Finally reaching out for some help...

kerri_dfw

I'm really exhausted from all the early starts but wanted to do a quick update.

Payday tomorrow, I've got £142 left in the black on HSBC with a £600 buffer although I refuse to use that, would rather the cc before I touch that! Least paying the cc in full makes it interest free. I've got £500 buffer of the cc, but would rather go without chocolate before I use that.

Old work are paying me £800 less than normal, which I don't understand, I expected £500 less so will analyse the payslip when that comes through, something doesn't add up as it looks like 2 weeks pay instead of 3 hmmm. Anyway, even if new work don't pay me until end of march I've enough mileage expenses that'll come back in a weeks time to cover me for work expenses, old work wage covers bills and rent plus £90 to wescott, then I have £100 spending money to include food. However, I have full cupboards from all the hoarding and will just need perishables.

I'm impressed that I'm going to be ok, even without taking into account £1100 buffer of available credit.

I've paid lloyds £13 today, £12 to cover monthly payment and £1 for interest they charged me grrrr. That's the last interest until the 6 monthly payments are up, but you know me I won't get to the final one as they'll be gone as soon as new work pays me

PinotGrigio41

Wow talk about busy !! Well done on paying off the creditors !! :T:T Sooo pleased for you !!

Really glad you are enjoying your new job even if its wearing you out !

I love my E-reader and have definitely read much more since I had it. I pop it in my handbag everywhere I go, as its nice and light unlike a heavy paperback book I don't even notice it. Any given opportunity I have a little read. Ive read four books since Christmas which for me these days is a miracle. Its also a sign of how calm I am now compared to pre LBM when I had the concentration of a gnat !! :rotfl:

Hope you have a really lovely weekend and a chance to have a rest ! xx

take care
Pinot x

kerri_dfw

Right I'm definitely off the rails, but how I manage it and still think MSE I've no idea as I'm not panicking about it this time. Phew! I ordered indian takeaway tonight for £12.50 which fed both OH and myself, and will have enough for lunch tomorrow too I know I should have cooked, but I wasn't in the mood and afterall I did a massive roast yesterday. I find out in the morning if new work are going to pay me this month, fingers crossed they do so I can kick some more debt to the kerb

OH leaves for Canada tomorrow sad times.

I've put in an order with Appr0ved F0ods for £35 including postage, this includes 144 sachets aka 288 portions of cous cous I didn't realise how many it was at the time of ordering, but looks like cous cous for lunch and dinner for the next year haha. The total order should have been about £150 so I'm pleased.

Hopefully more debt-busting update tomorrow. *big hugs*

RosaBernicia

*vision of Kerri boxed into her kitchen by cous cous supplies*:rotfl:

You'll be sorted if there's a flood, you can just use the cous cous in place of sandbags

Rosa xx

Cherryjack

Mercy!!! thats alot of cous cous lol
Sending hugs OH will be back before you know it xxx

PinotGrigio41

Blimey Kerri, thats a hell of lot of couscous you need to get through. Maybe you could set yourself up with a little food stall outside the front door selling bowls of lovely homemade cous cous to passers by thus making extra money !:D

Sorry to hear that OH has left. Sending bigs hugs your way. Speaking from experience you will probably find the first couple of weeks or so will be the worst, then you will settle into a bit of a routine and get on with things and then as the date home approaches you will be mad and excitable and the time will go soooo slowly.:j Did you sort yourself out with Skype so you could speak to each other easily ?

All will be fine and we are all hear to listen if you get fed up and lonely !

kerri_dfw

OH is flying over the oceans to the land far away. I managed to save the tears until I was on the M25, not that he was trying to stop me. I had to tell him "If you stop asking, then yes I'll be ok" whenever he asked if I was ok, honestly men!

It is a HUGE amount of cous cous but going to sell a case to my sister as her oldest loves cous cous in his lunchbox so that's 24 portions less

Debt busting wise I've just found that new work is paying me £1400 tomorrow which I wasn't expecting. I have told the OH I shall keep back some money in case his funding doesn't arrive, it's 2 weeks late so far. But with the extra I'm going to pay off my Lloyds TSB overdraft that'll put me in the black there for the first time since I've been an adult. That'll be really impressive, then it's just the loan that's sat with Wescott. I'm not sure how to work it with them, I doubt they'd take £800 for the £1670 that I owe them but I might try giving them £1000 and see what they say to that. Although I am still getting letters from Lloyds, so maybe I can't buy out the debt for a low price. I'll pay this months, then try for it next month at £800 up to £1000 and see what they say. In the meantime I'm going to put the additional money into my savings account to earn this rarely seen thing called interest.

Wow just think, next month I could be debt freeeeee.

kerri_dfw

Just paid off lloyds o/d :T tried to cancel it but it says the funds aren't available just yet as they've literally just transferred over. I may leave it alone and just let the repayment plan cancel it so it looks better on the credit report

So I now only have one creditor (well two as I have Vanquis but will explain that in a minute), and I have some lovely pots of savings.
Basically what I have done with Vanquis is to start using it as a debit card, anything I pay using it I then transfer the money to my online savings account. I've given myself a £200 buffer to start with and my £160 expenses will get added to this as the balance on vanquis is now about £200 remaining. When the next bill comes through I'll pay off the balance and start again, but pay it with savings This means I have a spending budget of a maximum of £500, and if I can't pay using credit card then I can't have it simples!

Anyway, my finances are looking lovely I've got £900 in the bank at the moment in the green I've got £200 in my online bonus. I've changed my d/d for my 4% savings to be £500pcm instead of £25 so I'll have £500 in there. This is going to get pulled out next month and hopefully be used to offer wescott an f&f. What else...I've got £20 in my pots and loads of food.

You know the weirdest thing about all of this is that I have no idea why I have loads of money all of a sudden. I know I got the tax rebate which helped, but I'm not counting that as I paid off the OD with that and paid off Vanquis for another month. I guess it helped though. Although, I have noticed that the size of my bank statement has reduced, so maybe I really am spending less

Anyway, plan of action after paying off debts is to save for a house. I've already told the OH that I'm saving for our house and he's fully on board with the idea Everything just seems to be feeling too easy and relaxed at the moment hmmm dodgy very dodgy.

Cherryjack

you wil do well with the OH i promise.. and i totally know how you feel, my ex husband worked on films and was away for 8 months at a time and surprising how i got used to it.. in the end he was a pain being home lol.. see im going to keep you cheery
Can i ask you for a step by step guide on how i offfer a debt less.. i have an egg card for £800 and was going to try my luck.. but not sure what to do (only when you have time) xxx

kerri_dfw

Hi Cherry,

I don't really have a step-by-step, but I think if the whole debt has been sold onto a DCA then they pay pence for the pound, so you can go in with a low figure. My lloyds loan is now with wescott, but still owned by lloyds so when I called them last they said I could get about £400 knocked off. So I'm going to try my luck when I'm paid end of march and offer them 50% up to £1k. If they're not happy with that, then they can keep getting the £90 a month from me as I can earn interest whilst the debt is 0%