Are we nearly there yet?

Kitten868

Hello there,

Just had a read of your diary. I can't believe they didn't accept your offer. Looking back now I'm sure you'd have done things differently but now going forward are you still with step change? I'm wondering if you could go self managed and tell them you need some breathing space and to change payments to £1 a month. It's only the one creditor now isn't it? That'll boost your savings pot for them. I think getting £50 a month towards a £10k debt isn't going to motivate them to take an offer. I am no expert in this stuff so go on the DMP support thread maybe to check as you don't want them reassessing your income and outgoings.
Also why does the DMP need to be finished for you to apply for a mortgage? The defaults on your file will be 5 years old and there's only one unsettled. I'm sure you could go for a shared ownership house. You don't have to be a first time buyer to buy one.
I think there's lots of ways to get you to where you want to go. Have a chat with a broker may be to get an idea what is possible? I just hate the awful dcas holding your life to ransom.

Oh and I always get irritated when oh spends money. Like you say a £7 mcds when you've only spent 40p because the kids need it. Mine spent £5 in costa the other day and he doesn't even know what on. Arggghh.

Oh and is your new job relevant to your studies?

Keep going. You can do this xxx

Pauper1

Kitten868 hello! Thanks for popping in

Yes, we are still with Stepchange but I think I will have to go self managed at some point so I can negotiate with PRA, as Stepchange will only do settlements over a certain percentage (although I don't remember what it is) and we want to start low to chance our luck.

I'm not sure about the £1 payments because, as you say, I don't want to go into our current circumstances as things have changed and we *should* be paying more. Plus it's going to take 16 years to pay off at that level, so hopefully that will be a good bargaining chip.

This last remaining debt was taken out sometime in 2013, but we started our dmp in May 2014, so it drops off in May 2020 apparently. I did go to see a mortgage broker a few weeks ago and the options she found for me were to either get a higher deposit (15%, but they wouldn't do shared ownership) or to wait until the dmp dropped off next year. She did say to come back if we managed to get the dmp paid off before then and she would do another search for us, which is another reason I am mainly focusing on that. As well as just wanting to be debt free!

No, new job is back to the industry I used to work in but working for a friend starting up a new business. I'm very excited but also nervous about childcare and leaving DS2

Thanks for your lovely comment xx

Pauper1

Oh my goodness! I'm ALONEEEE! Mum and Dad have gone out for the day/morning/who knows, and DH has taken the boys for a walk. OMG. ALONE! I've got a coffee, a chocolate and Bridget Jones' Baby on the TV. Going to do my nails in a bit. Nothing to do with money saving but I had to share with someone, because this never happens!

Pauper1

Literally as soon as I pressed post, my brother came back.

Edit - it's okay, he brought homemade bread and flapjacks with him

Pauper1

Another good day today. Our only spend was a lunchbox for DS1; we took him to choose one himself so he is excited about starting lunch club at preschool. Fingers crossed! Now have £26.51 left until Wednesday. DH is away from tonight until Thursday so I don't need to worry about his fuel or food, or him ruining my budgets!

This afternoon we've made pitta pizzas, pinwheels and a sweet potato dip for lunchboxes. Tomorrow's lunch is all ready and in the fridge (just waiting for some leftover roasted parsnip from tea, and to put something in his drinks bottle).

Tonight I need to get everyone's clothes out for tomorrow and pack the bag, so we are all ready to go in the morning. I don't usually do this, but I'm feeling the "back to school" vibes. Future friend and all that!

Tomorrow I'm off to see an allotment with my mum. Apparently it "needs a bit of work", so much so they are offering it for free until October... I'm slightly dreading what we are going to find tbh! Then a free therapy session with a trainee before picking DS1 up from preschool. No idea what we're going to do in the afternoon though. Might get some admin bits done. We'll see.

Pauper1

Got an allotment! Free until October, and then £8 a year! It's got a shed on it, fences on two sides and a load of other stuff... They're going to clear it, but I'm not sure what we'll be left with, can't wait to get started.

