Starting afresh in 2009 - I WILL be debt free diary!

Jenna

Hey Shoe Gal,

You've made me feel guilty now! If you knew me you wouldn't think I was amazing I am quite sure :rotfl:! Today for example I am filling in my DLA forms and because I did lots of washing up yesterday (and believe me, it needed doing !) I've still not gotten up today - just doing the forms on my laptop and browsing threads on DFW. So please don't go feeling ashamed on my account ... and as for you feeling sorry for yourself, well you clearly haven't read enough of my posts to know that I am [STRIKE]often[/STRIKE] always to be found ranting away about the general rubbish-ness of my life!

Hope you're having a good weekend, how are things? xx

Hey ms_london,

In that case - welcome and hello! And thankyou for reading the thread - you poor long-suffering lady!

Mm that was sort of the conclusion I have been coming to about the psych. I don't want to stop whilst she's helping me - and it's not the sort of stuff I can handle on my own - or I'd have already dealt with it in the last 5-odd years that it's been. I can cut down to 2 sessions a month but I'd have to go mid-week to do that and that would make things difficult with work so I might be better off just carrying on for a while and reviewing in a few months.

My last DLA payment is almost upon me and I have been filling in the foms like a demon today - just about to start question 35 (of about 62 I think). SO I am now over half way through - yey! :jNow all I need to do is finish the rest of it ASAP and hope they process it damn quickly (and it is successful) - why on Earth am I worried LOL?! :rotfl:

I guess my debt is not THAT bad (taken in the grand scheme of things) but it does stop me doing certain things e.g. saving up to buy my own home / moving abroad / running my own business all of which I would dearly love to do. It is also a fixed outgoing each month and at the moment I could really do without NEEDING to spend on anything.

19k is high! Although I guess it also depends if you include things like student loans ... and on what you earn! For some rich people that must be pocket change! Perhaps I'm in the wrong career and should become a gold digger to pay off my debts instead!

Your trip sounds fantastic and well done on becoming DF to do it

What are you up to this weekend? I saw my family yesterday and today I'm just writing my forms (boring but very necessary at this late stage!). Take care xx

Jenna

Got question 37 written up yesterday before having to stop to wash my hair. Tonight (aside from having to eat of course!) I don't need to do anything but forms ... but have had a rubbish day (both work and health wise) and am not in the mood.

There again, I am even less in the mood for not getting the DLA support I need, so here goes I guess... !

On the bright side I have done 30 mins OT today so that's a few extra pennies towards the bills eh.

It must be said that I'm getting pretty frustrated with the whole wanting to be DF thing ... I still want to be DF, in fact must be in order to get any of the things I really want in my life. But I don't understand how everyone I know doesn't seem to struggle with money at all or at least only very occasionally ... are they all just doing it on credit, or am I the only one with a problem here?!

And as for my OH ... I love him loads but it does make me so resentful that he owes me money and I just wish I'd never lent him it. And we want to move abroad and he doesn't seem to be taking the idea of needing to pay his debts back seriously... I mean he could of course continue to make payments from abroad, but wouldn't it be good to have a clean slate, or at least try and make serious inroads before we go?! I am pretty sure I can get mine down by 80-90% and have less than £500 owing before I go (and this will be the part to my family, so I know it's def possible for me to just transfer the money online to them each month). But really I want it all gone before I go and I'm working hard on a plan to do that... HOW does it not bother him that he owes me money?! If I owed him money it would drive me crazy!

I think I am angry at the world today lol sorry!!

Jenna

Hmm well I have done questions 38 & 39 and I have just started on question 40 but I am going to stop now and go to bed as I'm shattered. Hate these forms, I swear they make me feel sicker just from thinking about my symptoms, it's mental.

Just re-read my post and suppose I should be nicer to poor long-suffering OH who has to do everything around the house to support me because of my health - all cooking, cleaning, vacuuming, changing bins etc. Only thing I do is the washing up and that's very occasional anyway. I am officially feeling guilty now as he does such a lot and takes good care of me and I suppose that's what really matters in a relationship anyway - the other stuff IS only money at the end of the day.

Hate those damn forms. Suppose I have done about two thirds now though - I think there are 61 or 62 Q's on the whole form - if I can get one or two done each night this week I could have a big session on Sat or Sun and get them sent off next week maybe? Hope so. Otherwise my April budget will be a mess!

Night all xx

Jenna

Miserable today as had a fight yesterday with someone close to me (can't say who in case they read this and recognise themselves!). It was over something relatively silly but there was a huge misunderstanding and we haven't spoken yet ... I don't know how to sort this out. I don't want to call and end up making things worse, but email just seems so impersonal and distant.

Financially speaking things are going well - I'm doing my budget this weekend but an initial reckoning says I'll have spare cash to come off the CC. Also I've applied for a new 0% deal which (if nothing changes of course!) should be the last one I'll need - wait to hear on that one. And I'm considering switching to an A&L account - partly as it's good, partly for the £100 - so that'll be a nice chunk paid off as well. And going to try and cash in some premium bonds if I can, not sure how all that works though - must look into it.

