DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 4)

sunshine38_2

Hi RayDay :j :j :j

Sorry to hear that you've been having a hard time of things lately and hope you are feeling much better soon.

We've all missed you as you are our DMP :A

Hope you are enjoying your new job - pop back as and when you can. And no, you are certainly not selfish by any means.

Sunshine

tinkerbell12

sunshine38 wrote: »

Hi folks new and old!

Spoke to CCCS on the phone this evening ... what a relief. We needed an urgent review of our budget. The good news is that our payments have come down a bit - of course the bad news is that at the current rate it will take 8 years and 3 months to repay all our debt.:eek:

Still, never mind eh? We just need to concentrate on the here and now. We had to pay out an emergency payment for our central heating to be fixed and we've been allowed to pay £5 token payments to our creditors for this month. I have got a receipted invoice for the plumbing work done and I was fretting so much because creditors will just think that it was for "Christmas" purposes. The counsellor said that they may well think that, but as I have evidence of the payment out, I shouldnt worry too much about it all.

So, deep breaths. Another hurdle out of the way. Still not quite sure how we are going to manage to get over the hurdle of Christmas itself yet but in 26 more sleeps, that wont be a worry any more :rotfl: !!!!

How many of you actually use a spending diary and find it effective? We really need to see where every single penny goes because we should be able to manage alright on our budget, but it just isnt happening as well as I/we hoped it would. The only other idea I can think of is an actual spending diary

I CCA'd one of the creditors who were seriously threatening to take us to Court and have heard nothing back ... it's been 12 days + 2days + 9 days now ... and still have heard nothing. I'm not even entirely sure what I'm supposed to do about that now, I just wanted them to stop any court action - we are doing what we can to pay back the debt. So, fingers crossed they cannot produce a signed copy of the credit agreement and they will now just accept the payments being offered.

I've already started with the "next year, we're going to be more proactive in kicking this debt into touch ..." (reclaiming bank charges is top of the list!) I just need to crawl quietly through the rest of this year (okay, this month!) and stay focussed on the goal of getting through Christmas without incurring any more debt ... I'm sure it can be done ... many others seem to do it

Good luck on your journey everyone - I'm so glad of your support on here to help me (and mine) through it all.

Cheerio for now,

Sunshine

Hi Sunshine,

I completely sympathise with your situation - I also really struggle to 'budget' properly with money and even though we record everything we spend, it still runs out! So then we start again the next month and same happens again....

I am really proud of my spending so far for Xmas and feel soooooo good seeing people sticking loads on their CCs and thinking at least that isn't me anymore! But, I do think this month and next are gonna be really tight. I actually can't wait until Jan when all my friends stop going out cos they are skint and I can use the same excuse without it looking odd!

We are also thinking about a budget review but gonna try and get through Xmas first - plus a couple of our creditors are stirring after 9 months of silence!

Good luck with a spending diary - def give it a try ...

sunshine38_2

Hi Tinkerbell

Thanks for your message.

Who are you with for your DMP or are you on a DIY plan? We've had two budget reviews now since June when we first started so I imagine that there will be a few areas on your own budget that could do with tweaking a little to take into account the additional living costs.

How do you keep a record of your spends, is it with a notebook/online/spreadsheet? Do you record things at the end of the day or as and when you pay for something?

Thanks again,

Sunshine

rayday2

I think when you survive your first Christmas on a DMP and realise you had one and you don't have the bill for the next 12 months it is quite liberating. But saying that despite having all the presents, even most the food I am definately sitting here quite grumpy and nervous in case its still not right! Silly really the pressure we put ourselves under for one day. Darn traditions.

We were doing OK then my husbands company decided October to change his payday a week later, so we just get used to it and then its going to be really early in December which gives me over 8 weeks till the next pay day. That pees me off I don't need money earlier I need it the same time they should do an opt out thing.

Kudox

Hi Tinkerbell I totally agree with you in saying you'll be glad when the New Year comes and everyone is too skint to go out.
I'm struggling the most this year with the christmas socialising,:eek:
No-one amongst my family and friends knows about our situation apart from my sister and then not in any great detail, but if I say I'm too skint to do whatever the occasion is she always insists on paying which is lovely but I hate it so I end up having to invent excuses which is really stressful!
This sounds really ungrateful I know but I hate not being able to pay my way.

Kudox

rayday2 wrote: »

I think when you survive your first Christmas on a DMP and realise you had one and you don't have the bill for the next 12 months it is quite liberating. But saying that despite having all the presents, even most the food I am definately sitting here quite grumpy and nervous in case its still not right! Silly really the pressure we put ourselves under for one day. Darn traditions.

We were doing OK then my husbands company decided October to change his payday a week later, so we just get used to it and then its going to be really early in December which gives me over 8 weeks till the next pay day. That pees me off I don't need money earlier I need it the same time they should do an opt out thing.

Hi Rayday, I'm in the same boat about the xmas pay thing, I'll have 5 weeks to wait until the Jan pay date because of being paid early, it's rubbish I'll have run out of money by about the begining of Jan, my DH is self employed and really struggling for work also.

sunshine38_2

Hi Rayday,

I know what you mean about putting ourselves under so much pressure - I have to admit to being a bit of a grump myself at the mo ... bah humbug and all that :rolleyes: . I'm usually so excited about Christmas but then again, that was in the day of turning to credit to fund it all. So, therein must lie the source of my grumpiness!

We will find it hard as hubby gets his early this month too ... it's a huge piece of temptation and I seriously wonder whether we can manage to resist dipping into it to buy extra food (cos it's Christmas!) etc

Repeat after me ... lead us not into temptation .... :rotfl:

Sunshine

Kudox

Can I join in with the temptation prayer?:rotfl: :rotfl:

rayday2

I can't even spell tempt tempt that erm word I won't do it I won't...




Well I won't admit it :P

sunshine38_2

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Oh you two have made me laugh ... you both win a paper hat :T :T