Paying Debt is a little bit boring I must admit. However if you are in debt, paying debt back is something you will eventually have to do.

I am currently in a lot of debt and you can read more about that on this blog. I have only really started making a decent effort of paying off my debt recently.

Why did I avoid Paying Debt?

Well I suppose there are a few reasons why. Top of the list was that I was acting irresponsibly with no concept of the value of money.

I also spent my money on other things such as computers, gambling and just generally living beyond my means.

My payday loan situation had also become quite bad and resulted in me spending quite a lot of money on rolling them over month to month. The good old payday loan trap strikes again, even if I did put myself into it.

When did I start paying debt?

I started taking my debt seriously in early 2012 although it was January 2010 when I woke up and started to change my life. I knew one day I would have to pay it all back, but I didn’t realise how bad my debt was.

I made payments on and off during this two year period and did settle one of my debts which was a Wonga Payday Loan account.

Once I took stock of the situation, I realised that I had a huge mountain to climb in paying back my debt. In a way I started paying on the day I realised how bad things had become. Not in money of course but emotionally.

What did I do?

I decided to do the only thing I could, default on everything. If I was to make the full payments on all my debt, I would not have been able to afford my day-to-day expenses.

I did look at cutting back on what I could, but it still wasn’t enough. No, I decided that I would take the major damage to my credit rating and make a fresh start.

Once the dust settled after my debt default, I set up my own Debt Management Plan. I am using this to manage repayment of my debt and it is working quite well so far.

I also recently set up this blog, as a place to share useful information. Most of the stuff on here will relate to debt, and I hope people who are in debt can relate to that information. I also share other stuff as well but you can ignore that if you like.

Paying Debt and living day-to-day

My debt is at the front of my mind, it is something that I am thinking about a lot. I have become obsessed with my end goal of being debt free. Can you relate to that?

I don’t allow my debt to effect me in a way that gets me down, or makes me think that it is holding me back. Instead you can see it as an opportunity to learn and become better at managing your money.

If you can’t then you can usually get help. In the UK we have a number of organisations who can help you with debt. See my helpful links page for more information.

A Plan for Paying off my Debts

I have currently distributed my available surplus income evenly across all the creditors I owe money to. I then try to make savings elsewhere in my budget, to allow me to make an extra payment to one of my debts.

I am currently focusing on my smallest debts and getting them paid off first. I have quite a few small debts and 20 debts in total. Settling these smaller accounts will give me a little mental boost, helping me along to paying back the next debt.

The bigger debts will just be paid off as normal and where possible, I will increase the payments to them. One day all these debts will be gone, and I will be richer for the experience.

In the meantime, please visit this blog to see how I am getting on, and if you like share your own experience of debt by commenting.

If you are struggling with Debt please visit the Debt Help Section of this blog.