January 2015 is the beginning

System

I need to get on the Wii fit as well. I also got a Tai Chi DVD in the charity shop that I will be trying.

Puzzcat

Hi January and waves to ploppy...




I have also dusted off the wii fit and went on it last friday.. I can only do it when no-one is in the room as I am so uncordinated, dd laughs at me and I fall off..!! :rotfl:I may go on it later.. maybe....


Well done on the Ebay Sales.. I am a past ebay seller but can't face it these days so am taking everything to a boot fair when the weather warms up...


Hope your having a good week.
Love Puzz. xx

January2015

Where are the days going ? I can't believe it's a week since I last visited you, dear Diary:D

Wii Fit - has not been touched since set up day:o However, I have started weight watchers (not joined, but am counting points on my own). I've found an online points calculator so that I can work out what points are in what I eat. I am determined to lose this excess weight.

We are still walking most evenings (weather permitting and it hasn't permitted every evening unfortunately).

This week our third DMP payment was collected by Stepchange. Wow the months are whizzing by already. Although my signature shows debt of £93,218 I know that we are really at £92,198 and a total of 2.08% paid:j:j However, I won't update my signature until the online accounts for creditors show as updated with the payments. The debt is coming down at just under £1k each month - still a long haul plan but I'm hoping we can increase that to £1.2k each month by the end of the year.

The dreaded Very buy now pay later account is coming down - I am paying everything I can off of it to avoid the awful interest charges. I need to clear another £81 by end June and then £509 by mid November to avoid interest charges being added. I have the £81 due in from eBay sales already so once that clears I will transfer that. I am looking around the house, the shed, the loft everyday for things I think I can sell. I will find that £509 somehow even if I have to sell the sofa we sit on;)

I am so glad we took the plunge into DMP land. My only regret is that we didn't find out about this option sooner - before the remortgages and adding unsecured debt to our mortgage. We talked about this last night and we both really regret this bit of our financial lives the most. We will be mortgage free before we retire but we could have been there so much sooner had we not made such huge, costly, long term mistakes with securing unsecured debt. Hey ho - we are where we are and we have to move on.

So tomorrow (7th May) is 4 months since our LBM. What a difference in our lives. It's not always smooth, but no creditors 'bother' us. We do get letters about arrears and potential (or actual) defaults. We are more than pleased to get those now. We feel in control of our income and expenditure in a way we never did before. Yes the DMP is wonderful, but I also feel extremely lucky to have stumbled upon YNAB around the time our DMP was starting. YNAB is my financial world. I have the app on my phone and I check and record every penny as I go.

Another outcome of going onto a DMP is that we eat far better, drink far less (if any) alcohol - this applies to DH because I never drank alcohol in the first place.

We plan our lives more as well - we think about what we want to do, what we can and cannot afford to do - and if we can't afford something we put a plan in place to either save for it or sell something on Facebook or eBay to pay for it. We want to go to a show and meal for our wedding anniversary but have agreed a film and all you can eat Chinese buffet meal will be just as nice. We still have to save up for that but it's a lot less than our initial 'want'.

Life in the January household is good - hope you are all feeling as positive and happy as we are:beer:

Brogden

It's a good feeling Jan and you are doing brilliantly. Over a period everything makes sense and a feeling of satisfaction arrives

It is great that you share the feelings and indeed the regrets. I have many regrets but the feelings fade as we change our habits knowing this is absolute 'best practice.' What more could we do? Nothing.

A lot has changed here and if we hadn't have had the LBM with the long storm which then followed we couldn't have continued living :eek: ! Massive lessons learned but I am envious of people who can truly share this with each other because at the end of the day at Brogden Towers it is 90% my worry!

Brogden x

January2015

Hi Brogden

Thank you for popping in...Sorry I wasn't home and the kettle wasn't on. I'll make sure I'm about for your next visit

I am smiling tonight - I've lost 3lbs and it's not related to money at all;)

I've planned some evening walks (we have been walking but have just walked where our feet took us and didn't really know how far we'd walked). So I've logged onto Google maps and planned a few routes and know that we will be walking a minimum of 2 miles each time, some walks 3 miles and some 4....see how the mood takes us on the day so to speak.

I have a lot of weight to lose. I am a small, slim lady hidden inside a short, fat persons body. I just have to find my way out:o First target is to lose 9 lbs and be the stone number under the one I currently am....oh stuff it none you can see me or know me so I will just type it. I want to be a 14 stone something instead of a 15 stone something:o Once I get to a 14 number I will aim for a 13 number. Small steps on a long journey - maybe my weight reduction will mirror my debt reduction.

Still feeling motivated with DMP, and life in general is good. My one worry is still our emergency fund not being enough but (touch wood) no emergencies at the moment and I still have stuff to put on eBay/facebook - to clear the Very BNPL first and add to emergency fund second.

Happy weekend to you all -x-

takingcontrolatlast

I love your positivity and the fact that you are a team in solving your problems.

Keep up the hard work and that includes walking

January2015

takingcontrolatlast wrote: »

I love your positivity and the fact that you are a team in solving your problems.

Keep up the hard work and that includes walking

Thank you for popping in. My positivity would be far lower without the fantastic group of virtual friends I have on this forum.

I must admit DH and I have become a lot closer working through our debts together. I think for the first time in forever we haven't had our head in the sand and been too worried to talk to each other about money worries. Now that elephant in the corner of the room has gone for good, we are more relaxed with each other.

Like I've said many times recently......life in the January household is good

Happy Saturday to everyone -x-

System

Glad to hear all is going well for you.:)
We will all get there in the end.

January2015

Glad to see you about Ploppy - and you are so right; we will get there in the end I just hope the 'end' isn't quite as far away as Stepchange forecast.

I've been ill all week. Nasty, hacking cough driving me mad. Coughing so hard I seem to be constantly breathless and also have a splitting headache where my brain is banging against the side of my skull when I cough. YUK.

I haven't even been able to enjoy the nice weather we've had this week. The exercise regime - which had only just started - has fallen by the wayside whilst I am ill. I do plan to get back to it as soon as I feel better.

I may be ill but I am still capable of manically checking creditor accounts each day to see if the month SC payment has been allocated yet. Some have, some haven't; but I know they will get there sooner or later so I am not worrying.

Off to bed now - if I can sleep through the coughing fits.
Night everyone. -x-

System

January2015 wrote: »

Glad to see you about Ploppy - and you are so right; we will get there in the end I just hope the 'end' isn't quite as far away as Stepchange forecast.

I've been ill all week. Nasty, hacking cough driving me mad. Coughing so hard I seem to be constantly breathless and also have a splitting headache where my brain is banging against the side of my skull when I cough. YUK.

I haven't even been able to enjoy the nice weather we've had this week. The exercise regime - which had only just started - has fallen by the wayside whilst I am ill. I do plan to get back to it as soon as I feel better.

I may be ill but I am still capable of manically checking creditor accounts each day to see if the month SC payment has been allocated yet. Some have, some haven't; but I know they will get there sooner or later so I am not worrying.

Off to bed now - if I can sleep through the coughing fits.
Night everyone. -x-

Try putting Vick on the soles of your feet when you go to bed! Don't ask me how it works, but it stops you coughing so much in bed. Also, try steaming with a drop of lavender oil in the water. That helps as well. Hope you feel better soon, I can sympathise, that is how I was the other week, with a really nasty cough. Think we are just all run down, but hopefully with the summer on the way, we will be ok.