brand new wannabee looking for friendly help

tealady

Hi LMC. Glad to hear you sound much happier. Don't worry if the CAB have a long waiting list to see a debt advisor, just tackle priority debts 1st, send othere companies what you can afford and if they get stroppy contact any of the FREE debt advisors mentioned on this site.
You will get there but it has to be a joint effort.
Perhaps you could involve the children as well? Even the youngest can be taught that lights can be switched off as well as on!

bellsbells

This is great news - I am glad you are feeling more positive and have OH on side a bit more! Just a question - you say that OH is quite a saver - does that mean he has money squirrelled away somewhere? If the answer is yes you need to convince him to free some of that money up to deal with your debts. Have you played with the snowball calculator yet? It is found in the sticky at the top of the page and is a brilliant way of working out which debt to pay first to save you the most interest. ( I know for you at the moment sorting out the council tax is prioroty). If he hasn't got any money saved but he enjoys saving then he really is a prime candidate for MSE - he can find deals, shop around for the best options the works! With the two of you pulling together you will start to notice a real difference soon. Well done to you:T

kunekune

Is there any way you could persuade him to move away from the "housekeeping" model for finances and pool your resources, as you do seem to both want to work together? It would be so much easier to see what was going on if you had access to the big picture. OH might feel like he is in control with the current system, but of course he only ever sees a bit of it. What's the point of getting interest on savings and overpaying the mortgage when you are dealing with the bailiffs? I realise there might be a cultural thing here but he needs to understand that this is 2007, nearly 2008 and women do have the legal right to their own property, including their earnings.

fletch3163

Good Morning
Thought I'd pop by to see how things ae going. Your last two posts are a tonic, truly are! You sould a different person, well done!

littlemissclumsy

morning everyone!

slept well last night and am now settling down to make a few scary phone calls :eek: - starting with the bailiffs...

you are all right and i am proposing that we sort a budget out together and also pay some bills! because yes, he does have money squirreled away...not huge amounts but about 6K.

he loves saving money too so mse will be a revelation! he does work v hard long hours, but then so do i and for the first time this morning, he gave me his card and i took out £10. i would like this pocket money to last me all week :rolleyes: i do actually love being thrifty just not that good at it!

will use the snowball calculator too and get going with these debts...
will let you all know how the bailiffs call goes .......

beverleyhills

littlemissclumsy wrote: »

oh wow...................

oh and i hope nobody minds but i am going to carry on posting my 'new life diary'

sure there will be loads of ups and downs, but it helps so much to share them.

We all look forward to your 'updates'.

Please remember you are a partnership and share the 'ups and downs' with each other.

If you can clear these debts together asp, you will be able to save together for the long term.

littlemissclumsy

bit of an anti climax but both the Council Tax dept and the bailiffs are closed until 2nd of Jan (the bailiffs actually have fun and celebrate?!)

but i did speak to the bailiffs dealing with the parking ticket - unfortunately it is now tickets...i have had a few and it is so frustrating when i take my son down to london for hospital appointments and they still, despite the blue badge, slap a ticket on the screen:mad:

have had over 10 cancelled when iwrote and complained. but there are now 2 outstanding.

this one has had no action at all since May, yet i phoned in all honesty so sort it out. They said unless I pay in full on Jan24th (would not accept installments) the bailiff will be round and charge another £150, whether I a home or not!

So £238.16 owing to now (Meagher PLC) - has anyone dealt with this company before?

I said I can pay half on that date, but didnt want to promise something I couldnt commit to by offering full settlement. He said " oh well its the bailiffs then, adding another £150."

surely they would be better off accepting some money rather than that! As there has been no action since May, I feel I may have shot myself in the foot as I have reminded them!!

looking through the hoards of mail, and found a debt i had forgotten about (!). daughter had a contract phone in my name when she was 15 (stupid i know), she used it for 2 months, ran up over £300! Carphone Whs cant find any trace of it but it is clearly on my credit report (thanks for tips as found how to access this for free!)

Any suggestions.....?

Now doing some OS moneysaving baking in between the calls, and feeling pretty pleased (apart from the bailiff threat:eek: )

RoxieW

Hi hon - brilliant that you are feeling much more positive! As far as I can gather, the savings should just about cover the debts? If this is the case then hubby would be sensible to bite the bullet and use them for this purpose. Imagine the relive when they're all gone and you can start with a new slate. And your income is way over your outgoings so you can sort out a proper realistic savings plan.

I know that saving can be addictive and satisfying - but OH needs to realise that saving whilst getting into debt is totally pointless. As is making oyu ill with having to watch every penny. Having you struggle to feed a family of 8 on £65 per week with all that incoming is just silly and not healthy. You CAN afford a decent standard of living and save.
I use martins budget planner on this site - its a great tool. Work out a realistic amount for bill, food, etc and what is left over can be plunged into savings. We do this and have a couple of regular savers that take the money direct debit each month. At the minute we have an alliance and Leicester one which gives 12% interest.
love and luck

kazmeister

Hi LMC

Sounds like 2008 is going to hopefully be a bit of a fresh start for you and I am SO glad you managed to talk to OH about it. I know when I did this I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders and I also felt closer to him because I was no longer hiding anything!

If you can persuade him to use some of the savings to pay off the debts you will be laughing. You have a good income and are obviously used to managing on a small amount so saving in the future shoudlnt be a problem.

If you can get OH to look at this site why not do the full money makeover (I havent managed to get my OH to go that far yet) as there are huge savings to be made. We just changed our buildings and contents insurance over (he couldnt be bothered to look/change it) but I saved us nearly £600 over the course of the year reducing 2 policies at over £900 to 1 for just over £300.
If you can get him to do this it will make him feel really positive and hopefully improve his illness.

If you havent already seen it - I hope this link works but if not its one of the first items on the home page http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/protect/money-help

Well done and Good luck

littlemissclumsy

Hi Kazmeister,
putting few hours aside this evening to do the 'money makeover' and OH is going to help!
thanks so much for the tip and insurances - all makes a difference. well done to you!
Iam also using my 'spending diary' and it really does mean i think carefully about what i buy ... seeing something i dont need written down is quite sobering.
thanks again to everybody who cares enough to post on here. amazing