January 2015 is the beginning

Puzzcat

:j well done January it's a lovely feeling seeing those pesky debts go down.
Love Puzz.x

January2015

Car cost over £500 to get through the MOT :eek: - but on a positive note we just about scraped through. I am getting through to pay day with £1 available to budget in YNAB - but at least it is £1 in credit:rotfl:

January2015

Well - 1st of the month is here again (doesn't it come around quickly!). Well it will be here in less than one hour

So, signature updated to show the effects of our September SC payment. Fast approaching the £88k mark - I know that is really high, but from where we were back in March I feel the weight lifting each and every month

Life in our household is generally good
Happy September everyone

January2015

Just logged into Hellifax to check our accounts and they are all gone :j Transferred to Hellifax's DCA. Final defaults from Hellifax will hopefully appear on our credit files within the next month.

So we now have the following defaults:RBS Credit Card- defaulted June

• Nat West Credit Card - defaulted May
• RBS Credit Card- defaulted June
• Hellifax Current account overdraft - letter notifying default received this month
• Hellifax loan (me) - letter notifying default - received this month
• Hellifax loan (DH) - letter notifying debt transferred to anika debt recovery. SC notified
• MBNA - notified default will be registered if account not brought up to date by 20/09/15....yes please:D

Slowly but surely making progress:j

January2015

Hello diary

We received a formal default letter from VirginMoney today for one of our two credit card accounts with them. Hopefully they will default the second account soon;)

SC advise us this month they can't pay one of our debts (Hellifax) because the payment has been returned. Phone the very unhelpful Hellifax and lady I spoke to could not find details of our account. Got fed up, hung up and decided to wait until they bother to write to us....so frustrating :mad:

So - it's SC direct debit day again today. I know the payments don't go straight to the creditors but in my mind that's another month's payment off our debt. So, as per my signature we now owe £87,484 :eek: - well actually to me that figure is now :j:j:j:j:j
Strange how your view of a debt figure changes. Yes it's a big number but we are managing it.

I've been in a bit of DMP doldrums the last couple of weeks. We are not managing to save anything. We are living within the budget set by SC but the money we are supposed to save has gone on (among other things) car repairs, replacing a broken window (grandchild accident), and now my winter boots have given up the ghost. They are beyond repair. I don't own lots of shoes/boots so have limited...er...no choices. I've ordered new boots and felt awful doing so:(

I am hopeful everything awful thing that can go wrong in our life has gone wrong and we can start saving from October's salary.

I think it's the first time I've felt so down since starting the DMP.....need to snap myself out of this mood.

On a positive note we are on an 'eat the contents of the freezer' challenge. That's reducing the expenditure and helping the budget.

On another positive note I've managed to put in some additional hours for work and next month's salary should see an extra £250 take home :j I don't often have the opportunity for additional hours but have there has been a vacancy at work and I grabbed the opportunity to earn a bit of extra dosh. It's quite timely because I have a 'buy now pay later' option with the awful VERY which must be paid early November or they will inflict back dated interest. I phoned and spoke to them and despite being in a DMP they will add the interest - no stopping them. That would increase my £240 debt by over £300. That is definitely not happening so timely additional hours payment is very welcome.

Happy October everyone - hope it's good to you all

Golightly72

Sorry to hear you are feeling low January, it's really annoying how everything comes at once! You are still doing fantastically well though, and even if you are not managing to put much aside at least you would like, at least you are dealing with your emergencies without adding to your debt. That total is coming down really nicely, you will be in the 7's before you know it. :beer:

The overtime is fab news, I really hate Very, so anything that denies them their extortionate interest is great.

Well done and keep going! :T

January2015

Hello Diary (and anyone reading this )

A mid month entry from me....you must be shocked:eek:

I was sitting here reconciling YNAB and bank account and we are limping to the next pay day (end of this week). I was, initially, fed up and frustrated, but then I had a mini lightbulb moment - we have paid all the bill and are still in credit. I've also managed to put £100 away into savings so in reality we are not doing too badly - not as good as we should be with the putting money away, but we are getting there.

Once DH gets his payslip this month I will do a review of our budget with Step Change. His salary has dropped slightly and our energy payments need to increase (so our energy supplier tells me).

I was upset when the energy supplier emailed to advise they were increasing the direct debit they collect because I couldn't see how we could manage the increase...then I realised it that goes up, the DMP payment will go down - zero overall change to us. What a relief. This is the first blip in our DMP and it's still a huge learning curve.

We are definitely happier with life since commiting to the DMP. Yes I do have low days, but on the whole I can see the very dim light at the end of our debt tunnel....I just have to remind myself sometimes it's still glowing and is getting closer.

We've been buying Christmas presents through the year (as and when suitable bargains appear). I track my present list on my phone through YNAB so I know I haven't gone above the spend for each person. The amount we allocate to each child has come down drastically, but because I've been thinking ahead and buying bargains they've actually got more presents for less money:T
We do find ourselves making excuses for why we cannot go out for meals with family and friends (we do occasionally, but in the debt ridden past it was once or twice a week....now once a month is pushing the boat out:rotfl:).

Well diary...that's this visit over. See you at the end of the month;)

Hope everyone in diaryland is keeping well and staying positive -x-

January2015

Hello diary

Monthly visit from me - make the most of it

So debt busting going ok. Savings/emergency fund - what on earth are they:o

Christmas is 8 weeks today. Fortunately most of the presents bought already (bits and pieces throughout the year when I saw absolute bargains on sale).

So debt busting figures at the moment are

• Debt at start £94,156
• Debt on Monday (which will be 2nd Nov) £86,423
• That's 8.22% paid
• That's only {gulp} 91.78% remaining

We may not have much spare cash, we may be limping towards payday occasionally, I may get into the doldrums every now and then but on the whole life is so much better.

Other good news is that I have a guaranteed 30 hours overtime next month - which will be paid week before Christmas. I can guarantee some of the extra cash will be splurged on Christmas - however we are having a 'lean' Christmas. We are away for Christmas Day so I won't go food shopping until after Christmas Day and hopefully will grab some bargain discounts on the Christmas food goodies.

Have a wonderful November everyone.

January2015

Oh forgot to say.....first debt cleared in full this week.

The very dreaded VERY. So glad that one's gone. Avoided the dreaded BNPL interest of over £300 by the skin of my teeth

January2015

Just a little reminder on my own diary - I posted the quote below earlier tonight on the mutual support thread. I will lose it in that thread over the years...but here in my diary I can read back and smile occasionally

January2015 wrote: »

Just checked my DMP online with SC and I have a new forecast debt free date:j:j:j:j

It's only one month sooner than before, but (and this is the important part) it moves debt free date from being in the year 2024 to the year 2023.....so it may only be one month earlier in reality, but in my mind it feels like one year earlier:rotfl:

Gotta take all the motivation one can find, even in little things like this;)