I havent posted for a while as things seem to be running okay at the moment.My variation was accepted after 3 attempts as people never voted, but luckily i had a good company that didnt give up and pestered people to vote, eventually getting some to agree.

My son moved out and is enjoying his new life with his girlfriend. Though this was one of the main reasons for needing a variation as I didnt have his rent money anymore.

My broken ankle healed well even though it does still ache occasionally and i returned to work in march after 12 weeks off.

Now my variation has been accepted  I feel happy again. At the time it was a big worry as my gas and electric had also risen by£50 per month as well as my sons rent stopping. This process was as nerve wracking as the original creditors meeting as we would be facing banckruptcy if it wasnt accepted, a route we didnt want to go down.

I cant believe that I will be making my 12th payment soon. this last year has gone so quick with lots of ups and downs,more downs than ups though.

I have noticed that like me there arent a lot of people blogging at the moment. Hopefully this is for the same reasons as me, that not much has been happening. Its a shame though as i have found blogging very therapeutic. I have also enjoyed-if this is the right word-reading others blogs, its amazing how similar some stories are.Its not living a lavish lifestyle as the tabloids would lead people to believe, that is unless you are called Kerry Katona of course, but everyday living and wanting your family to have nice things and even just getting by.

I have learnt over the past 12 months how to budget. Something that I never did before I just bought what I wanted foodwise, though i was never one for spending a lot on  clothes etc.Now i plan my meals for the following week and go to the shops armed with my list.When i think how much money I have wasted on food over the years. I used to bin loads on a friday ready for my new shopping. Saying that my wheely bn is now only half full and easier to move !!

I dont believe this. I  just sent a letter telling my IP about my drop in income due to my son leaving home when the post came. I couldnt believe it when my gas and electric company said they wanted another £70 per month on top of the £105 to keep my account up to date. I simply cant afford this increase, at this rate my outgoings are going to be more than income again, which is how we got in this mess in the first place.

I had asked them for a review and explained about my husbands lower wages for 6 out of the 8 payments and the fact that I was already using my contingency for essentials that hadnt been accounted for in my proposal. I am so fed up at th moment. Just when I thought we had been managing okay and things werent so bad everything seems to come at the same time. I am really worried we might have to go bankrupt if we dont get a reduction in payments as I cant see where the extra will come from. I have been trying to get extra work for the past year with no luck whatsoever. I have got this thing about bankrupcy, its something I didnt really want to do, even though my house is probably in negative equity, but reading this forum and other blogs I am starting to think that it isnt such a bad idea and the whole process isnt as terryifying as I first thought.

Look on the bright side though it might not come to that and on the electric and gas front we will just have to wear an extra jumper!!

I am back to work in a couple of weeks now my leg is better, at least I wont be sat freezing to death with no heating on and eating loads of biscuits and junk.Ha! Ha!

I spoke to really nice lady at my IVA company the other day, other times I have phoned I have felt like I am really getting nowhere. My hubby had done a lot of overtime over xmas and I wanted to pay them what I owed so I didnt get behind. I had already told them   about my extra wages and had a letter from them to say   I didnt owe anything, but when their letter came back it said my husband owed xxx amount, fair enough, but I owed them some money. I explaned about the letter and could they tellwhat I owed them for. Just a minute she said  there has been an oversight on your account-oh b***er i thought, just my luck they will come back with an even bigger amount. But no, because my hubby earnt less wages at the beginning of the IVA it had evened itself out and we didnt have to pay anything. YIPPEE. I was relying on my council tax payment break to fund this as i had spent the money{naughty me}

As I have mentioned before on my children is moving out and getting their own place.I will be losing their rent of £120 per month so I asked the IVA company what I could do. She suggested that they go back to the creditors  and ask for lower payments, so thats what I have instructed them to do. As well as the £120 a month I am also money down as my husbands overtime has virtually dissapeared now. When we proposed the IVA we regrettably let the company include a lot of his overtime as income to make sure we got the IVA but now it has been cut and when i checked out of the 8 payments we have made 6 of them have been on a wage £100 lower than has been allowed for. It has been ok up to now but after this month we will be another £120 down . If the variation isnt accepted I dont know what we will do.We dont have any contingency as we have been told to use it for dental treatment and school dinners. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

I cant believe I am about to make my 8th payment into the IVA. I remember the 1st phone call from the debt company. My head was well and truly in the sand, I remember the shock when they told me by how much I was in debt. I mentioned a cosolidation loan and the lady said with the amount of the debt and my income she doubted I would get one without extortionate interest. What about a DMP I said, it would take you 20 years to pay it back was the reply.

