SandeC's journey to Debt Freedom!

SandeC

Thanks CCL

They're so lovely, I spoke to three different people all in, and not once did I feel I was being judged. My anxiety levels were actually pretty low, once I'd gotten over the 'Oh god, I have to speak to someone different'. In fact, even when I was on the phone to the water company I felt quite comfortable. I explained what was going on and that I was in contact with StepChange, and the lady was so lovely about it all. I think the control of my anxiety was down to Willowpop's tip to write down notes about what I wanted to ask and find out. If you're reading this Willowpop, thank you so much!

I'm so pleased the outcome was a DRO. I had my heart set on it - I would so love to be able to actually pay my debts off, but it's such an unrealistic goal, and will be for the foreseeable future. At least this way, I'll have a decent chance at rebuilding my credit score over the next 10 years or so, and then I'll be able to buy a house - something that until I came on this site I thought I'd never have a chance of doing. My Plan B was 'debt free by 39' - but it looks like it's going to be 'debt free by just after 30' after all I don't think I've ever felt so happy!

Grandad's internment was lovely, and it was really nice to see everyone again, even if it was under such sad circumstances. We're all meeting up again for a New Years Eve party, so I'm really looking forward to that. I think we're all going to make more of an effort to stay in touch better now. I certainly hope so!

SandeC

Good evening all :wave:

Yes, that's right - I am indeed 'kind of' moving out. I woke up this morning to this text from my mum

Would it help if you moved back home for a couple of days

Needless to say, I was somewhat confused (it doesn't take much!). Turns out, she would feel a lot less worried if my DD and I weren't at home until the DRO is in place, and it wasn't actually an invitation, more a demand. I AM allowed to go home every day to check for post, but I've been ordered to 'get the f*** out if you see a white van' (her words, not mine!). To be honest I'm not too keen on the idea, given it's adding an extra 6 miles on my daily round commute, but if it stops her from worrying so much I'll go with it. It shouldn't be for too long, anyway.

In other news, I had to take Slimming World off the budget in order that madam could keep going to her club. She struggles SO much with social interaction, and it's really doing her the world of good. Anyway, I spoke to my SW consultant tonight, and told her the basics - I'm in a bit of financial strife, and there's no room for SW in my budget - and she told me to get in touch with Fresh Steps to get vouchers. She's SO lovely, she gave me a big hug and told me that if I want to just go to group to get the support without weighing until the vouchers come through then I'd be more than welcome. I'm going to give up the Clubbercise, but that's not too bad because I know the routines and have all the music, so I can just have a bit of a rave by myself in the living room :rotfl:

I've set up two new bank accounts - one with Halifax and one with Barclays. If I'd have waited for the card and online banking details to come through from Halifax I might have been able to open another one with them, but I'm an impatient sod and opened the Barclays one. As soon as I get the cards, I'll start changing all the DDs, SOs and inform work, TCs, CB and CSA.

I've received the forms from Wessex Water to apply for debt help, but I'm going to give StepChange a call tomorrow to see what they would advise with that, as it will be going into the DRO.

I've had two letters this week to say that 2 debts have been sold on to other DCAs, so I'll mention it to StepChange and see if they do that from their end, or if I amend it on the forms when they come through.

I've decided on the shower for Christmas. I did tell mum that I wanted to take the money to pay off a bill option in order to pay for the DRO application, but she just kind of waved it away and said that she'd do that whatever. A holiday I'm not too worried about now. DD will go away with mum and Happy (my affectionate, if not somewhat ironic, nickname for my step-dad) for two weeks in the summer, and I will be able to get a few weekends with them in there throughout the year. So the shower it is.

Saving money. There's not an awful lot of room for movement in the budget I drew up with StepChange. There's £15 a month for car maintenance, but given she's a 17 year old rust bucket with an MOT due in March, I really do need to be putting that back for the intended purpose. I can't slate her too much though - she passed the last MOT with flying colours!

