Jo_R's debt-free diary, slow and steady progress!

Jo_R_2

Well here was me thinking everything was going great guns, all organised... Something had to come up didn't it?!

Letter from tax credits = £627 over payment from my single claim, the time difference between OH moving in and me telling them - 10 days - means I was overpaid by a month. Damn me for not telling them sooner! I can't have it taken off my current claim because it's from a separate claim so I need to set up a repayment, and they were saying it has to be over a 12 month period at £50-something or they can refer me to their specialist team, which they did with my last overpayment when you can't make their 12 month suggested repayment plan.

I said there was no way I could afford £50-something a month, so they gave me the number of the specialist team but have to wait now until they're open again. They basically go through your income and expenditure and work out how much you can afford. Now, on paper I can just afford it (with not much leftover though) but that is dependent on the ex paying maintenance every month.

So far since he started paying he's paid on time and how much he said he'd pay, but (call me cynical) I suspect from a comment he made last time I spoke about him contributing to the loan I took out ("I don't have any free cash at the mo") that I can't depend 100% on him paying, especially with his baby coming along soon (he's always been c*ap with money and I suspect that will never change.)

So yet another debt to add to the list... At least the list isn't getting any bigger - from next month the council tax repayment will be complete so that will get knocked off, so this one will replace it.

Doom and gloom eh? OH handed me some poundage though from his working tax credits and told me to 'treat myself' - I really need a haircut (nothing fancy) and so will use the rest possibly to pay onto the Virgin CC - I'm tempted to throw a chunk at the HB overpayment but that is interest-free so keep reminding myself that will tick over nicely and to prioritise the debts accruing interest - but it's so tempting to try and knock a debt on the head!

OH has some extra work coming his way soon though so that's a bonus Trying to see the bright side!

Keeping_Positive

Sorry to hear of the bad news Jo. £600+quid :eek:. Sounds like you know how to handle them though. NB add a bit to clothing, groceries, electris/gas etc to make that 50 more like 20 - then you have the 37 to help towards it.

Well done TO OH - a lovely gesture.

Jo_R_2

Keeping_Positive wrote: »

Sorry to hear of the bad news Jo. £600+quid :eek:. Sounds like you know how to handle them though. NB add a bit to clothing, groceries, electris/gas etc to make that 50 more like 20 - then you have the 37 to help towards it.

Well done TO OH - a lovely gesture.

I can see where it's come from - what bugs me is I wish they had pointed it out at the time, something like "you have a payment coming through from this claim" - it annoys me that I only see it a year later. Maybe I *should* have realised but I didn't - at any rate if I'd have known then I could have started paying it back sooner or even asked OH to help subsidise me and given it straight back.

I just feel guilty now, I know it's one of those things but all this debt is impacting on me and OH getting on with our lives. There's so much hanging over us from my past relationship with DDs' dad and the fallout from that and it's going to be affecting us for a good three years - that's three years we can't get on with our money being for us.

I take responsibility for what I've done but I was saying last night to OH that it's not as if I even really enjoyed getting into debt LOL - I've never been a frivolous spender and my debts aren't from going crazy buying clothes, or TVs, or stereos, or shoes, or anything like that, they're from not managing the costs of day-to-day living. OH pointed out there's a lot of people in a lot worse debt than me which is true but sometimes I feel such a weight on my shoulders

But I know thinking like that isn't going to help me so I look at things like this: I have a great relationship with a fabulous OH who would go to the ends of the earth for me and the kids, two beautiful DDs who make me smile every day, a gorgeous little boy who never fails to make me laugh, incredibly supportive family and a great MIL, a roof over our heads, food to eat, we are all in good health, I am dealing with our finances and know we are living within our means and I am paying off my debts and not getting into any more debt I have plans for a career, to get married (eventually LOL!) and know that because of this I will come out stronger and never to get into this mess again.

Oh and ex has offered to have DDs Sunday night because he missed having them last night (I had them as a favour as it's his weekend this weekend Fr-Sun usually) So a nice surprise for me - good karma for saying 'yes' to having them last night

bevan840

Jo_R wrote: »

Well here was me thinking everything was going great guns, all organised... Something had to come up didn't it?!

