As I’m in finacial ZB street at the moment and buried my head in the sand thinking that it’ll be OK and it’ll sort itself out but it didnt hence where I am today 
So I did a Google for debt problems and now I’m on a debt management plan at £241 per month (or as Im going to pay weekly £56 a week), but its surprising how much in debt I am - 21k, though the large chunk of that is a personal loan I took out and its large interest rate 
I feel like a weights been lifted off my shoulders now!!!
Did you check out www.moneysavingexpert.com they have a lot of good advice on there just make sure your not being ripped off by some of these all in one basket companies.
Its funny you mention it mate as I often think about this I dont have a nice car, my kitchen has sellotape on the doors, I live in one of the most expensive council tax areas in the UK BUT I live well within my means (not a go at you ) , Apart from my mortgage I have very little debt.
Hope things work out for you.
Have a look at fool.co.uk/ as well.
The Dealing with Debt Board boards.fool.co.uk/Messages.asp?bid=50079 should give you loads of ideas. 
Stan
You are from being the only one.
Try not to go on a spending spree now because you have got this debt boxed off. Being a materialistic person myself, i find it interesting to look at the downshifting and voluntary simplicity movement. It’s a case of moving the gears in your head to slow and ask how much of the stuff you’ve got you actually want. It’s also handy to work out how much something costs in termos of life hours, ie if you get £10.00 after tax and you want a jacket that you don’t really need that cost £200, that’s 20 hours of your life gone to get a jacket that’s just not that important. Suggest you don’t even think of applying that thought to a mortgage though
i hope you went to a good DMC. I used payplan. very good and do not charge a penny 
no debt free!!! no loans just my mortgage re arranged through them via Who’s lending. fixed for 5 years at less than 4%
jammymutt:
Its funny you mention it mate as I often think about this I dont have a nice car, my kitchen has sellotape on the doors, I live in one of the most expensive council tax areas in the UK BUT I live well within my means (not a go at you ) , Apart from my mortgage I have very little debt.
I know you’re not having a go, it takes a lot to offend me…
I think the problem was I took to much on and not helped by being dumped by the ex and not having a job for 3/4 weeks 
The DMC have told me to do certain things like get a new bank account and advised which ones were the more suitable accounts, so I went for the NatWest Step account with no cheque book (who uses cheques these days anyway?) and even better, no overdraft 
With a bit of luck I should have the new account before Thursday (payday) so I can set up the new account with work and actually have money left at the end of the week as its virtually straight in, straight out - Ive been taking out roughly £100 a week for myself but depending on how bad the previous week has been I can have as little as £70 for a week to spend
Been in that situation myself mate,
I used the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (or CCCS), they were excellent and really helpful.
Because its registered as a charity they get donations from most of the financial institutions,
Because of this most of your debtors accept without question when you mention CCCS,
Took me a good few years to get straight and its sometimes difficult even now however it does get better.
I also have a Step account from Natwest.its not too bad
good luck with getting straight it wont be that long
Nearly had a blazing row with one of the debtors today because she wouldnt accept that Im on a DMP “why didnt you tell us?” because I didnt, “well you still missed a payment and we’re still going to take legal action” and wouldnt accept that because the DMP people havent sent them paperwork they wont do anything so I phoned the DMP and explained to them what has happened and they will be either speaking to them or sending them a letter… 