DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

Stand_Fast

Hi DMB sorry to hear your debt is going up,is that due to interest?
What spreadsheet are you using if excel I can give a few basic commands that should help

Best

Stand Fast

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Stand_Fast wrote: »

Hi DMB sorry to hear your debt is going up,is that due to interest?
What spreadsheet are you using if excel I can give a few basic commands that should help

Best

Stand Fast

Fire away with comments please

I only know how to use the autosum and sort. Everything else I do manually!!!!!!! I know there's so much more to be had but haven't had the time to seek out the teaching and learning.

I just love the way all information presented well and I can look backwards and forwards. I have the predicted balance for each creditor for each month until the end of the DMP.

I have learnt several things whilst on dmp, one is that it's my money and I need to know what's it worth to pounds and pence at any given time and not to wait for some financial insitution to finally bring the balance upto date.

Hope everyone having a good weekend

HHx

Stand_Fast

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Fire away with comments please

I only know how to use the autosum and sort. Everything else I do manually!!!!!!! I know there's so much more to be had but haven't had the time to seek out the teaching and learning.

I just love the way all information presented well and I can look backwards and forwards. I have the predicted balance for each creditor for each month until the end of the DMP.

I have learnt several things whilst on dmp, one is that it's my money and I need to know what's it worth to pounds and pence at any given time and not to wait for some financial insitution to finally bring the balance upto date.

Hope everyone having a good weekend

HHx

Not too sure at what level of experience to aim this at so I'll assume 'beginners'
Excel (other spreadsheets are available, no affiliation etc etc) can be a powerful weapon in the old 'how are my finances doing?' armoury, with some quite basic commands.

In essence the majority of work is done with the four arithmetic functions, + - * / and is entered into a cell the same way as you'd write them down.

To add 2 cells together:
1. Put a number into 2 seperate cells
2. In the result cell (any other cell you choose) press the = button, then click the first cell you want adding, now press the + key, then click on the second cell you want adding.
3. Press the enter/return button and the answer will appear in the cell.
4. You can of course continue adding any number of cells before hitting the enter button. This is useful where the auto sum is not appropriate because you do not want to add all cells in a column or row.

To subtract / Multiply or Divide one cell with another:
1. Do exactly the same as above but use the - / * key instead of the + key.
2. Again you can continue to do this for as man cells as you need (although dividing multiple cells is unlikely!)

Using Auto Sum:
Another powerful tool, if you click in the cell immediately at the end of a row or column of numbers, pressing the auto sum (looks like a backwards 3 on the tool bar) automatically adds up the figures.
However, be careful as it will only include up to the 1st unpopulated cell, so if there is a break in the numbers (a blank cell) it will only include cells up to the blank one!
If this happens just click in the first cell you want included and (keeping the left mouse button depressed) drag the selection all the way to the last cell you want included.

A few typical calculations I like to do would be what percentage is one figure of another i.e. I pay £26 to my CC and the debt is only reduced £11, what %age of my payment is interest?
in one cell I enter £26, in the next cell below I enter £11.
In the 3rd cell I want to know how much of the payment is interest
so I insert the formula:

=(click cell with £26 in) - (click cell with £11 in) press enter

The answer is then returned £15

To find the %age I then enter in the fourth cell:

=(click cell with £15 in) / (click cell with £26 in) press enter

The answer is then returned 0.5769, with the cell still selected press the % button the toolbar which will then format the result as a %age 57.69%


Cell Formatting:
If you want to make the spreadsheet look a bit more professional use the formatting options which are accessed by left clicking the mouse and selecting 'Format cells'

1. Hi lite the area you want to format, (change font, font size, bold, colour of text, colour the cell, put a lined box around, underline etc etc).
2. Left click mouse with cursor inside selected area
3. Choose what you want to do press OK and its done

For this its good to just play with the options to see what they can do and if you like the results or not

If this is of any use, I'll be happy to put some more specific commands/formulas up, so if you let me know what your trying to do I'll put a solution up!

All the best

Stand Fast

Time_to_face_the_music

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

I have learnt several things whilst on dmp, one is that it's my money and I need to know what's it worth to pounds and pence at any given time and not to wait for some financial insitution to finally bring the balance upto date.

