Putting My Life Into Order

catandy

Well im now officially claiming JSA even though I will be lucky to receive a payment before the new year - housing benefit and council tax benefit being put in place as well so that takes the pressure off a bit there too.

the CC companies have started to chase in earnest - ive got a pile of letters going out to them today explaining the situation and making the offer of nominal payments until the DMP kicks in which will be mid Jan for first payments taken from me and end of the month paid out to them. infact im thinking again on the dmp as it looks like im going to be back at work early in the new year...

I've got the offer of freelance work starting from the second week in january so my income will be back to where it was by mid February - just a shame that ive had 2 months with zero income and had to bounce payments.... costly lesson learnt - credit history taken a 6 year battering for not planning ahead and having blind trust that 'everything will work out'.

I explained to ex over the weekend that even if Im back working in January and back to a full time income from February that I will not be paying the company expenses like I have been. I also made it clear over the weekend that he picks up his daughters bills from end of January (he finally went and opened a bank account so he has no excuse not to now) - after some 'reluctance' - "when its all back to normal its easier if we just carry on" he finally got the idea that this is totally non negotiable now. He's not happy about it but I'm not best pleased to have got in this position in the first place..

anyway plans for the next couple of weeks - xmas which is basically paid for, same for new year. DS1 and DS2 have been invited to house parties for both so that will be cheap nights out for them, they are also going to watch a friends band play a gig so that will be a cheapish night out for them. for me its going to be preparation for the new year and the sales staff to sell our software... messing around with excel spreadsheets and data importing just cannot get over the excitement of my festive season oh and interspersed with that ive got my sign on sessions at the job centre so i get my benefit and the rent paid for the time being.... the excitement is just so under-whelming!

lushplus4

" I also made it clear over the weekend that he picks up his daughters bills from end of January"

I am glad you are standing up to your ex, your frist post was back in September, this should of been said back then. Why are you waiting until then end of Jan, why not end of December??

And your ex should be paying half of all bills including buisness expenses!! I'm feeling cross about how they are taking the p*** and using your good nature to thier own benefit.

I wish you all the luck in the world and hope things turn around for you

catandy

its only january because ive already paid for december but at least its his responsibility from now on.

From Feb onwards I am not going to be responsible for paying

Mobile phone bills - 45p/m (business expense)
Internet connection - 81p/m (business expense)
Ex's Daughter BT and sky connection - 45p/m (ex is paying)
hosting costs (business expense that ive always covered) - 380p/m (business expense)

I've also cancelled the gym contract (actually they wont let me cancel it so im waiting for a default notice on it).... so thats another 90p/m thats not going out....

Now all I need to do is find a job then I would be able to make inroads into these CC bills with or without a DMP in place. Ive applied for 3 so far today but no-one will be interviewing or doing anything till the new year and at least I can go back to freelancing if none of them work out. there I go - Im wishing my life away again;)

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you know ive just looked at the list of things that wont be coming out of my money and all I need to do is get back to freelancing and then I can make some serious inroads... I feel another soa and snowball calculation coming on. and do I need to do a dmp or shall i just bide my time till january and see if the freelancing does start? I wish this was all so much clearer than it is - someone telling me the best choice of action to take would be a godsend right now cos the way i feel is whatever i decide to do is always the wrong choice!

catandy

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1600
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 716
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2316
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 430
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 84
Electricity............................. 80
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 48
Telephone (land line)................... 38
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 320
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 48
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 80
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1240

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
capital one ...................495.......30........29.9
capital one ...................1000......25........19.9
aqua...........................1400......75........39.95
overdraft......................5000......93........0
loan...........................5545......179.......8
barclays.......................3057......80........0
mbna...........................2906......36........0
vanquis........................3150......170.......35.95
Total unsecured debts..........22553.....688.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,316
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,240
Available for debt repayments........... 1,076
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 688
Amount left after debt repayments....... 388
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -22,553
Net Assets.............................. -21,553

As has been said many times previously the car is not mine to sell... I cover the insurance and petrol as I use it more than ex does.

and snowball calculator shows that I could be debt free in 22 months or Nov of 2014 to be precise....I can live with that and what a difference taking those expenses off me makes - its bought my original dfd down by 14 months:T

this depends on me starting back freelancing or selling 3 units per day of our smallest software and sticking to my guns with the new regime and bills being taken off me. Ive got to make this happen and stick to my guns now.

catandy

ok until im gainfully employed or back at freelancing or successfully selling our software im going the DMP route - no other options open to me now as ive just ran out of time.

next year will be better! new year new start

catandy

and I got confirmation about 2 hours ago that freelancing work is waiting for me from first week in January so the rollercoaster starts again - but at least now Im not responsible for all the household/ ex's daughters and business expenses.

ive worked out its going to take me till about march / april and throwing ever spare penny i have at my debts to get back on an even keel with them and be bringing them down at a reasonable rate.

roll on 2013 I just want to get started at it!

