My journey to a debt free life

HairyHandofDartmoor

Having less clutter certainly does make cleaning a lot easier. It will free up more useable space too :T.

Hope today is a good one.

HonestS

Hi Onebrokelady, I need to set up a DMP so searched the forum to see what people think of StepChange and came across your diary. I’ve read quite a bit of it but don’t have time to read through the whole year lol, so I just wanted to ask you if, with hindsight, you would use them again?

I’ve read lots of good things but also some bad so I’m not sure whether to go with them or to self manage. Did yours work out ok? And how much roughly are you paying towards your debts? Mine are higher than yours at around £25k 😬 and according to SC I can only afford £132 a month and it will take 16 years to repay. I’m fine with that if it means I can sleep at night! But I’m wondering how realistic it is that the debtors will accept such measly amounts against massive debt, especially when I have a huge amount of equity in my house that I’m worried they will come after 😬 I have another income of hosting foreign students but it’s not guaranteed so I can’t use it as an income but I would put towards the debts when I get it. I won’t bore you with my health but I wasn’t able to host any last year due to illness, that’s all over now so I can start doing it again but I’m still having some treatment so am unable to increase my hours at work to boost my income, which would be an option at any other time.

So what do you think, would you go that way again or do it yourself? Has it worked out well for you so far or did you have any problems?

Onebrokelady

HonestS wrote: »

Hi Onebrokelady, I need to set up a DMP so searched the forum to see what people think of StepChange and came across your diary. I’ve read quite a bit of it but don’t have time to read through the whole year lol, so I just wanted to ask you if, with hindsight, you would use them again?

I’ve read lots of good things but also some bad so I’m not sure whether to go with them or to self manage. Did yours work out ok? And how much roughly are you paying towards your debts? Mine are higher than yours at around £25k �� and according to SC I can only afford £132 a month and it will take 16 years to repay. I’m fine with that if it means I can sleep at night! But I’m wondering how realistic it is that the debtors will accept such measly amounts against massive debt, especially when I have a huge amount of equity in my house that I’m worried they will come after �� I have another income of hosting foreign students but it’s not guaranteed so I can’t use it as an income but I would put towards the debts when I get it. I won’t bore you with my health but I wasn’t able to host any last year due to illness, that’s all over now so I can start doing it again but I’m still having some treatment so am unable to increase my hours at work to boost my income, which would be an option at any other time.

So what do you think, would you go that way again or do it yourself? Has it worked out well for you so far or did you have any problems?

Hi HonestS
First things first have you posted on the DMP support thread,there are lots of people on there who give really good advice and its where I went when I first joined here

Step Change were recommended to me on here so I thought I'd give them a go and I have to say I would definitely still use them if I was going into a DMP now,they have been so good and I think it's one of the best decisions I have ever made

I suppose it depends what you want from your DMP, I was so nervous about it all and just wanted someone to take charge and be the middle man between me and my creditors,I didn't have the confidence to go self managed and because it's a free service I thought why not,I also thought that my creditors might take more notice of a debt charity doing the DMP than they might if I was doing it myself

Don't worry about the amounts your going to be paying,so long as you keep in contact and make regular payments then your creditors should be happy with that.
I started off paying £134 a month to 5 creditors but due to ill health I've had to cut my hours at work so this resulted in me cutting my monthly payment down to £79 a month,I contacted Stepchange and was really worried but they didn't even bat an eyelid ,they just reviewed my income and expenditure agreed a new payment and contacted my creditors to tell them the new amount, I have heard from two of my creditors to say they are happy with the payment but the others have just not bothered contacting me,they have just accepted the payments

I haven't had any problems so far,the other thing is you can start a DMP with them and then if you find it's not working for you you can always go self managed, the only compliant I have come across is they don't press the creditors to stop interest,but in my experience the interest usually gets stopped after a while anyway,two of my debts have been sold on and interest stopped the others have been defaulted by the original creditors and interest has stopped, I would have written to my creditors myself if the interest was still being charged but I haven't needed to

