DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

Hopelessly_Hopeful

bertman wrote: »

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!!

Well done Bertman on surviving your first month. I recall how painful it was at the start. It's a bit like going cold turkey I imagine not having the back up off CC. It will and does get better I can promise you that. Serious menu planning and looking at cleaning and toiletry products will release some money to keep in reserve in the first few months. It's the only area of the budget where you have real autonomy I think. The real plus for me was I got fitter, healthier, learnt to be a better cook and as yu say felt in charge which is so very important.

HHx

Time_to_face_the_music

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

My saving grace is TTFTM appears to be almost as bad

Who? Me? :whistle:

One of our spare bedrooms is currently overflowing with toilet rolls from a ridiculous special offer, which I think must have been a mistake but I wasn't about to point it out and literally filled the car! I don't think there will be enough to our DFD but it's a close run thing :rotfl:

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Who? Me? :whistle:

One of our spare bedrooms is currently overflowing with toilet rolls from a ridiculous special offer, which I think must have been a mistake but I wasn't about to point it out and literally filled the car! I don't think there will be enough to our DFD but it's a close run thing :rotfl:

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
You MSE angel :money::T

HHx

maccymum

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Hi, welcome and well done

Who is your DMP with?

HHx

hi its cccs
xx

Time_to_face_the_music

:money::A < that's me :rotfl:

Have worked out today, (on my second favourite spreadsheet), that the small payments we make every day, aka MSE PADding, are knocking out the NatWest OD interest. Am now calculating how I can get down the M&S interest which is currently £86 per month. If I can get rid of those two, it will take our monthly interest down to just over £100 :mad:

maccymum

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

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.

we do that also
a friend of mine gave me a wee tip, if you shop on a fri, nx week do a sat, then sun.....then every 6-7 weeks you should have an extra week shopping money....think i maybe try that one

have a great sunday all xx

Growurown

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Then I started monitoring variance and spending ahead in the right places to get yearly grocery shopping down rather than week to week.

Ooh I like the sound of this but not actually sure what it entails. Could you enlighten me please?

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

My saving grace is TTFTM appears to be almost as bad and GUO isn't far behind.

How did you know? Have you been hacking into my spreadsheets?:rotfl:

The other thing I would like to know is why does it all work out on the spreadsheet but not in real life? I would like to have no spend days too but my OH seems to get in the way. What was it this week? A new game for the Ipad £6.99, a new toy for the dog £5 and some new guitar strings £11.99.

Growurown

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Have worked out today, (on my second favourite spreadsheet), that the small payments we make every day, aka MSE PADding, are knocking out the NatWest OD interest. Am now calculating how I can get down the M&S interest which is currently £86 per month. If I can get rid of those two, it will take our monthly interest down to just over £100 :mad:

I like the sound of this too but again not sure what it entails. Could you explain please (in numpty language) what 'MSE PADding' is?

wannabee_in_credit

PAD = Payment a day
I don't do it, but I think it's where every day you round your bank balance down to the nearest £, or £5 and make a small payment towards a debt. Small, but done every day then it adds up to loads.
xxx

Time_to_face_the_music

Growurown wrote: »

I like the sound of this too but again not sure what it entails. Could you explain please (in numpty language) what 'MSE PADding' is?

It just means a payment a day hence PAD. We all pay an amount every day towards one of our debts or for those not in debt, towards savings etc.

I generally round up the odd money in our bank account each day and pay it to the NatWest OD which is still charging interest. If I make any good ebay or Amazon sales, I try and add some of that too. I checked earlier and over the course of the last month, the PADs have added up to a tiny bit more than the interest NatWest charged

Check it out

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4045923