Mini meltdown and light bulb moment

AleMrsT

Forgot to say that I had a letter on Friday from my PPI claim. Apparently I have a bad memory as I have already claimed the PPI and had £161 back in 2013! This is the second letter I've had confirming I've already had my money back :rotfl: I must have forgotten! Ah well, at least I have had what I'm owed paid back to me.

Just waiting on one cheque to arrived for OH's second payout and for a final decision on 2 more claims.

armchairexpert

Hi MrsT, I've just read through your diary and subscribed, you write so well! I hope your partner sees how unfair it is that you can't drive the car ostensibly bought for you - especially since, if you've been contributing £3K a year more than him, you could have bought your OWN car if things were fairer.

One thing did strike me, though. Usually, when one goes on a DMP, that's it for further credit for a while. You can't open new credit accounts, which really forces you to focus on paying down the debt and changes your mindset from "I want it and will pay it back later" to "I want it and will save for it".

Because your OH has access to credit, that restriction hasn't happened for you. You're putting furniture and white goods on credit, entering into lease purchases for a second car, etc. I know you're going to say that you can afford it, but what you mean is that you can afford the repayments. That is slowing down your DMP massively, because you're sending so much money to the new commitments. And I wonder whether it's going to mean that you'll come out the other end with nothing really changed.

I hope that isn't too heavy a first post! I really am cheering you on and I'm very glad that your husband is sharing the bills with you now.

AleMrsT

Hi armchair, thanks for reading!

armchairexpert wrote: »

Hi MrsT, I've just read through your diary and subscribed, you write so well! I hope your partner sees how unfair it is that you can't drive the car ostensibly bought for you - especially since, if you've been contributing £3K a year more than him, you could have bought your OWN car if things were fairer. - we've each paid in to a separate bills account for a while now so it's not unbalanced anymore, although we pay in more than we first did. And I do use the car now, I had refresher lessons and it's all in OH's name. It isnt a second car, it is our only car as our old one was beyond repair.

One thing did strike me, though. Usually, when one goes on a DMP, that's it for further credit for a while. You can't open new credit accounts, which really forces you to focus on paying down the debt and changes your mindset from "I want it and will pay it back later" to "I want it and will save for it".

Because your OH has access to credit, that restriction hasn't happened for you. You're putting furniture and white goods on credit, entering into lease purchases for a second car, etc. I know you're going to say that you can afford it, but what you mean is that you can afford the repayments. That is slowing down your DMP massively, because you're sending so much money to the new commitments. And I wonder whether it's going to mean that you'll come out the other end with nothing really changed. - I only contribute to the joint bills acount which everything (including the car payment) comes out or of. I don'tpay anything towards his credit cards. I do understand what you're saying though, although my DMP payments have increased at each review so paying the extra to the bills account isn't slowing down the DMP as I'd still pay the same amount.

I hope that isn't too heavy a first post! I really am cheering you on and I'm very glad that your husband is sharing the bills with you now.

You have made a good point about the new things though, because none of it is
In my name i hadn't really considered before that it could be an issue.

EDIT: I've been thinking more about this whilst getting ready for work and you're right. I've been justifying the decisions and purchases because the credit isnt in my name (and some of it was out of my control completely), but when we didn't have the option to use credit, I did much better with my savings and debt paying goals. Stopping my contributing towards the car payment (via bills account) isnt an option as we will lose the car and then be stuck for OH getting to work, so a bigger review of things are now in order.

Thanks for the second (third? I've lost count!) Light bulb moment armchair.

AleMrsT

We got home from work yesterday to two letters. One was a response to the OH's third Ppi claim, a cheque for £120. :j The other was a letter from HMRC saying I've not paid enough tax so I owe £186.20. :mad: I'm assuming it's from the changeover of employment and hope that it will just be paid off out of my wages each month. Very annoying!

OH is on a late shift tonight so I'll be able to put the PC on later and review my signature and change things up.

