Life after bankruptcy?

miggy

Have the shower, it will help you feel better.

You escaped the concrete block before and you will again. Sending you a {hug} or several though. They don't pay the bills but on the other hand money can't buy them.

I'm sorry I'm on a flying visit: I have to be at work for 9. (Yawnnnn...)

Did you try the Utilities Board by the way?

ani_26

I've had a look at the utilities board thanks, miggy

I can't find much about anyone thats been in a similar position to me. Just one person in debit by £880 ish? To be fair, an electricity supplier should never let things get to this state, surely? They have been sent all the meter readings, and to be fair, the estimates have been higher than the useage. None of it makes any sense.

I will call the advisor when they get into work tomorrow. I've got a direct line to them.

Don't work too hard, miggy xx

( i called you moggy there, but i thought i'd better change it to miggy ). I'm struggling with reasons to be.

Aesop

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/30978397#Comment_30978397

is this any help?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consumer_advice/latest_meters_pic.shtml


If you think the meter reading is wrong
If you believe that the meter reading given on your bill is wrong, you should take your own reading.If this shows that the meter has been misread, you should inform the electricity supplier of the correct reading and a revised bill will be sent.If your own reading shows that the meter was read correctly, the meter may be faulty and the matter should be reported to the electricity supplier.
If you have had an estimated reading, you should read the meter yourself.You can either contact the electricity supplier on the telephone number on the bill, or return the bill, to give your meter reading.An adjusted bill will then be sent.
In some cases, if your house has been divided into flats, there may be a mix-up over the meters. Check with your supplier that the serial number on your meter matches the one that the bill relates to.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?248977-Wrong-meter-reading-6000-units-out-!!&p=2790296&viewfull=1#post2790296

ani_26

Thanks Aesop xx

I despair of everything now. This is taking any of my few remaining energies. Its interesting about imperial and metric meters, as everything has been replaced with brand new, here, including the meter, i think.

I can't afford for someone from the electricity company to come and check the meter, as they said they would charge £50 and i don't have £50. In fact all my bills are due, and i don't have the money for even one of them. This really is rock bottom. I sat down yesterday to work out exactly how much pay i'm still awaiting, and its not good, and once its arrived, its even worse, as there is still no work. Please don't tell me to go on the dole, as £63 a week is even more unsustainable. And please don't tell me to get a full time job. I'm bloody trying. Which reminds me, i have a couple of places to ring today. I don't know where i find the motivation from, anymore. There is only one thought which motivates me.

Day 4 on meter watch. I didn't have my shower, which is stupid, but meter watch is also money watch. 3 units used overnight, which is one more unit than the previous nights. The only difference being i didn't have the washing machine on this morning, but i did have the water heating on for 2 hours. I don't know why i'm nit picking. Its only cost 14p anyway. Pah




Ha, i've just been quoted on tv, you pinched my quote. An ordinary girl with an extraordinary talent



I've had enough of life. Just what is the point?

ani_26

Progress has been made. I only had to give them the first three readings for them to spot the mistake, ( what a waste of time meter watch has been ). Well it hasn't really, because its opened my eyes to how little electricity is used.

Its as i first thought it could only be. The day and night time readings are switched. I'm staggered how close to the bill my estimate came. Within £2, so my mathematical calculations aren't as bad as i thought they were. I'm now in arrears by £456. Still, thats £1200 less than they quoted. They are going to " fix " the meter in november. Must change my soa.

I've received a call from the charity this morning, saying they will pay my next car insurance payment. Thank God. One less bill to worry about.But the concrete block on my head is all the way down the back of my head and down to my eyes.


Maybe i should execute some amateur repairs on my car today. It's hard to tell if the weather will stay fine.

ani_26

I forgot to say thankyou to whoever posted the link to the online calculator, even though they didn't have my supplier on there. It enabled me to work out the exact usage to do the calculations myself.

miggy

ani_26 wrote: »

Progress has been made.

Now I've heard everything!

I think I'm speechless. Have a hug anyway because nobody should have to put up with this and I bet they don't offer compensation for stress. :grouphug:

And the charity can have one too.

miggy

Oh, and I meant to say Aesop... nice work.

MatyMoo

You really do sound so very fed up

But you have had two positives today - the meter reading is sorted out and the car insurance for the next year.

I know that you are still a long way off paying the £456 but that is more achievable that the original figure they wanted and you don't have to pay anything for car insurance so that is more money you don't have to find. And it means that should you find work (you usual work or something different) you at least have the means to get there.

This has to be good news, doesn't it?

ani_26

Aesop you are very quiet. Are you alright? Is it because your IL's are visiting? I wouldn't worry too much about what people think of your household skills. Its people who count, not domestic science. The truth is, few people truly care about others, these days.

That's always the bottom line, isn't it. It's people who are important above all else. It makes me sick this weekend, with the demise of AW. It makes me sick to see almost everyone jump on the bandwagon of criticising someone they didn't even know. Thats people for you. Maybe i'm naive. How many times do i say this? I just see, correction, heard a human being with an amazing talent. A refreshing change from all the same sameness of all the ' pop' artists of the time. Its her funeral today, and i don't know why i feel maudlin. Maybe its because theres a chord that strikes with me, as an ordinary human being. You can identify with anyone, on that level. Maybe its because of the way i'm feeling, too. I know what it feels like to be on the path of self destruction. No. I'm not a junkie or alcoholic, and never have been.

