Being ignored...

To quote a catchphrase from the hilariously funny Fast Show, "this week I mostly be getting ignored"

Firstly having defaulted on my mobile phone contract, I have written three letters to Virgin Mobile seeking a resolution but all to no avail. All I've had in return are two letters, exactly the same informing me they've had a problem collecting the direct debit and that I should phone them. My second letter included the fact that as they have disconnected me and I have no home phone, then telephoning them is not an option.

Secondly I have written two more letters to my landlords solicitor, that's four in total, informing him that whilst I do not dispute my legal obligations with regard my lease, the reality of the situation is that I have no money to pay any further rent, I have mounting unmanageable debt with a variety of institutions and that I am not able to market the property myself as I'm "SKINT". I am now in default with my rent and still I hear nothing.

Thirdly it has been twenty two days since we made our claim for jobseekers allowance and they seem more than happy to ignore me. On three occasions now I have had to walk on crutches to the local benefits office to use their telephones to contact the 'benefits helpline' as their 0845 number is prohibitively expensive when you've only got a PAYG mobile. On all three occasions I've been promised a call back, you can guess the rest. During one conversation I was asked, for security reasons, to give a previous address where we had claimed benefits. I informed them that my wife and I have worked continuously for the past thirty two years and have never claimed a single penny in benefits and as such I was unable to give them the required information. This answer was clearly not catered for in their system. I had a sense of the 'customer services' representative having a mild break down. I could hear the sweat dripping off his brow onto his keyboard. He began to stumble over his words and babble incoherently. Clearly we had gone off script and he was panciking, his computer was working over time and clearly overheating as I could just get the faintest whiff of smoke drifting through the phone ear piece. In desperation he told me someone would phone me back and put the phone down.

As a slightly amusing addition to the benefits debacle, I decided after my third unsuccessful phone call to ask someone in the benefits office I was stood in, if they might be able to help find out what had happened to my claim. Of course the answer to that particularly difficult question was that I had to phone the 'benefits helpline'. I explained that I had just got off the phone with the 'benefits helpline' for the third time and was still none the wiser. They suggested I might wish to make an official complaint as the situation in their view appeared completely unacceptable. I said I would like to take them up on their suggestion and did they have the relevant complaint forms? Yep you guessed it, I have to telephone the 'benefits helpline' if I wished to make a complaint and that I was welcome to use the phone in the benefits office to save on my own phone bill. For the sake of my own sanity, I chose to leave at this point and take a slow wander home in the sunshine avoiding any potential suicide opportunities.

To add to this weeks woes, we have just received a late filing penalty from Companies House. Basically because we had no money to pay our accountant this year, we were unable to get our accounts into Companies House on time and have been stung to the tune of £1500. Of course this will simply be added to the ever growing mountain of debt and dealt with in the same way. I will attempt to appeal to their better nature by explaining the reasons for the 'late filing' but I don't hold out much hope.

So is there any good news to bring you this week. Well actually there is... Nothing earth shattering but good news none the less.

My wife started work a couple of days ago at a local mini market. It's only twelve hours per week and we don't know if or how it will affect our benefits, but she was determined to get straight back into work and who am I to stop her.

Also this week, we made an inquiry with regard to applying to become professional foster carers. Aside from the last seven years, most of my working life has involved working with children in the care system so it's something I'm comfortable with and something I always felt I was good at. It will be alien to my wife, but after several long discussions we agreed to at least look at the idea in more detail.

My knee injury is healing fairly well, though unnecessary walks to the benefits office haven't helped the situation. I'm off the crutches for the most part and awaiting a physiotherapist appointment. I won't hold my breath on that one either.

Through brute force and ignorance, we managed to gain access to the shop through the broken shutter and with the exception of a few personal items, it is now empty. We intend returning the keys to my landlords solicitor on Friday, so it should be interesting to see if that provokes any kind of response.

All in all then a mixed kind of week. Some good, some bad, some indifferent. We are both strangely 'up' at the moment. I don't know why as not much has changed and my debts just got worse, but we've found time and reason to have a bit of a laugh, particularly at the ridiculousness of the benefits system.

That's all for now and I look forward to updating you all in due course...

How low can you go?

I believe the saying goes something like 'It never rains but it pours'...


