I want to break free........

BADPENNY_2

elosarabrab & ms-london, thanks for popping in, i do need to make more of an effort to start paying some of my bills monthly and i'm gonna start to budget properly and start putting aside some money each month when i next get paid.

ms- london, so sorry for you on the job front, 3 times in 1 year is terrible, I hope something turns up for you very soon. At least with xmas around the corner lots of employers will be looking for temps which could potentailly turn out to be permanat if your lucky. With regards to my username I don't even know why I picked that, I couldn't come up with anything and that just popped into my head!!!! maybe its my subconcious tryin to tell me something.

anyway i am off to get ready for work now, not a bad day money wise yesterday but spent 3.20 on ciggs but did take my dinner in so saved aprox £4. today will prob be the same. terrible day tho food wise just seemed to munch all day, today will be better.

braekfast - 2 rounds of toast with peanut butter, 2 cups of tea.

back later ............

ms_london

BADPENNY wrote: »

elosarabrab & ms-london, thanks for popping in, i do need to make more of an effort to start paying some of my bills monthly and i'm gonna start to budget properly and start putting aside some money each month when i next get paid.

ms- london, so sorry for you on the job front, 3 times in 1 year is terrible, I hope something turns up for you very soon. At least with xmas around the corner lots of employers will be looking for temps which could potentailly turn out to be permanat if your lucky. With regards to my username I don't even know why I picked that, I couldn't come up with anything and that just popped into my head!!!! maybe its my subconcious tryin to tell me something.

anyway i am off to get ready for work now, not a bad day money wise yesterday but spent 3.20 on ciggs but did take my dinner in so saved aprox £4. today will prob be the same. terrible day tho food wise just seemed to munch all day, today will be better.

braekfast - 2 rounds of toast with peanut butter, 2 cups of tea.

back later ............

Hello.....

Have you done a SOA? (Statement of affairs). It is so easy to fritter money away, and I would easily do it on magazines, food, and alcohol if I let myself - nothing 'real' to show for it. That's how I ended up in £19,000 of debt in the first place (paid off I must add!).

Sounds like you are doing well? It takes a while to learn new habits, so again, don't be too hard on yourself. It took me a good 6 months when I first started out to 'learn' how to only spent what I earnt and not MORE, and probably a further 6 months to learn how to save, hehe! It sounds so simple....

Thanks re job suggestions, it's just been unfortunate really, and even more miserable because this has all happened after getting back from an amazing 2 year around the world trip, so it has made me regret coming home even more, and makes me miss my trip even more. Whereas if I'd had a solid job and good £££ since being back it wouldn't have been quite so bad. Still, no spouse or children to support like some people have at the moment in these hard times, so can't complain.

I'm off to Zzzzzzz. Have a good Wed xx

BADPENNY_2

Hi,

havn't managed to post much this week due to shift pattern in work but have the day off today and i,m having a nice lie-in before i get up and tackle the house work. everything has mounted up since sunday even thou i've tried really hard to keep on top off it.

ms london- i have done a SOA but havn't posted it yet, the thing is i really can't afford to pay all my bills monthly as i would have hardly any money left to live on and virtually nothing to pay any debts with. i pay my bills as and when they come in and have a couple of months a year when we are really skint as opposed to being really skint every month IYSWIM.

how did you manage to pay off 19k, thats amazing how long did it take you! its a similar amount to me and i know what you mean about having nothing real to show for it, i am so ashamed that apart from a couple of holidays i don't even know where my debt has come from.... just greed i suppose and seeing somthing i wanted and sticking it on my card whether or not i needed it.

where did you go on your trip, one of my biggest regrets is not having traveled much. i've been to the usual places like spain ect and i love the greek islands but havn't been much further afeild than that. one day maybe....

right plans for today.........

. catch up on usual house work,
. chicken curry in slow cooker for tea
. post office to pay gas/elec
. check on line banking to see if i can make a few over payments
. bit of pamper session for me later on

back later.

ms_london

BADPENNY wrote: »

Hi,

havn't managed to post much this week due to shift pattern in work but have the day off today and i,m having a nice lie-in before i get up and tackle the house work. everything has mounted up since sunday even thou i've tried really hard to keep on top off it.

ms london- i have done a SOA but havn't posted it yet, the thing is i really can't afford to pay all my bills monthly as i would have hardly any money left to live on and virtually nothing to pay any debts with. i pay my bills as and when they come in and have a couple of months a year when we are really skint as opposed to being really skint every month IYSWIM.

how did you manage to pay off 19k, thats amazing how long did it take you! its a similar amount to me and i know what you mean about having nothing real to show for it, i am so ashamed that apart from a couple of holidays i don't even know where my debt has come from.... just greed i suppose and seeing somthing i wanted and sticking it on my card whether or not i needed it.

where did you go on your trip, one of my biggest regrets is not having traveled much. i've been to the usual places like spain ect and i love the greek islands but havn't been much further afeild than that. one day maybe....

right plans for today.........

