40 months until debt free... musings and meanderings along the way.

rosered1963

Hi Laura

That's brilliant news about the family loan - excellent.

We rang CCCS and they told me what to do - so helpful and the debtors have accepted our offers of repayment no problem.

Re marriage - 1st year certainly is a period of adjustment. We are arguing a lot now whereas we never did before. Money, or lack of, coupled with a fit man without a job, is not a good combination!

Thanks for asking about my health I am a lot better since leaving the cold house.

Regarding the fact you have not yet been paid - could that be an admin error or do you think the company hasn't got the funds? If I were you I would find out if the other staff haven't been paid either. If they haven't, you can contact management as a group and ask what the position is.

great news about the loan though - what a relief

laura2481

rosered1963 wrote: »

Hi Laura

That's brilliant news about the family loan - excellent.

We rang CCCS and they told me what to do - so helpful and the debtors have accepted our offers of repayment no problem.

Re marriage - 1st year certainly is a period of adjustment. We are arguing a lot now whereas we never did before. Money, or lack of, coupled with a fit man without a job, is not a good combination!

Thanks for asking about my health I am a lot better since leaving the cold house.

Regarding the fact you have not yet been paid - could that be an admin error or do you think the company hasn't got the funds? If I were you I would find out if the other staff haven't been paid either. If they haven't, you can contact management as a group and ask what the position is.

great news about the loan though - what a relief

Hi RR
Glad you are a lot better out of the cold house and you are making some headway with the advice of CCCs

I don't think I've been very clear about the work situation. Well, I know I haven't- it's been a weird mix of worrying/ranting. Here is the situation:

In Dec 2010 it came to light that the boss had not been paying some fairly major bills (eg not paid rent on one shop premises for 2 years! A tax bill not paid. Suppliers not paid etc etc etc) He closed one shop, made a couple people redundent and we went through loads of hassel with suppliers. Boss entered into a voluntary arrangement to pay back debts. We limped on. Fast forward to now. 3 weeks ago he announced he was changing the name of the company - we were xxx ltd trading as yyy. He is changing to zzz ltd trading as yyy, having put company xxx ltd into administration. All the suppliers are on hold. Jobs aren't coming through for customers. He is constantly pressuring us to make more money. All customers paying for products by Direct Debit are not going to have a payment take in September as he changed the bank account but hasn't set up the new account properly yet so he wants us to ring the whole 900 people individually and ask them to pay over the phone. It is a nightmare. And we are short staffed as people have left and he won't replace them.

We are due to be paid on Monday. Normally he will go to 'head office' (the woman who does accounts who is in the next town over) once a month before pay day to sort out wages. He has not done that this month. As the money we normally take on Direct Debits pretty much covers the wages I'm not 100% the money will be there to pay us on monday. I can also imagine he may do something like give us a cheque on Monday and think that's ok. Errr, no, cheques take time to clear. My Direct Debits come out on Monday. If there is no money in there I am f**ked, excuse my french. And he's being evasive when asked questions. 'Are we getting paid on monday?' 'I've got that covered right now' Right now... what does that mean? It's covered now but might not be on Monday?

It's all a big waiting game really.

Oh, and he's going on holiday to spain on Saturday and not coming back until Wednesday. Running away so he doesn't have to deal with us on monday? He may come back and find that the shops aren't open if he hasn't paid us.

Well, that was a rant again. Definitely having to look around for a new job. The stress levels at work right now are enormous!

rosered1963

Hi Laura.

OMG about the employer! If your pay is not in your bank on Monday, you could do a bit of sleuthing.

To check whether the company has gone into receivership, contact the Trading Standards department of your local council.


Alternatively, try the Insolvency Service (0845 602 9848), which can tell you if a winding up petition has been issued. You can also check whether it has gone into liquidation with Companies House, 0870 333 3636.



The employer has to pay you for work done. If you don't get your pay on time, I would go to Citizens Advice, unless you are in a union of-course.


Hope all goes well xx

laura2481

Some news on the wage front. We have received wage slips today, so that is encouraging. But he has also just said the wages 'should' go in, although they may be a few hours late (eg not at midnight) I can live with a few hours, days would be a problem. Of course, problem would be an understatement.

Heffi1

Hi Laura,

If it was me I would be worried sick, so don't apologise for the rant, it helps to get things off your chest.

I would pop to the Citizens Advice Bureau and see if they can help re the wages not going in, what is your position, would you be paid ahead of creditors, would you become a creditor if not paid etc.

laura2481

Heffi1 wrote: »

Hi Laura,

If it was me I would be worried sick, so don't apologise for the rant, it helps to get things off your chest.

I would pop to the Citizens Advice Bureau and see if they can help re the wages not going in, what is your position, would you be paid ahead of creditors, would you become a creditor if not paid etc.

Hi heffi- i know for sure that if company folded completely employees wages are a priority over any other creditors. Not that thats a cheerful thought!

laura2481

:hello: Hi everybody and happy September to you all!

Well, I had hopes that September was going to be a better month but I seem to have started it with an argument with OH both yesterday and this morning over food shopping and present buying, and of course with the ever looming 'will I/won't I get paid tomorrow' September hasn't been great so far.. of course there are another 28 days for it to get better!

