Staying debt free for 1200 months!

bountiful

New thread - and the story so far.

I began my DFW journey a year ago with approx £14,000 debt and at that time the snowball calculator said it would take 1200 months to be debt free. I started working with National Debtline and wrote my own letters offering reduced payments etc to all my creditors.
Things didn't really get much better - I was stressed by phone calls and letters constantly pressuring me for payments.
Through a friend of a friend I made contact with Christians Against Poverty - and they worked out a budget plan for me, and set up a CAP account from which they paid all my priority payments (rent, council tax, services), and began negotiating with my secondary creditors. They calculated that my income was too low to ever pay back my debts, and I would have to go bankrupt.
Then, at the 11th hour, I inherited a lump of money from my father - enough to pay off all my debts.

So I am now debt free, but still on a low income. I am continuing to work with CAP and have recently completed a CAP Money Management Made Simple course which advocates a cash-based system of budgeting. I have chosen to stay with CAP managing my rent, council tax and services payments - as my budget is so tight I could easily find myself in debt again!

This new thread is to keep myself on track!

Previous thread: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=710065&referrerid=294425.

boredofbeingathome

Well done Bountiful, it is lovely to read stories like this. I am sure you are aware that MOT is also a big advocate of CAP as well. Looking forward to reading your diary.
Bob x

TDQO

1200 months eh? Merely a blip in time.

Seaxwyn

Hi bountiful! I look forward to following your progress. Best of luck with everything and thanks for the CAP info (on your old thread), which is really giving me food for thought.

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary
Best of luck hun

bountiful

Coming to the end of week 2 on a cash budget - and have a few quid left.
With a set amount of cash each week (withdrawn on Friday evening) - I have found myself making different choices about what I spend my money on.

I have been able to completely resist spending money on coffees when waiting for trains! (That was always a weakness - the smell - everyone else seems to have a coffee - it's 'cool'.)

I did spend £7.99 on a book - because I bought it in cash - not on the internet - I really, really thought about it before I parted with the cash, and actually traded the luxury of a book against taking my own food from home for a day's travelling and not buying anything else. I am also reading the book really carefully and considering whether I could use it as a gift for a friend's birthday, or Xmas.... whereas I would never have thought of doing that before.

I sat and waited for my laundry and only spent £6.50 instead of dropping it off for a service wash and being charged £12 - in that case, time was money!

I have planned meals for the week and made do with what I have available instead of 'just popping down to the shops'.

Have taken more serious advantage of the bonus of eating at work (which is part of my job) - and not refused any opportunity to eat at work!

I bothered to get to the station early enough to queue up for my ticket and save 30% with my local railcard (instead of dashing in at the last minute and gettting a full-price ticket from the self-service machine).

I MADE a batch of cookie dough and only cooked 4 cookies - putting the rest of the dough in the ice-box!

I am considering using some of my savings to buy a Remoska (?) after reading about them on the Old Style boards - apparently very cheap way to cook (everything).

Lusted after some face cream in Lush and started a savings pot to wait until I have enough saved money before I buy it - then found another local producer of natural cosmetics who have cream for a quarter of the price (so will save for that instead).

Had a bill from the Halifax for £50 for the cost of serving me with a Default Notice a few weeks ago - greedy b............ds!

beanielou

That ll sounds really positive bountiful apart from the bleeping Halifax,they dident used to charge for a default notice.
Hoping to go to Taplow @ the end of March.

bountiful

beanielou wrote: »

That ll sounds really positive bountiful apart from the bleeping Halifax,they dident used to charge for a default notice.
Hoping to go to Taplow @ the end of March.

Hi Beanielou - I was up at Taplow last weekend - for a South of England Leaders Assembly - 6 hours each way on the train, 40 mins walk to and from Maidenhead station to stretch my legs after the long sit, then 2 and a half hours at Taplow Court - got home very late, very tired, but totally fulfilled and inspired.;)

beanielou

Sounds great~apart from the travelling!

bountiful

Went to pick up the keys for our new home today - in the snow! The house is actually better than I remembered it being - which is great Relented and let my son have the biggest bedroom, because, as he says, he does live in it, and I have the rest of the house (also the washing up and cooking and cleaning and food shopping and bill paying etc etc etc) - I told him he could have the bigger room and I would put his rent up to £100 a week (only joking). What we do for our kids, eh? I put my arms round him and told him he was a selfish, spoilt, only child .......... I tried to get him to see the wisdom of using cash and not his debit card .....he's not convinced, but he did go to the cashpoint and draw out £10 cash (so maybe he did listen to me - a bit)

beanielou

Dident realise you were going to be moving again.
Will you maybe be there for a wee while this time?
When might you move?
Hope you dont have too much snow?
MJaybe too many q's there~sorry.