Hey, new here. I’m usually always happy. Always smiling, never sad. But the last few years have been really hard. I had a great childhood, and have always been just a really happy person. Until I hit my adult years. I feel like I’m drowning, both financially & mentally. How is everyone doing it?! How can they afford a house & children & still be able to pay their bills & not worry? I’ve had trouble with money from the start, my first two cars that I paid for just stopped working & I was finding it difficult to get a loan as I wasn’t much of a saver. I was in an accident 2 years ago, I was fully insured, but I was never taught what to look for in an insurance policy.... well, they ended up giving me HALF what I paid for my car, & for someone on a little wage, I was without a car & with a huge debt. I was fortunate to have a car company take pity & pay the excess & push through another loan, but that bit me in the bum even more.... my repayments were more than $100 a week, plus on top of that I had to pay this company back $50 a week.. which they didn’t disclose when they were ‘helping me’.. I felt used & abused at my lowest. I expressed how little money I was getting a week, & they ensured me all would be fine.. but alas, to this day, I’m still struggling. I’m 21 years old & my credit rating is stuffed, I’m barely living paycheck to paycheck & it seems no one can help me!! Or wants to.. I tried to consolidate my loans to make everything a bit cheaper but I was declined... thanks to a default from 2 years ago that was paid but a permanent mark on my record. I feel I can never catch a break. I want a house, a family, everything I’ve always dreamed of, but this seems so far away. Now I’m not suicidal, I am grateful for my life, but I’m struggling to see the bigger picture.. I just want to be happy again. I want to have a normal sleeping pattern, I want to stop stressing & making myself sick from worrying if I can pay my bills this week. I am looking for techniques or strategies on how to look at things a different way, or how to breathe & just take it all like a big girl. I don’t usually reach out as I’m stubborn & can do things by myself, but I can feel myself wearing thin.
