Debt mutual support thread number 4 .... every journey starts with the hardest first step

[TalkinPeace]

This thread follows on from Nerf's incredibly useful
FIRST www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/1969188-Can-we-have-a-support-thread-for-people-who-are-massively-in-debt
and then SECOND
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/2011878-Debt-support-thread-2?
and my THIRD
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/a2062902-Debt-Number-3-For-those-who-feel-they-are-drowning-and-want-a-way-out?msgid=48505428#48505428
threads about realising you are in and supporting each other out of debt.

I am not in debt, any more.
Here is a link to some spreadsheets that might help
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/1987219-SPREADSHEETS-for-Debt-Control-Budgeting-Mortgages-etc

and lots of people use this
YouNeedABudget

The important thing to remember is

• yesterday is as past as the Crimean War

( we will not judge how you got into debt, but we will support you on the way out )

• this is an anonymous forum

( we will not tell your employer, family or friends of the reality of your numbers )

• this thread is about supporting people through the huge mindset changes needed to come out of debt

( feel free to offload all of the feelings that drive you to want to spend, that make it hard to save and that generally make life crap at times )

Join in, bare your soul and come out the other end.
Its worth it.
You are worth it.
The long term results for you, your marriage and your children are worth it.

Thanks for that Fluffy - I will take a look as I remember Martin Lewis on TV talking about this years ago.

I tried a journey I have to do later on this year from London to the south coast and the difference was £60!!

TiP, how do you stop that happening and also clear the cookies from before if needs be - on a tablet for example?

I'm going to do another quote with my cookie settings turned up to maximum.

You are all doing so well. DP still hasnt found another job which is getting fustrating. However the good news is I was awarded Maternity pay which is a relief. Im still plodding on paying just over the minimum agreed. Hopefully once DP has another job and the baby arrives we might be able to start paying a bit more off the debt.

He's been trying so hard to raise extra cash, selling anything that is no longer needed etc although that is starting to run out and we have a childs birthday and christmas just round the corner but we've been through worse!

You lot are definately keeping me motivated not to just spend on rubbish and I always ask myself 'do I really need that' sp thankyou

TIP, how do you do an incognito window on chrome?.

Ooh I've done it. I can get it down to £137 incl cashback.

I'll do a quote direct with the insurer later and see if I can get it any lower.

Winter fingers crossed for a job for your dp soon.

We had a bit of interesting news last night... After all that recent worry about dh potentially losing his job, the area manager phoned yesterday and is giving them all 2.5% pay rises! So - being positive - I guess (hope!) that means the store isn't going anywhere... or why would they do that? So that's good. And works out about an extra £25 a month. So what with that and the insurance savings we are suddenly £65 a month better off, which seems like a huge amount to me now - before this thread I would have just shrugged at it.

Now that's good news Fairy, how is he feeling now?.

that's brilliant news, Fairy! Is he delighted?

We had a similar thing with renewal of our car insurance this year, the renewal quote was double what a diff company were offering, we pointed this out and the original company basically said "so what, there's nothing we can do" and we left. don't they want our money?!

About to start switching broadband over to EE, not hugely impressed with them (I have my mobile with them) but the price is v cheap.

Are you getting cashback MissA? I think topcashback is offering nearly £100.

For EE broadband???

Thanks Yes dh is chuffed about the job :) he's still generally unhappy at work but at least he can continue to look for something else without the worry of feeling like he's going to be out on his ear any second. So that's a big sigh of relief for us.

Miss A have you looked at plusnet for broadband? Very cheap for us and we live in a very rural area and signal has been excellent - before that we had sky and it kept coming and going. I had an awful time with EE on my old phone contract, I guess everyone is different but I wouldn't touch them again with a bargepole. Hope you manage to get a good deal whatever you decide to do.

Here www.plus.net/ - they have a very good deal on at the moment too.

The comparison sites are currently under investigation for pushing prices UP.
Your best bet is to go to your own insurers site and pretend to be a new customer and then make them match the difference

MissA, it's £84 for EE on tcb. I wouldn't go with TalkTalk again, they were awful.

Hi all, well Im almost at the end of the month of 'new budget'. I keep staring at spreadsheet to see if anything jumps out. The 'pot' of money I tend to (utilities, food, kids stuff and my allowance) is all committed - I have chose to pay by D/D things I wanted to do out of my allowance - but there is something about not having money spare...even though I know I would spend it on clothes I dont need and eating out - or theatre/cinema...

Tablet -ipad mini - TIP, we have two MacBooks for our 'work' and two iPads and two iPhones. We do like out tech. I see tablets for kids as way forward as well a keyboards. Another two doesnt seem much. Im still not convinced about the apps and how fast the use interface is on other tablets. I guess that is coloured by poor experience of Kurio. Badvoc thansk for your support on this

peonies hope you ok and in bathing in tea and toast somewhere. Go you for sorting out insurance! The Aviva quote I had going was through TopCashback - it's nice to build up what I call my pots of money as by products of normal planned purchases: club card, boots points, and topcashback.

TIP thats really interesting to know about the cookies esp on Holiday sites.

Winter good luck for your DP job hunt.

M&S £100 giftvoucher if you move bank account there inc all D/D min monthly deposit -apply in line T & C apply - please check. Im doing this to help get a £100 in the pot for Xmas - this will probably cover adult family members presents exc DM's.

Bloody school have a dress up day in Dec, nothing we can use either from home, otherwise I'd be getting my fabric glue out.

fairy thats great news, extra £65 per month.

Off to do what fluffy has been doing.

Well it looks like I can get fully comp with legal & windscreen cover (Allianz make that an extra but give you free legal) for £135 when you take into account the £42 cashback.

Aviva quoted me £212.

I'll quote again a couple of days before its due because I think October renewals are cheaper than September. Possibly due to it being a new reg month.

So I'm going to drop a bomb on this thread.

I'm unexpectantly pregnant with #3

It was definitely an accident... However we're thrilled.

I've done some sums. Due date is June 4th. If we sell the 2nd car (not needed whilst on mat leave) the debt will be clear.

2nd hand city and terry nappies here I come!

wow, congrats didyouevah

Wow!
Congrats!

As...We have 2 laptops...Dhs work one and our personal one (it was my late dad's)
These are what we do our work on or dcs homework, but for apps, research, browsing and of course watching movies and TV you cannot beat the iPad.
People may hate apple but it's the market leader for a reason
I am still to be convinced about the mini though...the iPad Air is fab! :)
Both my dc use their ipad2s every day. As do I.
Ditto my kindle.
Some things are worth paying the money for IMHO.
Bought a dress and shoes for my interview.
If I don't get it they are things I will wear again...in fact I will be wearing them on Friday to a funeral :(

Congratulations Didyouevah

Congratulations didyou

Didyouevah
Congratulations.
And extra congratulations that you are thinking already how to enjoy the whole experience without increasing your debt.

Badvoc
Its good to get multifunctional clothes, but not the most pleasant of reasons in your case.

Laptops/ipads : we all use laptops or phones - the kids are teens so each have one, DH and I are both self employed so have them. We looked at an ipad for DH for work but it was not versatile enough for the amount of money.
Most of my work is spreadsheets so proper typing is a must.
All of DHs work involves connecting to projectors and networks on site and ipads do not have connectors
I'm too tight to own even more screens