Fernald Business Association

A few years ago I was left with pretty big debts. I was actually scared to open the door or answer the phone in case it was someone chasing me for payments I couldn’t afford to make.

I knew I had to do something and if I wanted to sort out my finances before they became too bad, I had to do it fast. So I took it upon myself to tackle my debts. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, so I got a bit of debt advice before I started.

The first thing I did was sat down with all my paperwork in front of me and looked at what I owed. It took me a while, but I wrote down each individual amount on a piece of paper – just so I had all my debts in one place. I could now easily see where my money was meant to be going each month.

After doing this, I looked at how much money I was earning each month. At the time, this was just under £1,000 – and my monthly outgoings (including debt payments) were just over £1,000 – this is where the problem was. My outgoings were taking up all of my income – and more. So I had to take immediate action. I looked at what I was spending money on and decided to cut back on a few things.

For example, I didn’t really need the satellite TV package, my gym membership or my magazine subscriptions, so I cancelled them all. This changed my circumstances dramatically, I could now afford all my payments, and have a little bit of money spare after covering all my costs.

To help my situation even more, I decided to create a strict budget. It was similar to what I had already done, but I decided I had to write it all down. I wrote down exactly what I earned/received each month and exactly what I spent. By doing this, I could keep track of my finances and remain in control of where my money was going.

It took me a few months to get the balance just right, but after that my debts decreased rapidly. I had them cleared within one year and I was back on the road to financial stability. Now (24 months on), I have no debts at all, and I am even starting to save a little bit of money each month!

For more information on clearing your debts visit http://www.firstdebtmanagement.co.uk/