Afternoon Everyone,
So I made the last ever payment of to to my IVA last month...
I don't think it had really sunk in that I'd done it, after 6 years of making sure i knew where every last penny was going, until i received a text message this afternoon from Creditfix telling me my account has now been successfully closed and i should receive my documents through the post shortly.
What a journey it has been.
To those of you who are thinking about doing an IVA, 5 years is a LONG time!
However these simple things made it easier for me..
1) I made sure my family knew what i was doing, for at times when things get hard an you need someone to talk to they where there for me to vent.
2) Budget, Budget, Budget - Life is going to be hard unless you make sure you know every penny of what goes in and out of your account. I can't tell you the amount of hours I've spent at the start of each month with my calendar open working out when I'm going shopping how much fuel i can put in my car and what my budget was for things as simple as getting a haircut.
3) Shop Clever - Look around for the best places to shop especially food, i was lucky enough to have a Lidl on my door step that I've been using every Monday evening on the way home for work for the last 5 years. It's cheap but the food isn't that bad, in fact some of the main meals id even give to the dog
4) Think of the end game, when i came into my IVA i was a real mess, I'd been screwed over financially and if honest was close to doing something silly to make it all go away. However 5 years down the line it's over and done with and i can now start on re building my credit rating in one day hoping to buy a flat.
Oh... and use this forum - the times I've logged on here just to read through other peoples stories. Sometimes you need a reminder that you're not the only person going through this.
So this is me signing off.
J
