Silly student debt diary

sophieo16

Hi Green,

Long story short I have also had Student Finance give me incorrect information, even though i had rang up and double checked said information with the same response from them... the money i received was the correct amount and could be paid back when i graduated.

I then started final year with a letter from student finance telling me they refused to pay my fees for final year due to being over paid in the past. Even though they admitted giving me incorrect information. I therefore had to go to family for my fees, otherwise i would have been excluded from university in 15 days. This, Aswell as student finance taking all of my living cost off of me apart from the bare minimum that they have to provide legally to students.

So after graduating i left uni with no savings, a £1500 overdraft and £3300 owed to members of my family. Not where i wanted to start life, especially as i had always had savings and been good with money.

what you are doing is brilliant and I'm now going to subscribe to follow you on your debt busting journey. It makes me realise I'm not alone with the SLC!

I am on a maternity contract so now looking for permanent work. I've managed to get out of my £1500 overdraft and have £500 towards family debt, my aim is to pay off this debt by December 2015.

GOOD LUCK

greensalad

sophieo16 wrote: »

Hi Green,

Long story short I have also had Student Finance give me incorrect information, even though i had rang up and double checked said information with the same response from them... the money i received was the correct amount and could be paid back when i graduated.

I then started final year with a letter from student finance telling me they refused to pay my fees for final year due to being over paid in the past. Even though they admitted giving me incorrect information. I therefore had to go to family for my fees, otherwise i would have been excluded from university in 15 days. This, Aswell as student finance taking all of my living cost off of me apart from the bare minimum that they have to provide legally to students.

So after graduating i left uni with no savings, a £1500 overdraft and £3300 owed to members of my family. Not where i wanted to start life, especially as i had always had savings and been good with money.

what you are doing is brilliant and I'm now going to subscribe to follow you on your debt busting journey. It makes me realise I'm not alone with the SLC!

I am on a maternity contract so now looking for permanent work. I've managed to get out of my £1500 overdraft and have £500 towards family debt, my aim is to pay off this debt by December 2015.

GOOD LUCK

It's awful isn't it? I can't believe they did me over like this. I also don't understand why they can't add it to the debt balance for my student loan instead of doing me over JUST as I've got my first job and am trying to get up in the world. Urgh.

greensalad

Getting ready for the new year:

I got so many presents, I feel very spoilt even though I set limits for myself! My boyfriend bought me the most gorgeous but most ridiculously expensive scarf ever. It's designer and has my initials monogrammed on it. It's amazing! But I need to add it to the household insurance (yes, it's really that much!)

We were bought a slow cooker by my grandparents which I'm very much looking forward to using. Bought a £5 pork joint and are going to do pulled pork sandwiches on NYE.

We were also given loads of glasses and cocktails bits by my Grandad. We're having people down at New Year so I'm very excited! Though I want to buy a few things to go with it. I will have to make sure I am splitting out what I need to buy for the house over the next year.

We have been having lots of issues with our flat, and it's becoming really stressful. I just have too much stuff and we don't have enough storage. Therefore January will be my new tidy month and I am going to be organising, selling, eBaying etc a LOT of stuff. We ended up spending £150 in IKEA yesterday on new storage things. A lot of money, but we really need it. I've also purchased a whole new bed sheet set because I can't wash and dry sheets in one day and we only have one set.

Some good news! Well, maybe. I did some web development on behalf of my Mum's business a year or two ago. It turns out that someone has STOLEN the whole site, swapped their logo into the code and left it as is. My Mum discovered it because they left the old tracking code in the site so she was lead directly to it! I wrote a snotty letter to them along with an invoice for £1200. It was really to scare them, and get them to remove the tracking code, not actually imagining they would pay. Well lo and behold they contacted us on Christmas Eve to explain and my Mum negotiated them to pay £400! I hadn't even expected them to reply let alone make an offer. Well, we'll see if it really comes to fruition though Mum says he did sound positive. She says I can have the full £400 as I helped her out and obviously she'd rather me pay the debt off her credit card! So if they do pay, I'll be able to put £500 off the CC instead of my usual monthly £100. That will push my DFD to July 2016 instead of October! A really nice dent! Fingers crossed...