. catch up on usual house work,
. chicken curry in slow cooker for tea
. post office to pay gas/elec
. check on line banking to see if i can make a few over payments
. bit of pamper session for me later on

back later.

Morning.

I hope you enjoy your well earned day off. It still sounds quite productive!

It is better that you pay them a token payment, even a £1 a month, rather than ignoring it and not speaking with them about your financial difficulty. You don't want to get to the stage where you have defaults on your credit file. If you prepare a SOA and work out what you can afford (if anything), you then need to call each of them to explain this - they might ask you to write to them and provide a copy of your SOA. Stress that when your circumstances change you will be in contact again.

Its better to budget for all bills on a monthly basis (or whenever you get paid) - for example electric may come out quarterly, but its best to put some aside each month so it's not too much of a shock. :eek:

How are you fixed for the next month? When do you get paid? When do payments go out? Standard living expenses must come first, so your creditors will have to accept that they will perhaps get less each month than their standard 'minimum payment'. This is easier to negotiate with credit cards, whereas a loan, usually isn't flexible.

I would suggest calling your creditors, explain you are in financial difficulty and ask if they can freeze your interest, or reduce your interest. Worth a try and the good old saying, 'if you don't ask, you don't get'. When I did this, one creditor did infact freeze the interest for me, and another reduced it. Negotiate your agreed monthly repayment with them, making sure you agree what you can afford to pay - don't let them pressure you, there will be some negotiation involved from their end. It's better to be upfront with them and honest. Some may be harder to speak with than others, and some may be helpful, and some complete pains in the backsides, but be persistent. Some may also want to see copies of your SOA. Make notes of your phone call, what you have agreed to pay, and ask them to write to you confirming this.

If all payments are not now due to come out until November, I would suggest (and others may disagree) to cancel any Direct Debits, or Standing Orders you have with your creditors. Not because you aren't going to pay them, but this then gives you a bit of leeway in terms of negotiating a new lower payment, rather than them taking what they usually do and you having to struggle for another month.

Depending on your credit rating, you could always apply for a 0% credit card and shuffle your debt around to avoid paying interest where you can.

I am rambling, sorry!! Also, might be a good idea to get all payments to come out at the same time of the month, this helps to budget too. Create a spreadsheet (or use a notebook) and write down when payments come out of your account, or when you pay them.

If you need anything else, just ask

Don't be ashamed about your debt, that won't get you anywhere, although I totally know how you feel. I paid mine off over about 2 and a half years - towards the end I was paying back £1,000 a month. Like I said, I had 2 job (a full time one and a 2nd job where I was working up to 24 hours a week), low-ish rent for London, and hardly went out. Ebayed like mad and just lead a very frugal lifestyle - I just saw it as a challenge, but it was bl**dy hard work and I was quite depressed. I spent a lot of time on here and it was great talking to people in the same boat. I have nothing to show for my debt either.

On the bright side, if I hadn't got into that much debt, I would always have been bad with money, always spending what I earnt and never saving, so being in debt taught me how to manage my money. I dont think I would have learnt any other way. When my debt was paid off I continued to be frugal and save at the same rate (and keep the 2 jobs) for a further year, to save to go travelling - something I wouldn't have done I don't think had I not got in debt.

I went to: Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Thailand and the States (Hawaii, LA, Vegas, NYC & Maine). I worked throughout, but had an amazing time.

If you put your mind to it, it can be done. It was hard work, but the I reaped the rewards, not anyone else, so it was worth all the effort.

For short term misery, it was definately worth it, otherwise if I was paying the minimum amount towards it, I would probably still be paying it off. :eek:

I appreciate everyone's circumstances are different though and I was in the position to be able to do 2 jobs, and being single, I only had my outgoings to think off and 1 mouth to feed.

You WILL get there, just hardest making the first few steps and knowing how to tackle it. If you do post your SOA, the lovely folk on here will be able to give you advice - some people find it quite scary, others quite liberating.

Have a good weekend xxx

ms_london

PS - I have a job, start Monday - yaaaay! It's temp to perm, but really pleased. Think I am going to get a 2nd job too for the next few months also and get rid of this debt. It's ''only'' (but still stressing me out) £4,000 - but was nearer £7,000. I did always swear I'd never been in debt again, but since I've been unemployed for 6 months of this year, what can I expect. Sh*t happens, can't help it I am such a control freak.

