From Aloof with bells on.

Aloofdragon

Hiyas diary x.. Well I have so many letters coming through the door at the mo that our poor dog is to scared to chase the postman, thankfully on his part no doubt, my job for tomorrow is to sort through everything and make some sort of filing system idiotproof for the 2 of us, I may just expand the tickler file, I am loving the spending diary it is working just fine I am going to add in everything with dates in and out d/d and standing order etc in fact I think we are just going to set up rent and council tax coming out as a d/d o and child maintenance..


Child maintenance is something I must look into my SS is 17 in 2 weeks has turned down a job with a family member hasn't returned to school hasn't gone to college and is temp working with girlfriends father labouring a few days a week. Especially as his mum has double the money we have coming in on benefits 3/4 hols a year etc.


I spoke to a lovely fella in Payp1an on Friday regarding budget we proposed over the phone I was in such a tizz I couldn't remember a word that was said so he emailed me the lot this will make things much easier to fill in and hopefully it won't be much longer back and forth so we will at least know the answer, either way it's too late to go back now we have left Barc1ays and tax credits and child benefit is already winging its way to the 11oyds bank... Hubby is quite sad about leaving Barc1ays as he has banked with them since school I on the other hand can't wait to look forward from this mess... And banking elsewhere is the start..


We have started asking for receipts for everything which seems alien to us at the mo so need t be super organised. We done a stock up in farmfoods today so everything is chocka block plus we are well stocked on dog food and toiletries we have put a fair few cupboard groceries away too cereals, tins, teabags, crisps, choc bars for lunches for my son so we have a little headstart shopping wise. Bread milk and fruit and veg through the weeks and we will be fine.


Sky has been fitted already and I can't believe its almost £20 a month cheaper than the talk talk package we had don't any company look after their regular customers these days no wonder every one hops yearly to grab the new deals.


My knee is still really poorly feeling ill taking so many painkillers. Trying to rest it as much as possible now but still taking ages to sort itself out. Hoping a nice lazy day tomorrow will help hubby is in work pm so be just myself and DS I love the odd Sunday doing nothing but chilling he is changing by the month now his face is changing jawline growing his cheek is def growing but he is a fab kid all in all not moaned once this year about not having a holiday. Local caravan holiday through the summer was nearly £800 a week... We have got a 5 days in Euro-Disney end of November booked and paid for so something to look forward too at least.


Joined some of the challenges and subbed to the lovely xmas boards too I will find it so so strange not questioning my spending next few months we do have some saving stamps put away some Asd4 vouchers and have our l2s vouchers with Park but still will find it hard not buying what I want but looking forward to the challenge..

Aloofdragon

Well things are moving at a rate of knots here everything is up in the air and waiting on a date for creditors meeting, accounts are now starting to default letters through the door for late payments but oddly its less threatening than waiting for the unknown bills especially as hubby really didn't know exactly what mess we were actually in we have bounced back and forth with ideas of sorting our self but his boss advised him gave us that one last shove to try and get an IVA approved with payplan
and if that fails then look at other options which ever way at least we are now dealing with things together..The hard part is where on earth do we start budgeting, we have lived outside of our means for as long as we have been together 10 years or so, we have only our normal bills to pay this month which we have massively downsized dropped sky etc so need to sit down and plan.

We need a really small shop this week lunchbox and fruit and veg and a few fridge bits really so will pop to Aldi's. We have a few bits to pick up from Matalan too that we bought from paypal money, I found £20 snook away in an old Paypal account last night so will see what else I have to sell I am hoping for a new tablet for DS for xmas and they have refurb Tesco and Argos site on Ebay for £80 this will be my goal in paypal by xmas to order for free.

I have started and kept up with my spending diary in fact it's really enjoyable having somewhere to jot spends thoughts and reminders daily. So that's a winner.

I am now kinda sorry we have booked to go to Eurodisney end of November I had no idea it was going to be so expensive for spending money I have heard horror stories on prices and bags being searched for food etc on the parks thank goodness we are half board I think I will lose some weight that week lol ..

mum2one

Don't know whether it's any help regarding the tablet but if your budget is around £80 you could easily pick up a new one from Amazon for that budget even a 10in screen, I'm getting one for de and got a few between 60 and 80quid in wish list most have got really good reviews - Amazon also takes PayPal - that way your get a 12mth guarantee xx

Aloofdragon

Oo I had no idea amazon took PayPal payments in after a Samsung galaxy 3 I know they're bringing out a 4 so hoping to grab a 3 new or refurb for around that I will def have a nosey on amazon tho thanku x

Aloofdragon

Evening diary It has been a lovely relaxed weekend first time in a long time to be honest, we are both dreading payday just in case hubbys pay goes back into Barc rather than new bank, at least tax credits and child ben has gone into new account, if the worse happens we will have a very skint month rather than a nice plush one as we can't pay our debtors..

I have the envelope system ready to go just need cash to fill them..
The child benefit aptly fits most of DS bits and pieces pocket money, after school clubs, haircut, clothes, dinner money and also using that for £20 gift savings.. It will be fab to be able to allot this lot and not have to dread ice-cream van coming round or a letter for a school trip as majority of his spends are covered somewhere..