Also my Dad bought me some £90 boots which don't fit. I have returned them and plan to buy a £50 watch as a Christmas present. £40 left over will go into debt repayment.

Here is my shopping list for the next few months:

1. New cover for the sofa (ours is horrible, cheaper than buying a new one) £45
2. Sherry glasses to go with the cocktail set. Will buy second hand.
3. Pots and pans from Sainsurys. We wanted to complete our set. They are HALF PRICE at the moment, perfect!!

Things I'm going to be selling:
1. Any clothes I can clear out from the wardrobe
2. Old coats
3. Old boots
4. All my craft fair display things. I haven't done a fair since Christmas 2013. We don't have the space any more
5. Some more wool. I have far too much.
6. My old sewing machine. I love it but the company I work for have loaned me four machines. I was reluctant to sell my old Brother because it's a good machine. But if I stop working and have to give back the company loan machines, I can justify buying a new one. It may be years away.

That should generate some nice little income I hope!

sophieo16

greensalad wrote: »

It's awful isn't it? I can't believe they did me over like this. I also don't understand why they can't add it to the debt balance for my student loan instead of doing me over JUST as I've got my first job and am trying to get up in the world. Urgh.

Those words were my thoughts exactly! If we as consumers/ customers make a mistake we have to pay for it.. if they make a mistake... we have to pay for it. Something just isn't adding up there haha

But I've taken it as a challenge. luckily i have a very supportive family that somehow (as they aren't very well off) managed to scrape together to help me. So now I'm quite enjoying saving the money to give back to them, knowing that i am contributing to well deserved holidays etc.

greensalad

sophieo16 wrote: »

Those words were my thoughts exactly! If we as consumers/ customers make a mistake we have to pay for it.. if they make a mistake... we have to pay for it. Something just isn't adding up there haha

But I've taken it as a challenge. luckily i have a very supportive family that somehow (as they aren't very well off) managed to scrape together to help me. So now I'm quite enjoying saving the money to give back to them, knowing that i am contributing to well deserved holidays etc.

That does sound nice. Unfortunately I buried my head in the sand and am now talking to a debt company as they sold it on. I actually cried on the phone when they told me how much I owed. It's horrible.

But hey, I'm paying it off. I can't wait to be debt free* (I will be debt free by about 50 if all goes well, but October 2017 is for unsecured and without student loan counting).

sophieo16

greensalad wrote: »

That does sound nice. Unfortunately I buried my head in the sand and am now talking to a debt company as they sold it on. I actually cried on the phone when they told me how much I owed. It's horrible.

But hey, I'm paying it off. I can't wait to be debt free* (I will be debt free by about 50 if all goes well, but October 2017 is for unsecured and without student loan counting).

I cried too. seems like we are two peas in a pod.

I have started following the '2015: sell £1000' thread. So at the minute I'm putting all of my old CD's and DVD's that haven't sold at car boots through Music Magpie. Any thing extra i earn through selling is going towards family debt.

I'm on a maternity contract for work at the moment so looking for something permanent. However, incase i don't get something i need to have funds for rent, so anything left from wages I'm going to have to throw into an emergency fund instead of splitting it with debt repayments. Hopefully after christmas period is over ill start hearing about interviews again! Determined to make 2015 a good year!:D

greensalad

sophieo16 wrote: »

I cried too. seems like we are two peas in a pod.

I have started following the '2015: sell £1000' thread. So at the minute I'm putting all of my old CD's and DVD's that haven't sold at car boots through Music Magpie. Any thing extra i earn through selling is going towards family debt.

I'm on a maternity contract for work at the moment so looking for something permanent. However, incase i don't get something i need to have funds for rent, so anything left from wages I'm going to have to throw into an emergency fund instead of splitting it with debt repayments. Hopefully after christmas period is over ill start hearing about interviews again! Determined to make 2015 a good year!:D

Sounds promising! Problem is I moved in April so I got rid of a lot of stuff already!

But I am considering trying to sell my entire DVD collection. I haven't used any in a long time. I have about 100 DVDs.

I'm considering doing a boot fair but I guess it's the wrong time of year. Also I'd have to get my Mum to come down as I don't have a car.