I now find it difficult to write in my diary. The realism is, nothing has changed since i started writing, how ever hard i try. I've been in this situation so long, i can't even remember how long, now. It seems to me there are different forms of debtness, ranging to extreme poverty / being on the breadline / not having enough money to be / whatever.

In my more prosperous times, ( which were never very propsperous ), i would never have comprehended there were people in the Uk livivng in extreme poverty. It's their own fault, i would have said. So long as i'm alright jack, soceity. But now i'm finding it difficult to talk about and read about money. Its all too much. It's bad enough living the nightmare, without reading and writing about it too. In fact. I've had enough of living the nightmare, if this is what you call living.

There is, of course, no compensation for stress. Some could say i'm in debt with my electricity bill because i've used electricity i haven't paid for. Correct. But the electricity company set up the DD based on previous occupiers usage and there wasn't much to base it on., and did admit they may have been overcharged too. So i feel its more someone else's mistake, than mine.


Maty, the charity is paying for outstanding payments on my current car insurance. Its possible they may pay for next years car insurance, but i don't know, for sure. My last port of call for the insurance quote, was my bank . It should have been the first port of call, but i forgot. They gave me a quote which was £150 less than my current insurance, the only snag being it has to be paid up front in one payment. An impossibilty for some one like me. The only other alternative was 10 monthly payments with an apr of 38%. Which then takes it to the status of my current quote, but at least i can pay this quarterly without paying interest.

I looked into a logbook loan for my car last night, as its the only form of equity i have, ( albeit minute ). Even to borrow the smallest amount, all the lblc's charge an apr of 800%. 800% :eek: I don't know how they get away with it, but even I have to concede i'm not about to give my precious car away for the sake of a few hundred quid. It makes more sense to sell it. But the day i sell it, i really have given up on life. It goes ,i go. My last vestige of being, of independence. Something i own. So i must be desperate to consider ' giving ' it to a lblc. because thats what it is. Giving it away. But i know i'll never sell it, in this economic climate.


Ha, the news says we may be heading back into a recession. I was thinking yesterday. Its years since i've been into a shop. You know, any kind of shop which doesn't sell food. I occasionally visit the charity shop, always on the look out for ' new ' work clothes. I get criticised for the shabiness of my work clothes. My last few suits have come from charity shops, and there has been nothing wrong with them, except they are not always a matching suit. I don't know why i'm talking about clothes. Oh i know, the thread about having clothes for wearing in the house. I always have, and still do, to this day. Maybe thats why i get odd looks when i pop outside, wearing clothes with holes in them. Because it doesn't matter when you are inside. The person across the road never changes out of their work clothes when they arrive home. I can't work that one out.

LIke i said earlier i find i can't talk about something i'm fed up of living. Its almost a year since i started my diary, and i've already spiralled into debt, after getting myself ' out ' of debt, by losing everything i had.I seem unable to earn a salary which will pay for the ' basics ' in life. I was looking at the b** the other day. £100k pa is an indecent salary. What would you do with that sort of money? One months income is more than my annual income. I suppose you could argue its intensive training / qualification. But everyone' s job is worthwhile, of value to soceity. I sometimes wonder why some people are obssesed by debt, negative wealth, having no debt at all. Its a mirage. Well, its seems to be like that for me. A colleague said to me recently they had a friend who was always saying they are skint. They have £100k in savings, but its not as much as they feel comfortable with, presumably. What wouldn't i give to have £1k in savings? It would give me so much security to know there were ' some ' to buy that elusive proverbial loaf of bread. These sorts of people don't know what its like to be really ' skint '.

Others are managing too. They may have debts, but they still have some sort of guaranteed income, enabling them to budget and make plans. It doesn't ' stop ' them from living life, from having friends, having a social life, going out for an evening, having some sort of holiday. Pah, its the summer. Its quite an affluent area around here, and it can get to you when you see kids walking backing back from the shop with their purchases, things that i can't afford to buy, or outside the shop with £5, £10, £20 notes. Again, money i don't have. Its back to the small change. What did i just say? How do you tell kids there are other kids around the world who don't have what they have? How Do you tell kids there are adults living acrosss the road from them, who don't have what they have? Such Cynicism. But true. Real.


This period of inactivity whilst there has been little work, is getting me down, too. You have to be self motivated to be self employed. No question about it. You go and do it. But i'm struggling now. In a state of lethargy, which is difficult to get yourself out of, especially when you have no one to talk to. But then, who wants to talk to a nobody, like me? I can't be bothered to do the simplest things anymore, except contemplate option b. The temptation is to just stay in bed all day. There's nowhere to walk around here. Nowhere to give you that back to nature factor. I'm constantly tired, and its easier to go to bed and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist and block out the fact things have to be paid, and i've little income to pay them.