AleMrsT

AleMrsT wrote: »

Things I am going to reintroduce:
Each pay day I'm going to post and set a budget. I think this will be more difficult now we are using the bills account for most household spends, but OH is much more on board now so it should be fairly easy to keep track. Still havent done this,
this is tonights plan

I'm also going to keep track of my daily spends and NSD's on here, which means I need to try and post every day. - have been keeping track, need to post with todays spends

I have also been trying to lose the same 2 stone for the entire time I've kept this diary. I did really well a couple of times but always lose momentum and it falls by the way side. This is still in progress, I am going to take my weight loss tracker off my signature and keep weight loss and fitness goals as part of the Facebook group I have joined otherwise I'm wasting 3.50 per month. - have cancelled this subscription. Just paying a subscription wont make me lose weight, I have to put the effort in! :rotfl:

I've also made a plan for my aims for this week -

- [STRIKE]put away the ironing I did last night [/STRIKE]
- clean the house - still not done
- log in to my diary every day and track my daily spends :T Nearly there with this one
- aim for 4 NSD's this week - half way there
- be as active as possible, more steps, 2 gym classes :rotfl::rotfl: FAIL!
- [STRIKE]make a meal plan and stick to it! [/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]buy bread[/STRIKE]

Will check back in during the week to see how I'm getting on with my goals! I'm also going to change up my signature but will do that later as I'm off to my friends now. - done.

Much love.

MrsT x :beer:

So, I've updated my signature, taken out the weight loss target, changed up the total so it shows my start balance plus what has been paid and what is left to pay. I've also added in two savings targets and a space to fill in how much extra income I'm managed to get, I will start with this month and see how I get on! (I am going to include my monthly bonus in this because although I have had a bonus each month, it isnt guaranteed and the amount is different each time).

Today wasn't a NSD unfortunately, I needed bread and other items, so went to home bargains and spent £6.41
Biscuits for a colleague 49p - she gave me £1 and didn't want the change, 51p profit :T
Handwash for the toilet at work £1 - claimed back from petty cash
£1.45 for lunch (sandwich, crisps and a can of coke)
bread and toiletries - £3.47

Total actual spend £4.92

OH received his other PPI cheque today, so far he has had £1098.22 :eek: He will pay in the two he has tomorrow and will have £760 to pay towards the holiday. (EDITED TO ADD - he won't be able to pay these in now as he is working ridiculous work shifts!)

I have £100 set aside in my savings account for expenses for this month. Even though the concert we were going to has been cancelled, we couldn't get a refund on the hotel room so we're going to still go anyway and just spend the day wandering around and go for a nice meal in the evening somewhere, so hopefully we will have some left over from the £100 for me to transfer to the holiday.

We want to get this paid as soon as possible now so that we can shift the focus to paying off CC1 and building up savings.

I have decided to do an emergency fund pot and a Christmas 2018 pot, although initially this pot will be used for holiday spending money and clothes, then once we've been away in May will then be used to save for Christmas next year.

I have also set up junior accounts for each of my nieces and opened the account with £10 each, I'm hoping to use a small amount of my bonus from work each month to add to the girls savings accounts, my sister said she is also going to transfer some money for me to pay in for them, it will only be a small amount each month but at least it will be a small lump sum for when they each turn 18.

OH is now working a late shift today and covering a night shift tonight, as well as working an early shift tomorrow, which I am NOT pleased about, as it means he will have been at work since 3pm today and not finish until 11am tomorrow! A day shift is usually until 3pm, but he is obviously not going to do a full shift tomorrow after working 19 hours straight (!!:mad::mad:)

My colleague went home sick today so I have said I will go into work tomorrow in case she is still ill as it means the office isn't really covered if I'm not in. I was hoping to just be paid for this instead of taking a lieu day, but I've checked the calendar and the extra shift I was going to do later on in the month to pay back the day I had off sick two weeks ago I can't do as I'm looking after niece 2, so tomorrow will just be counted as the lieu day instead.

armchairexpert

Oh. I wasn't implying you should stop contributing to the car, etc., rather that your household contributions do take into account a share of those extra things, even though they're under his name in terms of credit. Like you were sending over money to pay off the furniture, which was on his credit, that sort of thing, so it's his credit rating but your expenditure. I did misunderstand about the car, you mentioned at some point that his pay rise would allow the two of you to lease a second car so I thought that was what had happened (and then you hadn't been able to even use it). If it's an only car, and you share it, that's far more fair!

