Debt free in ten years-my new, more realistic challenge.

poohbear59

I've been quiet today as I have been doing some thinking.

Firstly we were turned down by BG as our house is too big and doesn't have enough insulation particularly under the floors, which are solid concrete.

Secondly, I have tried our electricity supplier again, to allow us to leave them. But they said no, again. They won't allow lower monthly payments either.

Thirdly, we can't get financial help through Gr3en deal to insulate the house as our supplier- Good Energy are not taking part in the scheme.

Fourthly, if we were with one of the 'big six' suppliers they have help for people on benefits- Good energy don't!

Basically I have gone round in circles. Have found helplines but then found they don't help people who are not with the 'big six'.

I found help with Payplan who will phone me back on Monday. But I don't think it will help me sort out my electricity debt.

So, today's final aim has been to find a way to pay off Good Energy asap.

I asked the bank again today, they will get back to me on Monday or Tuesday which doesn't bode well. Usually it is an immediate decision.

Tomorrow I might have to bite the bullet and ask a wealthier relative for a loan until we can pay them back, hopefully as soon as Mr P is working again. He went to price up a job today, for a March start. :)
He is beginning to feel a bit better again. It really makes me think it is SAD.

I did look after DGD today for half an hour while DD took the dogs for a walk. It was a real highlight of my day.

DS1 went to work without his wallet and ran out of petrol to get home so DS3 went and bought some petrol with the £8.60 I had in my purse. And bought me a curly wurly with the change That is my treat for today.

beanielou

Loan might well be a good idea.
Yah for the curly wurly.

poohbear59

Well, the bank didn't take long in saying no. I am still smiling

The business is doing well, at least paying it's own bills (we had to sub it with valuable personal money last month-from a credit card!!!!) and we now have money coming in for that. My good friend is going to badger the business manager to get back to me. I have phoned him at least eight times.

Mr Pooh is out cutting wood. We have been given some more by a local builder who is ripping out the interior of an old building. I am making sure the wood burner has the doors closed as I don't want dangerous fumes in the living room.


Another NSD today, yesterday wasn't as I paid for DS1s petrol. He should pay me back tonight.

poohbear59

CPP sent out two cheques to me but one has gone missing. Just my luck at the moment I phoned them and they are reissuing my cheque. BUT during the call I mentioned that Mr P had an account with them too and they are going to investigate it

We have enough food in the house for another week at least. I made butternut squash risotto last night which is a very frugal meal. The men did put a tiny bit of ham in theirs. It just mean less ham for sandwiches for them.

poohbear59

I gave myself a day off from number crunching today. I made DD a birthday cake with ingredients in the house. (I hope she isn't reading this as it will spoil the surprise) in the past we would have bought lots of pressies and all (8 of us) gone out for a meal which we would have paid for. Instead we are going to DD's for spag bol tomorrow.

Because I was busy I sent Mr Pooh out to buy a pressie at one of the lovely shops we have locally. He had £10 to spend. I thought it would give him a purpose.

Yesterday I paid the agreed £10 towards Mr P's tax bill. I need to pay £100 towards the accountant but can't manage yet. I did a new snowball which I will post on here later.

We seriously thought about a DMP until such times that Mr Pooh is working properly again but after lots of thought have gone for the new snowball. One thing we found when getting all our financial info ready for the advisor was that our mortgage is now £99,000 :D:D

We have had to stop visiting our elderly aunt as we have no money for petrol to get to her.it does make me feel very guilty and as soon as we can find a way we will go back to helping her regularly. I phone regularly but it isn't the same as seeing her and helping out.
I aim to sell £40 a month of clutter from the house to pay for fuel just for that purpose. I am sure my late dad wouldn't mind me selling stuff of his to pay for petrol.

please-let-me-be-lucky

Wow, for a day off it still sounds like you have achieved lots and have a good plan in place!

Yay to the mortgage being sub 100k :j

Hope your DD has a lovely birthday and you have a wonderful family day together Xx

HappyNow

March starts next week. It's getting lighter at night and surely it has GOT to warm up soon. Things are always more difficult in winter, especially when we live in old, cold, expensive houses. Soon day-to-day living will be cheaper with less heating and lights needed, and Mr Pooh will hopefully be back in work to help things even more. Keep going!

Fantastic news that the mortgage is under £100K, that's a real landmark, well done .

And I am absolutely sure your late dad would be delighted if the sale of his stuff made things a little easier for you. Good luck with it

poohbear59

We have had a lovely afternoon/evening at DD's. Her birthday cake was much appreciated too. She was delighted with the pressies Mr P bought from us both yesterday.

Happy you are right it will warm again soon, it just feels like a very long Winter. I am going to start preparing for Spring this coming week by sorting my vegetable seeds etc.

poohbear59

I am recovering from a major flare up. I had forgotten how bad they can be. We were invited to a friend's last night but couldn't go as I couldn't walk. So today I am taking things a bit easier. Feeling half human again

My new snowball will have unsecured debts paid off in Feb 2016 and then the others paid off by the time I am 65!!

Ooh just had a Fbook message from DS1 to say he has scrap wood for us to collect today from his place of work. We are doing well for freebies to keep the house warmish. DS3 got us some from his workplace last week.

The guy was stripping out old beams etc and burning them in his field at night until we found out and it is all being burnt in our woodburner instead.

poohbear59

Just received the cheque for £224 that was missing from CPP. Mr P has gone to post it to the bank

Also found that my commercial credit card had gone over the limit because we have a £32 usage charge!! They had charged me an extra £12 so I phoned up and they have waived the £12. Still have to pay the £32. Apparently it is a charge to cover replacement cards or pin numbers!!