Keeping afloat till I can get round to the debts!

NeverendingDMP

So I'm still plodding. Not necessarily getting the debts down but working on the budget side of things instead. 

NeverendingDMP

So the debts are still going in the wrong direction but I have been focusing more on a realistic budget that I can actually maintain the house/bills with.
It's a bit complicated but some debts are in a dmp, others aren't, a couple are new-in both names. The original dmp was mainly me defaulting and dh cards still acquiring debts. Daft I know. I've asked for breathing space so we can assess the situation. I feel like I'm getting into debt to fill the gaps in the budget and bail dh out/cover cost of living etc. I seem to have moved money round a lot recently and the transfer costs are adding up. I think we have run before we can walk so to speak so we need to go back to square one and nail it once and for all. 
I've got about a fortnight to decide what to do as officially every thing is still up to date. I think my whoospsie at missing the payment on the card when I was at the hospital that day has brought things to a head. I'm not totally decided but I would imagine asking for breathing space gets a little marker written on somewhere.  House repairs, a puppy we couldn't afford and a few other things like gas and electricity havent helped either !!

There I've said it. Now to decide what to do

jwil

Good luck with whatever you decide.

NeverendingDMP

Thankyou. It's not looking promising on my finances if I'm honest.
We took a chance borrowing extra to replace the floor and do work last year after the leak. Had it not been for our usual living costs going up by about 2-250 a month we would have stayed fine and been making some good headway by now. But things have happened and it is what it is. We could muddle through and get no where or step back for a few weeks and reassess. Dh is going to start paying two of his own debts and is giving me 20 a week less towards the household fund per week as a result. He needs to take ownership of them though as they always end up back where they started. He is also paying an 800 vet bill that insurance refused to pay. Means my budget is ever tighter but at least I can see my debts will go down now. (With an initial bit of up I would imagine after the breathing space) 

The nhs unions are voting on the payrise and the vote is open till the 14th April. I'm affected by what they decide but was not in a union to be able to be part of what's gone on so far. If they say yes I stand to get a one off payment of around 800 and a payrise of 45 a month. If they say no I suppose that's void and I continue as I am. The 800 is partly earmarked btw as part of the kids bedroom plasterwork/wall came off. Much as it will be expensive to fix it's not ideal for the kids to have a hole in there wall/ceiling 🤣

NeverendingDMP

My emergency fund is still intact so that's a win!

jwil

Great news that the emergency fund is still intact.  None of us could have predicted the whole cost of living stuff, we can only make our decisions on the best available information.  Good that you've got time to think things through and make a plan.  Hope you get the payrise too!

NeverendingDMP

Weekly budget reset each Friday so here I go again. Petrol done, food about 40 remaining till next Friday. Food is still going up every time I blink but hey ho. It should slow down soon. Gas and electricity came in at 322 for march will I felt was a lot. So need to get that back on track. Was really cold a few days though.

NeverendingDMP

Will look at octopus crystal ball and set my target for April. March I actually spent what they predicted. Our electricity is higher than most and I've not found the obvious culprit so need to cut down a little on everything I think to see a difference 

jwil

Have a good weekend.  Hopefully lighter nights and (fingers crossed) warmer weather will help reduce the fuel use.

NeverendingDMP

Hope so. Although dh has insisted on having the fire on all night so doubt I will save anything now 
In more positive news I've cleared a DWP  debt so that's one of the list. It was due to an overpayment of tax credits when we used to claim. At least that can be forgotten about now. There's now 4 debts in my name and 4 plus the vets in dh name. DH has a payment plan with vets. Should be paid by the end of the year....