Debt Free in 2013... I can do this...

hereigoagain22

P.S. I do have a blender and there should be plenty of leftover dinner so will puree some for DS's dinner and freeze a couple of pots too.

girlatplay

Excellent!! All is good.

As long as you keep an eye on salt and sugar content, you can puree anything for DS to eat. If you are going to season it, take out a portion for DS before you do that. I found as well that my friends who selected certain foods for their kids to eat and not other foods are the ones who have fussy kids. When Little Miss Gap was little(er) I couldn't afford to feed her different food from what I was having so she got what I had. If she didn't eat it, she didn't eat. She soon learned that there was nothing wrong with broccoli, haha!! Now she eats pretty much anything and I am so proud of that. It also does my head in when I hear kids saying "I don't like that". I read somewhere that whatever food kids are fed before they are a year old, they will always like. Don't know if it is true but I believe in it. Puree is the way to go with little ones.

That's a great idea about the moblie alerts from your bank. That is one bill off the list and although you didn't realise about it beforehand, you knew right away when it had happened. Very organised. I'm impressed!

You have planned the next few days very well. Just take one day at a time and if you find yourself going into your purse for anything, stop and think about if you really need whatever it is.

You are doing great, keep going

Shelski_2

Great to hear you so positive and motivated

Abz12

Keep going.

Your doing so well already. TBH I don't know how you cope with all this at 22.

You need to give yourself a big pat on the back.

hereigoagain22

Hello ladies!!

Thanks again for all the support :-)

Lots to report, I've been a busy lady...

Lump sum recieved and all paid to debts.

Had a bit of a faff with Lending Stream and BoS! Firstly I rang BoS to come to an arrangement to repay my overdraft (the smaller one that's over it's limit) and they agreed to an affordable plan and increased my limit to cover the charges. As soon as they increased my limit Lending Stream swiped the lot. So rang BoS back and they refused to set up another plan until Lending Stream are paid in full and said I'd continue to be charged £5 a day. I asked why they couldn't set up a payment plan and they said the only way they can do this is by increasing the overdraft but Lending Stream will swipe it. And the only alternative was to ignore the account and they would register a default and pass to their collection agency. But I don't have any defaults so wanted to avoid that. I asked them to cancel the CPA on Lending Stream instead and they point blank refused - saying it was Lending Stream's responsibility but I have already cancelled with them and they are still taking every penny they can get!

So my Mum came to the rescue and paid the remainder of Lending Stream (only 209 by this point as they stole the rest from an unauthorised overdraft when I'd already withdrawn my consent) on her credit card. Then BoS agreed to an arrangement and wiped any outstanding charges- hooray! The couldn't stop the £1 a day charge on my smaller overdraft as it's in arrears and the only way they can do this is by defaulting the account which I don't want. But as my other overdraft is still within it's limit they changed it to a "fee-free" account (that has a monthly fee LOL?) but it will save me £10 a month.

Used my Lump Sum to pay off Wonga and my new debt figures are as follows:

Next £427.14
Mum's Credit Card £208 - (Lending Stream) unsure of interest rate but figured 10months x £25 would cover it?
Bank of Scotland O/D 982.44 (limit £1000, charge £6 per month + 19.9%)
Bank of Scotland O/D2 311.3 (£1 a day fee, limit reducing by £17 per month)
Bank of Scotland Loan £140 (£70 15th March and £70 15th April)
Greenwoods £315 Final payment 28th May
Barclaycard £58.25 (£15 per month SO)
Luma £190 (£15 per month SO)
British Gas £100 (not actively repaying)
Paypal £55.25 (not actively repaying)
Library £25 (not actively repaying)
Total £2637.38

Have been doing okay with meal plans. Some times I am a bit too optimistic and buy lots of healthy things - salads etc. which end up being wasted so am making small changes at a time. I have been moving over to wholegrain pasta, rice etc. but it's at least 4 times the price so we're about half and half just now.

