Stop being a Wimp!... DMP Journey

Chrisblue1962

Hi Ellie, haven't been on here for a few months due to major life changes - will post more in my diary. Glad your car passed MoT. I thankfully don't need one at the moment so get by using public transport, walking or cycling.


I hope your MSE battle is being won. My battle is sloooowly.... being won too...just.... but finances are very precarious at moment due to OH relocating to North East and her job situation is "fluid" to say the least. Mind you, as an ex colleague used to say "Life is tough but life is still good", which is what matters. Take care, keep battling.

Ellieseleven

Great to hear from you Chrisblue, I did wonder where you were;)

I will pop along to your diary to catch up with your news (good I hope!)

...we are winning Chris, slowly but surely:o

Take care
Ellie xx

Moneywhizz

I have to say I admire your long suffering and patience with your husband. He has such a nerve to complain about being poor when he hardly earns anything and contributes little to your finances. I would not be able to be as calm as you are in dealing with him! I'm sure you just can't wait to be debt free so that he can live a more luxurious life!!

Ellieseleven

Moneywhizz wrote: »

I have to say I admire your long suffering and patience with your husband. He has such a nerve to complain about being poor when he hardly earns anything and contributes little to your finances. I would not be able to be as calm as you are in dealing with him! I'm sure you just can't wait to be debt free so that he can live a more luxurious life!!

My patience has worn quite thin on many occasions Moneywhizz and he can be a very difficult person to deal with. I think he has some mental health issues which need to be addressed but he refuses to see anyone and I can't force him so I plod on regardless and have learnt not to let him get me down:o


Ellie x

Ellieseleven

March already:eek: but I look forward to each new month as my total debt is diminishing bit by bit. We are now almost at 85% paid back and only 7k left to pay;)


8 of our debts are under 1k and two of those are under £500, we only have two debts over 1K. Each passing month brings us closer to our debt-free date and I am trying to remain calm although I do find myself planning what I am going to do with nearly £700 per month extra Eek! Saving rather than spending is my plan and I look forward to building up a healthy pot of money;)


Anyway, back to reality for now...the winter months have been difficult once again but hopefully better weather will see OH getting some work and our budget will ease a little. I have found YNAB has been a great help to me and I have managed to stick to my budget more or less.


My emergency fund was wiped out and I have had little chance to put anything back so far but I am hoping to have another go at building up £1000...I will do this one day lol!


I have a budget for clothes this year of £250 and I have spent £60 so far on some new tops for work (my others had seen better days:eek:).


I have been putting £2 a day into my tin towards Christmas and I have £184 saved as of today. I am very disciplined with this challenge and I'm never tempted to raid my tin. It really helps at Christmas with presents and food etc.


Take care all
Ellie xx

Ellieseleven

Half way through March and keeping to a very strict budget at the moment which is challenging:( I feel as though I am wishing my life away, wanting each month to pass by, bringing me closer to being debt-free:o I have learnt to be patient for the most part but the finish line is in touching distance now and I just want to be free of debt, DMP's and watching every penny.


I am hoping to finish my DMP by the end of the year but BC have now started re-applying interest on one of our accounts so this could potentially put us back a bit. I am tempted to go self-managed and have had a look at NEDCAB but I can't make my mind up whether to do this or not. Several of our accounts are now under £500 and if SC start to reduce payments on these accounts the way they did with our bank loan then I will definitely move to self-managed. The BL was drawn out for much longer than was necessary and SC kept reducing payments to them and upping other CC payments by a few pence in some cases which seemed daft. Anyway, I need to make my mind up soon:D


Work is good and there is an opportunity to make a few more pounds by doing some out of hours work which I have said I'm happy to do. If this comes off then maybe I will complete my DMP by the end of the year after all;)


Take care
Ellie xx

Brogden

Ellieseleven wrote: »

Half way through March and keeping to a very strict budget at the moment which is challenging:( I feel as though I am wishing my life away, wanting each month to pass by, bringing me closer to being debt-free:o I have learnt to be patient for the most part but the finish line is in touching distance now and I just want to be free of debt, DMP's and watching every penny.


I am hoping to finish my DMP by the end of the year but BC have now started re-applying interest on one of our accounts so this could potentially put us back a bit. I am tempted to go self-managed and have had a look at NEDCAB but I can't make my mind up whether to do this or not. Several of our accounts are now under £500 and if SC start to reduce payments on these accounts the way they did with our bank loan then I will definitely move to self-managed. The BL was drawn out for much longer than was necessary and SC kept reducing payments to them and upping other CC payments by a few pence in some cases which seemed daft. Anyway, I need to make my mind up soon:D


Work is good and there is an opportunity to make a few more pounds by doing some out of hours work which I have said I'm happy to do. If this comes off then maybe I will complete my DMP by the end of the year after all;)


Take care
Ellie xx

It is unbelievable Ellie how Barklays are such a law unto themselves. Re-introducing interest to the account of such a seasoned DMP-er .

I paid off two Barklaycards in the 'good' days before my DMP began so I just haven't suffered all of this nonsense!

I really would urge you to go SM !! Put them on £1 per month and share the saving between the others! Now your debt is so much reduced you must agree the risk is now tiny. If you then change your mind (unlikely) you could always pay them some more...?

Ellieseleven

Brogden wrote: »

It is unbelievable Ellie how Barklays are such a law unto themselves. Re-introducing interest to the account of such a seasoned DMP-er .

I paid off two Barklaycards in the 'good' days before my DMP began so I just haven't suffered all of this nonsense!

I really would urge you to go SM !! Put them on £1 per month and share the saving between the others! Now your debt is so much reduced you must agree the risk is now tiny. If you then change your mind (unlikely) you could always pay them some more...?

I agree totally Brogden, I have paid back 5k to BC over the last 5 1/2 years and in all this time they haven't applied any interest. Now the debt is our largest one at approx. £1,500 (and they get the Lion's share of my DMP payment). They have been applying AP markers throughout but I was reluctant to change anything due to the interest...now I have nothing to lose and as you say I can share the saving between our other creditors:)


I could easily pay off 3 or 4 of my smaller debts within a few months if I go SM.


Ellie

Ellieseleven

Quick update as I'm off to work soon...

...signed up for NedCab, filled in the I&E etc. and had a look at the generated letters. I think I will use the NedCab info as a base but will tweak the letters myself (I'm not so sure I want to share all the details with each predator).

Task for today will be to open another basic bank account somewhere to set up standing orders;)

Have a good day everyone

Ellie x

Ellieseleven

Got a bit of a wobble where going self-managed is concerned:eek: My defaults all start to drop off in a couple of months time, leaving just BC on my file so I'm bothered that this will cause more problems at this stage in my DMP.

I have decided to write a letter in the first instance to BC asking why they have started to re-apply interest and go from there. I also noticed my credit file is now being marked DMP whereas previously it was AP?

I need to stop dithering about this...by the time I've made my mind up my DMP will have finished!:p

Ellie x