DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

Hopelessly_Hopeful

maccymum wrote: »

good morning all!
i have just had my lbm a few days ago i filled out all the dmp forms and i am sending that away today as well as all my letters to creditors. i just want to say this post is full of great refreshing and inspirational ideas and advise.
best feeling ever yesterday....cutting up ALL my cards!

have a good day
xxx

Hi, welcome and well done

Who is your DMP with?

HHx

Time_to_face_the_music

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Brave words, I am considering the same so you may have good company.

Fingers crossed for us both.

In the interim, the lottery dream


HHx

Total interest for the month £231.62

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Total interest for the month £231.62

Boo, am cross for you.

Keep fighting don't give up. You are already into double figures at 11.4%.

When I feel low about it I try to remember it is considerably less than I was paying even if it still doesn't feel right. Every month I am a step closer to freedom.

My treat is going to be fish and chips for lunch and a lottery ticket on for the dream!!

Off to geek the numbers and consider the what if this and that etc. Am getting really into this visualising lark, sad I know.

HHx

Growurown

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Total interest for the month £231.62

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Boo, am cross for you.

Keep fighting don't give up. You are already into double figures at 11.4%.

When I feel low about it I try to remember it is considerably less than I was paying even if it still doesn't feel right. Every month I am a step closer to freedom.

My treat is going to be fish and chips for lunch and a lottery ticket on for the dream!!

Off to geek the numbers and consider the what if this and that etc. Am getting really into this visualising lark, sad I know.

HHx

Hello twin geeks. A definite boo to the interest you are paying, but only 2 years to go for you now HH :j

We probably won't be debt free until 2016 either TTFTM. Can't wait.

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Growurown wrote: »

Hello twin geeks. A definite boo to the interest you are paying, but only 2 years to go for you now HH :j

We probably won't be debt free until 2016 either TTFTM. Can't wait.

Thank you, we will get there together. I appreciate I am probably being overly optimisitc and wishing my life away but I keep thinking I hope after this month I only have one more August left (23 months lol)!

You will be in good company GUO and I plan to stay around and support as I couldnt have done it without this place.



HHx

Time_to_face_the_music

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Boo, am cross for you.

Keep fighting don't give up. You are already into double figures at 11.4%.

When I feel low about it I try to remember it is considerably less than I was paying even if it still doesn't feel right. Every month I am a step closer to freedom.

My treat is going to be fish and chips for lunch and a lottery ticket on for the dream!!

Off to geek the numbers and consider the what if this and that etc. Am getting really into this visualising lark, sad I know.

HHx

Oooh fish and chips! Am on a low carb diet but would kill for a bit of crispy batter and a vinegary chip

Here's hoping that lottery ticket wipes out everything. I bet you wouldn't be buying shares in M&S with what's left over :rotfl:

Growurown wrote: »

Hello twin geeks. A definite boo to the interest you are paying, but only 2 years to go for you now HH :j

We probably won't be debt free until 2016 either TTFTM. Can't wait.

Oh we can't wait either Growurown. Talk about counting the days and wishing your life away

Ambition is to get the DFD into 2015 and have a debt free Christmas that year but we will see .....

ben80

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

I am probably being overly optimisitc and wishing my life away but I keep thinking I hope after this month I only have one more August left (23 months lol)!

You are NOT being overly optimistic, you are being a realist!!! Don't stop doing it as it is really useful & a motivator!

So far, as a person on a DMP, I have (for the last time):
-Renewed my car insurance (no biggie, I usually fiddle it to get at least £50 off... and my car is highly modified!)
-Renewed my MoT (car in 10yrs old, so its a bit of a nail biter!)
-Missed my last summer holiday(!!)
-Scrimped for months for my last OH's birthday
-Loads of other things... but I can;t remember now!
-EDIT: Had my last car service

It's not wishing your life away, it's planning for the future and aiming high!
xx

Hopelessly_Hopeful

ben80 wrote: »

You are NOT being overly optimistic, you are being a realist!!! Don't stop doing it as it is really useful & a motivator!