My shopping has gone up by £10 a week though as my in-laws have stopped buying my nappies and wipes as FIL is off work ill so I presume they can't afford it but they have been a fantastic help for the past 6 months. I used to use cloth nappies for DD, I am thinking of switching to cloth nappies again but I will need to check with the kid's nursery whether they will use them.

I changed my work hours to 9am - 12.30pm Mon - Fri as suits me better than full days and switched to another nursery as wasn't happy with the one the kids were at. My son has a swallowing disorder and they weren't willing to work with him (requires his milk bottles spoon fed to him but I don't think they had the staff) and when I picked my daughter up she had lost her shoes, had soaking wet socks and kept crying about her mouth, when I got her home she had playdough in her mouth! I have to pay them £16 for the induction sessions they had which is fair enough, just glad I held off on paying the registration fees. The new nursery is fantastic and they are so reassuring.

I also got my noddle credit report and discovered I had 16 credit accounts in total. But most were unused so I phoned and closed all the ones with a zero balance - Argos, New Look, Vanquis, Capital One and H&M. I'm trying to think long-term.

I went a bit OS over the weekend, had loads of fruit about to go off so chopped it all up and put it in the oven on low in an attempt to dehydrate it. Most of it turned to mush (lesson learnt) but the apple and banana turned into nice dried chips which DD can have for snacks. We've been making our own biscuits and cakes too and I made my own healthy mixed nut butter which is delicious, we've been having it on toast and rice cakes.

OH and myself are back together although things are very different and slow, he has himself a job again at long-last. It's welding so a fairly decent salary but only for 6 weeks. He starts tomorrow. My Mum isn't living here (in her house but she prefers to stay with my Dad) so we mainly have the place to ourselfs.

I start work a week tomorrow too!!! I'm still a bit skeptical about work, I was dropped 2 paybads (3k less a year on same part-time hours or would be losing 6.5k if full time) after going on maternity leave as I was on temporary higher paid duties although had been doing the same job for 3 years on a "temporary acting up" basis. They took the huff and dropped me after taking maternity leave twice in a row. Apparently they have restructured and my post no longer exists so I have been moved back to the post on my permanent contract. So I applied for an almost identical post to the one I was doing and got turned down after interview - apparently I didn't sell myself enough in the interview but I'm really disappointed as I'm a bloody hard worker and have always been good at my job and was just bordering on supervisory level and now I'm back to clerical work - mail runs, enveloping etc. Never mind, I work for the local Council so lots of opportunities in other departments. I will start from the bottom again and stuff them! My kids are my priority now although the extra money would have been great.

Plan for the next few days -

Monday
Seeing OH off to work then kids at nursery late morning, home for lunch then into the car (borrowing my Mums) to make a trip to our old area to collect my DS's milk (prescription, really must change our doctor) and I'm hoping to go visiting a few friends while I'm in the area! Need to remember to get some electricity at the shop as I'm on emergency credit.

Tuesday
Hair cut and colour as a treat (I am SO excited even though it's at the college to save money, I haven't had it cut in months)

Wednesday
Hoping to meet a friend at soft play. Costs a fortune but my DD absolutely loves it and I get 2 hours peace and quiet as she wants to go and play with her "friends". She's 2 going on 10!

Thursday
Kids nursery 9 - 11am, catch up on anything needing done in the house.

Speak to you all soon xx

hereigoagain22

Been thinking of my long-term goals too. Time to look towards the future

2013 (in a rough order)
1) Repay all debts £2637.38
2) Get settled back into work
3) Learn to live within my means
4) Get my relationship with OH stable and on track
4) Save enough for furniture, carpets etc. for own family house
5) Move into own place - 3 bedrooms, nice area (not moving until OH has a permanent job)
6) Progress my career - take further training, look at opportunities to push myself further and get myself noticed at work and hopefully get into a similar position as before
7) Increase my income - part-time work in the evenings so it doesn't interupt time with the kids
8) Save for a small car

2014
1) Save for a 2 week family holiday, abroad in the Summer - ALL INCLUSIVE :-)
2) Progress career further - do some part-time studying for qualifications to let me go higher at work