Let's face the music and dance...

Starbrite

Arrived home to two letters today,

First one the Water company, sending me a 6 monthly water bill. I owe £79.92, however their maths is wrong as bill is dated 16 December and Friday 13th Dec payment of £25.00 was not taken into consideration!

So I owe them £54.92. Not so bad! am on a water meter so no way of lower this bill anymore. Love to know how I use 170L a day! One person is meant to use 120L a day.... I have a A+++ washing machine and I use the eco wash on that, then have one shower a day, wash up, cook and make drinks... maybe I should drink more wine.

Next letter from the landlord (Housing Association)

I am £1,398.37 in arrears, apparently my previous Notice of Seeking Possession has expired! so "As long as your payment plan of £110 per week is kept my HA will not take any further action" - How kind of them

I am actually £926.37 in arrears as Novembers payment from Universal Credit is still to be added to my account, it consists of £440.22 the monthly rent amount and £31.78 towards arrears.

After Christmas I will tackle this bill by paying more than the £110.00 a week and throwing everything and anything at it. £926 will be cleared in no time

Only thing I can say is as !!!!!! as it is getting these letters, I've not had a melt down, just thought, yes I can do this and get back to zero again

Starbrite

It's official I am 926.37 in rent arrears whoop whoop it is under the 1,000 mark



Also I read my tenancy today (for something else) and it states that if I am 8 weeks or more in rent arrears seeking possession will be action-ed, 8 weeks rent is £812.72, I am £113.65 over that 'magic number' and yes I will be in arrears but it will not be as serious as it is now will go down to amber alert.



Feeling positive small things and all that. will update my bills paying in a bit.

Starbrite

Pay day

Paid £123.18 rent, arrears £870.00
Council tax £25.00
Water £25.00 arrears £29.92
Gas £47.42 arrears £100.00
Elec £10.00 credit £18.00

Starbrite

Quick assessment of where I am at, as of 2nd Jan 2020:

Rent arrears - £870.00
Council Tax - £70.42 remaining for this year
Water arrears - £29.92
Gas arrears - £100.00
Extended warranty for car - £200.00

Credit Cards
Halifax - £1,550.00
MBNA - £2,946.59
Virgin - £3,040.00

£8,806.93
or
£8,736.51 without the Council tax!

Starbrite

First pay day of 2020

I had to get some new jeans this week, my beloved Levis I got in Prague back in 2017 grew a hole in the knee, alas I cannot wear them to work anymore and was therefore down to one pair. Went to Hollister on the recommendation of a male friend, wow they are so helpful in there, I hate jeans shopping at the best of times. Managed to get a pair for £19.50 in the sale, and got a jumper too for £19.00. Feeling pleased with my bargains.

Brought a Budget planner book from Wilkos too, so hoping that will help keep me on track too.

Today I have paid:

Rent £151.59 - arrears £820.00
Council tax £25.42 - £45.00 left this year
Water £30.00 - paid the arrears off! need to pay £25.00 next week for this months water
Elec £10.00 - topped up now have £32.72 on there,
Gas £25.00 - £75.00 arrears
Halifax CC - £10.00 arrears £1,5540.00 before Jan interest

Feeling happy I have paid my water arrears of, and all the other numbers are heading south too

Starbrite

Had a really good day today, work went quickly, still enjoying the temp job, feeling good. Then I gets home to two letters!

First one council tax... I owe £214.00 and 'have to have' this paid by 1st Feb, got to love their demands!

I am yet to figure out how they got to this figure, not even sure if Friday 3rd Jan payment has been included. Time will tell

2nd letter from Westcott Debt collectors, wow they are pushy and annoying. This is for the MBNA credit card, balance of £2,946.59

Told her i am paying my rent arrears £820.00 and Halifax Credit card (which is still active) first them once they are paid I will look at there account. She then started asking me how I pay for this and that I was like sorry why are you asking all this... she said oh you don't have to if you don't want to.

I then asked how I get them to stop calling/sending letters as it is stressing me out. She said we can put the account on hold until 8th Feb and for me to call back or I can set up a token payment amount, I asked if they will accept £5.00 a month. I then got asked how I will afford that get the money... I told her I'd go sleep with someone or stop eating! I was getting annoyed by this point... :rotfl:

So long story short, I've set up £5.00 a month towards the MBNA debt, least I have a payment plan into place and it will chip away at the total.

Now I am in an unhappy mood and wish I could win £8,000 somehow!

Tomorrow is a whole new day...

Starbrite

Just paid some money to Westcot, as had a few pennies left over from last Fridays pay and wanted to set up the account, so it easier to ping money over.



Starting balance £2,946.59

Balance now £2,940.00



No idea if to call the debit MBNA or Westcot, I set the account up on my internet banking as Westcot W*ankers I know I am mature :eek:

Starbrite

This week is a going to be tighter than usual with money, got paid £100 less than normal due to having not enough holiday day to cover the few days off I had and the bank holidays. Ah well

Have only paid the basic bills rent £121.59, council tax £25.00 I put £2.05 towards the credit card which rounded my bank balance down to a round number.

I've finally found a Pilates class, have been advised to attend Pilates for my Whiplash by a orthopedic surgeon, due to this I had a good look in my wardrobe before realisng I have nothing suitable to wear, so got a t shirt and some yoga pants from TK Maxx

Rent arrears is down to £800.00

Next week will be a more productive week money wise x

Starbrite

Got home to a letter from Intrum, the debt collectors for the Virgin Credit Card, letter is mentioning County Court proceedings :eek:

Gave them a call, after explaining my plan of paying my rent arrears then focusing on their debt which is not as important as my rent arrears and going round in circles, I have sent up a payment plan of £1.00 a month! will take years to clear the £3,040.00... 253.33 years!

They really are not the nicest of people to talk to, cannot wait for this nightmare all to be over. I would not mind if I spent the money living it up, but when I relied on the credit cards to meet the shortfall each month for a year and a bit, all because I could not get a job it is really frustrating. Life is so cruel at times.

Hopefully I can clear my debts sooner rather than later


Feeling down

Starbrite

Just started to make a snowballing payment spreadsheet in excel, got to week 5 my rent arrears was at £300.00 and excel decided to crash!

Felt all motivated and willing to look at the figures.... Shame the reality is it takes longer for the numbers to reduce.

Now awaiting excel to reopen, I need a new computer or have this one serviced... :cool:


Might do it the old fashioned way, pen and pencil.... excel really doesn't want to open!