Hi there! Happy Friday. I’ve no idea where this week has gone and I’ve not managed to complete half the jobs on my ‘to do’ list. Next week, I really need to be more productive! I guess I’ve been rather preoccupied with our debt situation this week as the hubby and I had a bit of a ‘wobble’.
It’s nothing to worry about really – no unexpected bills or anything like that – rather we’ve had doubts as to whether we can actually succeed in this mission to pay off our debt in the next few years. Wobbles are a definite side effect I’ve found of the condition ‘debt payoff’. When one of us has a wobble like this (the hubby in this case), it’s up to the other party (moi!) to motivate the ‘wobbly one’ to get us back into the right mindset for what we’re both trying to achieve.
The truth is there is no other option for us – we have to pay back this debt, it’s not like we can just plod along like before so we may as well keep positive about it. But I must admit this wobble affected me a little as I could see where he was reluctantly coming from (more on this in a later post as the whole shebang is too long to explain here). However, I tried not to let him see that I was wobbling too because if we both let our emotions run away with us, that wouldn’t be of any benefit at all.
So in essence, time ran away with me this week and I’ve not been commenting as much as I’d like on other blogs, although I have been trying to read as many as possible still. Next week I’ll be back on form!
Here’s my fab links to my favourite personal finance reads this week:
Michelle from Making Sense of Cents published a great post on What Young Adults Should Know. If I could have told my younger self to read this post and take some advice, I would headed straight on over here! Michelle explores some key areas where young adults often become misguided, such as falling into the trap of buying too much ‘stuff’, rushing to buy a house too soon or basically just not enjoying life for what it is.
Glen at Monster Piggy Bank wrote a helpful article on What is the best way to invest $10,000? I don’t have investments currently because of the whopping debts that we have but I certainly hope to be a position to invest in the future! I found Glen’s advice really helpful because I honestly wouldn’t know where to start investing with that amount of money (or full stop actually).
Done By Forty shared an interesting method on how to stop procrastinating in his post: Do It Now! I have an ever growing ‘to do’ list as mentioned above and really need to be more productive. I’m thinking of giving DB40’s method a try!
Laurie at The Frugal Farmer gave out some great advice in her post: How Skepticism Can Help You Conquer Your Debt. Often we are told something that just isn’t true! For those of us that are in debt, we might see this in action through marketing and media ploys which pull at our beliefs and emotions to try to get us to part with our cash so that we can accumulate the ‘stuff’ that we ‘need’.
Free Money Minute published a guest post by Shaun Spellman on Making a settlement offer with the credit card companies to avoid bankruptcy. This is exactly what my hubby had to do with his creditors a couple of years ago. It can be rather scary when you’re in this position but well worth doing and we ended up getting a debt management company involved to help us manage this process.
As always, I hope you enjoy the above reads! Have a lovely weekend and I’ll be back with a new post on Monday. 🙂
Posts I’ve written this week:
- Coping with the emotional battles of parenting.
- Frugal Feast #1 (if you haven’t already, take a look at this brand new regular feature where I’ve joined forces with my blogger friend Eva!)
- Don’t let your debt define you (my guest post at BadCredit.org)
Related posts:
Image © A Disease Called Debt
14 Comments
Oh, Hayley, story of our lives here. We’ve definitely had our wobbles on a regular basis, especially Rick, who has to work extra hard at optimism. And like your hubby, honestly, he has great points about how paying off our debt is a near impossible challenge as we’ve got a massive load of debt right now. Hang in there, girl. You can get it done, and so can we. One day, we will be celebrating our success!
Laurie @thefrugalfarmer recently posted…How Skepticism Can Help You Conquer Your Debt
Thanks Laurie! When we had this wobble last week, I remembered how many times we’ve given up in the past and mentally accepted that our lives would always contain debt. We just can’t allow those thoughts to take over this time though. Both our families will definitely be celebrating debt freedom one day Laurie – and hopefully sooner than we think!
OH, and thanks much for the mention, too! 🙂
You’re welcome Laurie!
Haley,
Thank you so much for including me in your post. That really made my day.
I personally still wobble on our path to FI: I often doubt whether we’ll ever truly be able to stop working, whether our investments will really perform as we need them to long term, etc. Self-doubt is usually a good sign in small doses: it means you’re doing something important and hard.
Done by Forty recently posted…Do Credit Cards Actually Increase Spending?
You’re welcome – I really enjoyed your post Mr. DB40! I agree – sometimes wobbles can be a good sign particularly as they allow you to reflect upon your situation. I think the key thing is not to let self doubt take over and win – something that we’ve been guilty of in the past. I’m sure you will achieve financial freedom though – your budget and net worth posts always inspire me and look like they’re heading in the right direction!
You might not be able to pay off your debt by your “dream” date but that doesn’t mean you won’t pay it off Hayley! Hang in there. You know I’m rooting for your family 🙂 xo
Girl Meets Debt recently posted…Dating a Financial Loser
Thanks GMD! Your support means so much to me. 🙂 Paying off the debt by our dream date would be amazing but we’ll have to see how it goes! Hanging in there is a surefire way to make sure that one day it will be paid off! xo
Hi Hayley! I had never heard the term ‘wobble’ used like this and I quite like it. It sounds less serious and preferable to ‘conundrum’ or ‘fiasco’ – so thank you. I hope you are back on track and feeling good. I totally agree that when one of you has a bit of a wobble the other has to rally. It’s either that or you’re both stressed and perhaps grumpy.
Hope your weekend is great!
Tammy R recently posted…You Still Listen to Iron Maiden?
Lol! I love the word ‘wobble’ too! It seemed to sum up perfectly our situation last week. 🙂
Ha! Great word choice. Righting the wobbly one can be a very touching event. What a luxury to have a wobble spotter. Have a fun weekend!!!
cj recently posted…You Still Listen to Iron Maiden?
Thanks CJ! Wobble Spotter! Love that. 🙂 Hope you and Tammy have had a lovely weekend! 🙂
A great selection of reads once more. I appreciate you doing this weekly a lot as it opens my eyes to many other bloggers.
Martin recently posted…How to Save Money On A Tight Budget
Thanks Martin! I’m really pleased you like this feature! There is so much helpful information out there in the PF community, it’s hard to narrow down just a few sometimes. 🙂