DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

Suseka

Took onboard some sage advice today and have spent the day, since 8am on and off giving my house a good scrub through. Very therapeutic. Going to sort out the kitchen and oven tomorrow, then on Sunday clear stuff out of cupboards and see what saleable.

The sun is out, but it's perishingly cold -so going to wrap up warm and go for a bimble, just to catch a breath or two of fresh air.

I've sorted a few things out with SC, just need to revise OH earnings and then we're almost set. Will send creditor letters with token payments next week (still well within the 28 day rule) and work through transferring all non debt dd's over to the new joint account.

So - I'm putting all the debt related paperwork that I've had sitting on my kitchen table all week away - and putting my debt issues aside for the weekend.

Going to go round to DD house for a cuppa and a catch-up tomorrow, she's just returned from a journey to her dads family in Devon, so lots of gossip to catch up on Then am going to spend the rest of the weekend doing my very best to relax.

I feel I might just (just mind you) be turning a corner and managing to control this wild roller coaster I've been on all week.

Back to work on Monday - that'll keep me focussed on non-debt things too and allow me head space to work through what must be done.

Have a good day everyone and I hope the sun is shining wherever you are too

catandy

Need some advice please - I'm doing a revised set of figures to put together new offers to my creditors - long story short, ive cleared my rent arrears and a suspended eviction hanging over me which has freed up some funds, ive found a job :j and now have a steady income again.... what I also did the first time round was do my budget just too tight and restrictive to live with.

I think the problem is its been so long since we lived normally and spent money on normal every day needs that I cant remember what is realistic or not - all I know is S1 has got holes in the soles of his shoes, S2 has got one pair of jeans cos the others fell to peices and we're living in the cold as havent been able to afford the heating on for 5 weeks now. my kids and I need to start living a bit instead of just existing like we have been but im not sure what is too much / too little for normal things.

Realistic budget for food for 2 strapping 18 years sons and me? - Stepchange gave me 250 pm in the original figures - this also covers cleaning stuff and pet food for a cat. just not doable :(what is realistic?

hair cuts - only for me here but what is a realisitic amount? ive been cutting my own for the past 2 years so have absolutely no idea

electric - we're on pre-pay meter and economy7, the original figures I did with Stepchange gave me 100 per month which sounds a lot to me, I work from home so the pc is on all day plus normal household useage so we have to limit the heating being on and the amount the washing machine is used and so on. dont know why this is so high or how i can bring it down..

car servicing and mot - i havent had a car on the road for 2 years so this again is a figure i would pull out of the air

clothes budget? - i pay for 1.5 sons, ones still a full time student the other is on an apprenticeship and takes home just about 100 after stoppages, he gives me 20 a week and pays to get to work and his own mobile so hes left with about 30 each week unaccounted for - he does a bit I have to do the stuff he cant afford. I cant remember the last time i bought anything for me at all...

emergency fund? whats that lol and whats realistic?

entertainment - oldest gets £20 per week this also covers his lunch at college and bus fairs on odd days so he skips either to be able to do something.

as you can see im totally clueless with this - my figures were set so low first time round that its totally not do-able and its making me and my kids thoroughly miserable and not far off ill. I need to strike a balance, pay off all the normal bills which I can do, live to an acceptable level and also throw whats left at the sharks (sorry I means companies I owe);)

many thanks in advance - and sorry for rambling...

Bettingmad

catandy wrote: »

Need some advice please - I'm doing a revised set of figures to put together new offers to my creditors - long story short, ive cleared my rent arrears and a suspended eviction hanging over me which has freed up some funds, ive found a job :j and now have a steady income again.... what I also did the first time round was do my budget just too tight and restrictive to live with.

I think the problem is its been so long since we lived normally and spent money on normal every day needs that I cant remember what is realistic or not - all I know is S1 has got holes in the soles of his shoes, S2 has got one pair of jeans cos the others fell to peices and we're living in the cold as havent been able to afford the heating on for 5 weeks now. my kids and I need to start living a bit instead of just existing like we have been but im not sure what is too much / too little for normal things.

Realistic budget for food for 2 strapping 18 years sons and me? - Stepchange gave me 250 pm in the original figures - this also covers cleaning stuff and pet food for a cat. just not doable :(what is realistic?

hair cuts - only for me here but what is a realisitic amount? ive been cutting my own for the past 2 years so have absolutely no idea

electric - we're on pre-pay meter and economy7, the original figures I did with Stepchange gave me 100 per month which sounds a lot to me, I work from home so the pc is on all day plus normal household useage so we have to limit the heating being on and the amount the washing machine is used and so on. dont know why this is so high or how i can bring it down..

car servicing and mot - i havent had a car on the road for 2 years so this again is a figure i would pull out of the air

clothes budget? - i pay for 1.5 sons, ones still a full time student the other is on an apprenticeship and takes home just about 100 after stoppages, he gives me 20 a week and pays to get to work and his own mobile so hes left with about 30 each week unaccounted for - he does a bit I have to do the stuff he cant afford. I cant remember the last time i bought anything for me at all...

emergency fund? whats that lol and whats realistic?

entertainment - oldest gets £20 per week this also covers his lunch at college and bus fairs on odd days so he skips either to be able to do something.

as you can see im totally clueless with this - my figures were set so low first time round that its totally not do-able and its making me and my kids thoroughly miserable and not far off ill. I need to strike a balance, pay off all the normal bills which I can do, live to an acceptable level and also throw whats left at the sharks (sorry I means companies I owe);)

many thanks in advance - and sorry for rambling...