When I was told how much I was to pay on the IVA I panicked about the amount, dont know why it wasnt that much compared to the repayments on the cards etc. How stupid thinking like that, I didnt think twice about taking out loans over 15 years and applying for more credit cards. looking back I think I didnt want to admit to being in debt and was still trying to kid myself I could manage. 8 months down the line I dont know what would have happened now if I hadnt done the IVA with the state of the economy, I dread to think.

Times have been hard but not as hard as trying to juggle the money I didnt have. But I have immense pride at the end of the month if there is anything left and at xmas when the kids had a great time. In another way my children have never been happier, no more stress and tension in the house [except the week before payday if there is no money left] No more Mum and Dad arguing over finances.

I am also becoming an expert at making excuses not to go out if I dont have the money, though some would say it’s a bit extreme breaking my ankle 2 days before works xmas party, lol.

Yippee I had my plaster off on Monday after 6 weeks. My leg looks a bit odd though, its a funny colour and still swollen which I didnt expect. Its nice to have a shower without one leg hanging over the edge of the bath and without soaking the bathroom trying to shower myself holding the shower head. I can get around a bit easier now though I still cant put my leg down properly and still need my crutches. I have got a new job to do now though-constantly hoovering up as we have laminate floors and everytime I walk I leave a trail of flaky skin YUK!!!!!!

On the IVA front I have sent in our last 6 months payslips as hubby has had a bit of overtime lately and I wanted to keep on top of the extra payments before I was tempted to spend it. Its not loads as we have the 10% clause in our proposal but I dont want it building up.

My eldest has told me that he is moving out in a couple of weeks. I feel quite sad about it but it is time him and his girlfriend  had their own space, our house is like the clampets sometimes. The only thing worrying me is that he pays me rent on his room and I cant really afford to lose this. In my proposal I didnt include things like school dinners and dental treatment because I didnt know that I could. My ip has said that I have to use my contingency for these so I dont have any spare money to fall back on to compensate for the loss of money off my son. I will just have to get in touch with my IP and explain the situation. I will be looking for extra work when I can but because in my job there isnt overtime it means a 2nd job which arent easy to come by and because I have a medical condition as well as a broken ankle I know it wont be easy.

Anyway no more boring you with my problems, I’ll be back at work in a few more weeks no doubt after the 1st week I will be wishing I wasnt. Ha! Ha!

Thanks a lot for my I will survive award. I know exactly what they are going to be spent on when i get them- ME. Have not done this for a long time. I thought the other day that I hadnt blogged for a long time, dont know why but I just dont seemed to be bothered doing much at the moment. i have now had my leg in plaster about 5 weeks. I know it sounds silly but when you are working you always say you would love to be at home, but believe me when you are at home you cant wait to go back to work. If I was rich I would get a taxi into town and spend loads of money. Seeing as I am poor and cant drive at the moment I will just have to spend my imaginary money online looking at things I will never buy. Someone I know went to a candle party a couple of weeks ago, £16 for a pillar candle. Thank god I couldnt go as I always feel that I have to buy something at these parties. I can just imagine my hubbies reaction if I had come home with a £16 candle!!! Saying that though this time last year I probably wouldnt have thought twice about paying that and putting on my credit card. I now pride myself on being ‘ tight’ as my teenager calls it. I fee a bit better for blogging. Perhaps I should stop feeling sorry for myself and keep blogging at least it will give me something to do.

Well the first one wasnt too bad. With a little little help from car boot sales, ebay and the shops starting their sales early we had a decent christmas. The kids loved all their presents and no-one really noticed that there wasnt as much money spent as last year ,due to clever shopping they had as many presents, they just didnt cost as much. and no credit card headaches in the new year wondering why i spent so much and how i was going to pay it back.

