January 2015 is the beginning

Historybuff

Well done for making a start! That's the hardest thing. I'm 10 months into my DMP and can honestly say it is the best thing I did. For the first time in years I am in control of my finances and not worried about opening letters etc. You have done the right thing. I've subscribed to keep up with your journey. Good luck. HB

January2015

Hi everyone

Another NSD for me :j

DH spent £2.70 on lunch, but to be fair that was only because he knew I was at a work event with a meal provided so we agreed he would buy a cheapish meal at lunchtime so we didn't have to cook a full meal this evening.

We have an online savings account we haven't used for years and I managed to lock myself out because I forgot my memorable information:mad: Phoned up to unlock the account, and found we have accumulated £2.66 of interest in the account :T . I've set up 5 jam jar pots in the savings account for

1. Christmas/birthdays
2. Appliance/vehicle repairs & maintenance
3. Optician/dentist
4. Clothing
5. Emergency fund

My plan is to move the money StepChange allow us each month for these things from our current bank account to the savings account so that we don't start spending this money on the wrong things and really do save for when we need these things.

I aim to sell several items we are currently sorting out on eBay and use money from those sales to build up the emergency fund. I would like to get at least £1,000 in this pot but at the moment that's just a dream.

For the optician costs, we already buy our glasses on line (both of us wear glasses) so we have already massively cut costs for these. I don't know of any way to cut dental costs unfortunately so that's what this pot will be used for mostly.

Christmas/birthdays - this is a difficult one for me. DH and I don't buy each other presents and I no longer buy our (grown up) children anything, but I do want to keep buying presents for my gorgeous grandchildren - all of whom we are lucky to be very close to. We have eleven grandchildren between the ages of newborn (over the new year) and 13 years and until they are grown up themselves I still want to be able to buy them something nice. So even if I only spend £20 on each of them for birthdays and £20 for Christmas that's a total of £440 per year. I buy presents in sales and when I find bargains - sometimes buying months ahead of one of the children's birthdays if I find a suitable bargain. I aim to try and put aside £10 each week for this pot - which sounds a lot, but I hope to generate this £10 from extra income, e.g. some eBay sales, using loyaly points from Supermarkets to buy pressies instead of cash etc. I may have to revise this goal along my journey but this is my starting aim.

Clothing - we both have lots of lovely clothes we can diet back into and hence save massively on costs there :rotfl: . We've decided to try the 5:2 diet as it not only will help us lose weight, but on the 2 days of fasting is very money saving as well . So from now on (not today because we've eaten already ) Tuesday and Thursday will be fasting days....watch this space for updates on weightloss.

I discussed with DH my error on his take home salary and he thinks I was right in the first place and that the last two months were bumped up by backdated mileage claims and expense reimbursements. He doesn't get printed payslips so he is going to log on at work tomorrow and check what his usual salary is.

I've made a token £50 payment to one credit card today (all the others are up to date in full at the moment but this is the one card that brought me to my LBM as I was about to take money out of an ATM on another card to pay the bill....again ). I came home to a letter from the CC company advising of a default charge of £12 which I expect will be the first of several such letters.

I've just realised that for someone who has never kept a diary I can waffle a lot :rotfl: . Have a great evening everyone :beer:

PinkPoppies

Best of luck on your journey January!

A DF diary is such a great idea, I know mine helps me loads to stay focused and motivated!

January2015

Hi everyone

Well I got a phone call today whilst at work from one of the CCs chasing the late payment. I politely advised that I was at work and it was not convenient to talk and could they phone me at home after 5pm. Very nice lady said no problem. I got home and didn't wait for them to call me and phoned them myself. I explained I couldn't make the full payment but had just made a token payment and was working with StepChange to set up a DMP. The person on the phone couldn't have been nicer and explained the process from this point onwards. I was asked for the StepChange reference that I got at the meeting - what meeting? I explained I had filled everything in online and sent off for the application pack to start the DMP ball rolling. Does that mean I will have to attend a meeting or can it all be done by post/email etc? The person at the CC company said they would need the StepChange reference as soon as I have it. Whatever, dealing with letting this CC company know that I am entering into a DMP was certainly less difficult that I thought it would be.

I sort of had a NSD today. I did spend, but bought our shampoos and smellies on Boots points so I didn't actually use any cash - so for me that counts as a NSD

Day of of the diet and because it's the 5:2 diet and this is one of the 5 days we had a lovely meal using up stuff from the freezer. We've spent the evening going through the freezer and cupboards and planning meals. Apart from basic veg, milk etc. we have enough food to see us through the next three weeks. Menu plans being drawn up so we do not deviate. Tomorrow is the first of the 2 days - so is a fasting day. We plan to have cereals in the morning and soup for dinner. DH is going to struggle with that and I may just have to fit bolts to the fridge, freezer and larder:rotfl:

I cannot wait for the DMP to be set up - I already feel so much happier with life. I have actually slept the last 2 nights which for me is amazing.

Hope everyone has had a great day:beer:

January2015

I changed my dual fuel using one of the MSE offer thingys in December. I set up the direct debit based on the full year use given on my annual statement from my previous provider. Direct Debit set at £109 p/mnth. I've been putting in weekly meter readings since joining the new supplier.

Because I am going to go on a DMP I have opened new bank accounts and so need to change the direct debit with the energy supplier. They want to increase it to £247 per month :eek: I need to phone then tomorrow to find out what's going on.