Ey well. Time to crack on with the forms - wish me luck! - and if I can figure out how to try and make things better with this person then I will ... I am rubbish at fights though, I never know what to say or do.

Hope your Monday is going well? xx

Jenna

Well the fight has been sorted out now so am much happier

Still haven't heard anything re the 0% deal I applied for - I did call and they said a letter would be sent out to me whether or not I'm approved for it to say yay or nay and to call in 2 weeks if I'd not heard. It's been 8 days so far... it would be good to know either way is my only hurry... not actually too fussed re transferring the money instantly as technically I've got til June 09 (though of course would rather do it sooner than later).

I was right re the budget (which I've just done) - £33 to Xmas savings, £60 to holiday savings which now gives me £128 in the budget, and £100 odd to CC savings which gives me £383.77 towards it yey! :j

I wasn't actually expecting it to be that much "spare" in my budget so I've been back through it several times trying to work out if I've missed anything ... can't find anything though it all seems to be in order ... can always deduct from savings later on if I do find anything's missing though I guess. But hope I won't have to do that!!

Sooo tempted to pay £324.22 onto the CC out of my savings just so that I can hit the "50% re-paid" target I've got... am so so close now.

Getting a bit worried about how to pay for holiday now - we are thinking of going in June or July. I get paid holiday but (as a contractor) I also have the option to "cash in" days ... so if I take 5 days holi to go away I could "cash" another 2x days (for example) to boost my holiday fund. BUT I have to have accrued these holi days in order to cash/use them ... and have got Bank Holidays coming up which normally depletes my reserves... gotta have a think on this one. I've put some £'s towards it today which is rare for me - I've been putting all spare money towards the CC for months - but also do want to get away to the sunshine for a few days sooo reluctantly gotta start working on this too.

My plan for the debt is working so far ... if I continue on current tracks I could have as little as a few hundred pounds of debt by end of 2009 ... I just want to "top up" my paying off debt savings somehow and be able to be DF by the end of year ... that would be SUCH a good feeling. Especially in these mad economic times! Am a bit worried on that front actually, my company is laying off 5,000 people globally this year - though I'm only really a lowly admin person so my salary is peanuts, and thus hardly worth cutting?! First time I've thought of lower pay as an advantage!!:rotfl:

Having serious problems with forms and made next to no progress so that could be a problem soon ... won't affect bills but won't be able to afford to see psych if I lose this money.

Also looking at cars (mine needs repairs very soon - may be cheaper for me to buy other car than pay for repairs) and the potential for a car scrappage scheme sounds v. interesting. Will hang on til April's budget announcement I think... if I can scrap it and buy something in tax band A it'll be £0 tax or band B is only £35 tax... if I can get a decent price for ins it could well be worth it as the running costs seem to be low (e.g. high mpg).

Hope everyone's had a great weekend xx

Jenna

Also just checked my how to be debt free (hopefully!) plan and thought if I pay the following off my CC:

£383.77 CC savings
Nearly £60 in expenses - coming back to me v. soon (next Fri I think?)
£25 min payment for March
£?? interest on my savings acc - pretty sure this is applied at the start of April

This COULD take me to just under £1k on the CC! :cool:

I'm a bit worried re OH and jobs as he's finished his current contract (only last week though) and though he's got a few weeks money still to come in, of course I'm concerned re getting the next one! He's more than capable etc so it's not him I'm doubting but more just that I'd like to know where we stand. I also have this terrifying idea that he might ask to borrow some more money from me to tide him over between contracts :eek: you can imagine that could cause a big fight when I say no...

It's not that I don't trust him to pay it back - but I know from previous experience he won't pay me back a guaranteed amount, guaranteed every single month without fail - it's more like dribs and drabs here or there when he can. Which is OK when it's pocket change but not OK when it's really big amounts ... for one thing it will only drive a wedge in our relationship as it will make me resentful; it could damage my health if I stress about owing increased sums of money (which I will); could mess up my own credit rating etc etc. But I am still v. unsure how to phrase all this so it sounds polite and reasonable - especially if it gets to the stage where we can't afford to pay the rent - I mean personally if it does get to that point I'd rather move back home for a few months anyway, but you can see why this could cause a fight!!!

All I can hope (I guess) is that he finds a new contract ASAP and doesn't ask me.

... and on another note, can I just say HOW impatient I am getting! I just want the debts GONE and as quickly as possible ... I don't want to wish my life away but I can't help but feel so frustrated/bored with having next to no money and not going out much etc. I want to be able to focus on the future - setting up my business, saving for a house deposit etc - and can't do that before the debt is gone.

Oh well ... I will stop ranting now sorry guys *shuts up* :rotfl:xx