DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Standingtall wrote: »

I've got a little tip for you all regarding value brands - I say a little tip as cooking isn't really my thing but..
I have been buying really cheap tinned chopped tomatoes but adding some fresh basil from one of those little pots you can buy to stand on your window ledge (the supermarket pots, a couple of quid or so). I find that adding that and some cheap chorizo sausage makes for a really special sauce to put on pasta. It tastes as good as anything I have had in my local Italian! I also add some chopped chillies if I am in a the mood. So cheap but so tasty!

Thanks for the tip, I shall be trying this.

bhg wrote: »

Just thought I'd come on and share a little of our story. In April 2008 I did some some sums and we were supplementing our wages to the tune of about £400 per month with further debt. I then sat down and worked out that our £100,000 mortgage was now nearly £250,000 due to further borrowing as the value rose, and we had an additional £68,000 in unsecured borrowing. It was a mess. The hardest thing was explaining it all to my wife. We went on a DMP with CCCS and although the stress of dealing with the calls and the letters was gone, the reality of working hard, earning good money, and living on the CCCS budget was very difficult to adjust to. Over about six months we learnt to bend the truth a little with our budget and created 'our budget' and 'CCCS budget' which meant we could enjoy a few modest luxuries and life got much better. I began dealing with some creditors myself instead of CCCS and was able to target specific debts and pay them off more quickly, and as these got settled I would move onto the next. Last summer I finished with CCCS altogether and began to manage my own finances/debts again with many lessons learnt. I am now down to my last £11,000 of unsecured debt and hope to have this gone in 12 months. We both have credit cards for emergencies and use them responsibly. I am looking forward to the date in approximately three years when the defaults are taken off my credit file and I can get a good deal on car finance again. I feel that I can now go out and use credit sensibly and responsibly as a tool to help me in life rather than as a way to finance my life. It's been a tough journey but it's the support the CCCS gave me really helped, as did keeping a keen eye on my position and not just letting CCCS do it all for me. If you are in the first years of a DMP I know it can look really grim but keep in there, keep a little back for treats, and take my word for the fact that it really does get better.

What a good story, thank you for sharing.

ianmak wrote: »

Ooh, and I use my local shops a lot too for some veg and my herbs and spices. Bit gutted that they've just whacked up the prices of their scotch bonnets, but still picked up a dozen for 85p. Their bags of spices are so cheap too. Also got two red onions in there for 12p, and their peppers are around 30-40p each.

Basically, the more you can avoid the supermarkets for your food, the better!

Fingers crossed for you Ian.

HHx

PayingMyDebts

BlushingRose wrote: »

Yeah, we wrote off and got them to cancel the PPI...

It's going to cost them more then the 1p to process it, I did speak to them about the PPI - they reduced it to cover my death only! the quid pro quo was 0% interest on my £5k+ balance.

Standingtall

Growurown wrote: »

Yum will give this one a try

How are things going regarding your son? Have the grandparents had enough yet?

Hi Growurown:)

I am sure the Grandparents have had enough but nonetheless he is still there:(. Having said that they have helped him get officially classified as homeless and have got him on the road to getting a DRO. He has amassed £3.5k of debt. Clearly the fault lies with him but you do wonder about the irresponsibility of his creditors in allowing such a debt to amass:mad:

I think sadly that my parents can probably give him the support and guidance combined with, impotently, the time I do not have and maybe something good can come out of this mess. If he gets his own place I guess it will either be for the good or for the bad; my worry is that he will abuse it and things get even worse. I simply don't know. I feel I have failed him but what can you do? I do tend to think that in an ideal world he would have left school, got a job in a factory and had a good time for a few years before maybe working up through the ranks. However, these opportunities are few and far between now so what are the options?

Anyway, no good crying overe ifs, buts and maybes. Gotta stay positive.

Growurown

Standingtall wrote: »

Gotta stay positive.

Absolutely

BlushingRose

ianmak wrote: »

Ooh, and I use my local shops a lot too for some veg and my herbs and spices. Bit gutted that they've just whacked up the prices of their scotch bonnets, but still picked up a dozen for 85p. Their bags of spices are so cheap too. Also got two red onions in there for 12p, and their peppers are around 30-40p each.

Basically, the more you can avoid the supermarkets for your food, the better!

Mr BR and I were discussing this the other day and trying to work out whether going to the green grocer and/or butcher would actually be cheaper or not.

PayingMyDebts

Standingtall wrote: »

Blimey - 1p - how I wish any of my statements had a balance like that:rotfl:

Well done on getting to that point:T

It was over £6k 4 years ago.

Hopelessly_Hopeful

BlushingRose wrote: »

Mr BR and I were discussing this the other day and trying to work out whether going to the green grocer and/or butcher would actually be cheaper or not.

My advice is don't be loyal to any place. Shop for what you want. You save the most if you can shop in mutiple places so long as you can keep disciplined.

That said I buy most meat from butchers now, evern if more expensive the quality is so much better.

Good luck.

HHx

Time_to_face_the_music

Standingtall wrote: »

I've got a little tip for you all regarding value brands - I say a little tip as cooking isn't really my thing but..
I have been buying really cheap tinned chopped tomatoes but adding some fresh basil from one of those little pots you can buy to stand on your window ledge (the supermarket pots, a couple of quid or so). I find that adding that and some cheap chorizo sausage makes for a really special sauce to put on pasta. It tastes as good as anything I have had in my local Italian! I also add some chopped chillies if I am in a the mood. So cheap but so tasty!

Great tip, I'm going to give that a go tonight after my visit to Aldi on the way home from work tonight. Last week's favourite new recipe was smoked mackerel and spinach pilaf. Took 10 minutes to make, was delicious and extremely cheap. Onion, garlic, rice, smoked mackerel and spinach all from Aldi

Chrisblue1962

Paid £3.50 spare cash into my Credit Union savings account today....now have £11.00 saved

Some folks may say that I should pay this off my debt but I believe that you should also make a small attempt to save for a possible emergency or even a small treat as this reinforces one's budgeting skills and teaches you not to "splurge" out using more credit

Also had DMP Review yesterday, DMP period now down to 15 years from 24 years but things moving in right direction !!!! Will now be paying £92.00 per month instead of £61.00 per month.

BlushingRose

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

My advice is don't be loyal to any place. Shop for what you want. You save the most if you can shop in mutiple places so long as you can keep disciplined.

That said I buy most meat from butchers now, evern if more expensive the quality is so much better.

Good luck.

HHx

We tend to shop at Adli and Asda these days but have never got round to shopping round further than that really