Counting Pennines Penniless Diary!

CountingPennies · 31 May 2013 at 9:33PM

Well, after years of being an MSE'er, I guessed it was finally time to start a diary, so here we are!

Been in debt for YEARS, all down to me. It all started back in 2000 when i turned 18 and got my first Barclaycard. My parents tried so hard to warn me to spend a little each month and pay it off in full, yeah right, the pub round the corner from college saw all of that credit limit! I must admit, I did have fun at the time, but I've learnt the hardway! Over a period of around 5 years I managed to get myself into near enough £20,000 worth of debt. I have NOTHING to show for it. I lived my life, made loads of mistakes and have spent the last 8 years trying to sort it out.

6 years later, i'm now a birth mother of 1, full time carer of another 2, dog owner and happily married for nearly 7 years!! Yikes!! How times have changed!! The best thing i ever did was leave my abusive ex, the rest just all kind of started to fix itself. I grew up, fast.

So.... from near enough £20,000 i'm now down to around £7,000. I'm pretty happy with my efforts, but i'm bored of it. Hence the diary, to try and spur myself along on the dark days and remember how far i've come. I plan on getting all my debt letters together and finding out just how much I owe, right down to the last penny. A couple of old debts (nearly 6 years) have found their way to me so I need to re-look at my finances and start again. DH has just got a new job a couple of weeks ago which is fantastic as self-employment isn't secure enough for us. I can finally see a light a the end of the never-ending tunnel. I'm hoping to be debt free by next April. Thats my aim. Would have been sooner but since these new letters have arrived it looking unlikely.

Anyway, this is my first installment. I can only work part-time, so I try to up my income using surveys and trying the "Make £10 a day challenge" on here. I'm not expecting anyone to reply or anything. I just want somewhere to jot down my feelings and spur myself along. But feel free to read.

Right.... Off to get some ebay listings ready! I need to try and raise £300 in June! :cool:

joanne109 · 31 May 2013 at 10:05PM

Wow - well done on your efforts so far and good luck with the ebay stuff. I don't have the guts to put stuff on there

Joanne

CountingPennies · 21 June 2013 at 8:08AM

My efforts for June to raise £300 haven't been going too well. Life just gets in the way sometimes! Had a few rubbish days of feeling sorry for myself but gave myself a good talking to and have since done over 40 ebay listings! Looks like nearly everything has watchers, and some even have bids, so i'm hoping to have made some cash by the end of the weekend! :j:j:j

I did the "Edinburgh Moonwalk Marathon" 2 weeks ago to raise money for Breast Cancer. I traveled there alone and did the marathon myself (despite all the other thousands of people doing it, but you know what I mean) and I spent the whole night (it started at midnight) thinking about how my life had changed. I juggled debts round in my head and was coming up with ways of how to make life easier for ourselves. At the end of it, I actually felt like I had cleared my head and felt better for it. Like a tough counselling session! :rotfl:

Right, off to find more stuff to ebay. I think i'll start some sort of spreadsheet so I can see how much money I make. I've already opened an online savings account so I can watch the money build up, then every month, pay it off a debt :cool:

Anyway.... Have a good weekend! :beer:

Aamberle · 21 June 2013 at 8:19AM

Wow - what an inspiration you are! Well done on the moonwalk and for how far you have come on your debt journey.

With regards to your 2 new debts - i am sure if they have not contacted you over 6 years they are classed as statute barred or something like that:rotfl: Someone far more clever I am sure will be able to confirm, but I think if it's 6 years or over and no contact there may be something you can do..

Anyway just wanted to say really well done and I will be popping over to se how you get on.

Have a good friday x

CountingPennies · 21 June 2013 at 9:49AM

Aamberle wrote: »

Wow - what an inspiration you are! Well done on the moonwalk and for how far you have come on your debt journey.

With regards to your 2 new debts - i am sure if they have not contacted you over 6 years they are classed as statute barred or something like that:rotfl: Someone far more clever I am sure will be able to confirm, but I think if it's 6 years or over and no contact there may be something you can do..

Anyway just wanted to say really well done and I will be popping over to se how you get on.

Have a good friday x

Thanks Aamberle. With regards to the statute barred, your right, however Ive learnt from the past that they find you at the last minute and take you to court resulting in more fees so I'm best just to deal with it :rotfl: Plus is kinda feels wrong. I should pay it back. I looked into it before and actually felt a little guilty

I've spent the last hour or so entering twitter competitions. I gotta win a prize one of these days!! :rotfl:

CountingPennies · 27 June 2013 at 9:33AM

After a down few days, i'm ready to pick myself up again! I've been buying school uniforms in the sale and managed to save myself £45 out of my budget for them this month, so i've paid it straight off 2 calalouges. One is now paid off, the other is nearly paid off.

