Tintingirl's "become debt free" adventure!

Giraffeseeker

sashybo wrote: »

Hi TTG, you were sounding very organised in your last post. It really helps to have everything set out and waiting in the mornings. I have to do this when I'm on early shifts as up at 5am and my brain doesn't function at that time in the morning.

The birthday list in your Mum's purse is a very good idea - I do have a couple of birthdays coming up very soon. I've been using gift vouchers from survey panels to try and calm the spendy-itis. Have been buying things for the house that we need but don't like spending "real" money on i.e. tootbrush heads and mattress protectors - the glamour. :rotfl:

Apparently, if women didn't shop, the economy would be completely screwed over - we're the consumers of the Country and it's an important role so we should take it seriously

But I think I'll do a birthday list. Because for adults it doesn't matter when you actually buy their present (within reason - not bikini's in November!) as long as you remember you have got it. So if you see a bargain, and it helps stop the spending itch and it would suit someone on your birthday list, then it's not as bad as an impulse buy for yourself. Kids are different though, as they like things one minute and not the next, and they seem to grow.... so I think they need to be shopped for within 2 months of their birthday really.

Giraffeseeker

PinotGrigio41 wrote: »

Hi, still not had a chance to catch up totally with your diary, but just read your last few posts. You sounded very organised last night. I seem to go in spurts, totally organised days and evenings, then complete car crash ones ! Ive always found it useful to lay all the uniforms out the night before, I now ask DD1 ( nearly 14) to lay her own uniform out to save me the job. Cant quite get my head around the fact its something weve being doing she was 3, but at the age of 14 cant seem to quite comprehend the meaning of it. This morning for example I swear she wasted at least 20 mins wandering aimlessly around the house half dressed, apparently looking for tights and school shirt yet she told me the night before she was organised and ready ! Teenageers never cease to amaze me at the moment !

Hope this evening is as organised as last night

I think it is a girl thing, my bf's daughter is the same at 13 1/2.

My DS1 is a natrually disorganised person, but because he is very aware of this he tries hard to think about what he needs and as a result is very good in the mornings. He'll often take stuff to school he doesn't need "just in case" and end up carrying loads of weight but at least he is not the opposite, which I fear DS2 will be when he gets to secondary....head in the clouds....

Giraffeseeker

No phone calls, except one from a number which said "blocked" for some reason (don't think I have blocked anyone on my iPhone - not sure how!) then came home to a big pile of post, and I thought "here we go"..... BUT, three letters were confirming refunds from the Utility companies (which all went into my account today :j), one was from my private pension company confirming they have made it "paid up" and that they would be refunding the payment they took out of my account last week, one was from one of my creditors (the one who I missed a call from on Saturday) politely saying they had been informed the DD had been cancelled, asking me to contact them if I had changed banks and wanted a new DD and to disregard letter if I was going to pay in an alternative way. Nothing about me missing a payment.

The only thing in the post that gave any indication that I might not be a creditors dream was a letter from from Vanquis offering me a "pre approved credit card" ideal for "rebuilding my credit"! And that went straight into the recycling bin as confetti!

Anyway, today at work I managed to finally photocopy what I needed to send off DMP agreement, etc, so I'll get that organised tonight and ready to send tomorrow. Must get some packaging materials tomorrow too as my auctions on ebay will finish and I've definately sold some things.

Today would have been another NSD if I wasn't a smoker - bloody things! Took my second tablet today though, so this time next week when I'm off them I'll be aiming for my first "proper" NSD :A

Time to do the boys dinner now, and then have some marking to do, so will check in later

Giraffeseeker

Not pleased with myself as no marking done tonight yet :mad:

Cooked dinner for the boys, spaghetti and meatballs, and then remembered I'd bought Gammon for them and the nice fresh spaghetti I used tonight had been bought for a dish I was planning to cook for bf and I tomorrow - annoying as I may now have to go to Tesco tomorrow :mad: You can tell I'm not used to meal planning - must write it down!

