Stop being a Wimp!... DMP Journey

Ellieseleven

Thank you Fortune Smiles:)


Ellie x

Puzzcat

Dear Ellie,

A very belated happy new year to you....

And what a year it will be ! You have worked so hard to clear these pesky debts I hope you have some fab treats lined up for when they are gone !

Love Puzz. x

Ellieseleven

Thanks Puzz,


I am busy planning/dreaming of what I will do when I am finally debt-free. I know that I will be putting a big chunk of what I am currently paying towards my DMP into a savings pot. I have well and truly learnt my lesson where debt is concerned:o


Ellie x

Ellieseleven

...how long is it to pay day?:o

January has been a long, long month and I don't have much money left. I've managed to keep the grocery bill down to the absolute minimum and this next week will see us using what is left in the freezer and the cupboards.

I have enough to put petrol in my car so that I can get to work and for the basics i.e. milk and bread.

I do so hope that this is the last January that I will be in this position. Now that I am on call out of hours, my salary increases from the end of the month...Phew!

Comment from OH on the lack of money this month: "I haven't moaned about it have I?":mad: Sometimes I really do wonder if he thinks before he speaks and I'm incredulous of what comes out of his mouth. His contribution to our income since Sept/Oct 2015 is a big fat ZERO:mad: I think if he did moan (or attempt to) then I would be likely to bash him over the head with something hard:p

Have a great weekend everyone.

Ellie xx

P.S. on the plus side, January has been great for my NSD and clothes challenges x

[Deleted User]

Well done on the clothes and general not-spending front:T. There are so many temptations aren't there at this time of year with sales all over the place and 'must have' bargains that once upon a time we'd have bought without question;)

As for wanting to bash OH over the head at times, well join the club;). Just shout and I'll send you my mallet which is so far unused but goodness knows how I restrain myself sometimes:rotfl:

Ellieseleven

carbootcrazy wrote: »

Well done on the clothes and general not-spending front:T. There are so many temptations aren't there at this time of year with sales all over the place and 'must have' bargains that once upon a time we'd have bought without question;)

As for wanting to bash OH over the head at times, well join the club;). Just shout and I'll send you my mallet which is so far unused but goodness knows how I restrain myself sometimes:rotfl:

Thanks CBC, that mallet would come in very handy some days:p

Yes, we would have been off to the sales without a second thought. I used to have so many clothes in my wardrobe, still with the tags on because they were a bargain:o Now I wear my clothes until they wear out which would have been unheard of previously. I must admit though that I do love clothes (and shoes, I love shoes:o) and will probably go and treat myself to a new wardrobe once this DMP is done.

Ellie x

[Deleted User]

Ellieseleven wrote: »

Yes, we would have been off to the sales without a second thought. I used to have so many clothes in my wardrobe, still with the tags on because they were a bargain:o Now I wear my clothes until they wear out which would have been unheard of previously. I must admit though that I do love clothes (and shoes, I love shoes:o) and will probably go and treat myself to a new wardrobe once this DMP is done.

Ellie x

Quite right to treat yourself when the big day comes, you deserve it after all your hard work and going without:beer:.

I'm not a shoe person, I've got difficult feet to fit, so tend to wear a pair until they totally drop to bits:o. The thing I hate most is breaking-in a new pair of shoes:eek:

When I did my first 2 StepChange DMP budgets I put zero down in the clothes section and a token £5 a month this last time. The people I speak to on the phone (I always update my budget that way) are always very surprised that I can manage on so little:rotfl:. But I was determined to spend nothing and wear up all the purchases that I'd wasted my money on in the past. That was OK for clothes but all my underwear seems to have dropped to bits at the same time and major spends are needed there sometime soon:eek:

This declaration of a zero spend was a foolish move as I should have declared some sort of amount on my clothing budget to allow a bit of extra leeway elsewhere. Very foolishly I cut my budget in every category to the absolute bone (and some!) and my DMP experience has been a real trial to make ends meet:o. I was so determined to get the debts paid off as quickly as possible that I really didn't consider the consequences. Six and a half years at the outset was so daunting:o. Of course,that's before I discovered all the wonderful fellow-travellers on the various DMP threads.

At my next budget review in the summer I'll have a good chat with them and see if I can come up with a better plan without cutting my payments to creditors too much;)

Ellieseleven

Morning CBC,

It's a definite learning curve being on a DMP! I know when I first started out, I too cut my budget to the minimum just to get rid of the debt in record time. My original length for my DMP was 11+ years. I have been able to cut more than 4 years off that original total and have a kinder budget, it's just too hard to try live within a tight budget for so long.

My motto these days is I need to clear my debt but I also need to live:o

Take care
Ellie x

Ellieseleven

Am I glad to see the back of January!!!


It's been a long, hard slog to get to payday but we managed it;)


February will be almost as challenging but keeping as positive as I can:o


Our debt is now a touch over £8k (£8050) so is diminishing with each passing month.


The dreaded MOT rears it's head again soon so I'm hoping my car passes without much of a hitch:o...fingers crossed.


I find I am starting to think about some of the jobs that need doing around the house which have been neglected for the last few years whilst we have been on our DMP. I find it quite exciting to think that I will be able to spend a little on the house once I am debt-free and give it a bit of sorely needed TLC:)


No spends on clothes in January and have also still managed to put my £2 a day away towards Christmas (had a couple of IOU's to myself along the way but have paid these back;)).


Ellie xx

[Deleted User]

Great news, Ellie. The months to finally see off that £8000 and a tiny bit will just whizz by:T. Exciting times ahead for you, it's good to make plans that are not likely to have to remain just dreams for years ahead:j


I've been dithering about asking SC for a month off (with only token payments to creditors) so I can catch up and get a bit ahead of things. Thanks for your kind reply on another thread where our paths cross:T


I let the full payment of £732 go through to SC today as I haven't even spoken to them yet. A part of me really needs to do this but the greater part refuses to let me 'give in' as I see it:o. It's been a matter of pride and great satisfaction to me that I've managed to make such big payments every single month for exactly 3 years and I just can't make myself admit that it's really crunch time at last:o,


Through selling anything that isn't nailed down, doing the odd day here and there of casual work and as many surveys as my brain can cope with I've managed to scrape together an emergency Fund of about £650:j. Sadly so many appliances etc (old even when I started my DMP:eek:) need urgent replacement or expensive repairs. My car is 14 years old and has plenty of life in it yet but needs ongoing money spent just to replace bits that seem to wear out. Plus, at my last eye-test my prescription has changed and I need to replace my glasses. I don't actually need to, the others are OK, but I really ought to as it's stupid to neglect something as important as eyesight.


So that £650 cushion is going to have to be spent within the next couple of weeks and I'll be back to square one without any fall-back savings. I know it's stupid but I'm scared to spend it and am managing with substandard or dead equipment that's making life such a struggle.:eek:. I don't know what's wrong with me, I'm a total idiot:o. I do actually have £300 in another account but it's untouchable.


I fully intend to rejig my budget at my next SC review, I'll probably bring it forward to May. I shall be receiving a small (very small:() increase in my pensions after April so with a bit of luck I can keep the SC payments the same as they are now but find some way of keeping this increase back for myself;).


Sorry to hijack your thread but there are so few places I can go where people will understand the angst I'm experiencing.

Take care x