All my good intentions......

Wellyboots6

Oooh well done on the organising

Glad the car passed its mot, I bet that is a weight off your mind.

Keep going!

Learning2Budget

Times change again. Found an absolute bargain of a car that a friend of a friend of a friend was selling. So have sold the banger for something a little more reliable. Emergency fund is kinda depleted now but have realised my car insurance has been too high. So will be finding a bargain at renewal time.
And my new car is paid for outright.....no loans or debt which is a first!

So now working overtime to boost emergency fund! Feeling pleased. L2B.x

Learning2Budget

Life feels good at the minute. We have cleared £15k worth of debt, we have a new (to us) more reliable car, paid for outright. The budget and organising are coming on well and we have plans to rebuild the emergency fund. School uniforms are nearly all bought and we have achieved all this with no extra debt and just a lot of planning.

I know that we still have a long way to go but if we keep making little inroads we will get there.

Right pep talk over and done with. Roll on payday i have a catalogue account to clear. L2B.x

Learning2Budget

I know Im repeating myself but its like a mantra......if i keep pushing the good points then my old spendy habits will be vanished because the feel good factor will be there. L2B.x

Learning2Budget

Hmmm letter from Halifax today. They recently contacted us about unauthorized use of an overdraft ...we havent used the account since 2008. OH rang and they apologise said that they had been adding interest cos cccs hadn't given them our updated budget. Emailed cccs and they forwarded budget on. Letter today states that they expect us to pay off the debt (originally 329) by November but it now stands at 489 pounds. Spent 15 minutes trying to ring them to find out what is going on but no avail.
Don't understand why they are suddenly doing this when we have been on a dmp since 2008 and they can see we are clearing the debt????

Each step forward gets us shunted a little bit back.
I understand they want their money back but we cannot pay it back at the rate they want. Why are they suddenly doing this?
L2B.x

Wellyboots6

Ouch!

Deep breaths and let CCCS deal with it. I imagine something just popped up on their computer or something.

It sounds like you are doing so well, don't let this knock your confidence!

Learning2Budget

Letter from tax credits saying they have over paid us and we owe them £2195. I stomped around swearing for a while then reread the letter. Realised that they had my income, oh's income and then a third income under oh's name which was both our incomes added together. So they had effectively doubled our salary. If we earn that we wouldn't be claiming tax credits. Doh!!
Finally got through to them and they stated it was my fault for writing that on the form but surely i would have noticed writing down a figure so high?????
So i apologised through gritted teeth and they are reviewing our account to see what we do owe them....if anything. Please let them just not pay us anything and i will rejig the budget....mainly food and we will continue to scrape through.

More stuff to list on ebay today and the house is becoming less cluttered.
Have finished buying school uniform.....no Clarke's shoes for my daughter when i found some gorgeous ones in asda!! For a third of the price of Clarke's. I know they won't last as long but she's going through a growth spurt so they may just survive till xmas.

Staying positive and trying to plan for xmas.
L2B.x

Learning2Budget

Tax credits have written back.....we owe nothing! Hallelujah! They will be giving us nothing either but i prefer that way....no hidden nasty surprises. Just need to pull our belts in with the budget.
Oldest daughters birthday is now planned and being budgeted for. Feeling very organised!
Went away for my birthday and instead of the usual screaming nightmare of packing, organising small children and oh. We had the car packed and were off in20 mins!!

Lot to be said for this organising lark. Got an organising diary from my friend and i am on the ball.
L2B.x

Wellyboots6

That's good news

What sort of thing would you put in our organising diary? I might need one of those! Everything has lapse badly, and my debt has increased again

Learning2Budget

Hello stranger.
I have birthdays, special events, my routine incomings and out goings. Then every month i have a list of extras that i need to budget for e.g birthdays, cards, nights out, etc. I have also written a list of things i want to do around the house, and am trying to work them into my budget.
Have also found the flylady launchpad and have been flying by doing 15mins of clutter a day and other jobs listed for that day.

Have also found a phone app for spending diary that is helping my nsd's happen.
Sounds boring but it really is working!

My budget includes a little treat each month too. So its helping me stay focused.xx