Anyway! It sounds like you have things under control, and I am cheering you on. Those PPI returns are AMAZING.

AleMrsT

Thanks armchair. Today has been a NSD. I want to get a fitbit/activity tracker but brand new fb's are so expensive I can't justify it. I've seen a few cheap versions on Amazon but have no idea whether they're any good so dont want to waste money on a cheaper version that doesn't work properly. I decided to have a look in town and went to cex and cash converters, cex have a second hand fitbit for £50 and cash converters have an older style one for £35. OH said he would get me one with some of his PPI refund so hopefully cex will still have the second hand one in a few weeks time when we can see how things are budget and payments wise. Otherwise if my family ask for Christmas gift ideas I'll let them know I'm looking to get one so that they can put some money towards one.

Off to bed now as I'm really tired from not getting to sleep until late last night and not being able to have my midweek day off.

Aiming for another NSD tomorrow so will check back in then!

AleMrsT

Oh and I have made £2.65 on prolific and £1.80 on qmee. I seem to get declined on a lot of the qmee surveys so not sure if its worth keeping up with that but we'll see.

AleMrsT

Had an email to say another prolific survey has been accepted so my prolific balance is £2.90. I've updated my signature.

Ran out of sandwich meat this morning so had to buy lunch today, also needed toiletries.

£1.48 spent on sandwiches, crisps and Maltesers bar for lunch
£2.89 spent on toiletries

OH is going to the supermarket to get sandwich meat and salad for dinner so no doubt he'll buy other stuff whilst he's there too as he isn't great at sticking to the list!

Feeling run down and tired today, was at the hospital first thing for a blood test then back at hospital all day on Saturday, I feel really nauseous and achy today, hope I haven't caught whatever my colleague is off ill with, i know shes had some kind of sickness bug.

Fingers crossed I'm just worn down and not ill, although I really feel like I need to crawl back into bed but work is so busy I'll just haveto power through. I feel bad moaning about a 5 day week but full time is hard! I don't know how I did it for so long, no wonder I sounded so down in the first few diary posts!

AleMrsT

I forgot to track how much I spent on Friday, I paid cash and lost the receipt, but it wont have been more than £5 as I don't usually carry much cash

OH went out on Friday night with work so I stayed over at his work for free, I went to the gym and spent time in the spa, then had a meal in the restaurant. £25.50 spent on dinner but OH paid

Saturday was a hospital day so £6 spent in parking (again OH paid), we came home from the hospital and got straight into bed as we were both so tired, woke up at 6.30 after a 3 and a half hour nap! :T

Today OH is back at work on the late shift so I've been over to my mums with my sister, mum cooked dinner so today has been a NSD.

It was time for my DMP budget review which I have filled in, as my wages have increased my DMP payment has also increased by £15 to £98 a month, bringing my DFD forward by 8 months to September 2021. Only 4 years to go!!:rotfl:

It originally increased the payment to £159 per month, but I didnt want to leave myself too short by overcommitting on the DMP, I'd rather increase by a smaller amount and save any surplus towards the christmas and emergency fund pots. I'm going to be paying the DMP for ages anyway, I might as well finish paying it off in line with the payment defaults falling off my credit file.

As is standard when I'm checking in here, I have a pile of ironing to do :rotfl: Then I'll be off to bed soon as I'm still feeling really tired despite all of the sleep I've had this weekend. The weekend has flown by, I can't believe its Monday again tomorrow!

Ah well, only 4 more working days then I've got a week off with OH and we have no plans other than one night away which is all paid for.