When I input meter readings it produces an updated account balance. I have gone into debit each week, but not by much and I thought paying a fixed monthly sum meant I would be 'overpaying' in summer months to offset 'underpayments' in winter months. Whatever, I cannot afford £247 per month - or I suppose I can and will have to update StepChange with revised figure. I need energy supplier to explain to me why it's such a massive jump one month into the contract.

Apart from this glitch things seem to be very quiet on the financial front. I feel like I am in limbo just waiting for something to happen. Hopefully it will be the pack from StepChange and things will start moving. I really want this DMP set up now.

On another note I check my points on my Sainsburys nectar card £27.50 :T We have stopped shopping at Sainsburys and now shop at Lidl (and sometimes Asda). I'm going to keep hold of the nectar points and use them when there is a clothing sale. DH likes Sainsburys shirts for work and his old ones are looking a bit tatty. He does have some to slim into but is not there yet:rotfl:

First fasting day of our diet today. It wasn't too bad - did you know a 400g can of Heinz vegetable soup is only 188 calories :T. Soup, 2 slices of white bread (93 calories per slice) gave a total 'evening meal' of 374 calories. DH was not impressed and I did say he could sort something else out for next Tuesday (next fasting day) if he was so inclined. We also had a small bowl of cereals for breakfast so it wasn't total starvation. This had better work;)

Brogden

Just a post to wish you the very best with the DMP and debt busting.

Interesting fact on the Heinz vegetable soup.....I was thinking of trying this 5:2 thingy and normally diets point us to salad things which I hate , Makes me want to have a go for a couple of months so I can tighten my belt to the usual hole again and speed up a bit

You have the most beautifully written posts! Whilst I only consulted with Step Change and then didn't use them, I understand the feeling of impatience and limbo all too well in this game . I keep thinking I want to do something about all of this right now but.......what can I do?

I will follow you if you don't mind.

Brogden x

System

Just subscribed to this thread and wanted to wish you luck. We are in the process of working out all out figures to fill out the debt form online to see of StepChange can help us. There is a few things I don't quite understand...about it all, but will start another thread to ask as don't want to hijack your diary....Good luck.x

January2015

Brogden wrote: »

You have the most beautifully written posts!

I will follow you if you don't mind.

Brogden x

Thank you - what a lovely thing to say:D I have no idea why my posts are beautifully written, but thank you anyway :beer:

ploppy57 wrote: »

Just subscribed to this thread and wanted to wish you luck. We are in the process of working out all out figures to fill out the debt form online to see of StepChange can help us. There is a few things I don't quite understand...about it all, but will start another thread to ask as don't want to hijack your diary....Good luck.x

Brogden and Ploppy, welcome to my diary and hopefully the beginning of my (and DH's) journey to becoming debt free. It's lovely to have fellower MSEr's / DFW's keeping me company along the way - very motivating.

I've started reading other diaries on here - wow some of them go back a long way. I did start reading at the beginning of some of them, and then fast forwarding to the latest posts, but a few have really picqued my interest and I will read every post on those to start with and catch up with the going's on in others lives. Very moneysaving - I don't have to buy books now; I can just read the 'stories of other DFWs lives'.

I have subscribed to those diaries - but can't find out (yet) how to look up threads I have to subscribed to. I have a lot to learn about how to use this forum properly but I am sure I will get there eventually. I seriously hope that I will still be making diary entries in 2022 - at which point in time the debt free finish line should be firmly in sight :T
Unfortunately, not a NSD for us - quite an expensive day actually. The winds brought a tree down onto the shed and we had to go out and get a replacement. I would have left it, but DH's tools and equipment are stored in there and leaving them open to the elements would have awful and in the long run expensive (if we had to replace them). Normally DH would have repaired the existing shed, but the roof was gone and two sides were split so a new one it was. We put a wanted ad on the local facebook for sale page for a secondhand one. We got a message back within a couple of hours and now have one of those metal sheds. I don't really like it, but it was cheap(ish) at £80. A helpful neighbour (with a big van :j) is helping DH collect it over the weekend. So the kitchen is now full of boxes of DH's tools and stuff.

I am sooooo glad it's the weekend. I plan to help DH sort his stuff into some sort of order into the shed when it arrives and then to go up into the loft and have a bit of a clearout. I suspect most of the stuff in there will be rubbish, but there may be some stuff that could make the for sale pages on facebook or ebay. With a bit of luck I will claw back the £80 we have laid out for the shed

Eager_Elephant

January2015 wrote: »

I have subscribed to those diaries - but can't find out (yet) how to look up threads I have to subscribed to. I have a lot to learn about how to use this forum properly but I am sure I will get there eventually.

To find the threads you have subscribed to make sure you are logged in and also the green bar it should say Welcome January 2015. Look above that and click on Quick Links and then a list comes up and subscribed threads is on the list. Click on this and all the threads you haver subscribed to appear...


Also want to say Good Luck on your Journey - I was looking for a new diary to read last night and found yours so have subscribed.

Puzzcat

Eager_Elephant wrote: »

To find the threads you have subscribed to make sure you are logged in and also the green bar it should say Welcome January 2015. Look above that and click on Quick Links and then a list comes up and subscribed threads is on the list. Click on this and all the threads you haver subscribed to appear...


Also want to say Good Luck on your Journey - I was looking for a new diary to read last night and found yours so have subscribed.

Same as above but click on user cp...