Puzz tries again.. this time with claws... My DMP Journey. I will get debt free...

Puzzcat

It is now official as I have finished work for the festives... well sort of.. I'm on leave but have the opportunity to do some overtime so may slot a few visits in too add some pennies to Januarys wages...


All shopping done now, I was in Tesco whilst it was still dark this morning. I bought the turkey yesterday in Makro and that's now in the freezer and lots of wine..... In fact most of the budget has gone on wine.....:rotfl: So £170 done on food and drink in 2 days. but in my defence I did also purchase lots of loo rolls and chicken fillets in the cash & carry.... I haven't bought many extra bits for christmas as I only eat them.. Also haven't as yet bought my usual bottle of baileys.. still thinking about that one... I have spent half of my interview money, but still got Decembers £50 so if I don't buy anything else I shall split that between christmas 2014 and my bank account..


Been paid for January but not touching it until January comes.....


Letter from Creation apologising for not responding yet, but they still haven't investigated my complaint.. I only said don't charge me interest.. silly people..


Anyway got to rush out now and play mum's taxi...


Back soon.


Love Puzz. xxx

Puzzcat

3 more sleeps....


Well now I'm off work I wrote a list of things I would like to complete so I didn't feel I had wasted my days off....


So yesterday I didn't get out to do a overtime visit... :mad: weather was really revolting... but I did go a bit mad on domestic goddess duties and and and general cleaning.... Didn't achieve half the things I had planned and today has been even worse... totally shattered and could happily go to bed... Hope my energy levels return tomorrow and I can get some of my list completed.. although cleaning of the car in & out may have to wait if the impending weather arrives as forecast....


OH did his Christmas shopping today, guided by dd who wrote him a list so he wouldn't get it wrong.. she has wrapped them all up for him and they are now sparkling under the tree with my name on them...


So tomorrow.. I will complete an o/t visit, collect an item dd has left at a mate's. Pick up OH's suit ready for wedding next saturday.. do more washing and do the ironing.. yuk... and sort out what I'm going to wear to this wedding.... Also need to get the turkey out to start defrosting.. and the ham if i'm going to cook it .....

Puzzcat

New Year Resolution.. Complete diary more frequently....


Christmas and NYE been and gone..


I did very well at christmas and have got £130 in gift cards and £200 cash + chocs and smellies.. Unfortuantely due to OH's work pattern/pay pattern I have had to use my cash to subsidise daily life but on the upside its not using credit and my bank account is still rosy...


Have banked another £10 of 20p's into christmas 2014 and £10 of 50p's into the wedding fund...


Managed the very posh wedding in a new pair of black trousers.. cost £20 but am now using for work.. and a borrowed top.. very nice the day was and I didn't spend a penny.. had a horrible champagne hangover on the sunday mind...!!


Chirstmas was the usual...doesn't seem to matter where it is hosted I always end up cooking.. never mind all done and dusted for another year, just the decorations to take down at the weekend so the treadmill can go back up and the NY plans come into force....


So..


Less drinking the demon wine...
Less smoking.. goes hand in hand with above...
Lose some weight.. between 1/2 and 1 stone.. and get this body moving....
No snacking....
Less food shopping as this is definately an area where I need to cut down.. my freezers are bulging with YS items and we have enough.. I must resist the reduced aisle's......


Dmp trotting along nicely.. still waiting to hear from Creation and will give Natwest a call next week to find out about the loan and overdraft balances so I can update my SC online plan, and write i'm poor don't charge me interest letters if needs be...


So with the above plans in place I should be healthier, wealthier, but probably not much wisier....


Hope all MSE's had a lovely christmas and wish everyone a happy new year...

schmalf

Hey Puzz Happy New Year! Glad you had a good Christmas. Mine was soooo full on, need to get back to work for a rest now! Far too much boozing and eating, starting a dry January today for a bit of a detox and also money saving activity!

Even though my planning was bad I did pretty well on the Christmas shopping front, total pressies spend was about £250 which I was pleased with, stuck to my budgets for everyone and only overspent on one pressie, but this was cancelled out by some 2 for 1's on the kiddie chocolate pressies.

Food spend another matter, was sharing the Christmas duties and annoyingly ended up spending much more than I wanted on food, although still wading through the leftovers so quite a chunk of the spend has come out of the monthly food budget anyway.

So as I posted on the DMP board, I am due to start the DMP on the 1st Feb!!!! Yay!! SC have informed the creditors and its all getting going. Its a great start to the year, at last I feel so positive about money and that I am sorting it out. The first few months will probably be a bit messy as I have car insurance and animal insurance due but hopefully I have enough in the budget to cover this now. So I am hoping by March or April that I can start putting some money into the emergency fund. I am also going to start to hit the OH's CC's. He isn't included in the DMP, still couldn't bring myself to tell him about it, but the CCs in his name I am hoping we can clear by the end of the year. Then we can start to save a lump to pay off the loan that is in his name too. The plan is that all the debts in his name we can hopefully pay off within a 24 month timescale. Then either start to save for F+Fs or up the DMP payment. My debt free date is miles away at the mo (think it about 10 years!!!), but I am hoping realistically that it will be more like 5 if things go to plan.

Had a right panic just before Christmas, got a letter from Halifax to say a "representative" was going to come round to my house in 2 days time!!! EEEK. I know it was probably just a ploy to get me to phone them, well it worked. So I phoned them and also Barclays who also sent me a threatening letter. Anyway, they were actually both really nice on the phone, gave them the SC details and they both agreed to freeze charges and interest until the DMP was set up. So much less bad than I was expecting.