Advice for anyone on a DMP doesn't get better that this. It is our debt, we let CCCS pay the creditors but it will always be our debt so we need to keep responsibility and control :T

Almost time to set off for work

Time_to_face_the_music

dmb wrote: »

Hi everyone
I've just been on to CCCS to update my balances. I've not done this before even though I'm almost 3 years into my DMP. Bit depressing as I now owe £3000 more than on my previous estimated balance so it's added another few months to my dfd. :(Moral of this I suppose is to keep making updates.:o

I've started using a spreadsheet too but not really sure how to make the best of it. I can enter numbers and add them up but am sure there's much more to it. Are there any basic instructions as to how to use a spreadsheet properly. Would love to join the geek club!! (how sad is that?!)
Enjoy the rest of the weekend

I am really sorry about the bad news but I have read so many stories here about people thinking that they were coming to the end of their DMP and then finding they actually owed loads more that it made me determined to control our debts to the penny. I am probably OTT but I check our debt balances at every opportunity, each statement, each payment, each bit of interest added, and update everything on the CCCS website. Then I do it on my own spreadsheets

We always love new members in our geek club

Time_to_face_the_music

ailz95 wrote: »

Hi All,:wave:

I've not been on here for ages. My dad died in May and I seem to spend most of my time with my mum at the moment. She's finally coming round a bit and seeing their 65 years together (since she was 15) as something to celebrate rather than feeling that it makes things so much harder now that she is alone.

Anyway. My lightbulb moment was when my stepson didn't pay a bill of £54 which was in my name and Virgin Defaulted us:mad:. Where before then I'd been a credit tart, suddenly all new credit was cut off. I've been on the sick since 1994 yet getting credit was easy - they were offering it from everywhere, even knowing that I am on the sick and my husband is my carer, credit cards, loans, overdrafts they couldn't get me to take enough of their money.

After the sudden cessation of new credit we struggled for a few months and then went on to a paid DMP:eek:. MBNA then told me about Payplan and how we didn't have to pay them anything (we were paying £34 a month before) and we've been with them for about 18 months now.

One thing I'm grateful for in being disabled is my car. I get higher rate DLA (government willing when the new 'trials and tests' start next year) so for my £54 per week I get a new, insured and serviced car - car tax is zero if you're disabled anyway - every 3 years. All I have to do is put fuel in it. After the old bangers I had this is a relief - no mot or breakdown to worry about.

Like others we struggle some months. We've found that writing a shopping list - and sticking to it - helps. We've tried different supermarkets but find that Sainsbury's is as cheap as any - we buy their Basics range as the quality is so good - and we top up at Lidl once a month.

We have £50 a week (hubby's carer allowance money) for food/household stuff and petrol. We shop once a week (actually every 8 days), if we run out of anything then we do without - unless we have an underspend and then we'll perhaps get something like eggs or milk, but very rarely. Every 8 weeks we get a week off and that money goes towards petrol for outings - usually looking at old churches :A and occasional nights in Travelodges.

We've also found that since we turned our heating down (16 degrees during the day and 17 in an evening) and wearing more clothes we don't get nearly as many colds. Mind you I'm in bed by 7.30 pm so it's only hubby who gets cold in the evenings - and he's already into fingerless gloves round the house.

Sorry I've gone on so long, hope everything goes well for all DMP'ers. Must get back to my spreadsheets now :rotfl:

ailz, I had a really choked up feeling when I read about your mum and dad, it's almost identical to my parents. They met as young teenagers and married at 17 and 20 when my dad was home on leave from the Royal Navy during the WWII. My dad died very suddenly when he was 55 and my mum felt her world had come to an end. Gradually she got some life back, the birth of my daughter, her first and only grandchild gave her something to care about again, but until the day she died, she never stopped missing him. I still can't listen to the words of Alone Again Naturally by Gilbert O'Sullivan (showing my age here!) without it making me think of my mum and dad and having a little cry

I love old churches too, maybe we are secretly related, and of course I am already HH's Twin Geek Sister, so with your love of spreadsheets, there could be a third secret triplet

Take care
TTFTM x

D3P0

Hi all,

Bit of a negative moment at the mo. Tesco have refused the DMP as my account is in credit / up to date and MBNA won't reduce my interest rate down from 12.9%.