So far, as a person on a DMP, I have (for the last time):
-Renewed my car insurance (no biggie, I usually fiddle it to get at least £50 off... and my car is highly modified!)
-Renewed my MoT (car in 10yrs old, so its a bit of a nail biter!)
-Missed my last summer holiday(!!)
-Scrimped for months for my last OH's birthday
-Loads of other things... but I can;t remember now!
-EDIT: Had my last car service

It's not wishing your life away, it's planning for the future and aiming high!
xx

Morning Ben

Hey I can geek away possibilities till the cows come home. LOL

I used to think budgetting was keeping my fingers crossed. Then I started trying to spend as little as possible. Then I started to learn the price of everything and make sure I was getting value for money. Then I started monitoring variance and spending ahead in the right places to get yearly grocery shopping down rather than week to week. It got me into spreadsheets and looking at what ifs etc etc etc. This visualisation has become very powerful motivator for me and also whiles away some of the time and pain when I exercise. Like for instance I have 14 hoover bags.......each lasts 3 to 4 months......where and what position will I be in when I have 7 left and when I have a to buy a new set.

My saving grace is TTFTM appears to be almost as bad and GUO isn't far behind. I wonder if Jack Nicholson felt like this when he filmed one flew over the cuckoo nest?!!!

Just a note, my fridge freezer I thought was on it's last legs at the start of my DMP, leaks water under the salad boxes........ it is still chugging along two years later and I am fit and well. It is going to have to stop proper before I replace it if it intends to tempt me to the shop in the next 23 months.

Just realised next Monday is BH so I will be paid a few days earlier so only 5 more sleeps to signature update


It is fab to see you drawing to a close Ben. It is ace that we can celebrate each others success. Had to admit I laughed when I read about your OH last birthday..... does she know?!!! :rotfl:

Have a good day all.

HHX

bertman

Nearly at the end of our first month on a DMP. Its beena killer 5 weeks between pay days so really taxed us. I checked our bank account yesterday and we were £5.00 overdrawn, I managed to scrape some coins together and pay in to bring the balance into the black. I range the Coop and they said that there would be no charges "but don't do it again" I felt like a child being told off!

Since our wages don't hit until next Friday I rang a couple of companies whose direct debits were due out before the date and changed them which seemed to take ages.
Then checked the bill for Tiscali, it seemed high so looked into the bill, we had been charged for some calls which were always free. Seems they have changed their terms and conditions without telling us, so got into an argument with the call centre worker, so I am now looking at cheap broadband offers to change to.
The microwave packed in a week ago so we need to look for another, we did some checking in the local supermarkets and can get one for about £30 which seems cheap.
Our payments go out to the creditors this week, apart from a couple of calls we have heard almost nothing, statements as usual but nothing more. If a statement has come in, I have got myself together and rang the companies so I am in charge, its easier than if they ring you, I am always busy when that happens and they seem to be one up on you then!!
One month down and about a trillion (or so it seems) to go!!

Time_to_face_the_music

Hi bertman :hello:

Was only thinking today that this month feels like a long one and there's still 12 days to go until payday

I read a piece of advice somewhere here about budgeting every month as a 5 week month then saving the extra week's money on the others. It's a great idea but I have never managed it

OH gets paid around the 22nd of each month and I get paid on the last Friday of the month so we pretend he hasn't been paid and start our month on my pay day. We set up all our DDs for the 1st of the month, so they go pretty much as soon as I have been paid, then we work out our budget for the month in weekly chunks. Am selling bits and pieces on ebay and Amazon and using that money to pay for emergencies (like your microwave ), save for Christmas and make extra payments to creditors still charging interest.

You will find your own ways of dealing with this. We struggled terribly with the budgeting at first but have found using cash works for us, we draw out the week's allowance of cash and that's that, no using debit cards allowed. The other thing we do is try and buy a bit of extra food each week, especially end of day bargains, and freeze it, then if the last week of the month is tight, we usually have around a week's worth of food in the freezer to live on.

Next week you can congratulate yourselves on getting to the end of your first month and check your new debt balances. Hopefully that will make it all feel worthwhile and make your DFD feel a bit sooner