Argument one yesterday:
On Friday OH did food shop. Spent £27 for a weeks worth of shopping. Bits and pieces to use with what we had in to make up a week worth of meals. Very good. However, that night we discussed how we were going to have the roast chicken on Sunday- ie Roast dinner/ cold with salad etc. OH said if we were going to have a roast dinner we didn't have in any stuffing, eggs to make yorkshire puddings or sausages (OH like chippolatas with roast chicken dinner, I'm not so fussed) On the way home from work yesterday I bought some eggs, sausages (2 packs as we were also discussing sausage casserole the following week and it was on a 2 for xx offer) stuffing and bacon (also on a 2 for xx offer so got some to put in freezer). Total spend: £11 When I got home OH went mad- why have you bought that? we didn't need that? Right- we were discussing all these things (apart from bacon) And some of this stuff is actually to go towards next weeks meals so weekly spend has gone up to £32.50. This is half what we were normally spending! Yes we are cutting back but when we have STILL halved our normal spending I don't particulary feel like I should be yelled at. So I paid back the joint account using what was left in my overdraft and he still went mad saying that's not the point. Yes, I know the point is still that we are cutting down but I've not gone and bought... I don't know... a bunch of stuff not to go with what we've got and thinking ahead to the following week.

Argument 2:
The old 'I buy all the presents and you never put in any money or input' argument. I hate it when he does this. He so often goes and buys a gift for someone without telling me or letting me put any input in. What opinion do I get? None. Maybe I don't think what you have bought is something I want to give- or put my money into. The gift that started the argument is his brothers 30th birthday present. OH has bought him a replica Lord of the Rings sworrd and making him a scabbard. As a gift this looks entirely from OH (which it is) as I had no input in the buying or making. I floated the suggestion I may buy him a watch and have the back engraved and he said to just give him money for the sword, but that is not a gift from me- it a gift from him that I've just given money towards. I'd like it to look a little bit like I care when he gets the presents from us.

Oh, and buy the way. OHs parents have sent the cheque. It is banked and waiting to clear then we can start paying them back in October so there is money in the budget for me to buy a watch (not a massively expensive one) and bloody bacon if I want it.

tasha-debt

I guess you are going to have to go through a period of both of you adjusting to a new financial future. My other half gets a bit funny when I spend money on things that he does not class as essential as he knows I am clearing debt but at the end of the day I still need a life.

Other thing you could do is write a list of all the people you want to buy a birthday present for at the start of the year, assign a budget and then splitt the list down the middle and choose half each, my other half has no interest on buying presents so its all down to me!!

Im glad though that you debts will be gone soon and you can concentrate on paying back your OH parents.

xxxxxxx

laura2481

tasha-debt wrote: »

I guess you are going to have to go through a period of both of you adjusting to a new financial future. My other half gets a bit funny when I spend money on things that he does not class as essential as he knows I am clearing debt but at the end of the day I still need a life.

Other thing you could do is write a list of all the people you want to buy a birthday present for at the start of the year, assign a budget and then splitt the list down the middle and choose half each, my other half has no interest on buying presents so its all down to me!!

Im glad though that you debts will be gone soon and you can concentrate on paying back your OH parents.

xxxxxxx

Thanks Tasha. I know you're right. But I was just hoping to feel happier in September- not still feeling down

It'll take a bit of getting used to this communicating about money thing but we'll get there. It's the not communicating that got me in this mess in the first place!

We also had a bit of a 'do' later in the afternoon. I was doing some washing up and scolded my hand on hot water from the tap. (No thermostat on the damn boiler. If it's hot, it's hot hot hot) OH said 'run it under the cold water' ( we have on of those mixer taps) I reached to turn it to cold. At the same time OH tried to 'help' by swinging the tap around to the draining sink at the side and scalded my other hand. By this time I'm crying because now both my hands are burnt. OH is saying 'sorry I was trying to help' so I said 'but I didn't need you to'. Said. Not shouted. Still crying. OH said 'f*ck you then' and walked off. He did come back a few seconds later but it quite upset me. I know he was trying to help but there was no need to swear at me. I was shouting or swearing at him. Too often I feel his first reaction is to be angry.. even if did come back. But he didn't apologise for the swearing at me. Which would have been appreciated. :cool:

On the pay front: the money was in my account when I got up this morning. :T So that's nice. BUT a standing order to the joint account for the bills etc failed so I had to do a manual transfer. If I get a charge for the returned SO I will be adding that charge to my expenses claim. :cool:

rosered1963

Hi Laura.

Your pay has gone in, you got the loan from family and OH knows the extent of the debt. These must all be a great relief.

Devil's advocate for a minute here - Put yourself in OH's shoes - imagine that he told you that he had run up a big debt without telling you. How would you be feeling? He is bound to be harbouring anger - that's what all this bickering is about Laura. It took me MONTHS to forgive my OH for running up a £1000 debt without telling me. I told him if he ever did that again, I would divorce him because it's not just the money, but the fact he did not tell me (I found out), and that he felt he could not tell me when the debt was only £100! I am still unhappy because I can't trust him now financially - he must change -what's to stop him getting another debt? I have to just trust and hope that he won't.

So what I am saying is this: You love your man and he loves you - it will take a while to get back on track together. He didn't mean to hurt your hand, he was trying to cool the burn with cold water, which is the right thing to do, and it just went a bit wrong. If it were me, I would just be sanguine and bite your tongue. I know it's hard, but your financial issues are now well under control, and your OH just needs to know and trust that no more debt will be run up that he doesn't know about.

End of devil's advocate xxx

Love RR