I think self managed is ok if you have the time and confidence to manage it and there are some excellent resources on this site to help you do that but it wasn't for me,I like you needed to be able to sleep at night and I was actually close to having some sort of breakdown so Stepchange was the best choice,I haven't regretted it once in the year

I hope I've answered all your questions but if you need to know anything else feel free to ask and if you haven't already check out the DMP support thread,just reading that has stopped me from having repeated nervous breakdowns
Good luck with whichever route you choose :beer:

Ps forgot to say don't worry about the equity in your house,your creditors are very unlikely to go after your house ,I have equity in my house too and Stepchange asked me if I would be willing to sell my house to settle my debt,I just said no and they said ok and moved onto the next question

Also when you tell them your income I wouldn't tell them about the student income if it's not a regular garanteed income because if you don't get it for any reason you will be cutting your budget a bit fine,I would use it to save an emergency fund because you won't have any access to credit once your in a DMP so if anything goes wrong you will need cash to sort it out
My DDs boyfriend was staying with us when I set mine up he paid me a token amount for staying here and I put that in my emergency fund,I'm so glad I did because I used it a couple of times during the year,it just took the pressure off but I was never sure if they were going to stay together so didn't want to rely on it being a regular income

Onebrokelady

Well so much for having a lie in this morning,I forgot DD was going to uni and she woke me up at 5am,she puts the heating on and the boiler keeps me awake,I did fall back to sleep eventually and got up at 9 am

I took the decluttered bits to the charity shop so that's another load gone ,then I went to visit my friend for a coffee ,she is emptying her mums house at the moment because her mum has gone into a nursing home and she says it's a nightmare as there is so much stuff to get rid of,they have found 6 boxes of washing tablets for a start and 4 unopened bottles of washing up liquid,I'm wondering is she was a secret prepper:rotfl:

I then went home via town where I had to get some sawdust and a cooking sauce for my tea,I didn't end up having the sauce for tea though because I didn't have enough Quorn pieces which I was also supposed to buy today but forgot

I started listening to a new podcast today called The minimalists,it's really interesting and inspiring but did cause me to laugh out loud on the bus which earned me some funny looks:eek:

Its run by two American guys who gave up corporate life and most of their belongings to lead what they call a minimalist life,they now earn much less than before but say they have more freedom because they are no longer on that treadmill of need that afflicts so many people today

They don't buy stuff unless it's really going to enhance their lives,so one of them likes snowboarding and lots of other outside pursuits so he will buy and keep equipment that allows him to enjoy that experience but he won't waste money on a coffee machine that is the latest gizmo or the newest phone or TV simply because he feels he needs it,he doesn't need any of that stuff because he is too busy enjoying doing things that are meaningful to him
I love their ideas and I really enjoying listening to their podcast, I especially like that they don't preach that their way is the best way but that minimilism is an individual choice,so it's up to you how far you take it and you decide which things are important to you
They both live in super minimilistic apartments that literally look almost empty apart from the bare essentials and while I would love to live like that I don't think I would like to take it as far as they have,I am finding lots of ideas to take away from the podcast that will work for me so it's really helpful

I'm working again tomorrow so must got to bed soon,I'm doing a 9 to 5 clinic shift though so don't have to get up as early as I normally would which is a bonus

HonestS

Thank you for your reply and advice. I feel confident enough to self manage but am mostly worried that they won’t accept the payments, but I suppose the payments will be the same whichever way I go. Your experience gives me hope, especially about the equity too.

I will use the student’s money to build an emergency fund, it’s those unexpected or one off payments that have always ended up on the credit cards so I definitely need to get a healthy safety net stowed away.

I’ve been reading various things on here today and have realised that I’m paying far too much for energy and if I switch I can reduce those payments by £59 a month... Almost half what I’m paying now!!! I’ve got a feeling I’ll be spending most of my spare time looking around these forums, I’ve got a lot to learn.

