A New House For Her , A Rugby Shirt For Me

andy1886

beanielou wrote: »

Fantastic news on paying off the smallest creditor :j
Glad you enjoyed your relaxing holiday.
Here is to the next creditor :j

Thanks Beanielou , hopefully sometime in March although the dreaded car bills are due in April tax , service , mot and insurance so it may be that I pay these first and then clear my next debt .

andy1886

satchmo1 wrote: »

Hi Andy


I've just read through from the beginning, and wanted to say well done for getting rid of so much of the debt. I've subscribed, and can't wait to cheer when you finally post that you're debt free!


Just a couple of questions, if that's ok. When you first posted, your wife had lost her part time job. Is she working now, or looking for work? That would really help your debt free date.


Your twins, are they still in college, or working?

Thanks satchmo1 it really helps to know people are reading and supporting . When things get tough it is their words of wisdom and support that keep me focused , I believe that without them I would have wobbled and spent money that has gone towards the dmp and therefore pushed back my debt free date .
Now to your questions . My wife currently is not working but is looking and trying but it is hard at the moment , I think it is easy for me going out to work all day , concentrates my time and the weeks pass fairly quickly , for her it must be so hard trapped at home with no money , time drags for her and once we are debt free we will definately start living a little on my weeks off with breaks in this country and days out .
The twins are in college and that is going really well , hopefully they will be going next year as well and eventually get an apprenticeship to lead them into employment .
So apart from my wage which goes on bills and dmp with a little saved each month to finish the dmp early we get child benefit for 2 kids and a little tax credit to pay for petrol , food , clothes etc . It amounts to about £50 a week and I think this is the last year we qualify for it so hopefully my wife will have a job by the time that finishes . The thing we have learnt during this time is how to budget and for the future it means we should have a good life with us both knowing what priorities are and what are luxuries we really can live without .

andy1886

Another pay day reached and another month ticked off in this final leg of my journey .
Firstly , I am still waiting for confirmation of my payment to my creditor and the account being closed down . I rang last week chasing it up and although I have a letter stating it is closed I have no statement . When I made my payment I was told it takes 15 working days from when my dmp payment reaches them , I believe this would have been around 26th January and I have changed my dmp balance to them to zero so they won't receive any more money and I have checked the payment I have made has gone through . I just want my final statement with payments listed and a zero balance . I am off work next week so will chase it up then .
At work we have made reduncies last week and the general feeling is that this won't be the last but having survived this round in reality I know my job won't be around for ever so my goal is just to get my head down , work hard and each month I survive and get a pay packet and use it wisely . Similarly we have received letters confirming this is when we get to join the government pension scheme although details are very vague . I have gone on to the government website and entered my age , sex and wage and according to this I pay £13 a month initially , rising to £14 but in 5 years time it will be over £80 a month . I have no pension in place at the moment but I do feel I could do more with this amount of money today than put it away for a day I may never see or if I do I don't live long enough to receive any benefit . I know this is a pessimistic outlook but having lived the way we have for the last 4 years looking ahead we could continue to live this way and use the surplus money to overpay the mortgage and become mortgage free many years before its finish time of when I am 63 . Maybe once this goal is achieved another diary is required in another section of the forum .
A week off next week , no plans , I won't be paying off any creditors due to a laptop finally coming to the end of its life and need replacing plus I would rather have a larger pot for the car bills and if they come up less than expected it gives me a surplus to move on to paying the creditor .
Family life is never dull , wife fell over and has a lovely shiner , egg on head bruises everywhere . We can't go out in public for fear of being labelled a wife beater One of the twins has been beaten up in college with it being filmed and put on the internet via that facebook website , a site I just do not get the appeal of , it seems to attract bullies and unfaithful people , I am well off avoiding it . Police are involved and I am waiting for college to decide what they are going to do about it .
So hopefully a relaxing week off to look forward to with no sign of any snow so with it being the first week of spring I will be looking forward to the new season , better weather and that feeling of gloom slowly lifting .

beanielou

Blimey that is dire.Your poor twin.
I fall a lot & have had some shiners in my day.
As you say best to not leave home :eek: :rotfl:
Keep plodding & enjoy your week off

andy1886

Right a bit late with this posting but then it has been another horrible month . First the good news and I have finally had confirmation that I have paid off another creditor , 2 down 5 to go and a balance just above £5000 . The problems with twin A at college has been sorted and although I am not happy with the outcome I simply can't be bothered to appeal the decisions and procedure due to other things going off in my life .
Now on to work where 3 weeks ago we received letters stating we were being took over , job was safe but others not so lucky . Heard nothing for 2 weeks then finally received a letter stating the take over was off . Now I know this means my job remains but what I don't know is how long for , I know they want to sell and it fell through so now the firm has to become more sellable therefore more shop closures and job losses before they go to market and if I survive this who knows what the buyers might be like . It is all out of my hands so no point worrying about it too much but that is easier said than done .
March / April is when I need to tax , insure and mot the wifes car . It sailed through mot , tax done and insureance got a great deal but now my car has a problem which it went to the garage for yesterday . Not picking it up until today but the bill is £220 . This is all my surplus gone for the year so far so at the moment it looks unlikely that I will be debt free by the years end . I need to get this paid today , do my dmp budget review then with a clearer head look over my figures .
Finally the worst news of all but one that puts everything else in perspective is the news that my dad has prostate cancer , waiting for results as to whether it has spread through his bones and what treatment he needs but with this news then being debt free and worrying unduly about money can wait , my creditors will get their money when they do but it is not the be all to my life at the moment .

beanielou

Sorry to read this.
All i can say is take care & keep plodding.
& remember that you are in a much better position than before.

andy1886

A third of the year gone now , lighter brighter mornings and lighter evenings , a feel good factor which just needs some yellow stuff up in the sky to complete the picture for the next third of the year .
First the important news and my dads cancer has spread into his bones so it is being treated with a monthly injection to try to control it . This will continue for as long as it works maybe 6 months maybe 6 years it is just purely luck if it works or not .
No news on the work front , I've queried information about the workplace pension and opting out which we are due to join this month . Will be given this later in the month so keep plodding at work until I hear any different and hopefully get out of debt before anything happens .
My car is fixed and been serviced , £90 which I am happy with , just need 2 new back tyres later in the year but can get them when finances allow .
Financially trying to claw back what my car has cost me this year , got a result this week , the family member who pushed me into this mess got a bit of a financial windfall so I played the tough guy and threatened him via a third party and he has paid me back £300 , not all of what I am owed by a long way but considering how the year has gone it is a great result and puts me in a position to consider paying off another creditor next month .
Enjoy the bank holiday everyone , working it as usual but won't complain as this may not be the case in a few months time .

beanielou

So sorry to hear about your dad.
Good news on the £300 though.

andy1886

Double car trouble . Car 1 blown exhaust so replaced straight away at a cost of £132 . Car 2 has a warning light on the dashboard which I took to be read and if I remember it was a crankshaft timing sensor !! The car now struggles to start and the engine races whilst I struggle to drive it , hopefully I can get to work today and book it in for tomorrow to get it fixed . I have no idea how much it will cost , just hope it gets through today as there is very limited public transport where I am working .

beanielou

Positive car vibes your way.