Anyway, I have a job. Yaaay!

xx

BADPENNY_2

yaayyyy:j for the job, well done you! that must be a big weight of your mind! great news! what sort of job is it??:T I work in retail managemet and although i realise i am lucky to have a job that is relativly safe at the moment i still hate it:mad: You have posted some really good advise and i am considering re-doing my SOA and posting on here and i like your advise about trying to ne-gotiate with some of my creditors. i have 4 credit cards at the moment, tesco which is at 0% halifax which is also at 0% until december, citi which is at 7% and the biggie which is m&s at nearly 26%. i have transfered most of the m&s balence over to the 0%cards but don't seem to get very big credit limits now so am not able to transfer the whole amount. i have tried for a new card with 0% but have been declined on a number of occassions and i'm now too scared to try again. my other debt is a loan that costs me £408 per month which we took out to consolidate our credit cards (big mistake) these are also only my credit card debts my oh has aprox 7k owing on cards also..... at the moment we are just about scraping through the month making the minimum payments but we have no life what so ever... never ever go out as we just can't afford it, not even a night at the cinema. havn't had a holiday in 3 years it just feels so depressing at the moment. my biggest worry though is that i want to start trying for a baby in the next couple of months, i know most people would advise against this but i really can't afford to wait much longer as i am 38 and feel that time is no longer on my side, so this is another worry:eek: anyway i need to get a move on, if i'm still in my pj's when loose women starts i have to write the rest of the day off... yayyy again for the job... will be back later.!

have a great day!

BADPENNY_2

Havn't updated for a few days but nothing much has changed. Only been paid a week and a half and already i am having to juggle things about to pay different bills. grocery budget of 100 has gone out the window and i have already spent the lot and this is without buying all the usual ready meals ect. most of my budget tends to get eaten up by buying things to take to work for lunch so i won't be tempted to buy my lunch when in work. Is 100 per month realistic for 2 adults. this is for everything by the way,toiletries,household cleaning lunch stuff and meals at night. I think I have underestimated this big time and prehaps 150-200 is more realistic. trial and error i guess until i find something thats do-able. my oh is a big guy (not fat) and my heart sank when i gave him cheese on toast the other night for his tea and 5 minutes later he was eating the stuff i had got ready for our packed lunches the following day cos he said he was starving! on a more positive note the chicken that i roasted last night is also going to be a curry tonight, was in sandwhiches today for work and the rest is going in a soup tommorrow. I cant belive i used to make a roast dinner on a sunday and anything that wasn't eaten was thrown away. (most of the time though we would eat enough chicken to feed a family of four bettween the 2 of us. i guesse it takes time to learn new habits.

BADPENNY_2

Morning,

Day off today so need to set myself some targets otherwise the day will be wasted. VERY proud of myself, made chicken soup last night with the leftover chicken from sunday and it is very very nice. I can't belive in my previous life I would of thrown half a chicken away:eek:!!

tasks for today,

General house tidy, hoover, dust, make bed ect.

attack the ironing pile and try and half

find an outfit for party at the weekend (i am determined not to buy anything new, this is how I got into this mess in the first place. Instead I am gonna be inventive with what I already have!)

Phone tesco credit card, I dont seem to have received a statment for October and as I have been receiving all my other post it can't be due to the strikes, don't want to miss a payment on this card as i will then lose my 0% deal

apply for sainsburys 0% card to transfer my m&s bill which is charging me apr of 26%:eek:

Oh has a pile of unopened credit card statements left on the dining room table and i have a spare file for them all to go in. I am half tempted to open them and organise a filing systam for him but i don't like to open his post. I am not worried about him missing payments as I know he has direct debits set up for all the minimum payments to be taken out but I just don't like to see them sitting there un-opened. I need oh to have his LBM also, he is not as a rule wastefull with money but will think nothing of leaving lights on all over the place, eating leftovers is frownd upon (if he knew that the chicken curry last night was made out of the leftover chicken from sunday he would of said it tasted funny and then any minor ailment over the next couple of days would be blamed on the curry) its just all the little changes that motivate me to make the bigger changes IYSWIM and I need to get him on board.

I can feel my smoking days are coming to an end, I am just getting so sick of it and I know I can do it. When we where saving for a deposit for our house I managed to quit very easily and managed to stay off them for nearly 5 years, god knows why I started again. I am finding money everyday for ciggs and I could be putting that to better use by paying off my debts I know. Also as I said we are hoping to start a family soon so I feel that I need to start preparing my body and the best thing I can do is stop smoking and also loose that extra weight, I am currently 11st and at 5'6 am not massive but would like to try and loose a stone maybe. I think I need to tackle 1 thing at a time tho and really feel that the smoking needs to go first. Maybe I just need to set a date in my diary and go for it!!!

back later.

BADPENNY_2

a very unproductive day!