However, at the moment if something breaks down - say the washing machine (touch wood it doesn't!!) I can only say to my mum 'look, such and such has broken, I need a new one, can you buy one for me please?' - I don't want to have to say that any more - I've been saying it for 29 years! I would love to be in a position that I can at least say to her 'such and such has broken, I need a new one, I have X amount of £s to put towards it, can you help me with the rest please?'. Which means I need to be able to find something, even if it's only £5, within the budget to save.

The most logical - and realistic - place is in the food shop. We've budgeted £60 a week, but if I'm savvy I reckon I could definitely shave a few £s off. I haven't found out yet exactly how much the usual DD amount is for my water bill yet, and put £40 as an educated guess, so it's possible I might save some £s there, too. Not sure as yet though - something I'm going to have to find out from the water company. There's not much more I can do within the budget as yet.

I am going to be saving £88 per month between now and April. As the rest of the year's council tax is with the bailiffs, it will all be going into the DRO and I will have no liability until the new bill comes in. That'll be £352 sitting in the emergency pot, for MOT or car repairs, vet bills, white goods breakdown etc, and is a substantial amount to have in reserves. Also, I won't need to cut my budget back too much that it is unmanageable. I was thinking about giving it to my step-dad to look after so that the temptation to spend it wouldn't be there, but that really isn't going to help me in the long run with learning to actually save money long-term, so I'm going to look after it myself.

I'm going to start making a list of all the things I have done/am doing to keep me on the straight and narrow. I found myself thinking yesterday that I hadn't done anything really to get me out of this mess, but that's not true. I've done more in the last week and a half than I have done in 11 years! I then realised I hadn't taken my 'happy pills' (anti-depressants) for a couple of days, so that's probably where that was coming from!

I guess that's it for now! I'm sure there's more, but I need to get to bed. Work in the A.M. and need to start packing a bag to take to mums - it's certainly going to be a busy one tomorrow! I don't know what I'm going to say to madam about the whole staying at mums thing!

Good night everyone!

crazy_cat_lady

Wow - what a brilliant and productive day you've had :j you sound so ready to go for this.
With regards to grocery shopping, do you go to Ald! and L1dl? And do you go yellow sticker shopping? I get some brilliant bargains in Mr M at about 6-7pm during the week, and at Mr S just after 3 on a Sunday. That really helps.

SandeC

I LOVE yellow sticker shopping :rotfl: my daughter's even worse than me - she runs straight to the reduced section every time we go in! And she's 8! She does love herself a bargain - her favourite shop in the world is any charity shop she comes across! I did shop in Ald! for a while, but I was finding that the money I was saving on the shop I was spending on fuel as it was a 20 mile round trip - and I never really got on with L1dl. I might give them another go though as I haven't been in for a few years, and it might have improved since then! I just find Mr A so much more convenient as it's only a 5 minute walk if I'm just getting a few bits, even less to drive if I'm doing a big shop. I am going to try shopping around more though, and I take DD to her dad's at the moment as he doesn't drive and there's an Ald! there, so I can always pop in on my way back.

I'm going to tell the little lady that we're staying at mums for a while because money's very tight this week and it'll be save me some pennies if I don't have to do a big food shop and get gas and electric. Mums idea, but she knows I'm struggling with money, so it won't come as a surprise, and I'm not exactly lying to her, which I refuse to do. She doesn't need to know about bailiffs or any of that though!

I do feel ready to do this, at long last! I was worried for a while that I wasn't going to follow through with any of my plans - which has happened quite a lot in the past - but I'm so excited and determined to be getting out of this mess that I really do believe that this is it!

SandeC

Yep - I arrived home from work to find that my Personal Action Plan from StepChange has arrived, including the form for the DRO! Exciting! I've had a quick look through, and it all looks pretty straight forward

I'm pretty busy with the 'move' this afternoon, but hopefully I'll get half an hour or so after madam has gone to bed to start filling it out. In any case, it'll be posted on Saturday before the last collection at the very latest. It is NOT going to be lying around on the kitchen table waiting to be sorted like everything else seems to!

