Earthmother's New 'Doing It Properly This Time' Diary

earthmother

Well, the letters have gone out to the creditors, and after well over a year of being stubborn and struggling to snowball, we're DIY DMP-ing.

Unfortunately, none of this is new to me or hubby - we went through this about 8 years ago, only clearing it all down 4 years ago when we made some profit on a house sale. We let our resolves slip, took out credit again, and now that the recent price hikes on everything have swallowed up our buffer budgets (and then some), we're up the proverbial creek.


So - this time we're doing it properly - not taking the easy way out (no option - no house to sell this time) and clearing our debts down through sheer hard work and determination.


Overall debt right now is £14,016.70, spread over 11 creditors, and our current DFD, excluding any more cost of living increases, is December 2012.

There is a further £2000 (approx) that we've borrowed from our three boys savings accounts over the last year - that will get paid back with interest, hopefully sooner rather than later.


I'll post a current SOA in a few minutes, along with the link to my old diary if anyone's [strike]feeling nosey[/strike] is interested

earthmother

Old Diary - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=278945&highlight=earthmother%27s+diary

earthmother

Incomings pcm
Housing Benefit £475.15
Incapacity benefit £658.02
DLA (Higher Rate Care) £290.33
Carers Allowance £219.05
Child Tax credit £566.02
Child Benefit £190.23
Other Benefits - no direct cash payment
D L A (Higher Rate Mobility) - direct to Motability for car
Council Tax Benefit - credited direct to Council Tax bill

Total Income £2,398.80

Outgoings pcm
Rent £625.00
Council tax (after CTB, paid over 12 months) £14.00
Gas & Electric (inc arrears) £164.00
Water £25.88

Contents Insurance £14.63
Life Insurance £10.04
Breakdown policies and misc insurances £16.77

Phone & Internet Package, inc geographic calls £30.00
PAYG Mobile Top-Ups (2 phones) £5.00
Sky TV £19.00
TV Licence £10.83

Petrol £151.67
Car maintenance £5.00
Towards Next Motability Vehicle Changeover £13.89

Food & Groceries £346.67
Toiletries £40.00
Nappies etc £62.29
Over-the-counter/non-prescription medicines etc £30.00

Gardeners £62.00
Hairdressers (for 3) £12.33
Children's Leisure etc £22.50
Spending Money x 3 £19.50

Stamps, stationery, school equipment and misc. £10.00
Christmas, Birthdays & Special Occassions £30.00

General Clothing (inc generic school uniform) £97.27
Footwear £81.25
School uniform (from school) £1.97
Optical expenses (for 2) £11.04

Total Expenditure £1,932.53

Balance Available To Creditors £466.27



I know there are figures up there that many will say are higher than average - there are valid reasons and I'm happy to answer any queries, or take suggestions on how they might realistically be reduced.

lilian1977

Hi! Just wanted to say good luck with it.

The only thing I can see straight away is the gardeners bill - is that something you could do yourself? A "fun" task for your boys perhaps?!

earthmother

Thanks Lilian

We do what we can in the garden, but unfortunately there is a lot of it, heavily and maturely planted (three apple trees, several 6-foot-plus shrubs and trees etc), and the landlord wants it keeping that way - I just don't have the time or ability to do it all, hubby is disabled so can't, although he'd love to, and so the gardeners are a fact of life.

I have recently found out about a grant that I may be entitled to as a full time carer to help towards labour costs for things like this, so hopefully that'll help - it's only small, but should pay for a couple of months work at least - just waiting on Social Services to get the form out to me.


The apple trees do go towards helping the shopping bill - they're lovely cookers - although last year I only got a couple of pies off of them, the year before (before they were pruned) I got half a freezer full of prepared fruit (not counting the many bags family took away with them, and the bags of windfall that went to a local horse), so I'm hoping for a good year again going by the amount of blossom there has been this year.

lilian1977

Ahh I see. Well good luck with the grant, that all sounds hopeful. And I'm insanely jealous of your garden! x

earthmother

Well, it's over a week since the letters went out and we've heard back from two of the creditors.

Barclays were fine and have accepted our offer with no queries - was expecting them to be one of the hardest from past (non-debt-related)dealings with them.

Aqua rang querying why they didn't receive the whole payment this month, and as a result have just spent half an hour on the phone whilst I dictate the whole SOA and pro-ratas to them. Apparently there is one heck of a backlog on the postal side of that department (that's the credit crunch for you) and so it's quicker to do it by phone rather than wait for the paperwork to filter through. They'll send a letter out confirming everything, so it's not guaranteed they're accepting, but they have at least stopped the interest from now.

Not heard from the others though - hopefully will soon - they've all had this month's payment anyway, so at least there's proof we mean business.

earthmother

Three weeks on, and those that have replied have been ok about it on the whole - pleasantly surprised really.

Still to hear back from Capital One (x2), Simply Be, Littlewoods and Kays.

Anyone any ideas or experiences with any of them? Is this sort of wait normal? And how are they to deal with?

splishsplash

earthmother wrote:

General Clothing (inc generic school uniform) £97.27
Footwear £81.25

Just checking - figures for shoes and clothes seem awfully high... is your shoe bill for the year really £975, and do you spend £1167.24 each year on clothes?

earthmother

Hi splishsplash, and thanks for your reply. Unfortunately the answer is yes, those figures are right, and pared down at that.

Husband and two eldest children require special footwear due to medical issues - husband also happens to wear a 15/16. I budget for £70 twice a year for him, sometimes we're lucky and he only needs one pair, other years he needs three, depending on how they wear. They also normally end up costing more than that. The boys boots are generally £50-60 a pair - eldest currently grows about 2 half sizes a year, but has to have two pairs of boots each time, along with trainers for PE, wellies (only Crocs fit :eek: ), and football boots. Middle son is on about 3 half sizes a year (and slowing, thankfully). From September when he starts school, he also will need the two pairs a time, plus extras. Youngest is lucky and has avoided the medical issues, but due to width only fits Clarks at £30 every 12-15 weeks.

I'm a wide 9, so am lucky if I can find footwear cheaper than the £30-£40 mark - I budget two pairs a year, and do use them (lots of walking means they wear out).

As for the clothes - as well as being a size 15/16 shoe, husband is also large and has to get his clothes from places like High & Mighty - where t-shirts average £15 and jeans are rarely less than £40. He wears through clothes quite a bit and his whole wardrobe (6 tops, 4-5 bottoms, plus all the other bits and pieces) ends up being replaced at least once a year.

The three kids are growing, simple as that. We shop mainly at Peacocks and other cheaper stores, hit the sales, buy second hand where possible, pass things down to the next child etc, but even then it adds up. Uniform is rarely in a state to pass on, so that has to be new each time, footwear can't be second hand or passed on to due odd wear patterns of the elder two.

I allow myself 3 tops and 2 bottoms a year, and a new coat every 5, so that does help to balance things a little, but being a tall 20/22 it still rarely comes cheap.


Hope that helps

earthmother

Almost at the end of the first month - still not heard from Simply Be or Kays, but everyone else has made contact, most of them favourably.

A bit annoyed with Littlewoods - they didn't want to accept my offer, and have passed me on to their debt management arm (not the bit I'm annoyed about), but not before they tried to sell me an interest-bearing loan to cover the debt instead (that's the bit that annoyed me - if we can't pay what we currently owe, then what makes them think we'd want more debt?!)


Oh well - next week I'll send the next set of payments, and maybe that will prompt the last couple into action.