Letter from tax credits = £627 over payment from my single claim, the time difference between OH moving in and me telling them - 10 days - means I was overpaid by a month. Damn me for not telling them sooner! I can't have it taken off my current claim because it's from a separate claim so I need to set up a repayment, and they were saying it has to be over a 12 month period at £50-something or they can refer me to their specialist team, which they did with my last overpayment when you can't make their 12 month suggested repayment plan.

Hi Jo, it's just a quickie as I saw Martin on GMTV this morning and he was talking about overpayments, if you notified them within 30 days of OH moving in then I think technically they can't ask for it back as you notified them within the 30 days and it's they're fault if they didn't note it down, it's been happening a lot I think

beanielou

Oh i so hope you notified them within 30 days.

bevan840

so do i

Jo_R_2

It was about 10 days - seems though that 10 days was enough - they said a payment was "going through" that was too late to stop. It does say on the bits of paper that don't take longer than a month but looks like I was just unlucky.

Phoned them this morning and arranged a payment plan over 18 months, using the precise money I was using for the council tax repayment so it's not made me worse off per month (although it has in terms of debt iyswim.)

Also upon questioning the lady I spoke to, she told me in not so many words - data protection and all that - that basically the ex isn't for whatever reason repaying his half of my original tax credit overpayment (this one I've just been talking about is a separate claim and so a separate overpayment.) I very helpfully asked what details might be useful and gave her various pieces of information and she said he wouldn't know it was me. Of course he's not stupid but hey, what can you do... I'm not malicious but I'm protecting myself because he'll get out of it by conveniently 'forgetting' about it otherwise then I'll be left with the rest.

The cash OH gave me to treat myself is doing exactly what I thought it would do - or what it does do every time I have actual cash in my pocket for nothing in particular - it's slowly disappearing on exactly nothing in particular :eek: OH treated us to tea the other evening which he paid, told me he'd got next to nothing left of his share of the treat money so I felt guilty and when he popped out last night to meet his friend for a drink, I offered him some, intending it would be a tenner but I only had £20 notes so he took one of those saying he'd bring me some change - not seen it yet though!

Going to use £50 to overpay on my Virgin cc, then £30 allocated for my bridesmaid shoes for my sister's wedding - which I completely forgot to budget for this month! - and a random £20 left of which £10 has gone to Oh and hopefully should have £10 for any other stuff (of which £1 went on a bottle of Dr. Pepper and £1.25 on an ice-cream for DD1 when we just popped over to the shop:eek:)

Also my combined DD to Eon for gas and electric doesn't start now until 1st October, so I have a 'spare' £73. Was going to use it to overpay more on the Virgin card but wondering if it may be more prudent to still use it for Eon as we're in debit by around £130.

Have to say we were quite liberal with heating at the old house but we haven't had the heating on here and I'm being REALLY strict with electricity and gas. I've curbed my obsession with using our new tumble dryer and bought myself some new clothes pegs LOL!) Only one load of washing a day as well.

Put some stuff on ebay on Sunday evening and got one selling already so a better start than all of the last two months really

Jo_R_2

Have been gleefully "balancing" my spreadsheets. Ah fun times:D

Trip to town tomorrow - have contact lens check-up so that's £3.60 bus ticket for me plus £2.10 bus fares for DD1 to come out of OH's treat money. Need to pay in £50 at bank to overpay on Virgin cc plus £20 towards my bridesmaid shoes. Have let OH off the rest of the £20 he 'borrowed' (felt really tight - if it had been out of my bank I would have had to ask but figured he pays for enough already) which means the £10 leftover will go on bus fares, got a couple of bits from shop earlier then sweeties for the girls if they're good (a very strictly-rationed pick-and-mix, DDs must love me: "now you can pick three different sweets, yes you can do it, but look, only four of those, but you can have lots of the flying saucers because they hardly weigh anything etc etc:o:D")

Felt a bit sad I hadn't ended up treating myself after all that but I only really need a haircut which if desperate can do myself or get sister or mum to do. I could really do with getting a couple of new bits for clothes - I was really ruthless with my wardrobe after baby was born as I've changed size and shape LOL and threw a lot out that didn't fit. As the remainder are a lot black, I'm washing them quite a bit and they're fading fast, so think being tight on clothes is probably a false economy.

