Claire's County Court Carry On

wherediditallgo

I know what you mean, Claire. I've always been a bit mouthy, but when someone's cheesed me off I've often kept quiet rather than say something I might regret later. After going BR, I didn't have a lot of tolerance for other people's rudeness, so I spent the first couple of weeks telling people off - maybe it was a sort of "So you're worried about your new catalogue not arriving - big deal, I've just gone BR!" attitude. I've calmed down a lot since then, thank goodness, but I still don't let people get away with talking to me as if I'm beholden to them or an idiot.

Going through the whole lead-up to BR & BR itself really helps you see things that used to bother you in better perspective. I've become a financial whizz when it comes to the bills (everything's paid on time or early now), but anything else just largely goes in one ear & out the other - if it's not as important as anything BR/money-related, it's not important enough to worry about. Stress is so March 2007.

ClaireLR

08.08.2007

I received a letter today from the insolvency service to officially tell me that the OR has no interest in my car.

Since reading Davids' post this morning it hardly seems worth a mention. It's really put things into perspective for me, there have been times over the past few months where I've thought of nothing other than bankruptcy. I'm sure if I'd have ended up with an IPA and/or had my car taken away I'd have been devastated but today I realised that none of that's important. David has lost someone dear to him this weekend and no amount of money can ever replace that. It's made me feel quite selfish to think I was so bothered about material things. It's such a cliche but I have a roof over my head, food in my tummy and a family and friends who love and care for me, and other than that what do any of us REALLY need?

betterlatethannever

Beautifully put Claire, and so true.
I've re-evaluated things today alot and what the hell. its credit/debt and nothing more. Like you i have a roof, food etc.
Such a shame it takes something so terrible to make us realise whats important.

ClaireLR

12 August 2007

I haven't been able to post for a few days now because I've had major problems with my PC, in thats it's virused up and I can't afford to do anything to put it right!!

I received a letter from the OR a couple of days back saying thank you for agreeing to make payments on an IPA I hadn't agreed to this at all so started to dial the number to tell the OR off when I realised that they were actually talking about my tax contributions, which had been mentioned at interview. The letter said that they would be collecting approximately £192 per month as soon as the NT code was applied by the inland revenue, and this will continue until the end of the tax year. I've signed and sent it back so thats done with.

I've also had LOTS of letters from my creditors; a statement from my credit card company, who I shall be contacting tomorrow, a few letters from the WONDERFUL (!) Halifax, telling me that I owe x amount and another telling me that they will charging me a £28.00 overdraft fee and another bank statement from them. They've all gone into a file box for if/when the OR wants to see them.

Also in the post over the past few days have been some quite frankly astonishing letters from Lloyds TSB. Before BR I had an overdraft for approximately £150 (£100 was authorised and I was being charged on the other £50), anyways I had a letter one day telling me that they were allowing me an overdraft of £100, and another letter the same day saying that they were extending my overdraft to £170!!?? So I was shocked about that, and then to top it all off I had another letter from their solicitors threating legal action if payment was not made within 7 days! (Funny, I had exactly the same letter about 12 months ago, and at monthly intervals in between then and now)

Anyway I am off to the land of nod now, have had a busy weekend.

Claire. X

betterlatethannever

Sounds like you've had a fun few days Claire

ClaireLR

20 August 2007

I think I am about to learn a lesson.

I went to do my weekly food shop on saturday, came to £25 which I paid on my debit card. Later in the day I decided to check my balance so that I could budget for next weeks shopping/petrol etc, to find that I have only £15 left in my account :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

In the past, it obviously wouldn't have been a problem, it would have gone on the old flexible friend. Luckily I have a very nice dad who has told me that if I need anything to let him know, so I'll probably use whats left in my account for petrol and do a mini shop next week for essentials only. I don't get paid until a week tomorrow.

I think I need to start budgeting better for things like this, and meal planning etc so I only buy what I need. I think a trip to the old style board might be in order for me. I don't want to end up in a mess before I've even started so to speak.

