how to beat the creditors,my method, thinking outside the box

stu12345_2

myself and wife got into financial difficulties over the last 10 years, bought newish cars on credit, then only paid min on credit cards, then dipped into them.
debts were £53,000 including cars.

so in Dec 2021, we read about stepchange, we got a dmp immediately, we sold our cars and got some car equity and got one old banger. on ebay, so  the dmp started at £34,000.

creditors defaulted within 2 to 9 months, but we had no emergency fund, we struggled, life was deadly dull in a dmp.

we had to cancel payments a few times, cos we were still struggling.

we stopped the dmp last year, in October, wrote CCA , consumer credit agreement letters and awaited replies, creditors put accounts on hold.

they all came back showing we legally owed them so next step was offer them small amounts via standing orders, set up by us ,we got their account and sort code info from their websites, we refused to fill in their income or expenditure sheets.

they took our low payments, about 40% of what what we paid in the step change dmp
no questions asked,  they took our money monthly, then I read more about full and final settlements. I knew I wasn't due any inheritance or such, and was determined not to pay back every penny to them.( such as the standard step change method, where you pay back it all)

balance is about £20000 , now, between us.

so now , this month, we have  stopped  all payments, and living very frugally.
this is where our plan kicks in.

trying to ride it out for as long as we can now, till we raise around £6000. to £8000., around 7 to 9 months imo.

we know we had offers last year to settle at 50 to 80% , but we never had the cash to do it, the dmp, stopped that happening.

we now aiming for f and f offers at 30%, our target price.

once we get around £6000 saved up, we will write saying we have the opportunity to offer them a f and f settlement and start haggling.( saying a relative is gifting it, )( but it's really our savings, via the months of not paying the creditors)

if they respond earlier with letters before action, we will offer at that point, what we have saved , and if rejected, or we haven't saved enough, we will pay them via a regular payment arrangement.( a fair amount, but not the full amount, we will adjust things in our expenses to suit our plan)

but at same time , keep saving , then hit them again with more f and f settlement offers.

the whole idea is never to pay back every penny, but use f and f offers, via clever saving, without them knowing.

as I won't receive a windfall via inheritance,lotto win or whatever, I'm doing this outside the box thinking,to our full advantage.

after all they took £thousands from us in interest over the years, now it's payback time. my method.

we aren't rich,our jobs are just above min wage, so this is why we need to think outside the box to make massive savings in the debt total payback amount.

stu12345_2

estimate to have being able to put  another £900 away this month, the creditors can whistle for it  imo.

they will only get paid when I haggle a reduced full and final settlement offer.

it's easy to save on fuel and food bills, but entertainment was always our downfall, we both work hard in physical jobs, so we don't want the go for walks at weekend entertainment.
 looking for ideas, since it's getting warmer now. but still rainy at times.

we love visiting towns, at weekends,not really any special historic ones, anywhere away from our own town,see it everyday lol.

and that's where we get stuck, how to be entertained all day, especially when it rains, in an average town we go to