Things I can sell:

* Craft fair display heads
* Craft fair display hands
* Craft fair jewellery stand
* Craft fair chalkboards
* Coats
* Other clothes that have good brandnames
* My nice winter boots that don't go round my calves
* Lots of leather handbags
* Some perfume bottles
* Nintendo DS

I should probably be able to do a good eBay of all that stuff

sophieo16

greensalad wrote: »

Sounds promising! Problem is I moved in April so I got rid of a lot of stuff already!

But I am considering trying to sell my entire DVD collection. I haven't used any in a long time. I have about 100 DVDs.

I'm considering doing a boot fair but I guess it's the wrong time of year. Also I'd have to get my Mum to come down as I don't have a car.

Things I can sell:

* Craft fair display heads
* Craft fair display hands
* Craft fair jewellery stand
* Craft fair chalkboards
* Coats
* Other clothes that have good brandnames
* My nice winter boots that don't go round my calves
* Lots of leather handbags
* Some perfume bottles
* Nintendo DS

I should probably be able to do a good eBay of all that stuff

Sounds like a brilliant idea! I think its really easy to hold onto stuff that hasn't been used, but because i rent and share accommodation I've learnt that the less i have to carry the easier moving around is. Although, my mam still manages to add to the pile of stuff I'm trying to cut down. haha

I look forward to your updates seems like we are both on the right path and will definitely get there eventually!

greensalad

Still at work today. Boohoo. I've spent a bit of money in the January sales but only got things that I really needed anyway!

Bought 2 x ceramic pans. All our kitchen pans are flaking off teflon into our dinners. We bought a ceramic pan last year and wanted to eventually upgrade all our pans to this same set. Well they are half price at Sainsburys now!! Got 2 ceramic pans for £24, so chuffed!

Bought a new jewellery box bottom to go with my "Stackers" top. Storage is just such a major issue at the moment. It was on my Christmas list, it was £11 so I bought it. I need somewhere to properly store all my jewellery bits it's driving my BF mad!

Threw away loads of boxes out of our only storage cupboard (called "Narnia") last night. Sorted some other bits ready for eBaying

Asked my Mum to bring a box with all my old DVD cases in it so I can Music Magpie them as SophieO suggested. I have about 75 DVDs so even if they're only worth 20p each or something, at least I'll get a little bit of cash!

Cancelled Weight Watchers for £11.95 a month today. Instead a colleague who is one of these fit freaks is going to weight me weekly! And I don't have to pay her to shout at me so that's good!

Going to do Dry January this year. That means no alcohol all month. I'm not a huge drinker anyway but it'll be good. Except my birthday is 31st January! So I'll be drinking on the last evening a little earlier than planned

Next on my list of makes is to make some big fabric drawers to slot into an old bookshelf of ours, so that I can keep all my makeup and hair things neatly tidied away.

greensalad

Have just gone onto Money Dashboard and properly tagged everything this month so I can identify where I'm overspending.

December to date
Household £1273.32
Credit repayments £449.24
Going out £338.18
Gifts (xmas) £251.49
Clothes £45.84
Snacks £50.82 (this is so bad!)
Take-away £13.70
Cash withdrawal £30
Things for the home £28.77
Hobbies £6.50
Transport £33.95
Posting things (xmas) £8.97
Medical £6.46

Overall I don't think this is too bad at all, for the majority.

I need to be better on buying clothes. Above was a Christmas jumper and new pair of jeans (sorely needed). No need for any more clothes now until Spring.

Snacks is terrible! But take-away has improved.

Going out very high. However I was on holiday for the firs 4 days of December.

January plans

Household bills will be around £800
Credit repayments planned at £331
Going out for my birthday at some point. £35
No gifts needed
No clothes needed.
NO SNACKS. NAUGHTY.
We will have a takeaway in 2 weekends time when friends come to stay. £15
No cash withdrawal.
Need some more things for our flat. We're doing lots of organising. Budget £50
No hobby things needed.
No extra transport needed.
Will need to post some gifts I have. £9
No medical bits needed.

Other payments needed:

£5 Github membership
£80 NI payment

Total spending budget in January: £1325