Bit of a shame really. I'd tried my best to keep everything in order and not overdue and now it feels like I'm paying the price for it?

Ho hum...

Hopelessly_Hopeful

D3P0 wrote: »

Hi all,

Bit of a negative moment at the mo. Tesco have refused the DMP as my account is in credit / up to date and MBNA won't reduce my interest rate down from 12.9%.

Bit of a shame really. I'd tried my best to keep everything in order and not overdue and now it feels like I'm paying the price for it?

Ho hum...

Hi

Sorry to hear this

I have 5 that still charge me interest including 2 M&S ones at 25%. Overall I still feel that DMP was the right decision for me though, at least there will be an end this way.

As you have only just started have you considered deferring DMP or trying self managed arrangements? That way £1 token offer for a few moneths may sharpen their thinking?

Good luck

HHx

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Stand_Fast wrote: »

Not too sure at what level of experience to aim this at so I'll assume 'beginners'
Excel (other spreadsheets are available, no affiliation etc etc) can be a powerful weapon in the old 'how are my finances doing?' armoury, with some quite basic commands.

In essence the majority of work is done with the four arithmetic functions, + - * / and is entered into a cell the same way as you'd write them down.

To add 2 cells together:
1. Put a number into 2 seperate cells
2. In the result cell (any other cell you choose) press the = button, then click the first cell you want adding, now press the + key, then click on the second cell you want adding.
3. Press the enter/return button and the answer will appear in the cell.
4. You can of course continue adding any number of cells before hitting the enter button. This is useful where the auto sum is not appropriate because you do not want to add all cells in a column or row.

To subtract / Multiply or Divide one cell with another:
1. Do exactly the same as above but use the - / * key instead of the + key.
2. Again you can continue to do this for as man cells as you need (although dividing multiple cells is unlikely!)

Using Auto Sum:
Another powerful tool, if you click in the cell immediately at the end of a row or column of numbers, pressing the auto sum (looks like a backwards 3 on the tool bar) automatically adds up the figures.
However, be careful as it will only include up to the 1st unpopulated cell, so if there is a break in the numbers (a blank cell) it will only include cells up to the blank one!
If this happens just click in the first cell you want included and (keeping the left mouse button depressed) drag the selection all the way to the last cell you want included.

A few typical calculations I like to do would be what percentage is one figure of another i.e. I pay £26 to my CC and the debt is only reduced £11, what %age of my payment is interest?
in one cell I enter £26, in the next cell below I enter £11.
In the 3rd cell I want to know how much of the payment is interest
so I insert the formula:

=(click cell with £26 in) - (click cell with £11 in) press enter

The answer is then returned £15

To find the %age I then enter in the fourth cell:

=(click cell with £15 in) / (click cell with £26 in) press enter

The answer is then returned 0.5769, with the cell still selected press the % button the toolbar which will then format the result as a %age 57.69%


Cell Formatting:
If you want to make the spreadsheet look a bit more professional use the formatting options which are accessed by left clicking the mouse and selecting 'Format cells'

1. Hi lite the area you want to format, (change font, font size, bold, colour of text, colour the cell, put a lined box around, underline etc etc).
2. Left click mouse with cursor inside selected area
3. Choose what you want to do press OK and its done

For this its good to just play with the options to see what they can do and if you like the results or not

If this is of any use, I'll be happy to put some more specific commands/formulas up, so if you let me know what your trying to do I'll put a solution up!

All the best

Stand Fast

On the job list for next weekend, many thanks

HHx

dmb_2

Stand_Fast wrote: »

Hi DMB sorry to hear your debt is going up,is that due to interest?
What spreadsheet are you using if excel I can give a few basic commands that should help

Best

Stand Fast

Hi, yes due to interest from Barclaycard, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB. They have now all reduced interest though not frozen.
Yest it is excel. I see you have already given some basic instructions so thanks