Anyhow, now just waiting for my online log in details so I can get onto my DMP account and update all the balances etc and get the total picture, can't wait actually!! Think I will fire off some letters this afternoon too to all the creditors confirming the DMP, start date etc and asking for interest and charges to be frozen. Sounds like a plan.

Fingers crossed for a great 2014!!

Love Schmalf xx :beer:

Puzzcat

Hi schmalf,


Thanks for dropping by with your update. Sounds like you did really well with your christmas shopping despite the hiccup on the food front !


I am only a few months ahead of you on the dmp front and mine also is for about 10 years.. I too am looking at hopefully more like 5 as then i'll be 50...... I have a family loan that has less than 3 years to run so when that finishes I can throw that money at the dmp.. Also fingers crossed with an occasional pay rise I will be able to clear it all quicker.. well that's my plan anyway...:D I have actually had a small payrise since setting up the plan so I am stashing that away until my review and then will up the dmp payment as long as the budget is working.. which it is at them minute.


And of course down the line there is always the possiblilty of full and finals so a little saving pot for that is always a good idea!! I hope you have been generous with your budget so there is wiggle room....!


Do pop back and let me know how you are doing! Do you have a diary yet?


Love Puzz. x

Puzzcat

Forgot another important 2014 task is my surveys... I managed to earn £202 in vouchers for christmas 2013 and am aiming at £250 for 2014.. This does include the one's I get for my 6 months working for RM and I hopefully will be reinvited to that in the spring..


Currently got one £10 voucher and up to £23.50 on one poll, so £16.50 needed until payout for that although it will go in the wedding fund. I am also going to save my shopandscan vouchers this year so that should be an additional £80ish on this years total.... we shall see...

Raggydoll85

Hi Puzz!

Am still only on £13.60 on Onepoll... always get screened out at the min...lol

Puzzcat

Today is a work day, but unlike Mon and Tues when I went in the office it doesn't feel like it, and I can't seem to get into anything today so will write off this week and start afresh next week....


Grocery shopping done today, all on budget.. Also picked up 2 1.1kg fresh turkey breast joints for £1.20 each.... of course I am not suppose to be buying any more reduced food until we run out of what we have.. 2 freezers nearly full.. but couldn't resist those at 10% of normal price...! No more though unless the deal is too good or I need it for my meal plan...


One Poll up to £23.80... still got to get going on the other survey sites I use..


Added up christmas spends £549.51 spent ! £202 in vouchers and £347.51 in cash, the rest of the cash went on christmas food and drink.. so overall in budget again... this is the second year I have documented what I have spent and on who.. I also do save for it all year....


OH's money through so the other half of my christmas money safely stashed for now... I don't need anything desperately.. well alright if I'm honest I do need a hair cut.. so I can see again.. and new bra's but will sort the hair later in the month and the bra's.. well I do have an m & s gift card so maybe i'll have a splurge with that..

Puzzcat

A bit of a nothing day today.. have been to the office and done a visit and a few calls so more productive than yesterday... will get my butt into gear next week as I do want to do some overtime visits this month....


Paid family loan so that's now down to £6800... this is completely seperate from my dmp and will also be paid off much quicker so i can use the monthly money to up my dmp...


NSD today.. yeah one in the bag for January...:T


Bank account all still rosy and only another 27 days till payday...


Have taken down christmas deccies/tree, done some washing and just have my salad to prep for tea.. (with pizza i'm not that healthy...!)


Have done one poll.. up to £23.95 and done my IPSOS survey so just mysurvey's left to do but there's loads of them so may leave that lovely task till tomorrow...


Happy Friday... :j

Puzzcat

Another weekend gone in a flash, can't believe we are already a week into the new year... Have now started on NY resolutions.. wonder how long they will last...:rotfl:


Received a couple of letters on saturday, one from Halifax saying they have passed my debt onto Apex and one from Apex saying call us.... So yesterday I gave them a ring and spoke to a very nice man who confirmed my balance. less than I thought..:D and that no interest would be charged... :T Payments stay the same I just have to amend the details on the SC website.. done....


Also checked Noddle and discovered without having to make more phone calls that both my N.West OD and Loan are also interest free, which means its just naughty creation who have 1 week left to respond to my complaint about interest charging before I esculate it....


So my debts are now going down at the rate of approx £530 a month.. that's 1K every other month.. how exciting it that...:j


I am very upbeat at the moment and will be keeping my fingers and toes crossed that 2014 is going to be a good year.. pretty please....


Nothing exciting planned for this week, back to the normal work/school stuff... and counting down to the feb half term break when I shall hopefully take a few days off... I have booked half day off this friday to break myself in gently...


One poll very slow, still haven't got started on mysurveys and Ipsos no surveys today.... I have earnt another £10 in my shopandscan but am going to leave it there because if I move it to my amazon account my dd will spend it...


Off out and about today, trying to avoid supermarkets.. I haven't purchased any reduced food this year apart from my 2 bargain £1.40 turkeys.. so i'm doing ok with that personal challenge...


Still holding onto my £80 christmas money and hoping OH's pay comes good this week and I don't need to subsidise the house bills with it.. I have £40 left in this week's budget and hopefully won't need any petrol till friday (my weekly payday), but will need milk and cat food and no doubt the 'urgent' list will grow by the time I pop into a shop.... I also have £130 gift cards which I will use throughout the year on essentials and a few treats for dd and I.. we are probably hitting the shops next wekeend.. for her not me, but I will encourage her to open her own purse.. although she does need some essential new items, which only mummy's can buy......


Have a good week all.... x