Managed to spend £29.10 online too, but this was on a 3 month NHS exemption certificate as my stop smoking perscription will cost £7.90 x 6 over the next 12 weeks, so I thought it was a good idea to save a bit of money (and if I have "paid up front" I can't give up giving up!) - so a money saving spend I think, and I'll get the doc to give me a perscription for summer hayfever tablets before it runs out too! :money:

BF rang to say I was right, he is totally out of money. Brilliant. I knew he had alot of debts too, he pays alot of maintenance to his ex plus for some reason pays half of tons of all the kids other costs too (bus passes, activities, etc) and has them at his house most nights after school and most of the holidays, he is still bearing the costs of an expensive divorce too. I think he might be around £50K in debt on a couple of loans and credit cards, although unlike me he does at least have equity in the house of probably around that amount. His one remaining working CC stopped working as he hadn't made the minimum repayment, which he paid and then it still didn't work. Turned out they'd reduced his limit and he's hit it. Because his credit card wasn't working, and because he'd promised the kids a new TV, he bought a TV, on his debit card, to the tune of around £400. The minute I saw it I knew what would happen and told him to return it, but he didn't. So now, of course, all his other DD's have gone and he is penniless and without a CC to fall back on. At times like this I am SO glad we are not living together, and I am NOT going to lend him any money :mad:

Even more annoyingly, when I started this journey at New Year and told him all about it, we agreed to a night out ONCE a month only - just the cinema and if all is well a cheap meal out - and said we'd do it mid-month ish to see how the budget is going for the month before spending the money. We are supposed to be going out tomorrow night as we have lots of parents evenings coming up which will cutail our social lives the next few weeks, and I have budgetted for MY half and now he has no money at all. Should I pay, and let him pay next month? Or should I cancel? Was looking forward to it as well

Was going to be a wine-free night tonight but I'm off for a soak in the bath now and shall be taking a glass up with me to cheer myself up :beer:

Giraffeseeker

I've not updated for a few days as I've been busy with open evening at school and other bits and pieces. My auctions finished on ebay on Wednesday and it looks like I made £66ish which is great! :j I sold 10 items out of 13 although and still awaiting payment on 3 of them, including the highest value item. I think I underestimated the postage a bit, as I've only sold on ebay a few times before. At the moment in total with what I have sent I am about £1 UP on the postage costs (although that doesn't factor in the packaging) so I'll have to see where I am when I have finally posted the rest. Lesson learnt for next time. In an event, I'll have made money so that's great! It's going in the Christmas pot once ebay have taken their slice :T

I also realised my necter card was not linked to my British Gas account - they send it to me to collect points from them so I assumed it would be and never realised I had to go online and register it with them! Anyway, it's done now so I can start collecting points. British Gas came and did a free energy survey and said that I pretty much have zero insulation in my loft, especially in the front of the house over my bedroom and the lounge which are bloody freezing unless the heating is on 24/7. So they're coming to insulate it for FREE in 4 weeks time which is amazing! And should start saving me some money right away.:)

I've had a text message from CCCS today to say my DMP is set up and payments start next month. I've cleared my overdraft and have a few hundred in the bank this month so I'm happy to get started in Feb.

I had a call from my smallest creditor, First Direct, at work when I didn't know they had my number there :eek:. They were fine when I said I couldn't talk though and asked me to call back. I haven't.... BUT they have cashed the token payments cheque and seemed very nice on the phone, so they do know about the DMP and so I might call them back. I have 2 x OD and a loan with them, all small amounts, so I wonder if they will put them together on one account to make it easier all round to track, I know they have done this with other people.

Santander CC sent a nice letter telling me I was £1.08 over my limit, but nothing about the missed payment and have not yet cashed the cheque. Virgin CC sent a text to say I hadn't paid this months payment (no cheque cashed). HSPF sent me a letter telling me I had hadn't paid and to contact them asap, but they cashed the £10 cheque. And I've had absolutely nothing from Barclaycard, although they have cashed the cheque so maybe they're just liaising with CCCS as asked.

I assume next week's post will bring lots more letters....

