Minniepoos: New Year - New Life (and it's GONNA be good!)

minniepoos_2

Seems like I only come on here to moan. Sorry

XOH got the divorce papers before christmas. My solicitor called me yesterday - she'd just heard from the courts, and he's fighting it.

Seriously. !!!!!!? He had an affair, moved in with the skank, got engaged and had a frickin' baby, and now he's FIGHTING THE DAMN DIVORCE???!!!

I even did it exactly the way he wanted - as he's told me if I cite adultery he'd fight it. So I gave in (despite that being BLATENTLY what it was) and cited unreasonable behaviour. And STILL he has the nerve to fight it.

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

So, more delays, and more expense for me. All I want is to be rid of him once and for all.

minniepoos_2

Just another quick update from me. I've finally got around to updating my CCCS budget. I did it yesterday, and my CCCS payment has gone down from £105 to £63. Then today I finally hear from the CSA, so I'll have to update the CCCS yet again! And for some reason, even though I told the CSA that DD sleeps at XOH's about 80 nights per year, it seems he's told them it's 104 nights so he has to pay less, and they took his word for it! I'm waiting for a call-back from them to find out why.

It's come out at about £30 a week, and they seem confident that they can get regular payments, which at the end of the day is all I wanted.

I've sent off my letter to ask for the tiny tax rebate for washing my uniform for a few years. Won't be much, but anything's better than nothing

I've also written out letters to see if I paid PPI on 3 BNPL I took out quite a while back. They've been paid off several years, but I thought I'd see if anything could be done there. I need to phone them up to get my account numbers, then I can post off the credit agreement request letters.

I've also written a stern letter to Tesco Visa asking why they feel they need to keep charging me interest when I'm on a DMP. They've charged so much that they've pushed me over my credit limit, so are now charging me their Over Limit fee too. Cheeky! :mad:

Also, I've finally tracked down and updated my very small Tesco pension from when I used to work there. At least now I know that if anything happens to me, XOH won't get any money!

Trying very hard to keep on top of stuff more, and to try to save/make money wherever I can. I'm back on antidepressants again, and they've just started to help. I feel a lot more like I can cope with things again - was starting to lose it a bit for a while there. Getting back on track now though.

minniepoos_2

Just a few things to report. I got another letter from the CSA saying they'd made a mistake with the calculation, and I should be getting about £40 per week instead. Bonus!

I picked DD up yesterday, and XOH came out to talk to me. I don't like that I prefer it all to take place on paper, or email, so I have records of everything he said. But anyway - he has said that if he doesn't hear from me or my solicitor by Wednesday, him and the skank will move out and force me to pay half the mortgage etc until the house sells. Apparently they have somewhere rent-free available.

Here are my thoughts....

1. They can't 'force' me to pay anything
2. If the mortgage isn't paid, the house will be repossessed
3. My credit rating is shot from the DMP already, so I won't be as affected as him by the repossession
4. So essentially, he's just screwing up his own life even more

I told him he wouldn't hear by then as I'm not seeing my solicitor until late Wednesday, so he's given me until Thursday now. I'll try to do some research on it between now and then, but although initially I was very worried and stressed, it seems that this won't happen as he'll be shooting himself in the foot. Unless he really thinks he can 'make' me pay :rotfl:

As I said in my last post - I have £63 a month 'spare', which goes on my DMP. No way in hell could I afford what would be at least £250 a month. Especially as the house was about to complete about a year ago, when he suddenly decided he wanted to live there, and blocked it.

You made your bed, 'love'.

girlatplay

You can't pay money you don't have.

Yes, if the mortgage isn't paid the house will be repossessed.

Good re CSA money

I'm not sure how a repossession would work with your DMP. Maybe you could ask on the bankruptcy board or ask someone who has a better idea than me. Is it possible you might be made bankrupt if the house is repossessed? I'm not sure about this one.

xx

minniepoos_2

My solicitor meeting was a bit of an anticlimax to be honest. He said that XOH wouldn't move out as there was no point. I tried to stress that he wasn't getting any legal advice but he didn't listen. He now says I won't get any money from the house - XOH will get it all. And apparently I earn too much to get help with the cost of the divorce. Err....I'm on 13K, get housing benefit and tax credits, am on a DMP, but apparently am better off than he is in the eyes of the courts. :mad:

So, not only do I lose all of the (up to £20,000) equity (less transfer/sale costs of course), but I now have to pay to divorce him, after HE cheated on ME!!!!!

Very annoying, but what can you do.

I'm not really that annoyed to be honest though - I just want rid of it all (him included) so I can start afresh.

Had a bit of a money saving/making weekend. I signed up for a free months trial of Netflix through Quidco to get £15 cashback - and then watched 13 episodes of Spooks

Then I waged £10 on Paddy Power Bingo through Quidco, to get £25 cashback. And won £30!! :D

I registered on Match.com for another £3 from Quidco too. And, my auctions on ebay finished - and 4 items sold (and all 4 were paid for through Paypal within a couple of hours ).

Awesome!

Plus, I got to go out on a great 10.5 mile hike in the snow - really lifted my spirits.

Right, I really should be doing work, but I plan to do some more Quidco-ing tonight. If there's money to be made, I'll find a way of making it....;)

minniepoos_2

I've been greatly neglecting my debt-free diary recently. Partly because I started a blog just before Christmas, which I put pretty much everything in, and partly because it seemed like I was just moaning on here, which was starting to annoy me

So, pretty quick update.....