Got my eye on a couple of bits on ebay so figure if I can rustle up some fundage from ebay sales this month I can treat myself without really spending anything.

I'm also finding myself needing to buy various bits and pieces for the house. Nothing big but stuff like clothes pegs, a new laundry basket, and also need other bits which will pick up here and there such as tablecloths, coasters and placemats which I think I will start having to budget for somewhere?

I also need to pick up some homeware stuff. Now I'm not *that* into soft furnishings and whatnot but I realised the other day we hardly have anything to make the place homely. Partly because I hate parting with cash for stuff like that when I can use it on other things but also because we always say we can never have anything nice because the kids will spoil it But looking round it means that the house doesn't feel as homely as it could.

So thinking of picking up some cheap photo frames for the mantlepiece, pictures for the walls, (as mentioned above) table mats and coasters, a couple of nice glass vases.

The other thing we very surprisingly don't have is a stereo. I had the ex's for a couple of years which was pretty decent but handed it back and so don't have anything which is a real shame. Keeping my eye out for something, it's not urgent but would be a real bonus.


Anyhow list for tomorrow:

• post/hand in ISA transfer letter (savings - well I can dream can't I?! )
• Speak to sister re: money for DDs' bridesmaid shoes (I've bought them but need reimbursing as sis has budgeted for these in her plans)
• Sort out baby's Child Trust Fund voucher (about time!:o)
• Pay in £50 for Virgin cc overpay
• Pay in £20 towards my bridesmaid shoes
• Query Eon debit balance to determine what to do with this months' "spare" £73
• Update SOA to include new Tax Credits debt (thumbs down) and delete council tax debt (thumbs up)
• Pay £14.36 to clear aforementioned council tax debt!

Jo_R_2

• post/hand in ISA transfer letter (savings - well I can dream can't I?! ) - handed into bank - saved a stamp
• Speak to sister re: money for DDs' bridesmaid shoes (I've bought them but need reimbursing as sis has budgeted for these in her plans) - not done today as sis away for the day
• Sort out baby's Child Trust Fund voucher (about time!:o) - printed out forms, just need to fill in and send off now
• Pay in £50 for Virgin cc overpay - done
• Pay in £20 towards my bridesmaid shoes - this ended up being £15 as realised I needed to buy nappies and promised the girls sweeties - need to balance it out in budget - can take any deficit from clothes allowance if shoes cost more (not planning on spending over £35 if possible)
• Query Eon debit balance to determine what to do with this months' "spare" £73 - paid "spare" £73 onto outstanding debit, so now have a debit of £89.56
• Update SOA to include new Tax Credits debt (thumbs down) and delete council tax debt (thumbs up)
• Pay £14.36 to clear aforementioned council tax debt!

Still got a handful to do so will carry them over to tomorrow. Just off now to balance the budget for today's spends, then pay the £50 to the Virgin cc.

Also queried a deposit into my account and it seems the Co-op have deposited £40 into my account *scratches head* It must be something to do with the basic current account I opened with them last week but need to find out more!

Jo_R_2

Well I did one of my silly shopping online habits again... I do a shop and go through checkout just to clinch the slot I want then intend to come back to it later... and forget thus meaning we're short on shopping:rolleyes:

So got to pop to shop in a bit to get cheese, meat sausages, bacon and cordial. Making bun cakes later, double batch to use up eggs so girls can have for snacks and can chuck in OH's pack up for tomorrow (big kid? Never:D)

Dinner, experimenting with roasted veg with halloumi (need to use up, is OH's new favourite food!) and sausages (meat for OH, veggie for me and girls.)

Not sure what to make tomorrow but thinking some permutation of an all-day breakfast, veg/meat sausages, bacon, oven chips to use up, scrambled eggs to use up eggs (only 2 though), baked beans... Might be a bit of a stretch as parents are over tomorrow so need two extra dinners out of it, need to get my thinking cap on!