I havn't achieved anything at all on my task list for today and have spent most of the day lurking on here. I hate this time part way through the month when i have made all of my payments and don't seem to be making any further progress. I was thinking today thou about all of the smaller steps i have made since having my light bulb moment and have decided to list them here so i can refer back to them to motivate myself.......



1, I now set myself a budget, pre lightbulb I used to just buy whatever I wanted and it cost whatever it cost resulting in some weeks me using credit cards to buy food. now i have a set budget which i am trying to slowly reduce each month..

2, I'm no longer seduced by top brands and have tried to drop a brand on most items, I can't belive that i used to pay inexcess of £2 for a jar of pasta sause just cos it had a fancy celeb chefs name on it, now I buy supermarket own brand. the next challenge is to start making my own.

3, i have started shopping around to get the best deals instead of getting everything from one suoermarket, ok it takes 3 times as long but i save 3 times the money.

4, I no longer buy fresh fruit and veg on my weekly shop instead i buy it when i need it. I used to spend a fortune on fruit that i knew would never get eaten cos it looked nice in the fruit bowl - it would all end up in the bin.

5, I know i no longer need all the household products i thought i did, paying through the nose for a fancy cleaning spray, stardrops and a bit of bleach is all i need. Next to go are the fancy air fresheners and i'm going to start using pot pourrie instead.

6, shower gels costing anything up to £3 a go, soap will do just as well

7, i hardley ever buy conveince foods now and cook at least 5 meals a week from scratch

8, i use my slowcooker now and stock up my freezer with meals.

9, I no longer spend upwards of £15 per month on glossy magazines, i would even put them on credit card if didn't have enough cash. now i'm not even tempted even by the cheap mags- I do like my sunday papers though and this will be my treat each week but will try and cut down from 2 to just the one and read the other on-line.

10, clothes - can't think of anything i've bought in the last 4 months and this is a big achievment for me as i work in a clothes shop and also get a good discount..... to be honest i don't feel like i need anything.

11, hairdressers - 60 quid every 2 months was usuall for me and again would always go on the card. I did have a blip the other month and i re-lapsed and spent 80 quid to get my hair cut and couloured and to be honest i felt really cheated, nobody noticed anything different and i wasn't impressed with the cut or the coulour. from now on it will be a trim at the hairdressers every 8 weeks and i will do my own coulour at home.

12, i am now fanatical about turning off apliances around the house.

13, dont automatically turn the heating on now, it used to go on and then not get turned off untill gone midnight, now if it goes on its turned of by 9pm each night, and i just snuggle up with oh and a throw instead.

14, i make more of an effort to take my lunch to work with me as i begrudge paying £4 odd for my sarnie and crisps when i have all the ingrediants at home to make a nicer one.

15, i feel that there is a dim light at the end of the tunnel. if i can make all these changes in a couple of months imagine what i can achieve in the next year or so


The next things i want to tackle are the shop bought coffees most mornings on my way to work, the ciggs obvoiusly and want to look into getting a water meter fitted. oh and to put money away each month for my bills instead of paying a big bill each time it comes in.... these will be my challenges for November.

BADPENNY_2

My head is buzzing, last night while i was in bed i decided to look at my soa as i really want to start budgeting properly instead of paying my bills in full when they come in. i have always resisted budgeting properly as i always felt it was better to struggle for a few months of the year rather than things being a little tight every month (stupid i know) and another reason why i am proberly in debt, as inevitably 2-3 bills would come in at once and yes 2 of them would go on my card. well last night i got my paper and pen and listed everything that i need to budget for each month, the only thing i have left out at the moment is presents/xmas and will start this after xmas this year ready for 2010. we dont have a lot of people to buy for anyway and they will understand that we are skint this year if we explain and just give small token gifts instead i think. anyway it can definatly be done and still allow for overpayments on all our credit cards if we are canny. there are a few areas that we are definatly paying too much, water being one and internet another so will look into getting these changed over this month, car insurance is due for renewal at the end of november so will hopfully get this cheeper and will go throu quidco of course.

Looking in my diary as well i think my morgage payment comes out on the day i get paid and my car insurance definatly comes out the day after so that will be an additional 300 that i thought i didn't have (i get paid 4 wekly not monthly so every so often i have a bill come out after i get paid again.) and i will throw this at my overdraft.

i need to buy new carpet and flooring for my hall that is gonna cost around £300 and normally i would just put it on the card but i have decided its gonna have to wait untill after christmas when i have my 2 months of not paying council tax (216) and my car loan finishes in march (230) so i am going to save the money. we have had no carpet down for about 6 months now so another 6 months won't kill us.

did a survay last night and they are going to send me some washing powder to try for 3 weeks. i am also going to trade my clubcard vouchers in for some cinema tickets for me and other half as a treat as we havn't been in ages.

feeling really positive for a change- it feels like money is suddenly coming to me!!!:j