DFD-where will I be NYE 2016?

supermum38

Hi all

Happy New Year to all of you. I see many of you are also starting diaries as it is that time of year, so thought I would finally start mine.
I am a 'very' long time lurker...MSE has been my financial bible for nearly 10 years and thanks to all the help and advice from Martin and posters, I now only have debt to the value of about £1500.

That is a typical example of my aversion to finances and prefer to round up figure than be exact!

Anyway, I am writing this because I am trying to plan ahead so I can reach my goal by this time in two years. Admittedly, this is not just about money and would love any advice along the way.

So why the deadline? Well firstly, by 31/12/2016, my youngest son will be 18. Ok, not directly a financial deadline but as I explain more it will make sense.
I am in my third year of doing an OU degree. I decided I could no longer carry on working in my usual role after being unemployed for nearly 3 years and being laid of/temporary contract 3 times in 5 years. I am hoping my degree (or modules alone) will help me get a job where I travel abroad and work in conservation/environment/International Development.
Now that is why I am waiting until my son is 18.

The problem with getting into this type of work is experience and from my research I may have to fund volunteering work abroad, hopefully, I can do this in the summer of 2016 and then have a work placement so I am somewhere exotic on NYE 2016!

So my financial plan is to pay off the remaining debts and have some savings to break into this difficult career. I'm not so worried about paying the debts but I am terrible at saving.

Truthfully, I lack commitment...I never finish a diet, budgeting, can't keep my blog up to date, and can't resist a bargain in a sale. The good news is I don't have a mortgage or any credit (other than insurance). I literally live on what comes in and manage to pay my bills, and if I have an unexpected cost, usually find a way to raise the money. It is a fine balance, as most of you will know but to get here I had to suffer.

After my second messy divorce 7 years ago, I was penniless with two boys and homeless. I went bankrupt with about £15,000 and last January it was 6 years, so my credit file improved dramatically! A year later and I have managed to stay in credit with my bank and reduced my debts (acquired during unemployment) to what I have now.

The main one is a social fund loan. This is about (again) £980. To admit this is shameful as it was a loan they gave me to move into a private rental after the divorce... They write every now and then and remind me I have broken the payment arrangement but since there is no interest or fines, I haven't really tried to reduce it (only £200 paid back). The rest of my debt is £250 old Council Tax (reduced from £500 after recalculations) and my current Council tax of £299 by April.

Now, I'm sure the first bit of advice will be...make a budget, plan payments and hey presto! Not so easy. I explained earlier about employment problems and although I worked for about 9 months of 2013, I haven't actually worked since mid December!
Last March my job ended as someone came back from maternity leave. I tried to get jobs, made it to interviews but ended up with this awful job I have now. Zero contract for an agency-no promise of work and sometimes less than 24 hours notice. To top that, they have got wages wrong or paid them late so not easy to plan finances. I am trying to find something else but since this is the only job I was offered, I don't have a lot of hope...

What would I like from this thread? Just support I guess. I have brought my two sons up alone for 13 years (both husbands were useless and left me penniless) and now I feel I can chase my dreams BUT it is only possible if I stick to a plan (aaaaargh!)
I am single (5 years +) and this has helped me get almost debt free and careful about spending BUT I am easily tempted to spend spare cash. I think it comes from living in poverty/on the breadline while bringing up my boys with NO MAINTENANCE. My CSA case is messy and will come to a head sometime this year (more about this, another time) but I have been told not expect all arrears to be paid before the youngest reaches 18 (not in education) so I want to concentrate on saving £2000 before NYE 2016!

A reasonable target methinks?

supermum38

Not a good start. So bored yesterday to get milk and catfood from Asda. Got tempted and bought a reduced t-shirt for one son and reduced casual shoes for the other. Only £11. Picked up food in reduced section for dinner then got talked into a Dominos by sons.

Checked account this morning and showing £35 o/d. Miscalculated DD's dates. One changed before Xmas and thought it would go out after the weekend.

Kicking myself now...

BUT did put £3 in money tin for £365 in a year challenge.

supermum38

Right. Finally looked up exact figures:

1. Current Council Tax £299.32
2. Old Council Tax £291.62
3. Outstanding Social Fund £957.20

That was painful.

Good news. Finally got a reply about no.2 today for my email sent in November. They will accept £32.40 on 25th of each month so final payment will be September.

Bad news. Still haven't had any work from agency and owe full amount of no.1 which was due on the 1st January. Expecting red letter any day...need some work urgently. Called agency and was told big project starting soon? Looks like I'll be taking the first 5 nights straight just so I can pay no.1 asap!

More bad news. Borrowed £40 of eldest son to cover DD and paid it in on the same day but DD was still returned then looked at receipt. It said payments are made if in credit by 2pm. I put money in at 2:43pm. Bummer. Insurance company wrote to say they will take in 7-10 days. No mention of fee. Bank wrote to say I'll be charged £8. First default in 6 years. Will just have to live with it i guess?

Right now on to my 'cases'.

1. 13 year old CSA case. Had letter from Appeals Service. They have accepted my appeal to Upper tribunal, just waiting for a date now. Need to look at proving 'maladministration' for 'advance payment' of outstanding arrears. Have drafted letter for Data protection-just need to send with £10 payment.
2. Parking ticket. Read forum advice and ignoring at the moment. Have not heard anything yet. Firm WAS BPA but not anymore so POPLA not relevant. Had ticket which fell off dash so will respond when I get letter.
3. Have sent completed 'Access to Learning Fund application' back to OU in the hope of getting some funding to replace broken laptop.
4. Have sent repeat DSA form. Hoping they will reinstall lost programs on to new laptop (if I'm lucky).
5. Completed and sent 'Travel Assistance' application to County Council since college bursary does not cover ALL son's travel costs.

Still putting the odd quid in money tin for £365 challenge.

Finally, have worked out I need to save £20 a week for my £2000 in two years and if I pay £10 a week can clear debt no.3 in that time.

Now, just need some work from agency or a new job to get cracking!
One job application gone already...