DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 10

dazla

Slothy88 wrote: »

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!

I hope you're all having a wonderful day filled with food and laughter!

I didn't get the job unfortunately, but I was up against my old manager ha! Apparently I made it such a hard decision that they had to base it purely on amount of experience, thus she got it. I was very disappointed but it's given me more confidence and they said if another job was to come up they would want to speak to me about it.

In DMP news, I've had a text message off BC saying my account is on hold pending further information from SC, and the same in letter format from MBNA. Just waiting on Halidax now.

I paid my car insurance up front for next year, which is going to save me £65 a month which will be getting saved. Also, I've just done a budget check (very Christmassy, I know!), and after all my bills and my first SC payment has gone out, I will still have around £200 leftover!! Along with the fact christmas was all paid for with cash and not credit, this is unheard of!!! I'm thinking an on,ine sales shop to try and get some bargains for birthdays/ next Christmas, and then I'll save the rest in my new emergency pot.

I'm sitting on the sofa now under a fleecy blanket with the Christmas lights on waiting for my man to come in from a 12 hour shift so we can exchange our gifts, and I have to say I'm feeling rather pleased with myself

Don't go on-line for a sales shop, it will all go in no time, save
what you have left for your emergency fund/rainy day

Slothy88

dazla wrote: »

Don't go on-line for a sales shop, it will all go in no time, save
what you have left for your emergency fund/rainy day

I've saved £50 worth of items in baskets that I know I can use for people's birthdays (not just buying crap because it's 'cheap') and I'm leaving them in the baskets for my OH to have a look at before I click buy. Chances are if he thinks they're good deals he'll insist on paying for them anyway haha, but even if I pay that leaves £150 in my emergency fund and means I have some gifts set aside

We'll see what he says though

Sazzie23

dazla wrote: »

Don't go on-line for a sales shop, it will all go in no time, save
what you have left for your emergency fund/rainy day

Hello Slothy,

Sorry you didn't get the job but you sound in great spirits about it, interviews like that often lead to new openings even if you don't get the job initially.

Well done for making great savings on the insurance and the positive figure in the bank balance. I often do a virtual shop if I feel the need to buy things, and then don't complete the sale. Most times I don't miss whatever it was I nearly bought, but then I have more than enough 'stuff' already. In December I had a car bill of £200+, car insurance £200+ and house insurance £200+ which has killed my savings and emergency fund meaning the £200+ dentist bill due in Jan and the new tyres have had to be paid for out of what I hoped to have as my Christmas budget and possibly a reduced payment to SC which I'm trying hard to avoid.

We just don't want you to run into trouble down the line, but maybe you're fortunate enough to have those things covered already?

Ellieseleven

Just checked my Stepchange statement and have now reached another couple of milestones;)

We no longer have any one debt over 4K:)

...and we now have 3 debts under 1K:)

The hard work is starting to pay off!

Ellie xx

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Ellieseleven wrote: »

Just checked my Stepchange statement and have now reached another couple of milestones;)

We no longer have any one debt over 4K:)

...and we now have 3 debts under 1K:)

The hard work is starting to pay off!

Ellie xx

Great news Ellie

Are you keeping your own records too? Been too many stories of balances being wrong on SC and PP

HHx

Ellieseleven

Hi HH,

Yes, I cross check my balances very frequently as I have seen other people get caught out with this;)

Ellie x

Time_to_face_the_music

Ellieseleven wrote: »

Just checked my Stepchange statement and have now reached another couple of milestones;)

We no longer have any one debt over 4K:)

...and we now have 3 debts under 1K:)

The hard work is starting to pay off!

Ellie xx

Great stuff Ellie - very well done! We love the milestones :j

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Great news Ellie

Are you keeping your own records too? Been too many stories of balances being wrong on SC and PP

HHx

Sterling advice from my twin, as always :T

For anyone new to a DMP, Stepchange and Payplan balances do not take account of any interest or fees/charges applied, so it's always worth keeping your own records, checking every balance against each statement and updating Stepchange/Payplan balances on their online systems if there is any variations.

TTFTM x

Sazzie23

Ellieseleven wrote: »

Just checked my Stepchange statement and have now reached another couple of milestones;)

We no longer have any one debt over 4K:)

...and we now have 3 debts under 1K:)

The hard work is starting to pay off!

Ellie xx

Yippee - Happy dance :j:j
Will disappear really quick now

Never thought of doing milestones like that - off to check see if I can make a milestone for me to aim at

Thanks

Ellieseleven

Hi Sazzie,

I love my milestones, they help to keep me on track and give that bit of motivation along the way. As my debt reduces I find that I am reaching each milestone much more quickly;)

I have lots of little ones to aim for and then a bigger one just in the distance (next one of these is reaching 15k owed).

Milestones helped me in the beginning when my debt was huge and my DFD was a million years away:o

Ellie x

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Ellieseleven wrote: »

Hi Sazzie,

I love my milestones, they help to keep me on track and give that bit of motivation along the way. As my debt reduces I find that I am reaching each milestone much more quickly;)

I have lots of little ones to aim for and then a bigger one just in the distance (next one of these is reaching 15k owed).

Milestones helped me in the beginning when my debt was huge and my DFD was a million years away:o

Ellie x

Morning all

Couldn't agree more Ellie - and like you Ellie they were especially motivating in the early and mid days when things felt darker at times.

I appreciate I probably sound as mad as a hatter but I could make anything into a milestone. If I bought a roll of bin liners I'd be working out what position I would be in when I was having to buy a new one etc.

I still ponder at the spreadsheet everyday to make sure I stay on track.

HHx