I should edit my signature to show debts, that way I can see them slowly coming down.

Got myself into a mess with PDL's. But i've took the step of facing it head on. I've come to a payment agreement with one company, just another 3 companies to deal with now. I've given notice of cancellation of CPA's to both the banks and the creditors. It shouldn't take long to pay off, but i could see myself getting into the cycle so i've put a stop to it.

The reason for my PDL's you might ask?? A mix of job changes, travel to see ill family, emergency repairs. I need to build up my savings again too.

Anyway, spending the next couple of days re-going through all the paperwork and seeing where i can make savings. I've joined the grocery challenge for July so i can see where and how much money i'm wasting. And i'll carry on with the make £10 a day challenge!

Must dash.... company just arrived. Not feeling well so can't be bother with them!

CountingPennies · 27 June 2013 at 10:33PM

Well, got a tax refund today of £118. Unexpected so very happy. Anyway, i've paid all my catalouge bills (even ones not due for 2 weeks). My council tax is all up to date. I've paid the mortgage payment. Done a decent food shop that should last 2 weeks apart from fruit/veg next week. And i've just added up all my direct debits and standing orders for 1st of the month and there is enough there to cover them!! Whoop whoop!!

Obviously i've cancelled the mess up of PDL's i mentioned earlier, however, 2 of the companies have agreed to freeze interest and i have payment plans set up (money covered for these) and just the other 2 companies to respond now. I'm guessing they are going to wait for me to default tomorrow before agreeing to anything but i feel i can deal with that. If they come up with a payment plan I can afford then i will start paying these this weekend. I'm going to make sure i pay by other methods than a CPA as i've heard horror storied of them taking full amount by giving them permission to take card payments again.

Anyway, as long as nothing goes majorly wrong in the next month *touches wood* then i should be fine! Still on track to have all my debts paid off by April 2014 so i'm feeling much more positive tonight. I might even be able to treat the kids to a day to the cinema to see Monster High if all my ebaying goes well!!

Right, head cleared now i've finished talking to myself on here and time for bed!

CountingPennies · 1 July 2013 at 3:27PM

PDL update. I now have 3 payment arrangements in place, and the 4th one has just emailed me to complete a SOA so fingers crossed they agree to it! The other 3 are all happy to allow me to pay standing order. I refuse to give them my card details again out of fear they will take all my money out to get their money back! You read such horror stories on here!

Had a busy day today and feeling shattered, still have to go and do a shift at work yet.

Going out tomorrow with a friend for a meal. We just going to a buffet so so at least i know how much money i will need as its all you can eat/drink. Its a rare treat these days, but we have to treat ourselves from time to time don't we?!

I've sorted through lots of ebay stuff this weekend so hoping to get around 20 listing per day done every day this week. Want to make as much money as i can this month as the summer holidays are so expensive with 3 kids. Will be spending a few hours researching free/cheap things to do in the area.

Well... off to get ready for work

CountingPennies · 4 July 2013 at 8:14AM

So today is my ebay start date! Gonna try and get 10 listings done at 3 day auctions, and 10 listings day at 10 day auctions. Really REALLY need to make some cash so we can do some stuff with the kids during the holidays!

Grocery challenge is going well. Got lots of nice meals planned for the next week and plenty of stuff in to have a change round if we don't fancy whats on the plan that day.

Meal out with my friend the other day was lovely and much needed! Felt much better just chilling out and not thinking about my bank balance all the time. I have no idea why i do this. I think its fear that i'm gonna go overdrawn and get charged like i used to years ago. Its also hope that someone puts a big deposit in my account! Haha! (You never know!)

Been ordering quite of few bits on ebay for other people, to the value of nearly £600, which means i benefit from all those nectar points! I save these for christmas along with tesco points. I tend to use my nectar points on the half price toy sale but won't have as many this year due to not shopping at sainsburrys as much.

Up to date with all my payments on everything for now. Have 2 direct debits due tomorrow, so fingers crossed there is enough money in the account to cover them (i think there is).

I really need to sit down for a couple of hours and write down how much is left on my debt so i can visualise it and it will help me manage it, if that makes sense??

Right.... time to stop talking to myself....