Pigpen's DFW diary..

Penny-Pincher!!

Have you heard back about any bank charges yet?

PP
xx

pigpen

No.. it has been calculated at just over £4000 though.. taken 15 weeks so far!!

LJD1_2

Hiya pigpen
You're doing so well with your debt, hopefully you'll get your back charges refunded and that would bring things down nicely. Know what you mean about the 'little extra' costs - this month the freezer has broken leaving us with a tiny piddly one attached to the fridge and i've still not replaced the oven from when that broke. Thank goodness for the sunny weather and salads!! Take care xx

pigpen

recalcuted.. and.. despite the wedding and no ebaying for 2 months and a huge utility bill (£677) I have only added £120 to my total.. I'm not overly disappointed with that and aim to be up to date by the end of this month.

:D:D

pigpen

I am now only £32 behind where I was before the wedding expenses so that is excellent going.. I'll be ahead and making tracks after next Wednesday when I get the tax credits and can make another payment or 3.

I am still feeling a little like 2 steps forward one step back and one to the left!!!

But almost £7000 paid off since October.. on top of regular expenses like utility bills isn't entirely bad going I guess..

I am also trying to get back into the ebaying.. I achieved £800 in the first 3 months of this year so I need to keep with that in order to declutter and keep up the finances... best go photograph some more stuff!!

pigpen

Well we just had an offer of £840 from the bank charge claim.. it has taken a whopping 19 weeks up to now. We accepted this as partial paymant and informed them we would be proceeding with the remainder of our claim.

I have decided based on the low interest rate of the overdraft I will use the money to pay off something which we are getting bigger charges on and deal with the overdraft oncce we have dealt with the other things.. I have other stuff on 30% apr the overdraft is 3%.. no choice really.

So I have decided who is to be paid this Friday when the bank charges and hubbys wages and the tax credits should be in and I will have 3 companies paid off I hope! (studio cards, redoute and vertbaudet) and a large dent made in a few other debts.

I should be back in the running after paying these as I will have reduced my debt by more than £7000.. and broken the £16k barrier.. .. I just love dropping another £1000 off my debt.. I can't wait for it to be below £10,000 that will feel like such an achievement.

I am back on the ebaying and made £80 in the last 2 weeks with another 110 items ending on Sunday.. just need the post office to get out from the flood water and reopen so I can post the last few parcels!

I have a lovely friend who I have encouraged with credit card tarting and she is saving money every month now so I am really pleased my experiences are now helping my friends save money.. long may it continue!!

Xxx

chardonnay_2

:j well done pigpen - you have done so well getting rid of so much in so little time

pigpen

I paid £200 of the studio cards today so I have had to update my sig strip because I have paid off more than £7000 ... that includes christmas AND my SIL's wedding (about £3000 in total spent for these 2!!)

I am VERY proud of myself.. next update will be on Friday when we are paid and I make the nerxt batch of payments!

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

dreamer999

Hi pigpen

You should be proud of yourself as you are doing a fantastic job of getting rid of your debts :T

I have just been having a read through your thread and notice that all primary school children in your area get free meals. Hope you don't mind me asking but where do you live as I thought free school meals were means tested.

I am going to add up how much I have paid off my debts. I just keep paying but don't keep a total so have no idea how much I have paid.

Keep up the good work.

pigpen

I live in Hull.. it started as a trial scheme and made a huge difference to the number of children eating a school meal.. and in turn made it more financially viable to keep the kitchens open. It also (or so they claim) made a difference to the childrens concentration in the afternoon and improved their diet.. many children were getting a lunch box full of junk food and are now having a hot cooked halfway decent meal instead. They also get 2 pieces of free fruit/veg a day as well which the children really like. In some areas the children are given omega 3 supplements as well.. but not here.

The council were going to stop the free meals for all primary children last April but they made so much money from this years pantomime (starring the chuckle brothers would you believe!!) they decided to use the profits from that to fund the free meals for another year at least.. fab news for me.. saves me £25 a WEEK!! Also I don't feel too bad giving them beans on toast for tea very occasionally knowing they've had a cooked meal at lunch time... lol

The government still covers the means tested families, so it is important they do claim their free meal allocation and the local council cover the rest from their school budget.