Dropped DS1 at preschool this morning, with his little lunch bag Then came home and cleared out my car, need to hoover it at some point, it's hideous haha. Jiggled around with my accounts and spreadsheets, then went to look at the allotment. I've got about 45 minutes until I need to leave for my free therapy, so just going to nose on here and have an early lunch in a bit.

I've obviously worked something out wrong somewhere, as we've currently got £107 more in our accounts than I budgeted for :T bit confused, but hey. I'm leaving it as it is at the moment, and if it's still there at the end of the pay month then I'll move it to one of the savings. I'm sure I'm just forgetting something today.

Hoping for a NSD today. Might list a few bits for sale later, and try to make it a money positive day! Has anyone done/doing the HSBC switch? We did the 'B' one last year.. year before.. and I'm not too fussed about staying with them, although I do like their savings pots.

Pauper1

Nevermind, HSBC rejected us..!

Pauper1

Feeling very tired and slow today. Headaches are plaguing me it's been 8 months of them! To be fair, they aren't as bad as they were originally, but I've still had enough.

This morning I've sorted through a paperwork pile in the kitchen, made a pile to be filed and I'm working through a "to do" pile. Phoned the AA to cancel, and got it reduced from £130 to £89. Because of something that happened about 18 months ago I can't bear to not have cover, even though it's not completely related. I had forgotten that it's this month though, which is annoying, budget wise. Although I just checked, and I'd put £96 in the car spends pot, so at least it's covered.

Going to eat some other frogs today I think. Hopefully ease my stress head a little.

Pauper1

Middling type of day... Banks and spreadsheets all ticking along fine. Got washing up to date and previous piles all put away.

Also sorted through my stuff to sell, decided to give some bits to charity and I've taken photos of everything else. A few bits have gone on faceb0ok, I'll put some others on eB4y later.

Packaged up something to send back finally. It's been hanging around for weeks and it's blooming massive so will be glad to get it out of the way!

So a few frogs, but still feeling rotten. Thinking it's stress, anxiety and exhaustion. Hoping for another early night and a better day tomorrow.

Pauper1

Wednesday was a bit better, I walked all over the place and being outside/exercising always helps me. I've been dizzy for well over a week now, on and off, had put it down to stress etc. Dr on Monday said migraines and gave me some meds, which I've not been able to take as no one will phone me back to confirm whether the "do not take if you have history of asthma" warning applies to me. *sigh*

The massive parcel was picked up and its replacement was ordered, so that's finally sorted. I had to emergency buy DS1 a t-shirt and jumper from a charity shop while we were in town on Wednesday, but was only £1.99 in total, and the jumper is a lovely Next one. I also went to see a different allotment that we've been offered, and while I was that end of town popped in to Lidl - spent £3.94 - we really need to go there more often, so much was cheaper! Weekly spends left - £83.82 (rollovered some from last week). Need to book DS1 a haircut asap, and mine in a couple of weeks, no doubt DH will be wanting one this weekend too.

Yesterday was a NSD, and I made £6 by selling a couple of the kids outgrown bits. I also confirmed an allotment - a third one! But on the original site. It doesn't need as much clearing, but it doesn't have a shed or much in the way of leftover goodies. There's a water butt, some compost and a broken frame. There's the remains of a bonfire, which I have no clue what to do with.. any ideas? I've been busily reading the greenfingered moneysaving forums the last few days. Getting a bit lost.

Today should be a LSD. DS1 is being incredibly tricky the last couple of days, we had planned for DH to finish early today and we'd all go swimming, but if DS1 is the same today as he was yesterday I'd rather eat my own arm off. DH has been away with work this week and I'm not sure if that contributes to DS1's "bad mood".

While DS1 is at preschool I'm going to go up to my allotment ( !! EEE ) and take some measurements, so I can do a proper plan. Then I'm heading over to an industrial estate close to it, where they advertised that they had some plywood boards free for collection. Along with some poles from a dismantled shed at mum's, I am hoping to be able to build a fence to keep my 3yo off other people's allotments (and the 10mo when he starts walking!) I've also seen some bricks free for collection that I could use for a path. Just need to find a shed now. After that though, no idea. Where to start?! Just need to concentrate on those bits for now I guess. Feeling very excited though.