I wonder how other people have coped with budgeting after bankruptcy. I think I need to open another bank account possibly to put all my bill money etc in on payday and then know what I have left to spend on shopping etc. My car is up for MOT next month to and I have nothing saved towards it; fingers crossed it doesn't need anything doing this year!

betterlatethannever

Thanks for that Claire,
i don't know about others but because i have so little to live on i can't budget, just live day to day at the mo, with my fingers crossed behind my back. I use the old style money boards and they have helped a lot.
Thank god for wonderful parents!

wherediditallgo

Claire, the way I've been doing it is to allow a certain amount for essential food shopping during the week. I allow £5 for unplanned shopping (eg milk going off, loo rolls), £3 towards 'buy one get one free' deals or the ones where they're knocking money off the larger size & £2 for a treat, as going BR is hard enough without totally depriving myself in the process - I've got to have something to look forward to. I then look at what food I'd like to have during the week, check the prices on the net & then get it from the cheapest supermarket or the market. Thank goodness I like casseroles & stews - if you use the cheaper cuts of meat & allow it to cook in the oven for a 2-3 hours, you can get a good few really tasty meals out of those. Jacket potatoes are also a good one, as you can put pretty much any leftovers in them. I always include a bag of the cheapest pasta in my shopping, as you can make a cheap filling meal with it once it's mixed with something else. Also sweet potato - I've found that to be better value than ordinary potatoes, as you can just cook what you need rather than do a whole potato & then not finish it. I use over-ripe tomatoes to make an onion & tomato sauce, & over-ripe fruit to make a crumble - both of those can be frozen, & if you freeze the crumble in portion sizes you'll only need to defrost what you actually need at the time.

I've found working out roughly what I'll be eating during the week has been a real blessing. I'm West Indian, & we grow up thinking an empty shelf in the fridge or in the cupboard is a cardinal sin , but now I'm only buying what I can reasonably expect to eat rather than stocking up "Panic Room" style :rotfl:. It took me a few weeks to get into the routine, but now I always have some shopping left over at the end of the week to put towards the next week's. You will get there, but it does take time to break the habits we've had for years, so don't beat yourself up over it.

ClaireLR

24 August 2007

Mmmm stew, might just make a big pot next week (when Ive been paid of course) freeze it and live on that for a couple of weeks. My mom used to make one every week in the winter when we were kids and I loved it! Ive been a bit better and planned a few things this week, firstly I've started walking half way to work with a friend, I drive to hers in the morning, leave my car at hers, and walk the rest of the way to work, and back again of a night, this is saving me money in 2 ways, 1 my petrol is going to be half what it was, and 2 I dont have to pay for parking!! AND I get some exercise into the bargain! Ive had a good root through my cupboards and I have got plenty to live on really, just need a few essential when I shop tomorrow that hopefully should come to no more than a fiver, so I should be able to make it to pay day on Tuesday without borrowing, which has made me happy. Of course it will mean staying in bank holiday which is a shame as the weather is going to be gorgeous apparently, but I've known for weeks that it was going to be bank holiday so have no one to blame but myself.

Yesterday I had a letter from the inland revenue saying that they have changed my tax code to NT from my BR date. I'm a bit confused about this to be honest. Bear with me because this is a bit of a story, when I filled in my BR forms it asked about how much tax I pay per month, I can't remember what it was now but I wrote down from my June payslip. Then in July I had a payrise but it wasn't due to be applied until the 26 July, so I had a little extra money in my pay packet and therefore paid a little extra tax. when I had my interview with the OR, he asked me how much tax I had paid that month (in july) so I told him £192. He said this is the figure they would be asking me to pay every month. I told him about the situation with the payrise and he said to let him know next month (at the end of August) how much I pick up.

When I get my payslip though, if the NT code has been applied, I'm not going to know from the extra money what should be paid am I?? I don't now if I've explained myself very clearly here reading it back to be honest! Its because of the extra money I'll get at the end of August as a result of my payrise, but I dont know how much this will be or how much extra tax it will mean me paying.

Am I making sense or am I just overcomplicating things as usual?? If I tell the OR how much I have picked up (assuming the NT code has been applied by the end of August) will they be able to work out how much I have got to give them that should have been paid in tax?? There, I think that last sentence explains it better than all the rambling I've done in the last paragraph ROTFL!!!! X

wherediditallgo

Claire, I would send the OR a copy of your last 2-3 normal payslips showing how much you usually got, a copy of the one with the payrise, & a copy of the one with the NT code. Enclose a letter explaining why there was an increase on the one with the payrise, & that your August one is different again because of the NT code. The ORs do liaise with the Inland Revenue, so between them they should be able to see from your pre-payrise payslips & your post-payrise payslip how much you'll actually be taking home & then work out what needs to be handed over each month for your IPA.