of a lot of money.
Money troubles can be really tough but you have to sit down and think to yourself "who is responsible for them?", but then probably not as the answer to that question can sometimes take a lot of getting over!!