January 2015 is the beginning

January2015

Well I've worked out how to sort out my signature. Not sure if the delay was embarrassment at seeing the amount of debt every time I post, or real technophobia Anyway, it's done now.

AleMrsT

January2015 wrote: »

Gulp !!!! Our bank account overdraft and 2 large loans are with Halif@x :eek: Sounds like we may be in for a rough ride for a while. - Aagh, sorry, I didn't mean to send you into a spin. Hopefully you'll feel able to prepare for it now, if they do call, I just referred them Stepchange and they seemed ok with that. To be honest I've not switched on my old mobile since, so not sure if they've contacted me again. You never know they may be fine with you as they are your main creditor so will be getting the lions share of the stepchange payment anyway (I assume).

What will be will be and I've decided they can't have what we don't have. - MY SENTIMENT EXACTLY!!! This is what Stepchange say, as long as you stick to the payment plan and show that you are paying what you CAN afford, creditors are more likely to just accept.
To be honest this bank accounts for almost a third of our huge debt and whilst I know we borrowed it and probably shouldn't have, over the years we've borrowed to pay credit cards and consolidate etc etc. I was really ill a few years ago and couldn't work for almost 2 and half years and if I'm honest we were in too deep then but that just compounded the problems and took us to the point of no return.

So, based on your information, if our first payment to SC goes on 1st March our creditors will not see a payment from them until 25th March. That does sound a long way off but I expect it will fly by. - yes, they'll get money on 25th March, but I guess Stepchange make them aware of that, and with the amount of people Stepchange deal with, I bet most of the creditors know that's how it works too.

I have replied to each of your points in purple next to the text, as it was easier that way, hopefully it shows up ok
Although Im only at the start of my journey, its nice to think that my experience so far is being passed on to someone else to help them.

January2015

I've been reading through different diaries on this forum and found Aloofdragon's diary this morning and her second post mentioned no council tax due Feb and Mar - how on earch could I have forgotten that:question: (and that goes for water rates to)

So a big thank you to Aloofdragon for getting my day off to a fantastic start. Usually I would be so grateful to have the additional money to help pay the creditors, but this year I am so grateful to have the additional money to put towards our emergency fund:T

My goal today is to get some stuff listed on ebay:D

System

January2015 wrote: »

I've been reading through different diaries on this forum and found Aloofdragon's diary this morning and her second post mentioned no council tax due Feb and Mar - how on earch could I have forgotten that:question: (and that goes for water rates to)

So a big thank you to Aloofdragon for getting my day off to a fantastic start. Usually I would be so grateful to have the additional money to help pay the creditors, but this year I am so grateful to have the additional money to put towards our emergency fund:T

My goal today is to get some stuff listed on ebay:D

The council tax and water rates have helped us no end with being able to start our DMP next month. Otherwise I think we might have had to wait another month.
I have also been listing stuff on Ebay and also Gumtree, although that doesn't seem to be so successful, but is good for large items that can be collected. Also tried a couple of FB selling pages, but they never seem to be that good.

January2015

I haven't done very well with my ebay listing goal. I woud like to say life interrupted but in all honestly I have just had a lovely day doing almost nothing - except knitting a jumper for one of my son's birthday next month.

I really MUST motivate myself to sort out the [STRIKE]junk[/STRIKE] treasures I need to list on ebay;)

Puzzcat

Hi January,


I feel your pain.. I hate Ebay with a passion but it does bring the pennies in for the sale of old tat.... and you get to declutter at the same time...!


In 2012 My daughter and I went abroad for a 2 week holiday on the back of ebay sales... unfortunately my house is still full of stuff but I find boot fairs easier as no come back from the grumpy buyer who spends £1 on something worth £10 and then complains...


Good luck with your listing...!


Puzz. x

Dansmam

Hi January
Just popping in to say I remember that atm to bank scuttle so very well and the relief when we (ahem) remortgaged and OH so kindly agreed to me securing my chunk of debt alongside. And being able to sleep again. Paid the secured loan off 2 years ago but stupidly piled debt back on the cc s. Not the way to do it. Just wanted to say, well done you for taking the wise route and wishing you good luck on your way.
DM

System

Puzzcat wrote: »

Hi January,


I feel your pain.. I hate Ebay with a passion but it does bring the pennies in for the sale of old tat.... and you get to declutter at the same time...!


In 2012 My daughter and I went abroad for a 2 week holiday on the back of ebay sales... unfortunately my house is still full of stuff but I find boot fairs easier as no come back from the grumpy buyer who spends £1 on something worth £10 and then complains...


Good luck with your listing...!


Puzz. x

Wow, that's a lot of Ebay sales, well done. :)I am hoping to put ours all in a separate account and save, so they don't get lost in the housekeeping etc.

January2015

Puzzcat wrote: »

Hi January,

I feel your pain.. I hate Ebay with a passion but it does bring the pennies in for the sale of old tat.... and you get to declutter at the same time...!

In 2012 My daughter and I went abroad for a 2 week holiday on the back of ebay sales... unfortunately my house is still full of stuff but I find boot fairs easier as no come back from the grumpy buyer who spends £1 on something worth £10 and then complains...

Good luck with your listing...!
Puzz. x

Wow Puzz - that was either some major value individual sales or I must take my hat off to you for dedication and perseverance with listing lots of items - enough to generate the value of the holiday. Totally in awe of you now

Dansmam wrote: »

Hi January
Just popping in to say I remember that atm to bank scuttle so very well and the relief when we (ahem) remortgaged and OH so kindly agreed to me securing my chunk of debt alongside. And being able to sleep again. Paid the secured loan off 2 years ago but stupidly piled debt back on the cc s. Not the way to do it. Just wanted to say, well done you for taking the wise route and wishing you good luck on your way.
DM

Hi Dansmum - yes, we are taking the wise route now, but have already been down the secured loan to consolidate route so that got here the very hard way Thank you for the good wishes:beer:

ploppy57 wrote: »

Wow, that's a lot of Ebay sales, well done. :)I am hoping to put ours all in a separate account and save, so they don't get lost in the housekeeping etc.

Great idea Ploppy - we are hoping to be able to put any ebay sales funds into our emergency fund - for which we have set up a separate online savings account. The account has 5 'jam jars' so I can allocate amounts for differnt things, e.g. Christmas/presents, white goods maintenance/replacement, car maintenance etc. That's the plan - at this stage I am full of confidence it will work, but having spent years funding our life through credit I need to see it work before I can let myself believe it :rotfl:

System

January2015 wrote: »

Wow Puzz - that was either some major value individual sales or I must take my hat off to you for dedication and perseverance with listing lots of items - enough to generate the value of the holiday. Totally in awe of you now



Hi Dansmum - yes, we are taking the wise route now, but have already been down the secured loan to consolidate route so that got here the very hard way Thank you for the good wishes:beer:


Great idea Ploppy - we are hoping to be able to put any ebay sales funds into our emergency fund - for which we have set up a separate online savings account. The account has 5 'jam jars' so I can allocate amounts for differnt things, e.g. Christmas/presents, white goods maintenance/replacement, car maintenance etc. That's the plan - at this stage I am full of confidence it will work, but having spent years funding our life through credit I need to see it work before I can let myself believe it :rotfl:

Ooh, where did you find an account that divides it into jamjars? Like the sound of that:rotfl: