Putting My Life Into Order

catandy

so freelancing hasnt started today - the co i work for (word used in its losest sense) will be able to tell me tomrrow if they have anything for me or not... that sounds like a no but they dont have the decency to tell me straight... ok job search starts in earnest tomorrow:o

business potentially has 2 sales of our smallest software making a grand total of £45 per month - thats on top of the hourly monies we make when the full software system is being used. so far this week we've got 6 hours covered by the largest contract we have - so that should be another 90£ profit when that happens - wed and fri evenings. I just wish we had people using the system every day/ night hence making an income on an ongoing basis but hey we can all dream co should be up to 30 hours live a week from mid next month which equates to 500 per week profit - roll on!!!

menu planning is working out fine as is budgeting for different 'pots' - petrol, electric and so on. its making me focus on where the money is actually going so that can only be a good thing.

apart from all that life just plods on - exciting isnt the word that springs to mind :rotfl:

catandy

well not a lot further forward to be honest....

freelance work is going to happen and when it does ive got a project that means i work on the clients premises which means i get paid a premium - just a pity it doesnt start for another 2 weeks... ive looked for temping work and short term stuff to tide me over till that starts and with the exception of something I can start tomorrow but will take me over an hour each way each day for national minimum wage theres nothing out there that fits...

CC co's - the worst ones that is - have given me until the end of the month to resume making minimum payments to avoid a default notice. I can pay them providing the freelance work starts when its supposed to... my whole life is run on ifs and I'm really sick of living like this! and providing I get a minimum of 5 days work this month freelancing I can afford to make payments next month as well so it looks like a case of me holding my nerve again and waiting for this project to come off. (you know I just wish that I had a normal 9-5 job and a guaranteed income so there arent so many variables in my life - mind you I cant find a normal 9-5 so thats not going to happen!)

the company who is using our software upped their useage again today with us - so now live 4 nights a week from this week and projected to make £200 profit per week or thereabouts. Just a pity that money is ringfenced with barbed wire till May time as its all going to be swallowed up in outlay until then....

ok keep my head down then and just bide my time for now till the freelancing starts again - make the minimum payments on the CC for this month and probably next and hopefully by March things should have picked up a bit... please ?!X?!!

catandy

and nothing to report again... apart from ive had one of the 2 of the CC put on default and interest frozen/ payment plan accepted for 6 months. so that means so far ive got 4 of them to agree to freeze interest and charges for anything from 4 to 6 months. the other 2 are hammering charges and interest on like its going out of fashion so im going to send the same letter to them again offering token payments and requesting they freeze it all then see what happens. in the meantime i just carry on making nominal payments until im back gainfully employed with a solid income so i can make some inroads. I veer between wanting to get back to making payments asap even though the logic tells me that my income / employment status is too shaky to do so to logic telling me to stick to the reduced payment plan that has been accepted by most of these companies and regroup and get myself back on my feet properly so i can just pay it off.

company using our software are up to 5 shifts this week so we should be inline for 250 profit or so - the sales are starting to trickle in ready for when they are online so thats all good.

its also good that the business is now self financing so i dont have to worry about paying the costs of keeping it afloat - just a shame it took the time it did to start working and I ran out of income/ employment in the meantime. Its also good that I'm no longer responsible for ex or his daughter and their bills. just me and mine now and thats the way its going to stay.:T

catandy

just had a fone call from the JSA claimant people and my claim has finally been approved and processed and I will be receiving a payment tomorrow. In turn that means my housing benefit and CT benefit are going into payment and will be backdated till December which means I shouldnt end up in court for my suspended eviction hearing to be made active

at last something is starting to work out! All I need to do now is find a job!:T

catandy

freelancing work still not started...

jsa payment still not received.....

feels like im stuck in limbo

catandy

so again not a lot further forward ...

no jsa paid, letter from another cc putting all fees and interest on hold for 3 months, that leaves just one adding interest and fees now... got a text ?! from the jsa explaining that my payment would be made 3 days after my next signing on session - so not likely to receive anything till 23rd onwards which makes it 6 weeks since i actually started signing on!

had an offer of one hours work per day freelance from a new company - making a grand total of £100 per week income :cool: - ive also got another company that has approached me and wants to put together a 'proposal for working together'. I'm going to speak to the guy before I get into emails and references and all of that jazz, make it absolutely clear that my idea of a proposal doesnt include me working commission only or only on sold business dependant on their sales reps or any of the other crazy combinations that companies have offered me in the past! fair days pay for a fair days work - and thats all im going to do from now onwards. normal freelancing company want to speak to me Tuesday of next week with regards to a new project they have starting up so maybe sorted with then anyways...

ex and mine business is going better than either of us expected - the biggest contract we have are now covering 24 to 32 hours a week so thats making us £360 per week profit minimum. at that rate the last of the development work will be paid for in 10 weeks (is due to be paid in 16) - the loan to company will be paid off by mid may which is about 2 weeks early and from there on in we're actually making some decent money (about time too). we need to find more contracts now - and get the big one we have onboard to up their production further.

so all in all - nothing going on in way of debt busting - lots of ifs and maybes with regards to a job, in process for benefits being in place and the co with ex seems like its going to be the saving grace behind all of this because that is the only thing thats going to plan!

