Making a move towards a debt-free life -my diary

mummum2

Wow lady, you sound so upbeat and positive, love your diary thus far! looking forward to reading more. You certainly come across as a strong woman!

kimlisa66

Hey muuuum2

Aww bless you for saying so,;) that's made my day ! To be honest i'm just another casualty of my own excess, and struggling with everday strife that we all have. I have some good days and some bad days and day when I decided enough was enough and decided to fight the system!

I'll update my diary tonight when I have more time, the saga of the bathroom goes on and I've got to have a right old whinge about Abbey... in the process of claiming back credit card and bank charges, and what a !!!! they have made !! I see a compensation claim coming on ! :mad::mad::mad::mad:

Joking aside, I have learnt one thing, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and we can all learn from our experiences and pass on our knowledge to others. Im an advocate of collective wisdom.

So what brings you here then ? What's your story of the dreaded debt ?

Enjoy the sun :j

Kim x

kimlisa66

Having fallen off the debt free wagon for a few weeks, I thought it time I wrote another page just to remind myself that I am still heading in the right direction despite having to fork out a sum akin to the national debt of a small country to refit my bathroom recently !

The bathroom is almost complete but what a nightmare its been. Everything that could go wrong did including, pump on boiler broke, every bit of pipework in bathroom had to be rerouted to accomodate new suite. Shower wouldnt work as water pressure too low. Tank in the roof had to be raised but still didnt make a different. Had to buy a pump to go in the roof to make the shower work, that was another hundred quid I didnt intend on spending ! The we were without hot water all over the bank holiday when the valve went west, another 110 quid !

But....its looking lush now, just a door, flooring, finish painting and then I can start on the hallway....But not before my electrician comes back in to put a new mains board in.....He put some downlights in the ceiling but pointed out my existing electrics were practically lethal. This is a legacy from my ex who put all our money into cars and socialising but did b***er all to maintain the house.

I am now spending what few savings we had between us putting everything right, must to his major annoyance but tough luck !!

In between working and running the entertainment agency and project managing the bathroom, I did manage to claim some credit card charges back from Tesco. They had charged me £256 over the past 6 years, but offered £46 over the phone. Initially I accepted, then thought better of it, and wrote to them to say gimme a ton and I'll go away happy.

Abbey, the B***ds, :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: well they are getting the sharp end of my tongue. After writing to them to request a list of all my credit card charges they idiots sent me a statement of my son's , YES MY 20 YR OLD SON'S charges against his own personal bank account. We are not financially linked in anyway, apart from he lives here at weekends. I am livid that they should breach his privacy like this, moreso as he is a serving soldier and god knows where that info could have gone. I see a claim for some compensation on this one.

I have written to them, registered mine and my son's disgust and disbelief and have got the usual standard crap letter back.

Oh and still waiting for my apology and damages from HMRC for the shambolic way they handled my tax credits supposed 20k overpayment.

Watch this space for what happens next !! :rolleyes:

Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts

Kim :T

tigzem

Hi Kim,

Boomin heck!! You've been through it... and you're still positive. I can't believe the tax credits tried to claim that amount back from you, I can imagine your relief when they said you didn't have to.

Good luck...

ps - I live in Totton too....!

Sammy_Girl

Hi Kim,

I have just read your diary, and wow! You have gone through so much but you seem like such a strong and resilient person. I don't have any kiddies (yet!), so not too sure how the tax credits work, but it sounds like a nightmare. I can however symapthise about the bathroom! Sourced the cheapest price of the suite style we wanted but that's where the problems started!! No bath taps and mixer. In fact, no holes to put the bath taps in!! Obviously, didn't realise this at first with our haste to pull the old suite out. Complained but they said we had to complain in writing, but needed taps that day so ended up paying £200 for taps!! Fortunately we got back £100 for the missing taps so that's not too bad. On the plus side, tiling is nearly finshed. Bath is in, but shower isn't. Toilet is in but is still wobbly :rotfl: and the floor's half finished! Sorry for waffling but this bathroom has been nothing but a pain in the a**e!!!

Anyway, good luck with the diary and I look forward to reading more.

Sammy x

kimlisa66

HI Tigzem

Its been a journey, that's for sure....what part of Totton are you in ? I was over there this morning at Abbotswood School, my daughter goes to a singing school there on Saturdays.

The tax credit issue has been ongoing for 5 years, basically they overpaid us (when I was with OH) by about 10k, which was still their fault. Despite me telling them it was wrong they insisted it was right, so we spent it, well frittered it is a more apt description ! The other 10k didn;t get paid to me, and ive had to prove it. Its been hellish, completely freaked me out in November last year when they sent an enforcement notice. Basically they were trying to bully me into paying money back that I hadn't received. :mad::mad::mad:

Anyway, had a letter from them this morning, completely disregarding all the points ive asked them to explain as to why and how they made the error. I'm now complaining to the Ombudsman, and I have been invited to Westminster in June to lobby Parliament as my case seems to have caught the imagination of a lobbying group who want me to help them fight this awful scheme. :beer:

Have a lovely weekend whatever you are doing

Kim x

kimlisa66

Hi Sammygirl

So you are doing the dreaded bathroom too ? Its my idea of hell having done it now. I like you, tried to get the best deal and after realising my local dealers were ripping me off and anyone else stupid enough to buy from them, I just used the quote they gave me and sourced everything from a web based company called Online bathrooms. I knocked £1500 off the price I had been quoted and it was all delivered to my door.

I too found that the bath doesnt come with predrilled tap holes. Your installer has to do that!! How did you manage without water/toilet/bath/shower etc ? Mine has taken over 6 weeks, and in that time I went a week without a bath or shower, had to go next door to my neighbour or round my sisters. Luckily I do have a downstairs cloakroom but no other means for bathing. Kids were really fed up with it, especially my eldest who is a serving solider who only comes home at weekends. He said it was like going on excercise trying to get a bath in our house !

Are you pleased with the result ? I'm totally over the moon even if it has cost 2 months salary and then some, actually 3 and a half if I add it up, I just don't want to at the moment ! When I bought the suite and all the other items like taps, shower tray, fittings etc I did it on my credit card which I have now switched to Virgin's 13month interest free. I have the dosh sitting in a savings account so will just pay the minimum amount for 13 months, then a lump sum to pay it off.

Oh and im with you on the wobbly toilet, well not literally, but Online Bthrooms didn't send any fixings for the toilet seat, its a bit of a roller coaster ride when you sit on it lolol

Kim

tigzem

kimlisa66 wrote: »

HI Tigzem

Its been a journey, that's for sure....what part of Totton are you in ? I was over there this morning at Abbotswood School, my daughter goes to a singing school there on Saturdays.

The tax credit issue has been ongoing for 5 years, basically they overpaid us (when I was with OH) by about 10k, which was still their fault. Despite me telling them it was wrong they insisted it was right, so we spent it, well frittered it is a more apt description ! The other 10k didn;t get paid to me, and ive had to prove it. Its been hellish, completely freaked me out in November last year when they sent an enforcement notice. Basically they were trying to bully me into paying money back that I hadn't received. :mad::mad::mad:

Anyway, had a letter from them this morning, completely disregarding all the points ive asked them to explain as to why and how they made the error. I'm now complaining to the Ombudsman, and I have been invited to Westminster in June to lobby Parliament as my case seems to have caught the imagination of a lobbying group who want me to help them fight this awful scheme. :beer:

Have a lovely weekend whatever you are doing

Kim x

I panic over tax credits all the time, I'm worried I'll get overpaid and end up paying it back :mad: trouble is without them I couldn't work.

I live in Calmore, I know it has a bad name but I like it,my road is lovely and quiet.

My Dad lives very close to Abbotswood school. Small world eh?

We're having a BBQ tonight, just the 2 of us and not so sure about 2moro yet...you?

kimlisa66

Hiya Tigzem

I live in Bitterne Park, its nice here too but not without its usual problems with rowdy teenagers etc ! Home is what you make it, not the area you live in although somtimes I wish I could pick my house up and drop it somewhere rural !

BBQ sounds lovely, I'm off out to check out one of my bands tonight. I run a small but busy enterainment agency, (part of the reason my OH and I split up, he was jealous I was doing something for myself) and I have a tribute band out at one of the local clubs this side of town.

Its definitely got sunnier since this morning, so you should be OK for your BBQ. :beer: I love having sangria at BBQ's I usually make my own with red wine ,lemonade, and fruit, trouble is, I drink far too much of it and regret it the next day !

As with Tax Credits, well, all I can say is keep a close eye on all your paperwork, notify them of every change however small, record who you talk to on the phone, and generally keep on top of it. I think they are in better shape than they were 5 years ago which is when most of the problems started. I'm still battling them and I will be a thorn in their side until they compensate me for the distress they caused.:mad::mad:

Have a lovely tomorrow too. :T

Kim

tigzem

I know Btterne Park.....ish. A friend lives in Macnaugten Rd. We take the little ones to the park down the road with the swans. She's got a lovely terrace,it goes back miles.

Exciting re your agency, a friend of mine had one until recently, she used to go out to see the bands etc.

Which band is this one a tribute to? Sounds a good night out. My Mum often goes to the brook!