Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally 24 September 2017 at 1:22PM edited 18 November 2017 at 10:49AM in Debt Free Diaries 13.7K replies 770.3K views

Purplemumof2

Morning Hairy,

Great news about the dtr's letter.

Have a great day today xx

scotdebs

Hairy Hand just found your diary. The reasons you got into debt are almost identical to ours and its great to see you are almost out of that long dark tunnel. After a number of flickering light bulbs mine is now well and truly switched on due to the fact I will be made redundant in about 18 months and unlikely to get same level of salary elsewhere will be following you for more inspiration

HairyHandofDartmoor

Hi scotsdebs thanks for popping by :wave:. It's great when you start to control your money instead of the other way around. Good luck with your journey.

Well today has been productive if exhausting. We got the proposal done in record time as suddenly realised the deadline was lunchtime :eek::eek::eek:. The good news is they said yes :T:j:j::T

DH also wrote a very long covering letter to his remaining creditor, to accompany the doctors letter. He enclosed our budget that Stepchange helped us put together (in case they'd lost the previous one we sent them). We photocopied everything and then posted it recorded delivery, which came to £1.75. So much for a NSD, but the doctors letter would have cost £20 to replace and another four weeks wait, so we figured it was worth it.

It felt great to have posted it, but I felt a bit tired and stressed after that. Dealing with creditors always makes me feel a bit meh .

Also managed to do two You Gov surveys (that's four this week!) One was for a prize draw but I did win 200 points once. Plus managed a half hour walk for the third day in a row .

On the down side I succumbed to a large chocolate bar and later on DH said he wanted pizza for dinner as a reward for hard work and he'd spotted a buy one get one pizza deal if you picked up. So another £10 gone, but he has worked hard so didn't like to say no .

I'm looking forward to being a zombie in front of the telly tonight followed by a long sleep.

Have a great evening everyone.

please-let-me-be-lucky

Enjoy your night Xx

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thanks lucky you too.

Purplebonnie

Have read through your diary and it looks like you are doing really well and are on top of sorting out your debts. Good luck with your journey and have a good weekend.

Purplemumof2

Morning Hairy,

Sounds like a productive day yesterday.

Fingers crossed the creditor behaves and you get the right outcome.

Hope the pizza was nice

Have a lovely day xx

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thanks purplebonnie and purplemum .

I really hope that the final creditor sees reason. We only have around £52 per month surplus after paying our bills, so it would take very many years to pay off £16000. And realistically we need that small surplus for emergencies etc. DH offered 50% of the total or £2.50 per month on each debt. That would take 266 years to pay off by my calculations :eek:. I don't think either of us will live that long .

Today's plan is my weekly treat of coffee in town and browsing the charity shops. It's my me time where I get away from everything and everyone for a few hours and I look forward to it . I need to be strong around shops, but this is where having no access to credit comes in useful .

When I get back I need to make some inroads into the laundry mountain, vacuum the downstairs and tidy our bedroom (an on going project). This evening DH, DS1 and I will watch a film together and I'll have some cans of cider (cheaper than wine as I'm the only one who drinks).

Have a lovely saturday everyone.

HairyHandofDartmoor

I had a low spend day at the shops this morning. £2.10 on bus fares, £2.65 for coffee and £2 on three books from the charity shop. Spent nearly £10 on fruit to top up supplies, but that should come from the food budget.

So total spend £9.80 on food and £6.75 elsewhere. Considering there were lots off 50% off sales in M&S, Debenhams and House of Fraser I think that's pretty good :A.

Came home to a letter from the tax office saying we owe £500 approximately in tax and they've been trying to contact us. We paid this bill back in early August :mad::mad: Why do they always send threatening letters to arrive on a Saturday? They wind you up and then you can't ring them and sort it out until Monday :mad::mad::mad:.

I'm looking forward to that cider tonight, I think I'm going to need it .

Purplemumof2

Hi Hairy,

Sounds like a lovely morning.

Boo to the tax office hiccup, give them a slap on the wrist. Hate when the do that.

Have a great day xx