Putting My Life Into Order

catandy

I've been running through figures yet again and I can see that I'm making some headway I just cant believe how painfully slow it all is.

• Since I reorganised all the bills and cut things down I have 106.50 extra in my account each month that doesnt go straight out in DD or minimum payments.
• the minimum payments have dropped by another 77 each month.
• From this month the business is picking up 325 of its own running costs that used to come out of 'my money' whilst it was being started up.
• by my reckoning that makes a massive 508.50 extra each month I can be chucking at the CC balances to bring them down.
• the extra 100 I earn from my second home based job is 'bunce' on top of this again which means the balances will drop even faster.
• i have extra money 'free' in feb and mar to the tune of 132 each month
• I have a balance from my money when bills are paid of £500 providing I get a minimum of 15 days work in a month.

Plan of action to pay things off:-

1. Clear lowest balance CC this month -cap1 card 1 - its the second highest in terms of interest so logic says I should throw that money at the highest one but I need to get rid of one card completely. (aim to be cleared Nov)
2. next to attack is the aqua card which should be clear by Feb (taken into consideration Xmas which is going to be all cash this year). I may even be able to clear it by Jan if im really careful.
3. Vanquis is next on the list and thats going to take me till March/ April of next year at the latest. Just those 3 cards paid off will give me an extra 160 pm again to throw at the other balances.
4. capital 1 (card 2) paid off the following month (May) - freeing up another 25p/m in minimum payments.

ok thats a 6 month plan of action and its 'do-able'. ive left myself some 'wriggle room' and all of that is based on minimum paid contract work for me, no income coming through from the business and leaving a 'buffer' for unexpected occurences - things that need replacing or emergencies etc.

I'm beginning to see the way forward with all of this.

short_bird

Highest interest rate versus the boost of clearing a card is a topic that all personal finance peeps argue over:D

psst: cashflow! working capital! paying yourself back from the business!

debrag

wow I wouldn't want you living arrangements.

Februarycat

catandy wrote: »

I've been running through figures yet again and I can see that I'm making some headway I just cant believe how painfully slow it all is.

• Since I reorganised all the bills and cut things down I have 106.50 extra in my account each month that doesnt go straight out in DD or minimum payments.
• the minimum payments have dropped by another 77 each month.
• From this month the business is picking up 325 of its own running costs that used to come out of 'my money' whilst it was being started up.
• by my reckoning that makes a massive 508.50 extra each month I can be chucking at the CC balances to bring them down.
• the extra 100 I earn from my second home based job is 'bunce' on top of this again which means the balances will drop even faster.
• i have extra money 'free' in feb and mar to the tune of 132 each month
• I have a balance from my money when bills are paid of £500 providing I get a minimum of 15 days work in a month.

Plan of action to pay things off:-

1. Clear lowest balance CC this month -cap1 card 1 - its the second highest in terms of interest so logic says I should throw that money at the highest one but I need to get rid of one card completely. (aim to be cleared Nov)
2. next to attack is the aqua card which should be clear by Feb (taken into consideration Xmas which is going to be all cash this year). I may even be able to clear it by Jan if im really careful.
3. Vanquis is next on the list and thats going to take me till March/ April of next year at the latest. Just those 3 cards paid off will give me an extra 160 pm again to throw at the other balances.
4. capital 1 (card 2) paid off the following month (May) - freeing up another 25p/m in minimum payments.

ok thats a 6 month plan of action and its 'do-able'. ive left myself some 'wriggle room' and all of that is based on minimum paid contract work for me, no income coming through from the business and leaving a 'buffer' for unexpected occurences - things that need replacing or emergencies etc.

I'm beginning to see the way forward with all of this.

You sound very organised with your payments and plan of action, good luck.

catandy

first of all thanks for the suggestions/ ideas/ prompts - all gratefully received and taken on board:D

In answer to your points;-

* taking money out of the company to repay me for what ive pumped into it is for next year. for now every spare penny in the company acts as trading money to keep us afloat.

* ref my living arrangements if you mean that everything is so 'up in the air' ref my freelancing work and the business yes I agree with you - thats probably got something to do with me going prematurely grey!:). it wasnt always like this infact its only been like this for the last 6 months or so but it does wear me out ... and on a personal note im looking forward to getting 'my space back' when ex moves out.

* yes plans are in place for scheduled repayments so ive just got to make it happen and keep to it now:T

first part of plan is going ok - ive got my 15 days work this month by cajoling my big contract to 'sort it out!';)

pay day is thursday so its bills for the rest of the week and into next to get everything up to date. then its final payoff on the first CC which im really excited about (now how sad is that :rotfl:) may even be better off than i thought cos another of the credit cards has miraculously dropped by another 75 quid - dont know how and it wont show on the online thingy till tomorrow so for now im just happy about it

got to do a grocery shop sooner rather than later but dont want to do one for full amount of money ie ive got no money off vouchers or anything else to use up this week so its going to be a full cost one (boo hiss). im going to make a list before I go and if its not on the list its not going in the trolley!

