Just a quick one today to let you know that it is important that you don’t ignore the symptoms that alert you to the fact that you have a debt problem. If you are to triumph in your debt reduction plan, you need to confront the problem head on and resolve the issues that have got you to the point where you are feeling unable to cope.

What are the symptoms?

I knew that I had a real problem with mounting debts when I stopped opening the post. It seemed that everyday there was another letter asking me for money from a creditor. It became so problematic that I would have piles of unopened letters on the floor of my office, and I would just add to the pile with each morning’s post delivery.

The pile became piles, and the only time they would get looked at was if someone was coming around to the house, and I would shove them into a plastic bag or a box. Telling myself I would open them and deal with them soon, but I never did.

I also stopped answering the phone. No creditor had my mobile number so if friends or family rang me they could still get me, but I would never answer the house phone, because I knew it was someone who was going to ask me when I was going to make a payment on a bill, or settle an account.

In addition, when things got really bad, I would stop answering the door, as I knew that the baliffs could be out there at any time of the day. Where I am from, baliffs usually come around knocking in the early hours of the morning. I even found myself making excuses to store things that I really wanted to keep at someone else’s house for a few days if I felt I was going to get a knock at the door.

All these things put together meant that I was ignoring my debt problem. I couldn’t deal with it. I was getting more and more depressed. No money meant I couldn’t go out, I couldn’t meet friends for lunch, or buy new clothes. I began eating more and more and gained weight. Every conversation I had with friends or family was a downer, not because I told them I had debt problems, but that I was complaining about all the other things that were not going right in my life. I didn’t tell them I had mounting debt problems, and that I couldn’t handle the mortgage payments, or pay the gas bill.

Things came to a head when one day, I was so broke I couldn’t even buy food. Friends would come to the house and I wouldn’t have anything to offer them, not even milk for the coffee. Something had to give.

Tell Someone About Your Debt Problems

I eventually decided that I couldn’t carry on ignoring the debt problems I had. I needed to confront the creditors, I needed to get them off my back and get to the point where I could reduce the stress level that was increasing on a daily basis. I can’t tell you the amount of sleep I lost thinking about who next was going to be knocking down my door.

I cannot say that the answer hit me like a bolt of lightening one day, because it didn’t. It began with the realization and understanding that although I had a mounting debt problem, and although I couldn’t handle paying off large debts to creditors, I still had health, and strength. I had family who loved me and would help me out when I asked for it. I realised also that in the great scheme of things, debt is not something that you can die from!

Our world is small. When you are concentrated in a debt spiral, your world becomes totally focused on ways to counteract the downward trend of debt, borrowing to repay debt and having less money in your pocket to live on. You’re looking for ways to save, you’re looking for ways to earn more money, it all becomes really concentrated and you forget that there are other things that really do matter in your life.

You argue with your partner or the kids, you are anxious every time the phone rings, and you still may have not told anyone that you have a problem with debts. For me, I began to understand that there was more to life and that life is a series of ups and downs. I also began to realize that although I had problems with debt, there were others who had much more serious and life threatening problems, much worse that what I was going through. I think it was this that eventually made me understand that I could get myself out of debt, and so not have the worry of creditors calling or writing to me everyday.

I also began to realise that these creditors were not out to ruin my life and cause me endless amounts of misery, they were just doing their jobs, and now it was time for me to do mine. I needed to do the job of sorting out my life and get on with living it.

I began to open my letters, and began to make lists of the companies to whom I owed money, and how much was owed. I began to create a personal budget, where I worked out how much I could pay each creditor and how often. I began to look at larger debt reduction solutions whereby my assets could be restructured to allow the release of equity or funds that could reduce or completely wipe out money that I owed.

Plan your debt reduction

I began to plan for the day when I would be able to receive post and not have a creditors letter amongst them. I worked out that I could pay off some of the larger loans and not even pay all of it. Above all, I stopped ignoring my debt problems and began to resolve them.

Dealing with my debt problems meant that I could be a happier me. I didn’t feel down all the time and stopped making everyone else’s life around me a misery as well. I managed it, and so can you

P.S. Just seen this article from The Happy Rock. It’s a good reminder that to get rid of debt you have to change the way you think about it.
Also take responsibility for debt