catandy

been told today by JC that the earliest I will receive a payment is 7th or 8th of January so got to be really careful over the festive period. Should be starting back at work by the time I get the first payment - oh the irony :S

Im going to be hammered with charges from these companies - vanquis has already put a default charge of 12 pounds plus an interest charge of 100 onto my account so im going to be in serious trouble with them by the time in the position to start paying them off again....i'm beginning to think i may be better off doing a dmp anyway when i get back to work at least that way it takes the pressure off of them all chasing me until im in the position to be able to resume something like normal payments...

so many thoughts whirling thru my head about this - all i know is i want to free of debt once and for all and i will never touch it again

catandy

ive spent virtually the last 24 hours straight doing the company figures/ working out how much we've ploughed in as running costs/ set up costs and working out our business plan/ profit and loss forecast moving forward next year.

We got a business referral from the biggest contract we have to one of their 'sister companies' and they plan to roll out in the new year. That means more production/ sales and overheads still dont have to go up yet - we are getting close but im holding off from more expense for as long as I can. The extra monies the company will be making will be used for:-


* Running expenses (I want it to be totally self financing) - so hosting costs, home internet and phone bills all covered instead of me paying for them. - thats 36 hours of business per month

• £3000 loan has to be repayed May - thats 200 hours of business or 40 per month
• $5460 left in development work on the software (£3370) or 224 hours due by April 56 hours per month.

that means we need to have the system live and working for 34 hours every week just doing what it does now in terms of capacity - should be manageable just (it means the capacity needs to be upped by 2 x 4 hour shifts per week)

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monies pumped in for running costs so far from me - £17130
monies pumped in for set up costs from ex - £8500
monies paid for development work so far from me - £21500

if this were to be paid back over the next 3 years of trading it would equate to 20 hours every week... again that is manageable....

quite seriously scary money isnt it? and its apparent to me why im in this situation at the moment. I havent included all the interest ive incurred for paying for things for the company on credit cards and all the missed payments incurred as well .... if I included all of that my payout would be about 6k higher again

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So moral of the story and the result of all this obsessive calculations and filling in of spreadsheets?

my money will be mine from February when I pick up my first paycheque again. After all the bills are paid on minimum payments ive got a minimum of £390 left over each month to use to snowball the debts down. Ive also decided to stick to the snowball instructions ie pay off the most expensive debt first. Ive also worked out all these figures on worst case scenarios - me getting minimum work from the freelancing co's I work for, doesnt include any extra money I make from selling our software, ebay, surveys, cashback, tax rebate etc...All of that is just bunce and extra.

If I decide to 'go for it' selling our software and use one of our dormant companies to do it officially rather than me just doing it freelance ie employing people I can also write off my self employed expenses incurred for doing so - landline phone bills, petrol to and from meetings etc - thats another £100p/m into my pocket as well. I've decided to start off using freelancers to sell the software and they start work from the first week of January so we shall see how that pans out -

All in all im feeling more positive - Ive got a plan and all I need to do is stick to it. No more making myself a martyr for everyone cos I just cant do it anymore and I dont want to either. I want my life back, I want to be able to plan ahead with my kids and I want to be able to sleep easy without worrying myself silly. Ex and I do need to move on with our lives, we work together well as a team so theres no reason we cant work together on this business even if its from 200 miles away (its all internet based so physical location means nothing really).

roll on 2013!

catandy

nice restive xmas day/ boxing day and now im gearing up for the start of next year and getting the sales staff i've got lined up selling our software - lots of excel spreadsheets and importing data and getting organised. Starting with 4 staff and I'm going to do it myself (around freelancing when it starts up again).

Sales on the website part of the business are starting to trickle in steadily now, without us doing anything really as its got to the stage that its feeding itself. which is good because I'm ready for that to start 'doing its thing'.

money wise ive got just short of 1000 to last me till JSA starts paying out - ive got to make some nominal payments to CC co's and send off some letters to the companies explaining that i have no alternative but to be making nominal payments until my situation improves - thats going to be about £12 odd in posting and another £8 in nominal payments..

food wise the freezers need stocking up, cupboard stuff and fresh stuff we're fine for and will be for the rest of the week, probably even into the start of next. Need to fill the car up with petrol so thats another £50 gone then theres the normal bills to go out, should give me a cushion of perhaps £600 to live off until i get a wage coming in again - benefits will cover our living expenses but anything extra will have to come out of this float money.

that all sounds do-able and manageable but ive got an overwhelming feeling that ive forgotten something....

catandy

Ok well I got paid from the comany that fired me ok and more than I was expecting so thats good, seems a pity I got sacked now anways onwards to the new year - company that uses our software has got a 'shift' planned tonight so co should make some extra ££ there that wasnt expected so again all good there.

im getting hammered by the CC cos with charges and overlimit fees and such like - just want them to accept my reduced payments for now and get back to work next week to start earning so I can start digging myself out of this hole.