I offered to pay mum some housekeep out of the money I'll save from not having to do a food shop this week and only having to put a minimal amount on the gas and electric to keep the things ticking over.... As expected she declined the offer, so I said I'd put it towards the DRO application, and again she declined. She DID tell me that I should use some of the money to go out and have a drink with a few of my friends who invited me for a night out tomorrow, and as I haven't been out since April 2014 it's very tempting, but I kind of feel like a fraud if I do as it's completely going against everything I've set my sights on this last week or so. I know I'd only take £20 or so with me, so I'd still have about £80 left over, but it's still not the point.

I've got Monday, Tuesday and Thursday off work, so I'll pay my keep by doing some housework for mum, getting the logs in and lighting the fires so it's nice and warm when they come home from work, and doing all the cooking. I'm actually quite looking forward to it.

I should probably start getting ready to go now! I'll update a bit later with any other news or thoughts. Bye for now!!:wave:

SandeC

Things haven't gone as smoothly as I'd hoped!

Saturday I was supposed to make the finishing touches to my application, and get it posted off. However, in a last minute brainwave, I decided to call each of my creditors to confirm the outstanding balances, as some of the letters I have are years old.

For the most part, this wasn't a problem. I got hold of most of them, there was only 3 that weren't open that I need to call tomorrow. My problem is a company called Fredrickson International.

Fredrickson International have my wrong date of birth. My phone number has since changed and I can't remember the old one. My email address has since changed and I can't remember the old one. And Fredrickson International refuse to speak to me.

I had EXACTLY the same issues on another debt, yet the lady I spoke to was ever so nice, and had it sorted in a matter of minutes. This guy wasn't having any of it though. So now I'm worried that because of the incorrect date of birth, I won't be able to include it in the DRO.

I'm 99% sure that the balance is correct, as it's a relatively recent letter, about 2 months or so. However I thought the same with another creditor when I contacted StepChange, and the following day I had a letter to say the debt had been sold on. Speaking of which, problem number 2...

Said debt has been sold on to a company called Hoist Portfolio Holding 2 Ltd. The letter says that I will shortly receive a new reference number and details of who to contact. This debt was sold on 26 October, and as yet I haven't heard anything. I also can't find ANY contact details for them online, and as this particular debt is almost £1000, I really need it to go into the DRO. I think I'll get in touch with the previous DCA tomorrow and see if they have any contact details for them.

Other than that, everything is done and ready to go. I don't have any letters from Child Benefit as proof of income for that, so I printed off 2 months worth of bank statements (I don't get paper statements), and circled the relevant info. I hope that's okay! The email is drafted, with the attachments added already. Just waiting on the rest of the confirmations and I'll be able to hit send!

Really worrying about these 2 problem ones though. If I don't get any joy I'm going to have to get in touch with StepChange again and see what they would advise. I really hope it doesn't set me back too many days!

Still at mums obviously. It's quite nice, and we're all getting along for the most part. I was talking to mum about things on Friday, and she just started crying, saying it's her fault, that she could have done more to help me. I told her to stop being silly - if I'd wanted her to help me I'd have let her, but I didn't want her to because I didn't want to face up to it.

We went to the bootsale this morning, and I was ever so proud of myself - all I bought was 2 jumpers for madam. I saw lots of things I wanted, but nothing I needed, so I left them where they were and came home empty handed. First time ever!

I suppose I'd better go to bed - still got lots of phone calls to make tomorrow. Hope you've all had a lovely weekend!

crazy_cat_lady

I'm sure it'll all work itself out SandeC As long as the total is less than £20k I would have thought it's fine. But I don't know much about dro at all... I know it's easier said than done but try not to stress about it - it's tough getting it all sorted but you will feel SO much better once it's all done.
Good luck getting it all done tomorrow.