| Im a Debt-Free-Wannabe! |
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| How it all started,,,, I moved out of my parents home in August 2005, i was comfortably earning over �1000 and found the perfect little house literally 3 minutes door-to-door from work.... bills totalled up to �700 leaving me approx �300 a month to "play with"... id be fine! I got a credit card to be able to buy large things that i didnt quite have enough saved for... and as it was 0% on purchases for 12 months.. id pay only the minimum payments, id shove the money i did have saved into my savings account and earn a nice little bit of interest and everytime i put something on the card id put the equivalent amount of cash from my current account across to my savings one. Then when the 0% period ended id have the money to clear the card... + a little extra in the interest id earned. GREAT plan! Except on septemeber 24th 2005 i got german measles and had to stay off work for 2 weeks....... it made me really ill and i just couldnt shake this ill "virally" feeling afterwards... so at my check up the doctor signed me off for another 2 weeks.... i got another virus... and started suffering anxiety attacks like id had when i was a child. :( I ended up having 3 months off work... and getting dismissed on Xmas Eve 2005 for having 3 months off work sick. Of course id had to live of SSp for all this time.. �68ish a week.. big step down from �268 ....... and so instead of going overdrawn id used my savings to get by.. expecting to be back at work "next week" ... id used the credit card for shopping too (including xmas presents).... afterall.. id have the money next month when i was back at work.... and i was always doing overtime so i could easily make up what id "overspent". So here i am .... january 2006... no job to go back to,,,, starting to go overdrawn.. savings ran out... credit card building up... so i start applying for jobs... sales assistants and mangerial ones after all id got the skills, the knowledge and a bit of experiance... i could do that! i signed onto JSA, housing benefit and council tax benefit... it took 9 weeks to sort the housing/council tax benefit out... so i had 2 months worth of rent + council tax coming out my overdraft that i shouldnt have had to fork out the full amount for... so im getting charged interest...!! Deeper into my overdraft.... Takes until March to find a job... a supervisor job... 4k a year less than my last job... but a job non the less.. with the chance of earning commission and a plan for promotion in 2 years time. They didnt tell me till id accepted the job though that id need to travel to Chester every day for 3 weeks, then birkenhead every day for 3 weeks, then St helens... everyday for 3 weeks... ! Oh and pay for it myself!!! :( To cut a long story short i started the job,, then come down with an infection 3 weeks into it meaning a week off... then a week after that i went away to scout camp (im a leader) and caught something else meaning i was off again.... at that point i also broke up with my boyfriend after finding out he was complete scum and playing me for the biggest fool going.... so id had enough.. i didnt want or like the job.. it was wrecking my life... my health... and i couldnt cope! So i didnt go in to work the next day was due back... i went the doctors and explained everything... he signed me off for 3 weeks with post viral depression. I sent the note to my boss (but foolishly didnt ring as they had been bullies anyway and made me cry most days... so i knew if i spoke to them on the phone id be a gibbering wreck and probably contemplate something stupid as i was so down. Before the 3 weeks are up i get a letter telling me im fired... for "gross misconduct on grounds of unauthorised abscence and failure to maintain contact" That takes us up to May 2006.... i now dont have a job again, am really badly overdrawn and feeling completely fed up with life... (although have started dating Paul - an aquaintance of mine who had been really supportive and understanding of everything id been going through) I go back to the jobcentre and sign on to benefits.... ive been searching for a job ever since - but havent been successful. Im applying for anything and everything... even 8 hour a week part-time sales assistant roles - just to get SOME income and back out into work. I cant afford the house anymore.. and cant find anywhere else to live for less....so moving in with paul but hes struggling too.. ive had to put �900 in mortgage arrears of his on my Credit card and buy a kitchen to keep a roof over our heads and to be able to eat in the house (as it was an unhabitable kitchen) We now only need to find 1/2 the amount of money each month for bills too.... so it seems a good option... lets hope at least! |