This may be of some use from the National Debtline Service

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/pdf/self-help-pack/step-2-working-out-your-personal-budget.pdf

catandy

thank you so much for that!

just a quick whizz thru it and i can see how totally unrealistic and short on everything my current set up is and that goes some way to explaining why I cant keep to the budget we have and we cant manage like this.

your a star!:T

Mossop01

catandy wrote: »

thank you so much for that!

just a quick whizz thru it and i can see how totally unrealistic and short on everything my current set up is and that goes some way to explaining why I cant keep to the budget we have and we cant manage like this.



your a star!:T

Hiya everyones circumstances are different but if it helps my food shopping budget is £340 for 2 adults and 2 small children, my gas and elec combined is £97 water is £41 and petrol to run 2 cars is £160, my emergency fund is £30 a month
Hope that helps, dont scrimp on things u need if a dmp is do able it has to work
Good luck x

catandy

thankyou all guys - ive just gone thru my figures again with stepchange and rejigged it all to a level that i feel we can live, DMP is going to take 52 payments at the figures that we have now settled on rather than the 24 months I was trying to work to (and failing at miserably)...

I dont want to live the high life and nor do my sons expect much but how things have been we have to choose between eating or heating so I needed to do something before my sons left home and went to live with their dad (over my dead body!;)) and of course if i find I can manage easily on my new budget and have money left over I can always up my payments again

Growurown

catandy wrote: »

thankyou all guys - ive just gone thru my figures again with stepchange and rejigged it all to a level that i feel we can live, DMP is going to take 52 payments at the figures that we have now settled on rather than the 24 months I was trying to work to (and failing at miserably)...

I dont want to live the high life and nor do my sons expect much but how things have been we have to choose between eating or heating so I needed to do something before my sons left home and went to live with their dad (over my dead body!;)) and of course if i find I can manage easily on my new budget and have money left over I can always up my payments again

Well done catandy, sounds as though you are really getting on top of things. We opted to pay over a longer period of time because I knew our DMP wouldn't work if we had to scrimp every penny and life would have been miserable. As you say you can always up your repayments later on.

Bettingmad

catandy wrote: »

thankyou all guys - ive just gone thru my figures again with stepchange and rejigged it all to a level that i feel we can live, DMP is going to take 52 payments at the figures that we have now settled on rather than the 24 months I was trying to work to (and failing at miserably)...

I dont want to live the high life and nor do my sons expect much but how things have been we have to choose between eating or heating so I needed to do something before my sons left home and went to live with their dad (over my dead body!;)) and of course if i find I can manage easily on my new budget and have money left over I can always up my payments again

Exactly the right attitude, I have also opted for a more comfortable budget in my DMP. Use any savings you squeeze from you budget and place into an emergency fund. It may take a little longer to be debt free however stres will be massively reduced by having a more realistic budget.

zenshi

Well, I had a follow up letter from MBNA agreeing to my offer ad freezing all interest and charges. They were my second highest creditor so hopefully that will give me some clout if the others are difficult

And the relief is enormous....

Find_The_Real

Hello All

I hope you are having a good weekend.

That is good news Zenshi and hopefully it has give you a boost to know creditors generally do give up and play nicely, some of them you just have to keep on at them a bit. If you have standing order details just keep paying what YOU agreed each month until you can review your situation. You may get the pondlife keep trying to get more out of you but as long as you keep telling them it is all you can afford and have nothing extra they will get the message eventually.

Sorry to hear you have been struggling on your budget Catandy, hopefully you have seen some more realistic figures. I know some people throw everything at their debt but I went for a more comfortable budget as I am not going to suffer because of this.

Well done Suseka for embracing the DMP way of life so quickly. I know the journey can seem daunting when you start out and yes there are a few highs and lows along the way but the relief knowing you are sorting things out really does have a positive effect. Won't be long before you get geeky with the spreadsheets.

I haven't put my debt amount at the moment as still waiting for the lovely house repo figures, and I have a bit of a task battling the PPI with one, kicking off about how much my house is up for sale with the other, change of estate agent and just what they think they are charging me for this, and the reality of me complaining about it all seeing they took a year to repossess, they are so going to wish I was one of those that ignored everything. :rotfl:

On a more positive note my MOT was not as horrendous as it usually is and was very reasonable for once, then again there is pretty much nothing left to be replaced on it.

Hope you all have a good rest of the weekend.