My journey to a debt free life

Onebrokelady

The cat might have pancreatitis or a tumour they can't tell so they are treating him for pancreatitis for two weeks and then doing repeat bloods to see if anything has improved. The only way they will know if it's a tumour or not is to open him up so I've given DD1 all the options and told her to decide what she would like to do. He is only eating small amounts but I bought some cat milk and he is drinking that. We will see in two weeks if there has been any change

In money news the poop has hit the fan this month because my wages just aren't enough to pay my bills and pay my DMP so I'm going to have to phone SC tomorrow and tell them I'm going to go self managed. I am then going to phone PRA and tell them I'm going self managed and will be paying them £40 a month for the foreseeable. I can't think of any other way round it. I haven't been put down to work any Sundays for the next four weeks but I do have both the May bank holidays to work so that will be slightly more but after that I just have one Saturday so my wages that month will be even lower than this month 😟

Cherryfudge

I hope the pancreatitis treatment is useful. Well done for finding something he will take.

That's really tough about the drop in wages. Will SC not rejig your repayments according to the minimum you get (without the higher paid days)? I know you've spoken of going self-managed a few times, though, so perhaps this is the right time.

Onebrokelady

Cherryfudge said:

I hope the pancreatitis treatment is useful. Well done for finding something he will take.

That's really tough about the drop in wages. Will SC not rejig your repayments according to the minimum you get (without the higher paid days)? I know you've spoken of going self-managed a few times, though, so perhaps this is the right time.

I couldn't get through to SC on the phone so I had another go online at doing my review and i managed to do it. I've altered my budget with the relevant increases and they have put my payment at £40 a month. I was unable to do this before because if it means you are going to take too long to pay the money back they ask you to phone and the online thing won't work. Today i could change it no problem but got a message to say that seeing as its going to take me until the end of time to pay my debts off they look to see if there are any other options and will email me within 5 days if they find anything.

Onebrokelady

Busy admin day here. As I said to Cherryfudge I couldn't get through to SC as they are understandably very busy at the moment. I managed to complete my review online and altered my budget accordingly which has given me a monthly payment of £40 which will start on the 1st of June. So Mays payment will still be £90 but I can absorb that this month by being very very frugal.
This will give me some breathing space until I can sort my pension out and pay off the small amount of mortgage I owe. I could then increase the payment back up again. Trying to speak to someone at work about retiring and returning is proving difficult because non of my managers appear to know what to do 🤷‍♀️ I am banging my head against a brick wall.

I also sent in my meter readings as I am trying to do them on the 27th of each month. This is an easy date to remember because it's payday so hopefully I won't forget.

I got the remainder of the bill from the vet so paid that and DD1 Transferred the money to my account so thats paid for now. We were worried the insurance wouldn't pay out but they did 🎉🎉 we will have to wait now to see if they need to do anymore for him. He is eating small amounts and is more vocal than he has been so a slight improvement.

I also went food shopping today. I didn't need too much because I went through the freezer and cupboards before I left so just had to buy things to make full meals with . Ive got Quorn chicken Curry, Macaroni cheese and Roast dinner. That's 12 meals I can make without having to go shopping again. I've also got one cottage pie left and I've bought a pizza and a garlic baguette for tomorrow night because DD is coming to stay after work. I had run out of tea bags so stocked up on them too lunch will be sandwiches and or a cuppa soup then I will just need to buy bread and milk. I will be buying baking potatoes too but they were tiny today so I left them behind on the shelf so two weeks main meals altogether. I will be buying some leeks and nuts as well to make Leek Croustade which is a favourite of mine so that will be another four meals for this month .

Pet food is costing an arm and a leg at the moment.I bought mixed corn for the 🐓online earlier as it's heavy and the same price that I pay in town I also added layers pellets to the basket but luckily I noticed they were £11.99 when I went to check out, they are £5.99 in Wilkos so I will have to buy some in town.

The cats are being a pain in the bum. Obviously one of them is ill so I'm cutting him some slack but the other one is being very fussy so I keep buying different foods for them to try but he just licks the gravy off . I bought one today though that is more like a pate so there isn't any gravy  or jelly and he did eat it. It's called Scrumbles and would normally cost too much but it was on offer. I'm also leaving out dried food which they both usually turn their noses up at but most of it was gone when I got up this morning. I don't pay for DD2s cat food normally but she forgot to order it so I had to buy some for him 🙄
Then there is the cat litter that is costing me a lot more than it used to. I bought 4 bags online but I can't remember how much they were now. I haven't opened them yet because I had an unopened bag to use up. I will be opening the first one tomorrow so I will mark it on the calendar to see how long they last 
B has gone off dried food so is having tinned but at nearly two tins a day that's costing me nearly £11 a week whereas it used to be that a month. 