Had some good news today as I found out I dont need an operation on my broken leg thank goodness. It wasnt easy doing christmas on crutches, I tried my best but its hard watching others doing your jobs and not saying anything in case you are moaning or mithering { as I have been told I have been doing, many times}

I noticed on my last post I am 6 payments into my Iva, only 54 more to go ha!ha!.I wont lie it has been a struggle and their have been many tears along the way {mostly mine} but i feel that i am more organised now. I know exactly what meals we are having and what shopping i need for them. In fact I now pride myself on being tight with my money and feeling a lot better for it, financially and mentally.

Good look to anyone starting on the IVA process, I imagine there will be many more in 2009. A happy new year to you all.Â

On friday I decided that I was going to xmas clean the house, get the decs out of the loft, do the rest of my xmas shopping and then all that was left to do was the food shopping next week. No such luck. On Friday morning I slipped on the ice outside my house and broke my leg. It was a complete break so I cannot do anything at all in case I move the bone. They will decide in 2 weeks how it is healing as I might need an operation.

What a pain. I thought today I would do my shoping online to save Hubby time and there would me more chance of getting what I need!!. Again just my luck I typed everything in on tescos website, came to the checkout and they dont accept electron cards!!!! i am so fed up. Anyway they have just lost £170 of business.

Anyway before all this happened i decided to get all my xmas presents out of the loft to see what i had got. If youre anything like me you put stuff away and forget what youve bought. I still am amazed how much better I am with money since the IVA. Last year I wouldnt have thought about what I was buying, stuck it on the credit card and faced the consequences in the New Year. This year I have really thought about the gifts I have bought. There isnt as much for everybody but I know what there is the kids will love. I wont find stuff under the beds 6 months later not been played with or even looked at. Ive been a bit naughty there though because the stuff not opened I have recycled during the year for their freinds birthday presents. I just hope I havent given anything back that they have bought us.

Anyway I may not blog again before Christmas, mind you there is not much else for me to do, hopefully i wont have to have an operation. Have a lovely Christmas everyone.

Just read the last post on my blog. I sound a right moaning old bat!! { which I am not}. I must have been having a bad day and feeling sorry for myself.

 I was talking to my hubby the other day and he mentioned in conversation that  his workmates knew about our IVA. I was horrified. I thought only his family knew and thats because he wanted to tell them, I didnt.I wasnt happy about people I didnt know knowing about our finances. He said that he didnt see the point of hiding it as it was a fact of our lives now, this from the man who doesnt like talking about private things to anybody normally. Fair enough I said but I wanted as few people as possible to know about it. Its not that I am ashamed about the IVA, just embarrassed that we got into such a mess in the first place and couldnt get out of it any other way. But saying that I am very proud that we faced up to our difficulties and are trying to pay some back, rather than just lying to ourselves,  borrowing more and getting deeper and deeper. This is what we had been doing for years and burying our heads in the sand.

Then somebody posted on the forum that a TV programme had announced about the insolvency register and that you could check it- hell thats all I need, I just hope that none of my workmates are nosy b***ers, I would hate for them to know about us. Though by the end of the 5 years I might be past caring what people think.

I am really fed up at the moment. i know its not meant to be easy but sometimes you think everything is against you. I phoned my supervisors dept yesterday as i had got some backpay from my yearly increment rise and my £60 tax rebate in September. They told me i would have to send my wageslips in and they would decide if i had to pay it into my Iva or i could keep it. I know i should be happy to pay what i can to my iva bit it is nearly christmas and i have 3 birthdays to pay for as well, one being a 21st. sometimes i wish things would go my way for a change. I went to town t buy my daughters birthday present on Thursday, sometimes what i would give to be able to treat everybody now and again. On a lighter note though everything i bought was paid for cash and i had saved for it. M&S had a 20% off sale but i couldnt buy anything. Sorry but i am really feeling sorry for myself at the moment.I know things are better since my IVA i can only spend what i have  in the bank and when you get a bit extra it seems to get taken away from you. sorryfor the moan, it must be the time of year. I have a lot to be grateful for really, a loving family and we get by just about. I know things would be a lot worse if we didnt have an IVA especially in the economic climate at the moment.  But then again we are all entitled to get fed up now and again as im sure everybody on this forum will experience, but we will all  get through it with the help of our forum friends.