'I ran up £1,000s in debt while suffering from depression... now I'm digging myself out of it'

While I was slowly getting into debt, it remained manageable (it was generated by pints more than plane tickets). But following a couple of crappy life events, I'd been struggling with my mental health and began to suffer from depression, leading to my debt spiralling – partly because I spent as a way to cope (loss of appetite definitely wasn't one of my symptoms), partly because I was drinking too much (another ill-advised coping mechanism) and partly because it's difficult to care about your finances when you've stopped caring about yourself.

As my debt spiralled and most other areas of my life span similarly out of control due to neglect, I struggled to see a way out. I hated myself for the mess I'd got into, which in turn led to me spending more to try and forget about it, which led to a bigger mess, me hating myself more and so on and so forth. It was a lonely place to be, the only upside of which was having my best-ever career on Football Manager as a result of rarely going outside.

But as Emmylou Harris once sang, the darkest hour is just before dawn. A mate who was worried about me suggested I ring Samaritans, leading to a phone call that mainly consisted of crying and snot (mine, I should add). It sounds miserable as, but it made me realise I was in a bad way and needed help, which was oddly comforting. After thinking about it, I felt the best way to do that was to get away. Fortunately for me, my folks were more than willing to take me in, so I left my job (tough call as I'd been there a while) and moved back to the countryside.

It had a positive impact on my mental health, and I started to look after myself again and slowly built up some confidence. But there was no getting away from my financial situation, which was pretty parlous – by then, my credit card statements were about as appealing as a diet based solely on Brussels sprouts...

How I started to shift my credit card debt

Being unemployed, the first thing I did was panic (Martin says not to in our Mental Health & Debt guide, but I didn't know who he was then – don't tell him that pls). I owed around £15,000 including overdraft and other debts, and while that may not sound like a lot to some, it was to me. And without a job, I couldn't cough up the minimum card payments each month any more than I could sneeze diamonds.

I didn't want to tell my folks about the situation I was in, as A) I felt very ashamed about it (NB: not helpful) and B) I knew they'd want to help me pay off my debt and, counter-productive as it sounds, it was important to my fragile self-esteem to tackle it myself. But I mentioned my predicament to a friend, and he suggested I try shifting my credit card debt to a 0% interest card. Googling it, the first thing that came up was MSE's Balance transfers guide, and I gave it a goosey to get the gist.

With some trepidation, I headed to the Eligibility Calculator to find out what my chances of getting a card were, fearing my years of financial fecklessness, both of my own doing and as a result of my brain box not being in good shape, would have left my credit score lower than Atlantis. But I was wrong...

Bosh. I didn't end up getting the full £9,000 credit limit I'd applied for, but shifting £6,650 of credit card debt from over 20% interest to 0% interest was better than a poke in the eye with a sticky stick. The minimum payment on the original card dropped to a much less terrifying £24/month, while on the new card it was around £60/month.

Around the same time I got a new job, started paying as much as I could afford off each card every month (about £250 in total), and things were looking up. It was only chipping away at a mountain, but it was more financially responsible than anything I'd done in the previous, er, 30-odd years.

And what I did after that

To cut a long, boring story short, I did what I should have done in the first place – landed a third 0% card to which I transferred as much of the (growing) debt on the original card as I could. Then I paid off what remained on the original card, using some savings I'd miraculously accrued (thanks tax rebate!) after seeing Martin's 'pay debts off before you save' mantra.

Now on a perceptible if gentle roll, I applied for a fourth card, to which I transferred the remaining balance of the second card to (the 0% period on which had ended, remember). Unlike the others, this one came with a fee, but I figured it was worth it as the fee I paid cost less than two months of interest would on the second card.

What all this essentially meant is that I was finally paying 0% interest on all my credit card debt. A great day for MSE Kelvin – a dark one for the profit margins of credit card companies.

I'm happy to be able to tell you I'm now in a better place (although my brain still treats me to the occasional nose dive when I get careless) and I live on my own again like a big boy. While I'm still in debt, it's under control, which has undoubtedly contributed to my improved mental health, and the 0% interest on my card debt means I can crack on with reducing it, and hopefully some day soon-ish graduate from being a debt-free wannabe to debt-free.