Massive debt to shift!!

chevalier

No worries about when you post an SOA up on here, but it would still be worth doing one for you, so you know where you are at. Good that DH is on board, that is half the battle.

hope_to_be_debt_free

Good evening. Had a busy couple of days, Thursday is my day off so I've been catching up on cleaning and general household stuff and of course reading some DFW diaries

So we survived last months bills with £2.34 to spare :eek: my payday today, I get paid weekly DH gets paid monthly. Looked a bit short, will query tomorrow when back at work. Took out cash for diesel, DH cigs, grocery shopping, bus fares, kids clubs, and a spare tenner for bits and pieces for the week. Decided we'll be better have weekly pots and monthly pots - the above spends will be in the weekly pot drawn out every Thursday and everything else- clothes, haircuts, school, trips etc will be drawn out around the 1st when most of the bills have gone.

DH is getting a little stressed over the calls he's receiving. I've told him having read on here that it's all normal and not to worry. We've made token payments on all his creditors and explained situation and given them the stepchange account number there's not much more we can do - think he's a little embarrassed more than anything

I've joined the Grocery challenge with a £400 target for the month (SC budget is £450) for food, cleaning and toiletries not actually sure how much we usually spend in a month we've normally gone to the supermarket 2 to 3 times a week and normally bunged it on a card. It's definitely the area we need to cut back on and monitor. So we decided on a £60 budget for this week, DH wanted a £50 budget I said £60 but managed to still go over, managed to pull it round with DH cig money - lets hope this lasts til next week!

Total spends for June £2.50 bus fare, £2 lunch at work (ooops) A*di £60.34, A*da £4.32, £12 cigs (DH has a£16 pw budget).

£8 in the £2 jar and 50p in the 50p jar yay

hope_to_be_debt_free

Arghh just while we're thinking everything is going as smooth as possible I got a CCJ court letter through the door :mad: It's for an old Littlewoods/barclaycard which I haven't acknowledged for years but had put it on my DMP to pay. Feel a bit daft now that i hadn't informed them :mad: Will phone SC and the DCA the debt is with tomorrow - see how this changes things. Not sure if we'll have to keep it separate from the DMP? I'm not overly worried about having a CCJ, everything is going to default anyway just wish we'd sorted the DMP out a couple of months earlier - hindsight n'all!!:o

We was putting the DMP off until Aug to build an EF but think it's best to try and get it set up for July. What a mess!

We have changed childcare so will be able to hopefully (depending on the above) add another £100 ish a month to the DMP fingers crossed.

Had my 1st NSD yesterday and today should be one too yay. Spent £2.89 on Friday on loo roll and air freshener. Total Groceries for June - £67.55

WaywardDriver

Look at Christians Against Poverty at https://capuk.org/:

• helps everyone regardless of religious beliefs.
• service is completely free.
• works with creditors to offer fair repayments based on what you can afford.

chevalier

good luck with getting things sorted. The first few months are always stressful whilst you get used to budgetting, and setting things up. It does get smoother...
chev

hope_to_be_debt_free

chevalier wrote: »

good luck with getting things sorted. The first few months are always stressful whilst you get used to budgetting, and setting things up. It does get smoother...
chev

Thanks Chev I'm so looking forward to getting to the point where it's all set up and and things are getting paid

hope_to_be_debt_free

Spoke to StepChange, they are so lovely and made me feel so much better about the CCJ. So they've taken the debt off and I will offer the pro rata amount that SC would have offered, they think it's a reasonable amount and should be accepted. Will fill the form this evening and get it posted tomorrow.

My DH has had a melt down over the SC budget he can't get his head round it and is worried we won't be able to save an emergency fund or even have money for Christmas. I think the budget is fine and generous enough to save towards both these. We've booked to go away in August, nothing exotic a caravan in Scotland for a week, we just about got enough money to pay for it after i cancelled my works saving plan when we thought we was going down the IVA route, the holiday was booked in January but he thinks we should cancel - kids will be gutted

So when I told SC about the CCJ and the childcare costs going down, I told them about DH wobble and him fearing we wouldn't have enough to build emergency funds etc so they took a look and added stuff that we hadn't thought about and added a small amount to food budget and extra to emergency fund so now we're paying a small amount more than before but we will have more wiggle room. Hope DH is happier - will find out later.

I'm hoping when we've got into it properly DH can see just how generous it is. I think it's the fear of not having a CC as a backup has finally hit him.

NSD yesterday so that's 2 for June yay

hope_to_be_debt_free

Hello diary! Sorry it's been so long since i last posted. Warning - this post is a bit moany!

Can't believe how long it has been so much has happened, not for the good,car needs work, kids school trips coming in thick and fast. Dogs got attacked by another dog and needed vet treatment of over £300 ouch, thankfully the other owner has paid this. Husband off work, back now though. It's been one thing after another!

CCJ accepted my monthly offer so that starts next month, not as painful process as i thought it was going to be.

We talked to SC and we're definitely going to start the DMP in September. All this has made us realise how much we need an emergency fund. I still haven't contacted all creditors, i've been a bit of a wimp really, need to get my head out of the sand! DH has contacted his and our joint ones it's just mine only 3 i need a kick up the bum! This is the first month we haven't paid so the phone calls have started, I know if I talk to them it won't be so bad and they'll be less calls. Don't know what's up with me arghh!

Anyway going to dust myself of it's near the end of the month and we actually still have a little cash left in the bank. We're learning how to budget a little better and mostly using cash.

Hoping for a better July