I also did a couple of loads of washing and cleaned downstairs.

The weather here today has been awful. I've got wet taking B out and then got wet again when I went shopping even though I had an umbrella 🙄

Cherryfudge

It's sounding more positive with SC: if repayment isn't sustainable I wonder if they will look at it being written off? If that were the case it would make things easier for you, and after all, you must have paid lots of interest over the years.

Good news on the insurance, and good that the poorly cat is eating and a bit more lively.

I'm amazed at the difference in chicken feed prices. When I finally get chickens I hope I can find some feed at reasonable prices as I don't think our Wilkos sells it.

Just a thought with cost of living, but are you growing anything to eat in your garden? I always end up with a few sprouted potatoes planted in a corner somewhere and a feeling of satisfaction when I eat the produce. (Even I can't kill potatoes with neglect). I'm sure the chickens would contribute to the cost of organic fertiliser. When my parents gave up keeping chickens, I remember Dad commenting how good the area would be for vegetables after all that 'input'!

foxgloves

Totally agree about the insane petfood price rises, @Onebrokelady. We are really noticing it. The 40-pouch boxes we'd usually find on offer somewhere for £12 not all that long ago are now £16-75 even in the more bargain-end of shops, & we actually saw this brand on sale in an out of town pet store priced at £20-95 !! Needless to say that's where it stayed!
We no longer use cat litter as the cats go outside for their ablutions - a noticeable saving, as the price on that seemed to be up another 50p every week at one point. When we were still buying it, I tried eeking it out by not filling trays so generously, but you still need enough for it to fulfil its purpose.
F x

lillypoo

Just popped in to say that I'm loving your diary. I'm only just starting my "journey" out of debt but I've spent the last couple of evenings reading your diary and it's given me a bit of bravery.  I'm only on page 70 so I'm going to be catching up for a while but just wanted to say thank you x

milann

It sounds as if you’re doing great with the kitchen and garden organisation. 

I can’t get over the price of pet food. We keep contemplating getting a dog but I’m not sure with the cost of things. It’s the vet bills that put me off. 😳  Hope the tests at the vets turn out ok.
Its rubbish working with somebody who doesn’t pull their weight….I remember it well 😡

Onebrokelady

Cherryfudge said:

It's sounding more positive with SC: if repayment isn't sustainable I wonder if they will look at it being written off? If that were the case it would make things easier for you, and after all, you must have paid lots of interest over the years.

Good news on the insurance, and good that the poorly cat is eating and a bit more lively.

I'm amazed at the difference in chicken feed prices. When I finally get chickens I hope I can find some feed at reasonable prices as I don't think our Wilkos sells it.

Just a thought with cost of living, but are you growing anything to eat in your garden? I always end up with a few sprouted potatoes planted in a corner somewhere and a feeling of satisfaction when I eat the produce. (Even I can't kill potatoes with neglect). I'm sure the chickens would contribute to the cost of organic fertiliser. When my parents gave up keeping chickens, I remember Dad commenting how good the area would be for vegetables after all that 'input'!

It was certainly a relief to be able to sort it out online. I did get a message saying that they are looking at alternatives for me and will email within 5 days. I can try to get it written off but I'm not sure if the debt agency it's with now would do that. I suppose I can only ask. Someone said about it not being pursuable after 6 years but I'm not sure if thats right or how that would work. I was advised to wait until then and then ask to have it written off 🤷‍♀️

The cat is definitely better than he was last week 😊

Im not growing anything at the moment because at the moment I've still go the chicken on the garden and nothing would survive. I will when she is gone though and the ground will be lovely for growing on 😊 

Onebrokelady

foxgloves said:

Totally agree about the insane petfood price rises, @Onebrokelady. We are really noticing it. The 40-pouch boxes we'd usually find on offer somewhere for £12 not all that long ago are now £16-75 even in the more bargain-end of shops, & we actually saw this brand on sale in an out of town pet store priced at £20-95 !! Needless to say that's where it stayed!
We no longer use cat litter as the cats go outside for their ablutions - a noticeable saving, as the price on that seemed to be up another 50p every week at one point. When we were still buying it, I tried eeking it out by not filling trays so generously, but you still need enough for it to fulfil its purpose.
F x

🙀🙀wow that's a ridiculous price. My cats won't always go outside now they are elderly so I have to have two trays. I'm trying to get away with not overfilling the trays