Thanks again.

Onebrokelady

HonestS wrote: »

Thank you for your reply and advice. I feel confident enough to self manage but am mostly worried that they won’t accept the payments, but I suppose the payments will be the same whichever way I go. Your experience gives me hope, especially about the equity too.

I will use the student’s money to build an emergency fund, it’s those unexpected or one off payments that have always ended up on the credit cards so I definitely need to get a healthy safety net stowed away.

I’ve been reading various things on here today and have realised that I’m paying far too much for energy and if I switch I can reduce those payments by £59 a month... Almost half what I’m paying now!!! I’ve got a feeling I’ll be spending most of my spare time looking around these forums, I’ve got a lot to learn.

Thanks again.

Your welcome,I think it's a steep learning curve when you first start to take control of your finanaces but after a while it becomes easier

Lots of people on here have gone down the self managed route and haven't had any problems having their payments accepted,your creditors will ask send you and income and expenditure from to fill out and to be honest it's up to you how you fill this out,just make sure you don't make your budget too tight because that is when you will struggle and fall off the wagon,
Stepchange didn't even blink when i allowed £60 a month for leisure and hobbies, I've since lowered this but I still allow my self an amount each month because I don't want to deprive myself and become despondent,I'm in for a fair few years so life has to liveable at the same time

It was unexpected bills and emergencies that always got me into trouble,I never wasted money on holidays or big purchases,some of my debt was down to overspending on things like birthdays and Christmas but most of it was from unexpected emergencies so the emergency fund is important,mine is a little low at the moment due to paying to have my boiler fixed so that is my immediate priority
I now have two months with no council tax to pay so that is going into my emergency fund to bump it up a bit

I would also suggest starting your own diary as it's a good way of keeping track of how well you are doing and also is somewhere to go to off load if you need to or to plan things out

Onebrokelady

Today at work went well although I prefer working a late to working 9 to 5 it was nearly 7pm by the time I got home and walked the dog

I'm off tomorrow so we are taking the dog to the beach for a long walk,we are planning on not spending any money on food so we are taking a packed lunch and our own coffee,it will be cold but hopefully sunny,I haven't been to the beach for about a year so it will be nice to see the sea and breath some sea air

If we don't get back too late I have some ironing to do :j:j:rotfl:and also tomorrow I'm cooking the Quorn chicken dish I was supposed to cook yesterday,I had eggs on toast for tea tonight and it was yummy,sometimes the simple meals are the best
Speaking of chickens they have stopped laying now for the winter (at least I hope it just for the winter and they haven't turned into a couple of free loaders :rotfl:) so I only have about 10 eggs left, I had this dilemma last year where I didn't want to buy any eggs because I didnt want to support the egg industry and I can't remember if I actually ended up buying any in the end,I'm hoping I won't have to and will try to avoid meals that require eggs until my ladies start laying again,I've been out and threatened them with the casserole dish but they just laughed in my face :eek:

System

Enjoy the seaside. I love going for a walk along the sea. Unfortunately we are quite a way from the coast here though.

Cherryfudge

Re: your journals... have you looked into the Bullet journal method? I tried it a in a modified form a couple of years ago (couldn't get the hang of the symbols) but I got the book on Kindle recently and am gradually working my way through it. Reading it from the originator rather than Pinterest where it's all amazing artwork has given me a new insight into how it its meant to work.

Hope you are feeling better today.

HairyHandofDartmoor

That podcast about minimalism sounds really interesting, but I wouldn't want to take it too far either.

I love the idea of you threatening your chickens with the casserole dish :rotfl:. I buy free range eggs and it's one of the few food items where I don't buy the cheapest, but I do wonder exactly how free the chickens really are, they're probaably cooped in up in some horrible crowded barn but at least I know they're not in cages. When/if we ever have a larger food budget I'd like to buy eggs from chickens that really are free to run around outside and indulge in normal chicken behaviour like scratching in the soil.