As explained in my last post, we eventually closed the shop but there were a couple of rays of sunshine in the guise of someone wanting to look around the shop with a view to renting it and my wife being offered some part time work. Well fate loves giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

We did indeed show someone around the shop and it the gentleman appeared fairly positive. He left saying he would be in touch after the weekend. That of course was last weekend and eight days later we've heard nothing. I did say I wouldn't get over excited and I didn't.

However what made the viewing even less palatable was the fact that when the gentleman had left and we locked up the shop, the electric security shutter closed to about a foot from the floor before the motor created a large bang, sparks, flames and lots of smoke. Now I'm no electrician, but I was pretty sure there was a problem and a terminal problem at that. After several phone calls, the best I could do was arrange for someone to look at it after the weekend. Monday duly arrived and basically for £450 I could gain access to the shop in the shape of a new motor. Yeah right... Like I've got £450 spare.

So we're presently locked out of the shop with the rest of our stock and personal belongings trapped inside. I've yet to come up with a plan to solve this latest crisis.

Things can't get any worse surely?

Of course they can... On Friday 12th May my wife and I had to go to the benefits office to complete our claim for Jobseekers Allowance. Our 2pm appointment eventually took place at 3pm and we then had to endure forty five minutes of being treat like imbeciles, whilst at the same time being patronised and lectured to by a 16 year old work experience idiot. I can only assume they use these degrading tactics to make you try harder to get work so you don't have to visit these moronic uncivil servants any more than is absolutely necessary. After being dismissed with a cheery 'You should know within two weeks if your claim has been successful,' we headed back to my van and upon climbing into my seat, I felt what can only be described as something snapping in the back of my knee.

The pain was excruciating and I knew instantly something wasn't right. Somehow I managed to drive home without incident main duly to my ability to brake with my left foot, a skill learned from my days racing karts when I was younger. Back home I packed my knee with ice and kept it raised for several hours before it became clear I was in need of some medical attention. A quick call to NHS direct and Accident & Emergency here I come. I won't bore you with the gory details, but after a week of hospital and doctor visits, the diagnosis is a ruptured Anterior Cruciate Ligament. For those of a non medical background, it's a fairly bad injury. Please feel free to look it up if you need to know more. I'm back at the doctors on Monday to find out if they intend to refer me for an exploratory operation. My doctors optimistic view is that I could be up and about with crutches in a couple of weeks and crutch free in about six weeks depending on how I react to treatment.

This latest set back caused me to miss a couple of important meetings with a solicitor and CAB and has severely affected my ability to get out there and try and find work.

My wife has been absolutely fantastic throughout and is not only supporting my emotional needs, but my physical needs too. I don't know how long she can keep going though, she must be reaching breaking point.

So is there any good news to bring you? Well the part time job for my wife looks like it's going ahead and I have learned what a complete and utter twat Jeremy Kyle is, but apart from that, we still seem to be on a downward spiral at the moment which leads me to repeat my question "How low can you go"


I'm conscious that this whole Blog is supposed to be about our journey to financial freedom and that the debt issues don't seem to be getting much coverage, but trust me they will when they raise their ugly heads. I'm including all the other stuff as it's part of the journey and inextricably linked. I'm sorry if it's not much help to anyone else in debt at the moment, but it is very cathartic for me and I do feel sense of calm when I've written down everything that's happened to me.

I hope the next installment contains some cheery news to balance the crap that's become my daily existence.

As one door closes...

... Does another one open?

Well the deed is done. At 5:30pm last night, we closed our shop door for the final time. After seven difficult but at times thoroughly enjoyable years our hopes and dreams disappeared into the cool damp evening air with the turn of a key.

I'm not sure how I feel about it at the moment. My immediate emotion is one of great sadness. Not just sad that the business failed, but sad at the service we have withdrawn from a very tight knit community. Sad at the thought of not spending time chewing the fat with our regulars. Sad that our small row of village shops now has more closed than open. Of course all these feelings of sadness and nostalgia will quickly evaporate when the creditors start closing in, but for now I'm allowing myself a few melancholy blues.

Unfortunately we were unable to liquidate all of our stock, so over the next few days we're going to have to return to the shop and load up my van with what's left. I sense more than my fair share of car boot sales coming on in the next few months.

On a positive note, though the past few years have taught me to not get over excited too quickly, the owner of an established shop in another part of town has asked to arrange a viewing of the shop as he's looking at downsizing his business and would like to relocate it to the village as that's where he lives. I didn't have the time to show him around today, but we're meeting tomorrow afternoon. For those of you who have been following my blog and my journey on some of the debt forums, you'll realise how significant finding someone to take over the lease is at this present moment in time. As I said, I won't get too excited as we're not accustomed to anything going right for us in the past couple of years.