catandy

so news from today? well jsa hasnt been paid yet as they have an issue making payment and couldnt be bothered to fone me back from the processing centre to get it sorted out with me - ive got an interview on friday with the back to work adviser and plan to bring it up with them then when they ask what im doing to get back to work - being able to put electric in the meter would be a step in the right direction to starting to think about looking for work :mad:

should find out if co i do freelance work for has a project for me tomorrow so fingers toes and everything else crossed for that

business with ex has been live for 3 hours this evening and made $95 profit which is just short of 60 quid at todays currency rates. should have been live for 6 hours but a shift was cancelled so hey ho still a good day anyways.

ex and i are doing each others heads in - he doesnt have a pc so has taken over mine and im stuck in the flat waiting for the jsa to fone and tell me whats going on - had 3 calls in 3 days from them so going a bit mad with cabin fever.

oh i forgot the best bit of good news from today - vanquis cc has accepted my offer of nominal payments and frozen all fees and charges for 12 months meaning that all the CCs are on hold with fees and interest for a minimum of 4 months and maximum of 12 months. oki so now ive really got to get myself sorted and start paying it all back now the pressure has been eased a bit

catandy

ok so whats the progress over the last couple of days?

well JSA still hasnt been paid - foned them 3 times so far and been told each time they would be making a same day payment and still zero / nothing/ nada... im on the fone to them now to find out what is going on, ive also got to chase the letter up from them confirming im in receipt of jsa as without that I cant get housing benefit or council tax benefit in payment either. and yet again ive spoken to them and they have promised to fone me back today to let me know what is going on - well im not going to hold my breath...

ive been approached by a company about some work and am confirming the details of the contract with them this afternoon so it looks like i maybe gainfully employed again and earning an income from next week :T - i sure hope so! ive also got some work thru the freelancing boards that I can do if I want but thats not going to earn me enough to sign off - so if the freelancing comes off I do that as well to push up my earnings.

business with the ex is the only thing that is going well - we've made £416 profit in 15 days trading and our system being live and working for just 3 hours a day. overheads are covered till month after next so should be on for 800 odd profit this month and next and by then the main contract will be ready to up their output further. im owed about 250 from the company this month for buisness expenses so thats hitting my bank account later today - thank goodness.

and thats about all thats going on - boring uh?

catandy

so whats happening?

didnt have to go to JC to sign on as weather and travel was so bad on friday got an excused card from them and meeting rebooked for 2 weeks time. got 2 x letters from jsa people detailing 2 different payment schedules so need to take them into the office to get my housing benefit and CTB sorted out.

had my first fone call from a DCA this morning who were very aggressive - the first call was to me just giving a vague name of the company and could i confirm my full name / address and dob to confirm by identity - I asked whom they were calling on behalf of to be told they dont have to tell me that and to give them the info they asked for. i then said that I dont know who the hell you are im not giving personal info over the fone and please contact me in writing.... fast forward 10 minutes and the same co fone and ask for DS1 - I explain that although the contract is in his name the payment details are in my name and i signed the credit agreement to be told they will chase him for payment and that I have no right to speak on his behalf... now im ready for a fight cos they are sure as hell not going to harrass my son as hes about to sit his exams. :mad:

spoke to my bank regarding renegotiating my loan with them to say this wasnt possible but another payment holiday is and i can take it next month if i want to. going to cost me another raft of interest and put settlement date on it back by another 2 months but im not sure if im going to do it or not.

got some freelancing work starting and another contract that should be finalised by end of the week - basically im back to being gainfully employed by next month with an income into my bank account by March. I need to sign off JSA and get my back to work bonus, get WTC reset up and batten down the hatches till I get paid properly in 8 weeks - and manage to pay the essential bills plus feed us and so on - going to be fun juggling it all

business is about to kick off with the co with the biggest contract - they are going into fulltime production over the next 2 months and have signed a contract committing them to do so. At the current output rates we make £800 profit - that should go up by at least x4 maybe more. running costs from may onwards are just £400 per month and between now and then we need to pay off £5675 which means it still may just about tie together but its going to be so tight! we've also potentially got 3 sales of the smallest sofware we produce that makes extra each month on top of all that but its not signed and sealed yet so not going to count on it.

looked at my noddle report yesterday and im ranked at 1/5 with just 3 late payments showing. i thought it was going to be so much worse than that already.

ok just keep plodding on and it will work out

catandy

so the good news is im back freelancing - have 2 projects that make 1.5 full time jobs or the equivalent of and means that i have an ongoing income all be it a bit of a mix and match :j:j it also means by having a guaranteed income i can add selling our software into the mix as i have the 'pressure off' for paying bills and have the luxury of time of making it work.

im not going to pick up a proper paycheque till march as I dont start the with the second company till February but at least it means things are moving ahead and I can start making plans and seeing things change again. I hate being out of work - sends me stir crazy and just gives me more time to over analyze everything and get even stressier than I am naturally.

so plans for the rest of the week;

get jsa payment thru so we can afford to eat
get housing benefit and council tax benfit sorted
go to job centre and sign off the dole again :rotfl:
work and earn
pay some bills down

repeat the last 2 ad infinitum :rotfl: