My DMP diary - 2026 (year 1)

ArtyJ931

Week 21 check in

Debt things:

• Another one of my affordability complaints was not upheld by the investigator this week so I prepared a response and rejected the finding, requesting that it go to the ombudsman. That is 2/4 of my complaints at this stage. My other 2 complaints include the biggie, and that is still being investigated.
• I have had another default notice served under section xyz by post this week so need to look at those letters properly to figure out if they are actually defaulted, and which debts are so I can note down on my spreadsheet. I checked on my credit report but nothing showing as defaulted yet so I'll hold fire.
• I have 2 debts out of all of them that are under 1000.00 each and I'm wondering whether to use the emergency fund/ FnF fund to pay them off to reduce the number of debt companies that I'm dealing with and so they are gone. I have pots built up for other expenses so it's just figuring out if I would have enough if anything I've not thought of happens.

Other money things

• New glasses week - paid extra for 'super scratch resistant' covering as I can not take care of glasses for love nor money. - I am sceptical and remain to be convinced. Didn't have enough in my healthcare/glasses pot to cover this expense so had to move around pots which felt annoying although it's all money I have saved and not credit, I still felt like I was robbing other pots.
• I have overspent in other areas this week. I've taken the overspend out of next week's money but history tells me this is doomed to failure. We shall see.

Thassit for week 21!

Edit: thinking about it my budget failure this week was due to general failure of executive function. Buying food out, drinks out etc because I wasn't physically at home and hadn't managed to prepare myself by taking stuff with me. Sometimes this was because I hadn't realised - e.g. I went to the cinema at 4pm the other day which meant I finished late and had nothing prepared for dinner for example. I'm normally quite good at organising for this sort of thing and thinking about timings of things, but not this week. Anyway, onwards and upwards. A new week and a fresh start to try again.

InDebtEnby

I really struggled with a weekly budget because my weeks vary, so if I was buying a lot of food staples, then the budget was shot and I was starting low the week after. A monthly budget is much better and I can stick to it without moving money around all the time.

Catscoffeecake

I too find monthly budgeting easier. I find with my spending money at beginning of month I look at what have planned already for that month and estimate how much I will need. Then it tells me roughly whats left for rest of month for unexpected or unplanned activities

ArtyJ931

I just can’t do monthly. I would end up with nothing left for at least 2 weeks! I may adjust somehow but monthly budget is def not the answer for me

Rhyddid2026

I do fortnightly, it's enough for two food deliveries a month. I tend to do a slightly bigger food shop at the start of the month (often includes cleaning products etc) and then a slightly smaller one mid month. It also means I can take advantage of buying larger pieces of meat or multipack deals and halving/freezing them which I couldn't do if I had a weekly budget.

When I lived in NZ I was paid fortnightly and it proved to be just right for me.

ArtyJ931

Week 22 check in

Debt things:

• I rejected another affordability claim investigator view this week and it has been escalated to the ombudsman.
• The first affordability complaint that I rejected has mysteriously been closed with no further response so I have contacted the investigator to find out what is happening.
• So out of 4 affordability complaint cases (1 includes x4 loans with one provider) 2 are still being investigated, 1 has been escalated to the ombudsman and 1 is closed inexplicably. Hoping for good news at some point.
• Had a few letters and randomly a few phone calls too this week (unknown and silenced). First phone calls I've had in a while.
• Another default notice in the post.

Other money things:

• The budgeting/ pots challenge continues unabated. Ran out of money 3 days before the end of the week due to an unplanned but necessary long car journey needing twenty pounds worth of fuel. Considering the fortnightly idea to see if that would improve things…
• Have rejigged my budget and pots. Now have a white goods pot and have a 'new car' pot as my car is nearly 17 years old and on 120k miles so I've estimated will need changing in 4-5 years. At today's prices I'll need 5-6K to get a 10yo car at that point. So I'm starting to save now - this money came out of my 'emergency fund/ full and final fund' payments so they will be lower.
• I have a pay rise coming next month which excitingly works out at 165.00 gross per month but after pension, tax, NI and student loans I'll be far less excitingly only 42.00 better off. Better than a kick in the face but not much.
• I have been trying to transfer a load of AVIOS to nectar so I can get a freebie shop but it's not playing ball and BA have finally responded to my customer service query to say that there is a hold on my account while 'security checks' are carried out that they can't override and don't know when they'll be carried out. So tough luck but keep trying. Le sigh.

blue2mills

Can you advise please on the best way to stop people contacting/chasing via text or email? For example: I am trying to stop Lloyds Bank from chasing me via Text and email, but I am unable to remove these options in the app for the card itself?

ArtyJ931

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82116816#Comment_82116816

I changed my contact details to a new email address I use just for the DMP and read weekly. Prevents that sense of urgency.

I have set up my phone so that all unknown calls are silenced and I don’t get notified.

Those steps have helped me not feel harrassed. Also knowing it’s all computer automated and there is nobody there deciding to call or email you helps too!

blue2mills

Thank you so much for your advice :-)

ArtyJ931

Week 23 check in

Debt things

• The mysteriously closed affordability complaint has been reopened and escalated to the ombudsman so that's good. Nothing has happened this week with the other complaints.
• Checked my credit report today and nothing has defaulted yet. I will check before next week as they might report at the end of the month.
• A couple of letters this week - one is from a CC reducing my credit limit to what I owe.
• One phone call - silenced and not notified (just checked)
• 3 emails - 2 statements and 1 'you're nearing the end of your limit' as they continue to add interest and charges (I guess. I'm not looking at the accounts right now).

Money things

• Payday today - funds allocated to all pots and a couple of pots amended/ one deleted. Balances in all pots are now looking healthy and I'm getting to the point where pots will soon have enough for what they are there to cover, which feels nice.
• I have put goals on some of the pots so they don't build up too much. E.g. clothing max 100.00 because even if I need a new pair of trainers it won't cost more than that so I'll stop adding to the pot when it reaches the goal and shift that money onto a different pot.
• Money sent to EF/FnF which is also looking quite healthy.
• Have managed to sell 83.00 worth of stuff on vinted this week which unheard of in the history of me being on vinted. Very pleased with that and it's spurred me on to doing a bit more decluttering and trying to list 1-2 things a day.

Life looks so different just over 5 months on. The constant stress is just not there. Yes, I may be paying this off for a long time but in the mean time I can afford to live, fix my car, get new glasses, etc etc etc and save. I couldn't be happier about the choice I made 23 weeks ago. And thanks to MSE for being there when I started googling what the hell to do, in a state of panic.