I borrowed £200 from my best friend to pay for DDs school trip. I've been selling all kinds of rubbish on ebay, and as soon as it's up to £200 I'll transfer it to my account and pay him back. It's only been about 2 weeks, and I'm at about £65 already

My solicitor has written to XOH's solicitor (yep - he's FINALLY got one, and it's so nice do have some professionalism from his side for a change lol), basically I've requested £1000 and half the costs, then he can have the house and the rest of the equity. I want £1000 so I can pay back the friends and family I've had to borrow from to cover things that he said he would help towards. And if I've managed to pay my bestie back by then, it'll give me a little emergency fund and a bit of cash to get DD some clothes. She's kinda getting a bit desperate now.

I've finally learnt not to believe a single word XOH says - and that whatever threats he makes are just bluffs. Can't believe it took me so long The CSA are doing their job pretty well, so I'm glad I went through them in the end. XOH says he's going to take me to court for lying to them about how often DD sleeps at his, but I've asked for the list of nights he says he has so I can check them against mine, and he won't supply it. So.....it's a bluff.

I got my vouchers for switching my gas & electricity, and I now am the proud owner of a Kindle Plus with the little left over I got a bookcase for DDs bedroom. Been looking for a second hand one local-ish for weeks, then found an new end-of-line one in Homebase for £20.92. Bargain! Been reading loads, and have downloaded loads of free books, and a couple of Amazon's Daily Deals.

I had a couple of days off work this week, as it all got too much again,. I'd stopped sleeping, and was going pretty crazy quickly. I got myself back on track, and when I returned to work I decided to be honest with people about why I was off. And they were so nice about it. I work with a lot of people younger than me - a lot of early 20s - so didn't expect such a nice reaction. Don't know why I was honest either - when I opened my mouth to say why I'd been off I fully intended on lying. It felt good to be honest though.

I've been doing loads of online surveys and got my first voucher last week. Just a £10 Amazon one, but it's a start. I've put it away for Christmas. I've also started scanning my shopping, so hopefully will see more vouchers/gifts heading my way soon.

I've not done as much studying as I should have, so need to catch up with that. But otherwise, I think I'm ok.

minniepoos_2

So....it's been almost 2 years, and where I am? Pretty much in the same situation I was in 2 years ago! A few things have changed: I'm now happily divorced, have moved a couple of times, have had several jobs...

BUT, the debt is still there - and has actually grown due to a faulty electric meter and my lack of knowledge/experience about immersion heaters.

The total figure is just under 11K. And the job I was temping at ended yesterday, so I'm now temporarily unemployed too. However, I'm in the middle of arranging a DRO so hopefully there's a way out for me.

Honestly, I don't like the thought of the debt being written off. It's mine, and I fully intended to do everything I could to pay it all back. But, the years of not sleeping, and stressing about it have really taken their toll. The DMP I was on until the end of last year only allowed me a clothing budget of £13 per month, and as DD is now 14, it just wasn't working. At the moment, her school trousers are held up by a couple of safety pins. Something had to change, so here I am, changing things, and hopefully giving myself a life again.

I do a lot of surveys on a few different sites already and have done for several years (Amazon vouchers pretty much MAKE my Christmas possible), but now I'm going to do EVERYTHING I can to get extra money. All surveys, PTC and GPT, not forgetting selling whatever isn't nailed down on eBay, cashback sites; basically whatever I can find to make money.

I would like to say I will save it all, but given that I have just lost my job I might have to reevaluate that, depending on how things go. But whatever I do, I'll keep a running total in my signature.

2014 has started badly for me in several ways, but I'm turning it around, and I'm starting now.

minniepoos_2

I've had a day of researching and planning, and have a list of things I want to get done (or at least, started) tomorrow. I was going to write myself a list so I got the pleasure of crossing them off (I LOVE lists!) but I'm a little bit overwhelmed with paperwork so here they are instead:

• Qmee
• InstaGC
• Get at least 4 things on ebay
• Clixsense
• Catch up with as many surveys as I can
• Go through my DVDs to find a load for either ebay or webuybooks.co.uk

Today I registered and started with Neobux. Slow and steady is the name of the game, I think.

To try to get a little bit of money saved up I've joined the £2 coin savers and the 20p savers. I already save coppers and 5p coins. I've also signed up to the Clothing Challenge - I have said I won't spend any more than £150 on my clothes this year. To be honest, I don't think I've spent that much over the last two years put together!

As I'm now unemployed, I will be job searching big-time too. Looks like the majority of my day will be spent on my laptop, but it's ok. It all needs doing.

minniepoos_2

Lots of stuff has been done today...

I registered and started using Qmee. It seems fairly simple - and is literally money for nothing

I've started with InstaGC too. This is more time consuming, but I'll stick with it for a month or so and see if it's worth the time it takes. Right now I have a lot of time.

I sorted out my DVDs and got DD to sort hers out too. We've ended up with two massive piles which total £26.32 at WeBuyBooks.co.uk. I think I have some more in the garage so I'll go out and have a look tomorrow. While I'm there I'll go through my old CDs too. I never listen to them (everything's on my iPod now) so might as well de-clutter and get some cash.

I took a load of photos for ebay listings today too, and will take some more while I'm in the garage tomorrow. I'm also going to take a pic of the bookcase out there, and then advertise it on some Facebook local selling sites.

I'm now going to look at Clixsense and see if I think I can manage that too. And I'll probably give Swagbucks a go as well.

Basically, whatever I can find, I will do.

And I'm in the middle of agreeing a compensation figure from Carphone Warehouse. It looks like I'll be getting a cheque for a figure in the region of £34, which I will add to my Making Money total when I get it.

And, I also have a Lotto ticket with a couple of pounds on it, so I'll try to get that cashed tomorrow.

On the boring side of things, today I updated my Tax Credits, and tomorrow I will sort out Housing Benefit.

madhatter90

Funny how quickly things can fall away isn't it? Motivation is so key on the money saving journey, sometimes it just doesn't feel worth it.

I wish you good luck with everything x