I also contacted the benefits agency today to make our claim for jobseekers allowance. All in all a fairly painless exercise and the young man I spoke to was most helpful, very pleasant and extremely patient. You have to remember he was dealing with a man who had never claimed benefits since he left school 32 years ago. My wife and I have an appointment with the benefits office on Friday afternoon to complete the claim, so hopefully we will be somewhat better informed as to what we may be entitled to.

Another slim ray of sunshine in an otherwise dull kind of day was the offer of a job for my wife from one of the few remaining shops on our block. It's only for 12 hours per week, but with the possibility for more to cover holidays etc. Of course the immediate problem with this is the effect it may have on our benefits, something we won't know until Friday. I guess it's too much too ask that my wife could work part time and us not be penalised regarding our council tax benefit and our 'support for mortgage interest' benefit.

Finally for today, I've been a little naughty and need to confess my sins. My wife and I have experienced a very frugal way of life for the last few years and in particular the last 18 months where we've pretty much lived hand to mouth without enjoying any of lifes little luxuries such as new clothes or the occasional Indian take a away etc. So with willful abandonment I took my wife to Matalan and with the remaining £200 left on our one and only credit card which will go into default very shortly, we treat ourselves to some new togs and a slap up meal at Mrs Miggins pie shop on our way home.

I know it was irresponsible, I know I'll feel bad about it in the days to come, but for just one brief moment while we were trying on different clothes and tucking into a lamb balti, the world seemed a better place. I'd forgotten how therapeutic retail therapy can be...

Is this a sign?

When my wife and I decided to close down our business, we chose Wednesday 9th May 2012 as our last day of trading. This holds no significance other than our current rent period finishes on that date.

Today I was checking my calendar and noticed that the 9th May is 'LIBERATION DAY' on the islands of Guernsey and Jersey. Is this a sign? Is this going to be the day we become liberated? I'll let you know in a weeks time.

Things have again been fairly quiet over the past week. The only point of interest being a letter from my landlords solicitor pointing out to me my obligations regarding the lease on our business premises and advising I take legal advice. So, nothing I didn't already know. I did manage to find a solicitor who kindly gave me an hour of his time for free (Yep I did say for FREE.) He confirmed I was pretty much screwed regarding the lease in terms of not being able to get out of it unless the landlord takes pity and releases me from it. He did advise however that the landlord does have something called 'a duty to mitigate his losses' which basically means he can't just leave the property empty without making efforts to either sell it or rent it back out and then expect a court to order me to stump up eleven years more rent. I'm not sure this makes much difference to our position or not, but it's useful to know.

I have had some mixed advice on what happens to the lease if I filed for bankruptcy. One train of thought suggests that the bankruptcy will only take into account any monies owed in rent arrears at the date of proving and therefore the landlord could still chase me for any future monies owing, whilst someone else believes that the bankruptcy will take into account all monies owed and all monies that could be owed for the remainder of the lease. This small point could prove important if I eventually decide to go down the route of bankruptcy.

I decided to forego my weekly back, sack and crack wax this week to join the Bankruptcy Association in the hope that they can answer the lease question for me.

All my creditors will get paid in May and then we will begin defaulting on them all in June. Someone suggested that if I know I'm going to default then why wait until June. Why not keep a few more quid in my pocket and default in May? Well it just doesn't sit right with me I'm afraid. I have the money to pay them in May and pay them I will. When all is said and done, I owe all these institutions money and they deserve to be paid what they're owed if I can afford to pay it.  This will give me approximately a month to get my act together and sort out a plan for tackling my creditors initial contact. Also by that time I should have a firm idea of our benefits based income and should have in place a completed Income/Expenditure form.

Emotionally we're both a bit up and down, myself more so than my wife. I have a taste of what it must be like to be bi polar, as when we're up it's like we've been taking illicit substances and find ourselves in fits of laughter at the silliest things. But when we're down, we're searching the back of the sofa looking for enough change to buy a bottle of Jack Daniels and packet of paracetamols.

Maybe these feelings are normal, maybe they aren't...

On a final positive note, my blog has hit the 1000 views mark. So thank you to all of you who are following our 'Journey' and if just one person gains any benefit from it then it's all been worth the effort.