the maccas Debt Free Diary - 20K to pay in 18 months

chevalier

I understand what you mean about people going bankrupt. My sis has gone bankrupt this year, but if they had only taken the advice of the family or gone to CCCS or Payplan, they probably could have avoided this. But rather than pull in their belts, they have let their older child get hooked on horse riding, and buying expensive jewellry etc. Don't know what they were thinking really
chev

dreams_R_free

Good to see you again, themaccas. I was beginning to wonder where you'd gone!

It always helps to see things written down doesn't it, even though things might not always be what you'd hoped. But you will get there, even if it takes a little longer than you'd expected. After all, you've had quite a lot of 'one-off' and unexpected expenses lately:eek: .

Good luck:beer:
Imp

themaccas

Hi Chevalier
My fil and mil are still going bankrupt, OH's sister and bil and giving them £500 as payment for my fil cutting their grass - they have a very B-I-G garden and doing some diy jobs for them and they are lending them the other £500. I now feel very bad for them especially as fil was taken into hospital last week again. He has been smoking again and couldn't breathe. He has now been sacked from his job because of his poor health (he refused to take a sedentary job), it looks like he will need to be on oxygen for the rest of his life, hopefully it will dawn on him that smoking with that attached is no longer an option. My mil ( who has never smoked) is depressed and I wish there was something I could do, I have offered for her to come here for a few days for a break but she can't as she needs to work and is now the sole wage earner for them. Besides money and speaking to her, I have offered to come and look through their finances, go to the CAB with them which they have declined I don't know what more I can do. It's just a crappy situation for them, especially mil. All they have ever wanted was to retire to Devon but that won't be a possibilty anymore.

Snaggles

Sorry to hear about your FIL, it must be really hard for your MIL - well, for you all really.

I know you've tried in the past to get them on track financially, there's only so much you can do though, so don't be too hard on yourself, you have done all that you can do. It must be frustrating though.

Will you get any time off over Xmas to spend time with family, relax etc?

System

Hi themaccas, glad to hear you are still on track and hope things get better for fil and mil. Lenny

themaccas

Thanks guys
I will have to work over xmas unfortunately. I have 'volunteered' to work 3 nights over xmas, boxing day and 27th dec. Seeing as I have had the last 4 xmas days off I thought I had best put my name forward. However I have new year week off so I'll have that to look forward to.

I have drastically reduced the amount of extra shifts/overtime. It was getting a bit too much althought the money was great. Since I have cut right down, I am feeling so much healthier and I don't feel I have to work them as our debt, compared to what it was, is relatively small now.

I don't think we will really be able to clear this last bit off until this time next year but we'll see I guess.

Snaggles

Your health is more important than money though, you can't put an apr on it and bung it in the snowball calculator!

You know you will get there, so if taking your foot off the pedal a bit means a happier, healthier lifestyle, then it's really not the end of the world.

themaccas

I'm really pleased that we have managed to just pay a lump sum off our debt due to some renumeration I have just received from work. We have gone a bit overboard with xmas pressies this year compared to last year especially with DS1 who we've just spent nearly £500 on:eek: (bought him a PS3:o and games). OH and I are going to have vouchers from each other as I always prefer these so I can buy stuff in the sales.

ANyhow our debt is now less than 10% of what we originally owed £3425.68- I am sooooooooo pleased:j :j :j . Our savings are looking good too and I reckon we really might be able to get rid of this by March. In january I have decided to work some extra shifts at work whenever I can, we'll get ebaying and I'm going to start a countdown from January 1st!

dreams_R_free

Well done, the maccas:j

Christmas can derail a lot of people's debt-busting but it sounds as if you have it all under control despite spending a lot on pressies. Nice to hear you sounding so optimistic for the future.

You'll get there, we know you will:beer:

themaccas

Thanks impomdasp, I feel I've been treading water a bit over the last couple of months since we moved house and I feel a bit dispondant at times when I know we would be debt free by now if we hadn't moved. However the money I received has been the kickstart I really needed and reducing the debt by a fair chunk has meant we are well on the way now to getting this all gone.

We are coming up to a couple of expensive months -
DS1 continuing driving lessons and tests £230 + £28.50 + £48
My car service - £250ish
DH car tax - £205

And we are having a problem with our plumber who fitted our bathrooms a few months ago. We have had umpteen problems with leaks, poor pressure to the taps caused by bodged fittings and he has kept promising to sort it out. Thankfully we have British Gas homecare insurance that covers gas/eletrics/plumbing and we have been able to get them to come and fix most of the problems (althought they shouldn't have had to) However on one occasion the problem wasn't covered and the plumber promised to come and sort it. We waited 3 weeks calling him every day and every day he said he would come 'tomorrow'. Eventually we told him we would get another plumber to fix it and he agreed and said he would pay the bill. The problem was fixed and cost us £76.80, we told him this and he promised to send a cheque, it never arrived so we phoned him everyday and guess what...everyday he said he drop payment round. ABout a month later he DID drop by with a cheque for the full amount. Great! However the cheque bounced, he said his card had been cloned and so all his cheques had been stopped. We don't believe it for one minute. I feel ground down by all of this and part of me just wants to leave it and let it go. We have tried to talk to trading standards about him but they said they are not interested and at other times I just want him to suffer for the crappy workmanship he did. We got his name and number from one of the trade/card boards that supermarkets have, I don't think we'll use anyone from them again. We have kept all the texts he has sent us and we have sent him, OH doesn't want to leave it but for the sake of £76 I have had enough.