My journey to a debt free life

amber03

I don’t bother listening to the news or read the papers (online) anymore, I’ve told my DH if he wants to moan about what’s going on ( as he likes to give his opinion) he can ring and talk to my DS who’s just like his dad always on about things going on in the news. I can’t change any of it so I have decided to stay in my own little world. I don’t look to far ahead now and concentrate on the present. I love this board as we all seem to understand and support each other. Keep posting OBL, surely we are all due some good news soon.xx

milann

Work sounds stressful and physically demanding . Hats off to you for working all through the pandemic with poorly children and stressed parents 👍 

I hope the meeting at work goes well. You shouldn’t feel guilty for being unfit for work. It is awful….that were made to feel that way. I got myself so worked up before every meeting I had, so you have my sympathies.

Onebrokelady

enthusiasticsaver said:

I think you have to prioritise your health and essential bills over repaying debt and if it never gets paid off it is not the end of the world.  Remember the problems we have now with unaffordable bills for essential services like energy and high food and travel costs are not your fault.  You will not be the only one in this position which doesn't help I know but eventually I surely hope something will be done as we are going to be in crisis this winter with many families struggling to pay just for essentials.  

We are going to have an interesting winter that's for sure 😳

Onebrokelady

milann said:

Work sounds stressful and physically demanding . Hats off to you for working all through the pandemic with poorly children and stressed parents 👍 

I hope the meeting at work goes well. You shouldn’t feel guilty for being unfit for work. It is awful….that were made to feel that way. I got myself so worked up before every meeting I had, so you have my sympathies.

I'm worried they will have grounds to let me go if they can prove I'm unfit of my job 😟

Onebrokelady

Thank you  for your kind comments everyone.

 I have declared war on my energy company this week as I have had enough ,they told me I need to increase my direct debit to £187 a month which is an increase of £77. I don't agree with this so to stop them raiding my account I have cancelled my direct debit and will now pay them via my account on the app. I'm sending them a meter reading every week so I know how much I have used and as soon as I get the right amount I will pay it. I'm also going to put some away in one of my empty savings accounts to take into account the extra for winter, they will get what I think is a fair price and if they want to take me to court they can 😡

I have had lots of emails since I decided to do this and I have explained that I tried to talk to someone via the chat option but they couldn't help me ,they have explained/ threatened that I will pay more for my energy by doing this but the increase is worth it, they are no longer holding my money in their accounts accruing interest when I could be doing the same. I have been given two bills since I did this so they appear to be billing me very 18 days for some reason 🤷‍♀️ The latest bill says I owe them £7.99 and it's due on the 1st of September, I sent them today's meter reading I now owe them £3.79 because I had credit 
I am going to send a reading every Saturday and I'm recording what it is on my calendar 

In the meantime I have been being careful with my energy use ,so everything that can be is turned off at the plug when not in use. Thick jumpers and socks are going to be brought to the front of wardrobe/ drawers and blankies are at the ready. I need to stock up on matches ,  candles and batteries for power cuts though so that will be done next week. I have a very good camping lantern that will come in handy and a good torch,I'm going to buy a second torch though just in case. I also have a camping kettle so can use that on my gas hob if the electric is off, we do cook a lot of our meals on the gas hob so if we lose the electric oven it won't be too bad. I have a battery operated lighter to light the gas with so don't need the ignition switch to work the hob 

I will be phoning Stepchange next week to tell them I can't afford my current payments so they will need to be altered. I might consider going self managed at some point but I do like the stress free way that my DMP is done and I don't have to think about it. I'm going to be busy playing games with my energy company so will leave  SC to sort out the debt.

We were told we would be getting out payrise in our August pay and it's backdated to April so the paltry amount I will receive will be going into my energy savings account. 

Christmas is not going to happen like it normally does so I'm going speak to both DDs ASAP and I think I might suggest we all save our money on presents but find something to do together for a day out or something. I might do a minimum present amount like £10 each so we can at least buy each other a book or something . I'm not wasting my hard earned cash on things non of us need and I don't think they will want to either. I'm sick of paying over the odds for things so I'm simply not going to buy it unless it's essential

Onebrokelady

Hang on I haven't finished 
I'm also going to cancel my tv license as apart from last week when I stupidly checked the news ( won't be doing that again ) I haven't actually turned my tv on since the 1st of July ,I only watch Netflix and DD pays for amazon Prime so sometimes watches that. That £13.37 will be going into the energy fund instead, I will inform them that I need to prioritise  and a tv license is not an essential bill if I'm not actually using my TV 

Parkyp

I’ve heard a lot of talk of people cancelling their direct debit and only paying what they’ve used. I am currently in credit of £995 (£150 of that was the rebate we got in April I should have kept it in my bank account) but I have not received a bill since February even although I send meter reads last day of month without fail. They apparently only bill twice a year so I have no idea how much of the credit balance will be used up when I get my next bill which I hope will be this month. 

I think a £10 spend is a good idea.
Last year one of my colleagues decided to stop Christmas presents and at the start of spring when the weather was nice they arranged a family picnic were everyone brought different food/drinks and the children said it was the best day ever. 

Memories are often more important. 

Onebrokelady

Parkyp said:

I’ve heard a lot of talk of people cancelling their direct debit and only paying what they’ve used. I am currently in credit of £995 (£150 of that was the rebate we got in April I should have kept it in my bank account) but I have not received a bill since February even although I send meter reads last day of month without fail. They apparently only bill twice a year so I have no idea how much of the credit balance will be used up when I get my next bill which I hope will be this month. 

I think a £10 spend is a good idea.
Last year one of my colleagues decided to stop Christmas presents and at the start of spring when the weather was nice they arranged a family picnic were everyone brought different food/drinks and the children said it was the best day ever. 

Memories are often more important. 

Check out the Don't Pay Uk movement as that's what made me do it.i would have like to wait until October the 1st to join in with the mass cancellation but my energy company were increasing my payment on September the 1st and 
I refuse to be robbed anymore. I read comments from lots of people who have a couple of thousand pounds credit and they are finding it next to impossible to get it back 😡

I like the sound of the picnic idea, this is exactly what I was thinking of 😊

Sun_Addict

Well done 👏 I was offered the option to pay my bill monthly and I was tempted. My direct debit went up from £118 a month to £228, although the lower amount was a fixed deal that ended so I always knew it was going to go up.  I’m £306 in credit at the moment. 

The Christmas £10 present cap is a brilliant idea. It’s surprising what nice gifts you can pick up for very little. One of the nicest presents I had was a little gift bag with a mini bottle of wine and a bottle of bubble bath, I loved it. 

foxgloves

That's proper fighting talk, OBL, & I'm with you on the planning. I've been sitting in the garden with my notebook doing exactly the same thing this afternoon. 
The cap on gifts is a good idea, & if you decide on books & time it right, WHS & W*terstones often have 'Buy one, get one half price'-type offers on new paperbacks. Do you have an Oxfam Bookshop near you? The one in our town has fantastic stock & I've bought many pbks for £1.99 each which honestly can only have been read once & then donated, as have been in excellent condition. I've a particular pbk.novel in mind for my best friend & am checking their stock regularly to see if it turns up.
At least with a firm plan, you will know you've done everything you can. I understand your anxiety about work. I missed a lot of time years ago, when I had a couple of years of anxiety disorder which was difficult to shake....I honestly thought I'd just suddenly feel better! I do remember the worry about whether procedures would be implemented. All you can do is plan for the worst while hoping for the best.
F x