Oh i got my figures really mixed up for the development work we are having done on the software (for the business). Only out by about 800USD which is about £500 and to our favour so im happy about that mistake as well. we will be paying the extra out but not till the new year so it gives us a bit of breathing space till then.

all in all its going quite well at the moment which is probably the kiss of death from me and it will all go back to being t*ts up before i know it - i dont care im making the most of it being A-ok at the moment

catandy

oh and just another quickie that i just had to share

i had 2 letters from Aqua credit card today - the first a letter saying we notice you have only been making minimum payments now for the last 6 months, you should pay more if you can afford to but theres nothing wrong..

and the second to say we want to increase your credit limit almost the same amount again:D I means seriously how irresponsible are these companies??

i really enjoyed foning them up and saying thanks for no thanks to the increase on the limit. little things uh?

catandy

ive been really good again and reduced my available balance on my barclaycard so im tracking it down as i pay it off - yey me!

catandy

I've been paid late by the co I do freelance work for which has pushed me into unauthorised OD and fees there plus bills that have bounced so yet more fees there....:mad:

im also on stand down ie they have no work for me until they figure out what they want to do with me and have no work for others of their freelancers until the new year so im beginning to think thats the same for me but I just havent been told it yet.

business has paid for the bill outstanding leaving us enough to pay the company we owe with a massive 100 left over... they are making enough to pay the overheads and thats it. the final bill for the software development is due end of Feb next year which is another 3000 USD or £1900 which ive got no idea how we are going to find at the moment...

i dont know what to do now. sign on? cos ive got no work and have had 3 days since the beginning of the month. at least that means that my rent is paid and im not going to get evicted. i told ex this morning that im thinking of it and explained that he would have to do the same or pay the rent and bills from his money as if he decides not to sign on i wont be eligible for HB or CTB so hes got to pick up the slack, to be told that hes not going to do that cos the business has to keep trading which it cant if we're both signing on... neither of us are taking an income from the business and he hasnt worked again for about 5 weeks now with no sign of a contract coming in...

oh and the only other thing going on is all the CC payments os are due next week and ive got to go and pay the rent for last month tomorrow. i changed the account which means the DD was cancelled this month - good job it was cos if my payment had bounced i would have had my eviction notice gone live... and the other peice to add to the puzzle is the fridge/ freezers and cupboards are virtually empty ive done a great job of us eating them down and was planning to do a big shop to restock when i got paid.... all the best laid plans uh?

ive got to find out whats going on from the company I freelance for but i cant get anyone to speak to me at the moment - keep getting fobbed off with 'we'll get back to you'.

oh and to think i was expecting to pay off a CC completely this month and be free of one debt completely :rotfl: what a joke that is now!

catandy

I finally got an answer from the company that I freelance for and it wasnt the one I was hoping for... they may or may not have another 5 days work for me between now and the xmas break making a grand total of 8 days work in 2 months which obviously doesnt really cut it with paying bills and feeding us and so on... queue major panic session and then feeling angry that they havent been straight with me - if I had known work was drying up from them I would have been signing on/ looking for other work already not waiting for a project to be sorted out...

fastforward 3 days and ive decided that I cant wait on them for them to make up their mind which changes at whim. I've filled in an application for JSA and expect a call from them today or tomorrow to arrange my meeting at the Job Centre. I will be lucky to get a payout before xmas but at least the wheels are in motion. more to the point ive also applied for Housing Benefit and CT benefit at the same time so that will take the pressure off when that comes thru.

Ive also applied for 7 jobs so far - both self employed and also employed (which will be a complete sea change for me cos I've been self employed for 8 years or so). Ive got 2 interviews set up so far so am going to see how they go before I chase any of the others - tomorrow is interview day.

Ive also contacted CCCS and spoke to one of their advisers as I'm going to be struggling to make payments on everything till I get back sorted and with a regular income again. Ive got a proper call with one of their advisers first thing tomorrow to run through what my options are - I'm thinking a DMP for now but I dont know if I will qualify.

Plans for today are

1. open a new basic bank account. I am potentially looking at bouncing payments whilst I get an income sorted out so my credit file is going to take a battering. in fact its going to be destroyed - add to that my bank account currently has an overdraft and all my DD come out of it so I need to back myself up. I need to move all money in/ money out to a new account and treat everything I currently have as a debt (including the OD) which to now I havent classed as a 'real debt'.
2. contact landlord to tell them that im in the throes of applying for HB so their rent payment will be late next month and forewarn them not to bother taking me to court to enforce my existing suspended eviction notice and sting me with legal fees (like they did the first time round). I know how the system works now and I'm ready for a fight with them so bring it on Im not taking any nonsense from them. also need to pay last months rent at the same time ...
3. see if my call comes thru from JSA - if so get my face to face interview sorted.
4. cannot continue with home based job if im signing on as that will count as an income so thats blown out of the water as well
5. apply for more jobs....

not the position I was expecting to find myself in and not one I'm relishing at all...

oh well just get on with it

catandy

2 days and 3 interviews later and I have a full time employed job with a guaranteed wage which I start on Friday - meaning no more uncertainty regarding whether i am earning enough to pay the bills and keep our head above water.

i didnt want to do the employed job route and ive avoided it like the plague but I think 8 years of freelancing non stop and living on my nerves all the time is enough for now. time for some stability for now to regroup and bring some calm to our lives:)

the business with my ex is paying its overheads and a bit more besides, nothing like enough to take any money out but at least its not costing anything to run it anymore. I am going to take on staff to sell the software - I can do that by managing remotely and the ex will have to manage the day to day stuff - hes got enough hours to fill to do it in!

done a revised soa and snowball and nothing has changed to be honest - its a work in motion anyway as theres always stuff being added/ taken away but for now im content cos im going to keep the roof over my kids heads and i can pay all the bills (just). anything else that happens is just a bonus:T