Diary of a 30-something idiot

Saverladytobe

Just on the authority - in the agreement definitions they may have amended the name of your department to "Authority" so it might not mean Authority in the literal sense but this is worth checking in the definitions section of the agreement (just as a point if you are signing any agreement, contract etc anything that has a capital letter will be a defined term in the definitions section of whatever you are signing). 

Kim_13

£5 per month seems a lot for basic calls and texts and no internet, unless she does contact her friends from it a lot. I’d consider a SIM that charges by the call/text once you know how much she uses. RWG Mobile are 5p per minute and 5p per text and have occasional double top up offers, while I’ve heard that O2 Classic sims are still available on eBay etc and charge 2p a text and 3p a minute. As long as she’s making a call semi-regularly, it just keeps going (unlike the likes of 1p mobile that deduct credit if you don’t use enough.) You could port the number with a PAC once you know what the best deal is or get a new number if her dad starts causing a problem while being able to contact her directly.

stymied

Wow, that’s almost 100% interest! I guess they’d really rather you didn’t retrieve the items at all so they can sell them 😟

Where did you find £60 for the phone - I thought you were struggling just for food this month.

Fingers crossed you can delay the course long enough to avoid it altogether!

foxandflowers

Oh god I don't even want to come on and admit what I've done because I am so scared about what is going to be said...

I went nuclear. I sold my house. I've bought another one. It is smaller (terraced instead), but the monthly running costs are halved, so I can really focus on building an emergency fund. And there is enough difference in price that I can start offering full & finals on everything.  

It has a new bathroom, new kitchen, new windows & doors, new rendering outside, the roof has been refreshed, the energy rating is really good and a new boiler. The relief I feel is actually sickening.

And I know I've already moved before, and it didn't really fix anything, but I think that might be because I moved to somewhere that is impossible to run off one wage. I'm just so tired of things being tight, and I'm excited for a new chapter.

*runs away and hides*

Bluegreen143

It’s your life F&F, don’t be scared to post on your own diary! 

I advised against it but if it’s done it’s done. I think what’s really important is that once you’ve offered fulls and finals and gotten debt free, you never get into debt again. No credit cards, no loans, no overdrafts, no borrowing from friends, no pawnbrokers. If you live within your means going forward I think you’ll now be in a great position to reduce the stress you’ve had. 

Saverladytobe

I've been keeping up with your diary and congrats on the new house - and if you want my advice (feel free to ignore you get A LOT of comments) separate out the money to pay back your debts and do that first! Don't say "Oh i'll get to it but I want to go on holiday first and do X Y Z" literally the second the money hits your account pay EVERYTHING off. And then look at what you have left and use that for various things you want to do. You defo deserve some good things but you don't deserve them if you don't use this money to pay off the debts (sorry if that's harsh because I know how hard you work and you defo do deserve a break). 

birdsfoottrefoil

It’s your diary fox! Is it sold sold or still in the process of selling? Echo what’s said above about doing the full and finals before anything else 

foxandflowers

@Bluegreen143 Thank you. I absolutely 100% agree. As Caleb Hammer says, I am not a credit card person. So there's no reason to get into debt ever again, as this has been the most horrific, stressful decade of my life. I just want a clean slate, I want to get paid and not have to pay 50% out in running costs, I want to be able to save up for things I want, and I to feel secure in knowing my house has had the work done so that I don't need to worry about getting through winter without the roof leaking, or the conservatory shearing off the side of the house. 

@Saverladytobe Thank you for your comments. The solicitors have estimated £1850 for both sale/onward purchase. Between that, and estate agent fees/moving costs, plus purchase price of the onwards property, I expect to have about 40k left, although we may hire our own moving van which would make it cheaper. 9k to paying back friends loans, and then aggressive F&F offers. If I settled all of the Stepchange debt at 70% that would be approx 23k ((ideally I will get it for less, but worst case scenario)). So then I'd have 8k left and then, 3k of which will immediately be going to HYSA as an Emergency Fund and only once everything is PAID, will I look at purchasing second hand furniture and maybe a holiday. We don't currently own a dining table, and we could do with a bigger sofa, but I will be selling most of our furniture between now and moving day, so I'm hoping it won't cost much at all to furnish everything. I do however need to purchase a fridge/freezer and a washer dryer as a matter of urgency.

@birdsfoottrefoil not sold sold yet, but in process. Just got to keep everything crossed it goes smoothly now and not get carried away. 

dawnybabes

When you’ve moved and you’re free of all the debt please consider some counselling for yourself to stop this happening again

foxandflowers

@dawnybabes I am actually considering that separately to everything else, and have asked my GP for a referral. I have a big habit of a) being a pushover and b) self sabotage. There are lots of things that have been boxed up but not dealt with, and I'm hoping to move into next year creating only healthy habits for myself and my family.