Thank you ....

epsilondraconis

Good work. I'm sure a lot of people who are finding themselves in a difficult financial position will take great heart from your postings.

Well done for dealing with the debts...

rubydoiwannabee

Seaxwyn wrote: »

Hi Ruby

Really glad to see that things are working out for you. The £75 is not too good to be true - I had £50 from Quidco for taking out insurance once, and £40 for applying for a credit card. Others have had bigger sums.

I've got to look into switching my life insurance to- I've been putting it off but reading your post has shamed me into action. How did you go about finding the best deal?

Thanks for the Quidco confirmation, I am always a bit dubious of things that seem to good to be true.... but this looks brill. I think I am going to allow myself and OH a night out on the £75 if we can keep doing positive things between now and when it comes through in 2-3 months.

As for the life assurance, I can recommend 'lifesearch.co.uk'
I did some online quote requests yesterday and then had a really helpful lady call me today to discuss in detail. Since that conversation she has emailed me with some options, having taken into account any health issues etc. Both the quotes cut at least £54 a month!! off our current policies. I have checked and double checked to see we are getting the same cover and we are. It seems because we have had the current policies for 8 years or longer it was envitable that the price would be better. Well worth doing I would say.

Good luck and let me know how you get along.;)

rubydoiwannabee

OberonSH wrote: »

Go Ruby!! Well done you. And just think - when you're debt free you'll have all this cash to play with!

You rock. Keep it up. And don't forget to get into the 'little' habits - shop sensibly, before buying it check the Oldstyle baord to see if you can make it, hang washing out rather than use tumbly, save energy & water, and never food-shop on an empty stomach. All these little things add up.

On the quidco side of things - I've been with them a while, but only really for the free daily clicks, so am only just approaching 'cashout', but a lot of people do use them. Check out EagertoLearn's site (click2freecash.co.uk or something) which is GREAT for 'clicking'. It all adds up! But remember to ead over to the referral board if you're going to sign up - do a fellow DFW a favour!

Thanks Oberon, this saving business becomes quite addictive doesn't it? My OH have been sitting in our conservatory the last few evenings watching tv with only the evening light... to save energy. We realised our sitting room has 4 different lamps that USED to be on all the time, daytime as well in the winter months because it is a dark room, that has stopped!!!

Thanks for the tips, I will add the clicks to my list of things to explore and be sure to refer back to here.

Seaxwyn

Thanks for that Ruby. I will definitely get onto lifesearch today and hope to find a better deal too - will let you know how I get on.

As well as ebay, look into Amazon for books and CDs - it's very easy to use. I've made loads of money selling on Amazon.

rubydoiwannabee

Thanks will do. Books are my real weakness and I have boxes of them!!

Tinkabell25

I'm the same-books are my weakness but i wasn't sure if i was likely to get more money at car boots than at amazon or ebay-does anyone have an answer to this? Keep going Ruiby ur doing so well, its really encouraging to see people doing well!

rubydoiwannabee

Hi Tinkabell, thanks for the words of encouragement, it's just the start but seeing the books close to balancing each month is really encouraging, whereas in the past we didn't even look to see if they did or didn't!!

I agree about the book question, I guess nothing ventured nothing gained. I will give it a go....

Seaxwyn

Definitely look your books up on Amazon first. Some do fetch good money, particularly textbooks and more obscure fiction. With the most popular titles, there are so many copies available competition has driven the price right down.

Amazon is easier/safer than Ebay as you can list for free and don't pay any fees until your book sells. At a carboot you'll be lucky to get more than 50p for a book.

Good luck both of you. I am a great fan of Amazon, I've made LOADS selling off my books- but I did have a lot to start with!

tyllwyd

rubydoiwannabee wrote: »

Those of you that have read my previous posts will see that we are contemplating a DMP versus dealing with things ourselves. The biggest problem being the monthly deficit of income vs earnings. Well what started out as £350-£400 shortfall a month now has the potential to be '£0' with everything paid and even an amount allocated for the OD. This is purely due to the advice I have received, e.g. switching to int only on the mortgage for a short time, getting new quotes for all insurances, this alone has the potential to save us approx £400 a month!!

That is fantastic! If you can get your budget to balance by going interest only for a while rather than having to do a DMP, with the way things are at the moment that seems a much better way to do it. And congrats on getting better deals on your insurances - I'm guilty of letting mine carry on, and I know I should get on and get some new quotes.

So if you can get some extra work in, you should be well on the way. Brilliant!

It must be tough to post an SOA and get loads of comments from total strangers (I've never been brave enough!) so I'm glad that hearing a few different points of view has worked for you.

rubydoiwannabee

tyllwyd wrote: »

That is fantastic! If you can get your budget to balance by going interest only for a while rather than having to do a DMP, with the way things are at the moment that seems a much better way to do it. And congrats on getting better deals on your insurances - I'm guilty of letting mine carry on, and I know I should get on and get some new quotes.

So if you can get some extra work in, you should be well on the way. Brilliant!

It must be tough to post an SOA and get loads of comments from total strangers (I've never been brave enough!) so I'm glad that hearing a few different points of view has worked for you.

Thanks for your positive comments, my OH has just come home from work and I have shown him the new SOA, with new amounts etc. Although we were both very reluctant initially to change the mortgage, some quite strong words from someone on here made me realise it was our only option really. I have since discussed it with my closest friend and she was incredibly supportive. So there we have decided that is the way to go. We are giving ourselves 5 years to clear the debts and then we will revert back to repayment and throw everything we have at the mortgage.

I really am so glad I found this site, because the dmp would have been the only option otherwise.