Thinking positively and hoping DH pay goes into right bank(no reason to think it shouldn't apart from dodgy HR) then we have discussed getting DS main Christmas present whilst we have the cash not earmarked for anything then no matter if the IVA actually goes ahead or not we haven't got to worry about that at least.

Our park hampers have come to the last month now 90% of all customers are completely up to date or a little in front apart from 3 one of them being my MIL where as last year we would just put it on the card now we can't so VERY worried about that we have 15 other customers relying on us for their Christmas's family or not she won't be having many next year... Also another lady who has ordered £800 and still owes £300 she will have to pay that in a month now makes no sense at all to me.

My Christmas list has got very short this year my SS is now 17 so his will be cut down to have the same as my eldest two which is a blessing. I dream of the day when child maintenance stops too sounds awful but most doesn't get spent on him. I am going to pick a few things every week now but essentials rather than niceys so Dec groc fund can be spent on nicer things than loo roll and bleach.. This week will be an extra 18 pack of loo rolls. Sainsbugs has them offer for £6 this week and I have a £20 off £60 spend too as a new customer so going to aim for £50 spend with the loo rolls £50.89 online so hopefully won't be a lot more..

My eldest and GF popped up earlier bless her she had a scrap with a tequila bottle the bottle def one my DS is so besotted with her she is his first steady GF and they have been together 2 years now renting a flat but are moving back home with her parents after xmas to enable them to save for a deposit on a house I have been asked if they can put a sofa bed in my spare room for when she argues with her mum doesn't sound promising already does it lol I have made a start decluttering here today has been the kitchen cupboards we are now a family of 2 adults a 7 year old and a dog we had 2 cupboards of spices/sauces/coffee drinking choc etc, a tin cupboard overflowing, a cereal cupboard with at least 8 different boxes on the go a chest freezer full to bursting point a fridge freezer which is not empty but is looking quite sad fridge wise the freezer is semi-full. I am a shopoholic and know it stems from being on a diet as a child and also never having a spare penny with my ex with my eldest kids to the point of counting potatoes and putting them aside for Sunday supper of a few chips now times have changed I have ran up massive debts and still shop for a family of 6 this is my one priority in October is to stop this completely anything I have a double of will go in a box for my Xmas hamper and will seriously address this hoarding mallarchy..

chevalier

Good evening, welcome to the boards.

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Here is the link to the Statement of Affairs Calculator. It is a way of setting yourself a budget. If you format it for MSE, then you can paste it into this thread for people to look at.

I am surprised that Payplan have suggested a DRO for you and an IVA for your husband. Your debts don't seem that high? And you need to understand that with the IVA you HAVE to make the payments no matter what. Are you sure you can do that?

You might want to look in on the DMP supporters thread on here and ask a question about a DMP instead. A DMP is a voluntary arrangement set up eg by Payplan, or Stepchange, where you pay back a reduced amount each month.

Once you have done the SOA above, you may have a better grasp on just what you are spending out each month, and therefore whether the DRO/IVA are the best idea for you. Please note this is just my opinion, I have no financial training.
Good luck
chev

Aloofdragon

Thankyou for that I will def do that. To be honest we have swayed back and forth for last 2 weeks after phone calls. Lots of my debts are due to fall off cred report within next 18 months so I am getting offers now and again of up to 60% off them I do have a cred union loan of £1500 that is included but have set up a plan with them a while back at £16 a month so my debts are really not bothering us whatsoever. Hubby has 2 CC totalling £2000 an argos card of £1000 and a bank loan of £6000 plus theres an overpayment of £1200 on tax credits and a catalogue debt of £1000 I don't get why they have pushed me for a DRO on debts not really bothering us and can be sorted with DMP, and him an IVA which obviously comes under the £15,000 limit of a DRO to be honest hubby would rather pay some back so is all for it I just hope it's what is best for us and not cos they get paid with an IVA but the IVA is only for £88 a month so paying it monthly is more than doable set around that limit. We are awaiting on paperwork now to put forward to creditors meeting so nothing is set in stone quite yet.

Aloofdragon

Well now I am sitting down, I am zonked and still have the most wonderful job of pairing sox before I can get into bed !!

We had letters off PP this morning nowt to sign and return as expected tho this was a printed version of our conversations last week, We actually have money today I have checked online banking 4 times today just to make sure it's still there lol, I just asked hubby what we are going to rename our account too he said "Salvation" awww bless him lol

I had a NSD today and yesterday tomorrow will also be one as got no plans to go anywhere, I am part of a facebook cheapy diy group and they advised brightening up boring stair cases by papering the top wall in front of you as you go up the stairs so I did that tonight and dusted off a lovely black glass table I swapped a Unicorn for (long story) plonked a lamp on top and a few of my lovely bits thats been away for far too long and its brightened up landing no end... I also done the back wall under the stairs where my desk sits out of the same roll its really uplifted the dark understairs and its a little more girly I love it a few hours well spent !! The hamster (little Mo) after Mo farah, as he don't stop running, is now on his way to Amirillo he just runs and runs and runs !!!!:wall: I have decided on concentrating on tidying up the house with what DIY bits we have ok we had to buy a pair of brackets for a £1 earlier well hubby did, but now we can put a nice shelf along the top of the radiator and I have a lovely long mirror under a bed upstairs I want to paint the frame I will match it to the shelf colour and have somewhere to pop some nice lil nick nacks hanging around here it will also stop MIL putting wet coats on my radiators :T:T:eek::T ..

