Eager Elephant's Effective Everyday Excursion ...

Eager_Elephant

Mooloo wrote: »

EE, I hadn't heard about any new housing rules. Where is the information about it?
Should my Housing Association have written to me about it? Although currently it will not effect me, as I am still on Housing Benefit however if in April my business has made a profit ( and even if it hasn't paid me what the accounts call profit) my benefit will change again.
And obviously I want my business to be able to pay me a liveable wage eventually or there is little point in my working so hard.
I am already worried that I will be loosing my Tax credit if the government decide that I am not a viable business.

They have been talking about this for over a year. My local council included it in their last newsletter to tenants.


https://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2016/aug/31/pay-to-stay-social-housing-hit-low-earners


I honestly don't think you will lose your Working Tax Credit as you can prove you do the required number of hours plus of course you have a shop premises which is always easier to prove self-employment than working from home.

Eager_Elephant

Things have been moving slowly.


DH had his meeting and we have now received the paperwork in joint names from the council.


Confirmation that DH's CCJ was paid off last year has been sent but his Noddle does not update until 12th so can't send report to mortgage broker yet as not been updated. Could buy Experian one but what if it has not updated and that is a waste of £2!! Not even sure how long it takes to update so may not have been updated yet.




All this may be in vain though - the new Pay to Stay which the Government were going to introduce is not going ahead. It was announced in the budget that they would not implement this - I think they realised how much extra work it would cause local authorities etc.


Obviously if we can get a mortgage then that will be great but if not there is no rush and maybe we can knuckle down for the next year and sort our debts finally.

beanielou

Havent heard of Pay To Stay.
Hope it all works out as you wish.

Eager_Elephant

beanielou wrote: »

Havent heard of Pay To Stay.
Hope it all works out as you wish.

Pay to Stay was a government idea that if you rented from local authority your rent price was based on what you earn so the more you earn the more rent you pay. This extra money was going to the Government and everyone was affected - not just new tenants.


Quite a few local authorities were concerned about how it would work as they don't routinely collect info on income from tenants (unless you were a new tenant) so would have required hours of work etc.


Luckily the Government have seen sense and done away with it.




DH's credit report for Noddle is now showing the CCJ as paid off so I emailed the broker but have not yet heard back - I guess they are likely to be off for Xmas so will wait until the first week back but need to know about Mortgage In Principle as need to sign a contract with the LA to buy the house before x weeks have passed.


Will be back later or tomorrow with my goals for 2017.

Seasidegal58

Look forward to hearing about them EE! Have a very happy New Year!

Savvy_sewing

Happy New Year EE xx
Here's to a better year for everyone in 2017 x

Eager_Elephant

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Happy 7th Birthday Diary!!

Not sure how well the year has gone in terms of debt repayment - it just seems like every year I come on and review and nothing has really changed. DH and I have been in debt since about 2000 - 16years of my life wasted paying interest and messing about.

We did well last year in that we had the 'talk' and agreed to save money - we both put away money every month but throughout the year it was needed for things so we withdrew it. I suppose it was better than running up debt.

I have ended the year with savings but these may be needed to pay off the Xmas credit card - most things purchased online this year were put on the credit card. We do save £100 pm for Xmas and oil but we withdrew half the money mid year to buy a sofa and then in Oct I got a tank of oil so by 1/12 we only had £200 for presents. Sensible people would have cut the budget but we didn't.

I need to update YNAB and move some money about to see what is owed to the credit card and then DH and I will withdraw half each from our savings and pay it off.

I have also gone wrong on my c/c - I posted in Nov to say that I had lost my 0% by accidentally paying off some items I had purchased before the statement date. A kind lady withdrew the charges and interest and agreed to reinstate my 0% but although the charges and interest have been removed the 0% has not been reinstated (she did say it was hard to do) so I feel like I need to suck it up and just get on with paying it off. This card has been BT'd back and forwards for years and although I promise to save to pay it off I don't and I think the whole 0% makes me not worry about it - well now it is about 27% so I need to get it paid.

Total balance last year was £8273.96, today they are:

Barclaycard - £7151.11
Halifax - £852.64

Total - £8003.75

Only £270.21 paid off in a year.

Also last year I paid DH and DS back £1690 which I had borrowed to buy a car - I just set up a s/o for £100pm each so I think I will do the same for my Halifax card and get this paid off asap. Will also withdraw my Paypal balance and some of my surveys.

DH still has debts of £22k, another debt will finish this week when payments go out and then we will need to look at his debt repayments as he has a new job starting next week on a higher salary (although will have additional diesel costs as we can no longer car share)

I joined Ninja Saving Turtles last January and have done it every month - it really helps cut down on the spending.

This also needs to be the year I get my house sorted - we have lived with clutter for too long.
I made a start yesterday by sorting my paperwork. Nothing gets filed in my house as the filing cabinet was chock a block so any new filing was put in a box to be filed. Yesterday I emptied the filing cabinet and got rid of loads which we don't need. I had bank statements going back to 2001 :eek:. Will I need them? I doubt it - anyway it is too late now as DH had a fire last night and burnt it all. I have also got rid of wageslips from years ago (tallying the P60's first).

I now have a whole drawer free so I have managed to file all of last years stuff and I hope this year I will be able to file as I go as there is room.

Also need to keep on with the surveys - in previous years they have funded Xmas but not last year or the one before.

I have reduced some of my voluntary commitments so have freed up loads of times - evenings need to be housework and surveys and then weekends need to be animals/allotment related.
We have some plans for our smallholding this year which should bring in money for the pot.

Think that's enough for now.

Hope everyone has a fab 2017!!!!

pennywisepoundstupid

Happy New Year EE, wishing you all the best for 2017.

Seasidegal58

As you say EE at least you haven't run up any more debt. So that's a big positive in my book!

crazy_cat_lady

Happy New Year EE - focus on the positives, you've done well over the past year. It's not a worse situation than it was.