6 months on from 'lightbulb' my DFW journey so far

A question about : 6 months on from 'lightbulb' my DFW journey so far

6 months ago I wrote my first entry on here having just had my lightbulb moment. Our debts were astronomical and far higher than I thought infact 12k more at nearly Ј37k. I never put my SAO on here and I don't know why not maybe because I was ashamed at what we spent out at and I knew spending Ј300 a month on clothes was wrong and our Ј500 food budget had to go. Money was haemorraging from our accounts like water and we went to the cashpoint for money every time with a lump in our throats wondering if we were going to be able to take money out of our account. It had got to a point after xmas and we had been to the sales and I realised we had yet again bought everything on our creditcards. I don't know why but it was a real turning point, we also wanted to move house and I knew we would not get the mortgage we wanted unless we cleared some of our debts. So I found this website and this forum. This forum has been a godsend in giving me tips on how to budget and the snowballing thing has been a great find.

Since my/our lightbulb moment, my OH has been fully on board and in fact is now more MSE than I am, questioning every purchase we make. We earn a decent wage together so we have been in the fortunate position of paying more than the minimum payments and as we have stopped spending on them this has had a dramatic effect on lowering our debt. In the last 6 months we have paid off:
2 storecards
2 credit cards
1 loan
and have reduced our other debts by switching cards to lower interest ones. Our food budget has gone down to around Ј250 (for 5 of us) and our clothing budget has also halved although Ј150 is still a lot. We pay nearly Ј1400 per month towards our debt but on some months have managed to pay off over Ј2000. SKY has gone and we have a digibox with top up TV, we have changed providers for telephone, mobiles though our electricity and gas suppliers need to be changed. We also set a strict budget of Ј150 per week and out of this we pay for food, petrol, clothing, treats, pocket money, basically anything that is not debt or utilities/insurance/mortgage etc. We have a whiteboard in the kitchen and we use that as our spending diary writing down anything we spend so we can see it in big bold letters everytime we walk into the kitchen!
It's not been easy though and there have been times when I have relapsed and gone out for a spend in town. However I end up taking most of the things back but I did feel guilty about not letting the kids do activities. Early on in our debtbusting plan I was doing loads of extra shifts and overtime at work to pay more off our debt but we have come to the decision now that our snowball date is fine and knowing we can pay this debt off in just over 18 months is what we feel comfortable with. So I still do my extra shifts and overtime occasionally but this money is for us as a family and pays for holidays, DD's horseriding, DS1 guitar lessons and my haircuts at my favourite salon.
So that's it really I don't have a magic formula, it's hard work gets you depressed at times and the thought of all this money going on our debt when it could be going into our savings account makes me weep! We have several big expenses on the horizon - purchasing a piece of land next to our house to extend the garden (Ј2800 though have Ј1200 saved towards this), DS1 school trip to South America next year (Ј2400 have Ј200 saved towards this though DS is working hard to earn money towards this). So there is no let up here in the saving money business and although we have now paid off nearly Ј10K off our debt our debt busting journey has only really started.

Best answers:

• Brilliant - Well done
  pink fairy xx
• My word! School trips have changed since my day. I went to Flamingo Land! Why are they going to South America???
  Anyway you are doing fantastically - keep up the good work!
• what a fantastic achievement! well done!
  my debt was really similar to yours & I also owed far more than I originally thought, I'm now about 2k behind you in the debt repayments so will be looking to your signature for inspiration!
  Keep up the great work!
  xx
• Hi Annie Fanny
  DS is going on this amazing trip because every 2 years his school goes on an expedition somewhere in the world. Last time they went to Everest, not to the summit but pretty far up! We umm'd and arrr'd about it a lot because of the cost(it is a private school though he only goes there because OH is in the armed forces and they pay 90% of the fees) but the school are doing a lot of fundraising and DS is working hard earning money towards this though I think we will still have to contribute around £1000 ourselves. Still we'll know by next May. It's an amazing opportunity for him. SO far he has raised £200 by ebaying, and currently has his own successful car washing business going and is doing a series of car boot sales over the summer. He is 16 in a couple of weeks so he will then be able to get holiday/weekend employment, so far he has been turned down by everyone as he is only 15.
• Wow, that's fantastic!!! well done!
  xx
• Blimey thats amazing, you are doing so well and are such an inspiration
  Keep it uppy
• Hey themaccas,
  I always look for your posts as I find you so inspiring.
  Well done - I'm astonished by how much you manage to pay off and think you are doing really well. Great news on the OH being on board! I only wish mine was as money savvy as yours. Does he post on the boards?
  Keep up the good work and keep posting!
  scottishspendaholic x
• HI SS
  OH doesn't post but he often reads the forums, he's not perfect a couple of months ago he wanted to have a major spend on something and I said No! So I guess we try to keep each other in check with our spending and so far it is working. It is a fine line between the old 'treating ourselves because we've been good' and buying something because we need it and think we can afford it. Just need to keep on going...... the old shopping demons are always around though, is anyone else like that!
• What a fabulous story!
  Its far more inspirational to hear about people who admit its difficult but are doing it anyway than those Spammy stories about "I cleared my debts easily in two weeks" jobs.
  Keep going! Sounds like you're doing great and have the balance between paying off debts and enjoying a bit of your life just right.
  I feel great aftre reading that thanks! Keep up the good work, and well done!
• hey this is the kinda good news were all needing to hear right now ...congrats and thanks for posting
• Great news!
  Was wondering what had happened to you, glad all is going so well.
  A teeny wee bit envious though.
• Hi the Maccas
  You really inspire me. Haveben trying to sort out debt since start of 2006 - was doing well then OH lost job - unfair dismissal claim peding - but in the meatime only a little work for him through agencies. Problem has been I am well paid so not as badly off as some, and therefore I have been unable/unwillinging to control my "me time" spending. However time will come when I have to out of necessity. Really need to get down to this DFW lark but at the moment still experiencing head in the sand moment. Its good to talk but truly wish I could talk to OH like this.
  G
• Thanks everyone for the replies, Ginger - I think OH was as fed up about our money situation as I was and because we have joint accounts on everything, our lack of money seriously affected him too. If you have seperate accounts and seperate debts it may be more difficult for the person not in debt to want to involve themselves though many on here have been really great and supportive. I think if my OH wasn't on board I would have found it near on impossible to address the debt the way we have so I can appreciate how dificult it must be for you. Maybe get your OH to read this forum, it can be very addicitive and it certainly has helped to motivate my OH on occasions!
  hugs
  x
• Doesn't it feel great when you start to see results? Well done, and thanks for your post, inspiration is always welcome!
• Well done - a terrific achievement!