Jobs for tomorrow make a draught excluder for front door, get DH to put up a rail above front door so we can hang a curtain to stop the drafts.. and I will tackle the monster pile of ironing I have put off and off all through this sorting through finances its HUGE!! I have been ironing as we want it for weeks so this has to stop I cleaned DS spare and downstairs earlier so only my bedroom and bathrooms to do tomorrow evening so no excuses really...

All food from home today, Sainsbugs came last night and bill was £49.12 but £6 of that is for xmas box, I need to update that on sig now.

My thinning scissors came today from amaz0n I now have far less hair than teatime lol :rotfl:I love it tho...
We are still putting off sitting down and sorting a budget to stick to I have asked for an hour at least 4 times this week I refuse to do it all this time that is half the reason we are in this mess because I had no one looking over my shoulder or questioning my spending... That is on my list for Thursday evening right time for bed im knackered xx

Aloofdragon

Arghhhhhhhhh I feel like I could scream this shopoholic inside me sooooooo don't want to go away anytime soon I am going around in circles trying to avoid buying things for Christmas ok I know we have a little cash this month but it is so not my priority at the moment... I really hate myself for feeling like this DH is in work DS down inlaws so I am here alone with mad cocker and Mo the hamster not great company but home is warm cosy and I should be grateful I have avoided grabbits for weeks and hotukdeals but some flit by on facebook and I get such a buzz trying to find a bargain I just have to get into a dif frame of mind and damn sharpish... on a brighter note my shelf looks fab hubby put up alas its above the wrong radiator in the wrong room:cool: lol but it does look lovely bless him. Need to have a nose upstairs for some nick nacks to go on there now and possibly a small lamp as its directly above a socket. My wallpapering has dried out lovely so it was a few hours spent well. Have the gas board coming out tomorrow to fit a valve so need to empty my airing cupboard later and give upstairs a blitz through should only take an hour tho..

Today has been a NSD just told bin cleaning man not to do ours again DH told him 2 weeks ago but obviously hasn't got the message that will save £6 a month we only wanted it done once a fortnight through summer as the bins were rank so that is the last one today.

I just upgraded to skygo on quidco for a swift £15 and also seen a £15 cashback on weightwatchers sub which im doing this week anyway if only every day was like that lol I must remember how to go about claiming my £25 tesco voucher off tesc0 too I had for joining sky, plus £25 cashback for swapping gas n elec.

Nothing else to moan about now mr diary so prob be back later.:D

Aloofdragon

Evening diary well after a breakdown Saturday in a fit of tears and sobs,out of total frustration I think I have scared the life out of hubby:o poor thing didn't know what to say or do but if nothing else it proved that I didn't 100% feel the IVA was the right way to go we got carried away with the swiftness and ease it portrayed to us, Over the weekend I was offered a job a few days a week so it altered our total way of thinking I was already unsure and stressed my gut said it was wrong, last night we sat and talked seriously for the first time ever we actually had a grown up conversation about money..

Well we worked through the bumf at back of IVA the bit where it states 50% over initial total a month earned above 10% will be required to put back into the IVA pot and as child maintenance for my SS is due to finish after Christmas, my hubby is waiting on hearing of promotion and I had a job offer we changed our mind instantly I knew deep down we could sort this our self.

So last night we paid off Creation card £122.02, Paid £57 off Barclaycard, £10 off Curvissa, and tried to pay £125 off argos but need to speak to customer service op as we had missed a payment to pay this off, hubby will do that tomorrow morning.Nothing had defaulted yet we are well into Barclays OD to the point of £717 and owe £5981 on Barclays loan these two are too big to tackle at mo so waiting on ink to come back to print off some template letters, also have £20 to pay off Credit union loan this is one we both didn't want to stop paying which is £1451 but we will clear that off as and when.. I also paid £10 off a studio account of £79 we have cut up all cards so nothing can or will be added we now need to sort out some sort of plan but we have decided all my pay can go straight off cards and we are aiming to clear Creation first, we have close to £800 left to clear on that and this will be gone before Christmas...

Other amazing news hubbys boss finally offered him the managers job on a 3-6 month trial basis starting from when we come back off hols from Eurodisney, I am half dreading going to Euro now and kinda wish we weren't going but our 8 year old is sooooooooo going to love it and probably won't totally believe in Santa next year so will try and enjoy on the cheap....So how an earth this corner has been turned I don't know but hoping we have done the right thing.

Anyway work tomorrow so off to bed for an early night then maybe I can actually think straight tomorrow... this few days a week will cause havoc to routines but time to make some new ones now, £100 a week extra off Creation will come in too handy to turn away plus a few quid in Christmas pot.