Hello everyone,
Although I registered in September last year, I've not posted before - done plenty of lurking though! I really wanted to thank everyone for all their posts I've read over the last few months. More than anything it has made me realise that I am not alone and there are all too many people out there in similar situations to ours.
A bit of background. Between us me and my better half had racked up £100K+ credit card debts over the years, mostly through a vicious circle of borrowing credit to live on, then bills going up so borrow more to pay them, etc etc. We've wasted my husband's redundancy payment trying to keep afloat. We tried re-mortgaging a couple of years ago, which didn't really help - the lowest time of my life as this process coincided with my dear Mum dying quite suddenly. This was the bottom of the pit for me - I was already having horrible panicky episodes and veering between hysterics and depression because of our financial situation, and as well as being my perfect Mum, she was the one person in the world we could confide in.
So we muddled on for another 18 months or so - me on prozac and slowly getting stronger, bills still mounting up. Then one day last summer I called up my husband and asked him to meet me at lunchtime. I said I couldn't cope with how we were going any more. I felt so guilty, as I've always handled the banking, paying bills etc for us both, and obviously made a right hash of it. He felt guilty for letting me struggle on alone (as he saw it - I didn't).
So that day I came back to the office and called CCCS. For a couple of months we went through all the telephone appointments, dragged out all the paperwork, and worked hard to pull everything together. Then on 16th December our proposal was agreed! We wanted to celebrate, but didn't wholly feel it was appropriate to start popping champagne corks (celebrating our failings??), but the relief is absolutely indescribable.
I know we have a long way to go. But we are actually enjoying living on a tight budget - I've become queen of the bargain hunt with the food shopping, and we have adopted the spirit of The Good Life - I'm sure the novelty will wear off in time, but at the moment, relief has completely washed over all the bad emotions. My mum's guiding spirit has kept me going and got me through to this stage, and I'm sure will keep me positive long after the IVA is complete.
Sorry for my long rambling post. But I wanted to thank everyone on here for posting their stories and keeping me going. Good luck to everyone.