I have been good at work and taken my lunch each day, until today, when fish and chips for £2.20 was my friday treat

And I am on day 5 of Champix so I'm getting closer to that quit day - I can't wait!

jackieb

When you stop smoking are you going to put the money aside you would've spent? We didn't, but I kind of wish we had because we would have had a fair amount by now. I do see a difference with the money in my purse though - even though I don't smoke I would always buy a pack or two when I was in the local shop as he was always asking me if I had cigs. I just realised - I was an enabler! :eek:

Giraffeseeker

jackieb wrote: »

When you stop smoking are you going to put the money aside you would've spent? We didn't, but I kind of wish we had because we would have had a fair amount by now. I do see a difference with the money in my purse though - even though I don't smoke I would always buy a pack or two when I was in the local shop as he was always asking me if I had cigs. I just realised - I was an enabler! :eek:

I'm going to put some of it in my sealed pot for next Christmas, probably a couple of pounds per packet I would have bought, but not all of it as I need it to live on and make the budget balance - clearly smoking is one of the reasons I have been living off credit - my wages literally up in smoke! I have given up in the past and like you I did notice a difference in my purse, and then somehow I started again, one a day became two, became 10, became 20...

Giraffeseeker

I mentioned before about my BF wasting all his wages on a TV. Well, I decided to go through debt remedy with him last night to see how he did. He has no idea what he spends. He had forgotten to bring his internet banking log on details over to my house with him though, so some of the figures for bills etc were "best guess" but were probably pretty close. He said he wouldn't do a DMP because it was "too drastic" but let me go through debt remedy for him anyway. Well, at the end it said he was overspending by £40ish and so I thought "that's not too bad", until I realised he was overspending by £40ish on his LIVING COSTS before you even start to take into account debt repayments :eek:

I didn't think that could possibly be right, but when I thought it through, I realised it probably is. I have very, very similar living costs and I can pay £600 on a DMP. My BF earns around £200 per month less than me, doesn't receive Child Benefit, and has to pay his ex £320 in child maintenance. That's the £600 difference right there.

So, I trimed his budget a bit and got it so he had a surplus of £43 per month - which CCCS say means it will take 68 years to become debt free! :rotfl:

He doesn't actually seem to know what his debts are even, so we guessed at them. He has a loan (he *thinks* it is just one loan, but it might be 2....) and 3 credit cards and he guessed it to £35K total. I KNOW one of his CC's is on around £7K as I saw a bill on the side in his kitchen last week, yet when we were doing debt remedy he told me it was around £2-3K. So he is fairly clueless. He misses minimum payments all the time and 2 of his cards recently slashed his credit limit to roughly what the balance of the cards currently are, effectively cutting off his lines of credit.

Anyway, CCCS wouldn't even touch him for a DMP as his surplus on paper is not enough - so much for him stating he wouldn't do it as it is too drastic - it's not even an option! I know he could afford a DMP and we'd just need to get correct figures and then tweak his food budget etc. I don't know if he could cope with it though really, for example CCCS suggested £366 food budget for 3xchildren and him. Well, actually, his children are only there 3 nights per week and he comes to mine to eat once or twice a week so he doesn't need that much. Yet he said he could never live on such a "small" food budget. He wouldn't save for the "annual" things like Tax and MOT, he just spends money on what he wants today and doesn't think about the consequences tomorrow.

BUT, he won't listen to me so I guess I need to leave him to it. It would be nice for him to be tackling it at the same time as me so we could be "in it together" but he needs to realise that on his own....

Giraffeseeker

Oooo, so busy ranting about the BF that I forgot the better news from yesterday. British Gas came and looked at my attic and said the main part of the roof has virtually non existant insulation, and the front bit (above my bedroom and lounge) has NOTHING :eek:, so they are coming in 4 weeks to insulate the lot for FREE! :j

I bet that'll save me loads. No more heating empty rooms to silly levels in an attempt to get the temperature up a little in my bedroom, hopefully :T

They're also sending me some panels to stick behind the radiators in those two rooms to reflect the heat back into the room

Got my free energy monitor from them today as well for electricity and am now obsessed with switching lights off. One light makes a difference of 1p per hour - who knew? So I will no longer be leaving the landing light on all night and the hallway light on all day! Literally a "lightbulb moment"! Not just need to educate the children....

Loft and cavity wall insulation is free for all BG customers at the moment btw....

jackieb

We got our loft insulated a couple of months ago for free. It's made a huge difference. We only had about 2-3 inches of insulation, but they added another 12'' on top. My husband won't have cavity wall insulation though as he says there are too many stories of it causing damp.

Oh, and hopefully you've given your BF something to think about. None of us like to think we're being pushed into anything, so in a little while he might come to you, wanting to get on track too, but let him think it was his idea all along. He might just need a little time to get used to the idea.