Emzilla's reincarnation diary..........

Emzilla

Morning

I think my month-long cold is finally going. I can stop giving you all sleep updates now as I'm actually getting some .

Didn't do the shopping yesterday as OH was away with work again last night. He said if I wait for him then he will add £10 to the budget. So going tonight instead. I know OH though, his half of the shopping will consist of Red Square, Pot Noodles and Poppets!!

Just emailed the website which I buy my contact lenses from because 5 of the lenses from my latest order have been folded over and stuck together. Never had that problem before, but when I tried to get them to open, they just split. So I've wasted 5 contacts already and I'm only half way through them. Will see if they send me some new ones.

Emz xx

Emzilla

Just got an email from the contact lens website and they are sending me a new pack as a gesture of goodwill. They also said if I can send them my remaining lenses, they will investigate the fault with them and send me another new pack to replace them. Looks like I've got free lenses for the next couple of months .

Quite pleased as I don't usually bother complaining about these things. I guess the saying 'if you don't ask, you don't get' is true.

Emz xx

svb53

Hi Emz, great news that you feel a bit brighter and are getting some sleep. I'm in the same boat as you, no kids but very doting aunty! Do you mind me asking, what do you do from home? I'm seriously looking into this on health grounds at the moment.

Thanks chicken xx

Emzilla

svb53 wrote: »

Hi Emz, great news that you feel a bit brighter and are getting some sleep. I'm in the same boat as you, no kids but very doting aunty! Do you mind me asking, what do you do from home? I'm seriously looking into this on health grounds at the moment.

Thanks chicken xx

Sent you a PM

Emz xx

Emzilla

I've just been speaking to my best friend. She knows all about my debts and DMP etc. She gave me some good advice.

Her exact words were 'Em, give yourself a break'. What she means is that I am putting a lot of pressure on myself to maintain this DMP for the next 5 years. It's just over £500 a month on top of my other bills and rent, not to mention food, petrol etc. She thinks that I often forget (or try to) that I have a serious illness and that I am not like everyone else. CF is a very up and down illness. I have just had a month of feeling down after that cold and cough wouldn't shift, and as a result I haven't earned as much as I should have done this month.

Her suggestion is that I write to my creditors again and explain my illness and say that the DMP was unrealistic because some months I won't be able to earn that money and will therefore have to miss payments. I could then commit to a token payment of say £5 each a month which would take the pressure off me to earn all that money when I don't feel well. I could then take any extra money I earn and make extra payments. Ideally, I could clear one debt at a time.

I know that the creditors would be annoyed, but what's the worst they could do? Take me to court? I am not lying when I say I have a serious illness and could prove this to a court, so I don't think that would do me any harm. I still want to pay my debts off, just in a different way that doesn't mean I am putting myself under pressure.

What do you all think of this? Realistic or not?

Emz xx

Kepp

It sounds realistic to me.

Do I remember you are doing the DMP yourself? If you are it could be worth going to CCCS so that they can handle this for you.

Put your expected income in as the worst months you have money-wise and then your proposed payment could be worked from this.

Then you can always save to overpay - or even better, to offer F&Fs that mean you could write your debt off even faster.

xx

Emzilla

beccie wrote: »

It sounds realistic to me.

Do I remember you are doing the DMP yourself? If you are it could be worth going to CCCS so that they can handle this for you.

Put your expected income in as the worst months you have money-wise and then your proposed payment could be worked from this.

Then you can always save to overpay - or even better, to offer F&Fs that mean you could write your debt off even faster.

xx

Thanks Beccie.

I'm not sure that CCCS would be able to help me with this as I'm going to offer token payments on the basis that my illness is unpredictable and I might not be able to earn anything some months.

I have just drafted a letter which I think explains my situation well. The problem is where it's such an unpredictable illness. I have said that I will pay a token payment of £5 a month and then every 3 months, make a higher one-off payment from the amount that I have been able to earn over the 3 months. Ie, if I earn an additional £1,500 over the 3 months then I can make large payments to the debts and then continue with the £5 payment and then do the same 3 months later.

Would that work do you think?

Emz xx

Emzilla

Okay, changed the letter to say that I will attempt to make an additional payment each month rather than every 3 months as I think that would be too tricky to manage.

I have stated that I can make the £5 token payment each month, but that the additional payments aren't guaranteed, but I will do my utmost to make them as and when my health allows.

Think I will send them off and see what happens.

Emz xx

Kepp

I think it has to be worth a shot, would have thought that if they have to take account of what you can afford then your illness is directly attributable to that, so therefore they can't ignore it.

Has to be worth a try!

On the DFW board there is a sticky where you can go to and then ask a CCCS person a question, either on the thread or by PM.

You can always ask for their thoughts without going onto a DMP with them. I did 6 months or so ago and found them very helpful

Emzilla

I was a good girl last night and stayed within my £10 budget for shopping. I've even got a bit of spare change. I have £10 left until Wednesday, but the car is crying out for petrol again, so guess where that will be going. As predicted, OH got himself a pot noodle, bottle of Red Square, chicken curry from Asda and chips from the chippy. He will never learn.

Need to buy some more stamps to send those letters out, but they can wait until next week. Will see if my loose change will cover some 2nd class ones though.

Emz xx