Debt Free 2009

[grouchyoscar]

Anyone fancy doing one this year?

I've found it rather helpful/inspirational TBH. On the last day of 2008 I've managed to stay in the black and squirel a tiny bit towards 2009.

I can see things being much tougher in 2009 so lets pool our tips/idea/etc togther and get through it on mass.

Even a credit crunch can't get Mumsnetters eh...well HTH

My sofa ive been paying off for 4 years, ends this may. I am going to direct the dd to a savings account.

Hi BK Funny us lot are all still here wading through

My bank balance is hovering at 22 credit at the moment for the first time in ages...only takes one dd to make that vanish into minus figures though!

thank fully that's one thing I don't have - an overdraft - can't get one wth the Card Cash account, and didn't ask for one when I opened the current account. - have £325.77 at the moment in my day to day account (but that's because I've just had my IS, CB and the money I get each month for playing the organ all go in this week ) , and £178 in my "savings" current account, though have £32 of coins bagged up to go in there tomorrow.

Mine costs about 21p a month in interest for the amount I go into it and its nice knowing if the washing machine or whatever breaks down, its there Just In Case.
Whats the £1000 for, the deposit etc? If you are on Income Support you can get that as a loan cant you? Or am I imagining that?
I thought I had saw posters saying bla bla if you have to rent privately we can help you with dep/first month.

Hello.

I did the debt free 2006 thread, and am still keeping up alot of what I learned then. (My £1 tin has £20 in it towards next Christmas)

But, dp is unemployed atm, and we owe money all over the place

I will have a long hard look at what I can do to help this week, and fill in the forms I have for some benefits we may be able to claim.

I need to make up a cv and start job hunting. It is the only thing I can thinkof that may help save more than pennies for us, as I am already used to managing a budget and think I've cut back everything I can.

I'm always open to suggestions though

yes £1000 is for deposit, first months rent, moving costs (ie either petrol for friends when they use their vans, or "man with van", plus piano removal as well - wont' do that on the cheap).

I don't know if I can get it on a loan, I think I may be able to, but I'm saving up as much as I can to be on the safe side. Going to start packing stuff up this month, and ebaying - got LOADS of stuff to ebay so hoping I can add to it with that as well.

And if I don't need it all - well I can clear some of my debts faster when I move

FAQ This sort of thing.
Hi Jas

thankfully if anything breaks down (electrical wise) my BF's DH is a builder/electrician by trade so does stuff for me. If he needs parts he orders them from his trade catalogue and only charges me cost price .

My lovely new dishwasher I bought at the start of last year came from there - about £150 cheaper than if I'd bought it at the cheapest place I found online for it

Good Luck with the jobhunting Jas, do those forms ASAP, they will be backdated to when you hand them in. and all that

ahh yes - I had seen a few houses on my prelimenary hunts for somewhere to live saying that they were part of the Rent Deposit Scheme or such like.

It's rather frustrating though, as I won't qualify for much/any of this stuff, or go up the council list (not that I really want a council house -it'll leave me back on the estate we moved here to escape from and miles from everything) until I'm actually homeless, or will be homeless within 28 days - and that will be after exH has been taken to court and had the reposession ordered.

I really don't want to wait that long, and have the uncertainty of "what if they don't have anywhere to house me striaght away" etc etc.

As long as I stick to my budget I should have approx £1300 saved by the end of February, and that's not including anything I may (or may not LOL) make on Ebay.

Why are you cutting off contact with your family FAQ?
It's going to be bloody hard work coping with 3 kids alone.

moondog - well there's not really much "cutting off" to be done tbh, they've not supported me (even over the telephone/emails etc) at all for almost all of last year.

It wore me down too much trying to keep a relationship with them going (for the sake of the DS's - who they hardly know now anyhow).

None of them are local to me anyhow so I get no "actual" support from them - even when we got along ok.

That's sad.
Women with small children need a family network.

Oh blimey... I can't believe you're talking about putting money in piggy banks! Haven't you got a local credit union?

They're brilliant for people on very low incomes or benefits.

as I said, even if we were getting along ok from a distance (which we're not at all) (couple of threads from me about it one on Christmas day, one last Saturday) they're not practical support to me because of how far they live - my nearest close relative lives about 4hrs drive from me....

And as they've not given me any emotional support, infact have made things harder for me!, during last year. I can't honestly say it's going to be a huge loss to me right now (nor can I see it being so in the foreseeable future).

Thankfully I have a good support network of friends, who have actually been more like family to me than mine ever have. And exH does see/have the boys regularly so that helps too.

Here's the details of our local one

You can save or borrow - if you need a loan it's only 1% per month - WAY cheaper than credit cards.

goldFAQinsenceandmyrrh have you ever looked into joining a credit union?

yes I have - savings for me isn't too much of an issue, it's the loan part that would be useful to me.

Unfortuantely you can't get a loan until you've been paying in for 13 weeks.......by which time I'll almost certainly have moved house so the loan will be of no use to me

Oh dear
But going back to your family - you know it may just be thoughtlessness rather than a deliberate attempt to push you away. My brother is just like this - so wrapped up in his own life that he is hopeless about supporting my mum or contacting me. It's always us that have to chase after him, but we know he loves us dearly - he's just a clueless male with a demanding wife!

yes it is a bit "oh dear"

No my famiy blame me for my marriage breaking up - "it's all my fault" (confirmed to me in person on the phone on Christmas day by my brother, I've been called a liar (and other things) by my parents last year.

I ignored my phone this moring, and did a 1471 - it was them trying to ring me......they never left a message, didn't try to ring back, and I never returned their call. I felt 10000000000 times better ignoring it that I did last Saturday when they rang (rather a co-incidence - NOT - after my posts on MN between Christmas day and then......) when I felt like shit afterwards.

Why did you sp;it up then?
(Sorry if too intrusive, just that have 'known' you for so long and find it so sad.)

oh was a whole manner of reasons, yes part of it was my fault - my temper, and a load of other stuff, but not all of it by any means - . I even asked exH when he dropped the DS's back on Boxing Day for an honest answe as to whether he thought our marriage break-up was his fault, my fault or both of our fault. He didn't even pause before he answered "both of course" (and he's never been one to mince his words - I know if he thought it was mostly/all my fault he would have said so ).

He even said in the early days of the split "you can divorce me for unreasonable behaviour and I won't contest" (again I know that he'd have stayed to his word), so it's always been clear to both of us that we both contributed to the break-up in our own ways.

Any chance of you getting back together if you have so much insight on where you went wrong then?