Part 8 - facing up to my problems

This is a series of articles labelled from #1 to #9 which chronicles how I went from being a fanatical young saver to a pathetic spender, and then finally paving the way for financial success.

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Previously in #7 Absolute Financial Despair I looked at how my life and finances were crashing and falling on top of me, I also review how my wife and son really helped me through this period of realization that things had to stop and improve, I realized from the love of my adorable son and wife that I needed to sort out the mess I created and vowed to try and clear the path for a better financial future, I was determined to spend every bit of energy to sort everything out and devise a plan to help us get there.

The first thing that I did was gather all my credit card bills and loan statements that were gathering dues among the cobwebs in my closet, I took this out and cleared the dust. I took the most recent bill for each creditor and then opened excel on my laptop and listed the lender, outstanding balance, interest rate and minimum payments and contact details, I did this for all the lenders.

When I summed the balance up on excel I was truly disgusted with myself, I even went into a corner and slapped myself really hard, I still remember to this day how one side of my face looked swollen for a few days. I also remember the figure like it was yesterday, the amount came to £49,589, this included all my credit card debts and money owed to family and friends, it was a truly demonic figure made up of all those designer clothes and expensive meals in posh restaurants.

I shared the figure with my wife and although she looked quite despondent responded by saying we can get over this, its little comments like these that sow the seed of belief that inspires you to get things done.
Once I faced up to the problems I called my creditors up and explained the situation to them, I explained that I could no longer service the debt and I did not want to go down the bankruptcy route, I wanted to pay back every penny and needed help. Surprisingly these lenders who I feared so much were willing to help; some of them lowered my minimum payments for several months while others slashed the interest of reduced it to zero.

This was the first positive step I took because I was controlling the debt and preventing it from spiraling out of control.

After speaking to my creditors and put arrangements in place to reduce my minimum payments I felt much better, I was able to reduce my payments by 64% rounded up to the nearest percentage, this offered us tremendous breathing space and a feeling of real progress, we would have some spare cash to help clear the debt much quicker.

For the first time in months or even years I felt like myself again, I had let go of the past and was looking forward for the first time and really believing things would turn around for the better. I attribute much of the progress I made to my wife who really supported me and encouraged me to keep going, the smiles I received from my son gave my no excuse to fail, it simply was not an option now, I think it’s on this particular week I grew as a individual and centered myself on what really mattered to me.

In the final installment #9: Laying The Foundation for Success, I put in place a plan to help get me and my family out of the depth of despair and pave the way for a better future, this is where I become absolutely engulfed and passionate about financial security and financial independence.

Full Series Index

#1: Great Early Saver

#2: Having Money Taken Away From Me

#3: Seeing My Family Experience Poverty

#4: Spending to Keep Up

#5: Disaster Strikes

#6: Getting Married

#7: Absolute Financial Despair

#8: Facing Up to my Problems

#9: Laying the Foundation for Success