Ready to be debt free

Bobarella · 20 March 2017 at 3:35PM

How annoying about not being able to use the company card!!

DD265 · 25 March 2017 at 10:46PM

Went looking at cars today and I test drove a used Qashqai which was really comfortable to drive. Unfortunately my Note is in negative equity on the PCP and any car I was going to buy on finance - be it the Qashqai or another Note - would see my monthly payments rise.

I took advice from my future father in law and the plan is to give my car back at the end of the PCP in October - thus not incurring any costs. He wants me to go down the bangernomics route and to give him credit he is car savvy and would help me buy/maintain one. I do have concerns given a motorway commute... We'll have to see how much money I can save up between now and September. It may that I don't have enough saved so I go back into PCP, but without adding any negative equity onto my new contract. He works in the car industry so may be able to get me a staff deal from one of his contacts, which although PCP isn't necessarily ideal and I can see why he'd suggest moving away from that, I may simply not be able to afford a suitable car outright given the wedding and credit cards I'm also saving for/paying down.

In other news, we booked our favourite photographer for the wedding. They were actually the cheapest that we shortlisted which is an added bonus. The not so good news is the cake is looking like £500-650 - please don't lynch me

- but it's an area where I don't want to compromise. I figure it will be balanced out by not having flowers, which I want to make from paper.

So far we've paid out £2174 for venue deposit (in two parts), the photography deposit, my wedding dress and shoes. We have £5455 outstanding for the venue and photography balances, plus the cake and registrar. I set up a separate budget in YNAB to help me keep track of things. The payments are still getting logged in my main budget, but it means that I have an insight into what's left to pay.

Other things which will need looking at are bridesmaid dresses, suits, stationary, hair/makeup etc, wedding rings. Mom wants a sweetie cart but I think we'll get Costco membership and do something ourselves. The venue has basically said that we can make use of whatever decorations they have and for transport I don't care about fancy cars so need to find a suitable taxi firm.

kirtsypoos · 28 March 2017 at 11:28AM

We recently bought a second hand Qashqai DD265, and you can get them quite reasonably priced - ours was less than £10k, 3 years old and only 28k miles on the clock. Passed it's AA check with flying colours and I think it was a pretty good deal in all honesty - could you keep your eye out for something along those lines rather than the PCP?

DD265 · 1 April 2017 at 12:02PM

Even then Kirtsypoos I'd need to take out finance to cover it. Will just have to play it by ear and see what the best option is at the time.

I've decided that I'm not a particular fan of receiving only my basic salary. I appreciate that it's more than many people receive but it's less than I've gotten used to and there is zero wriggle room in my budget for this month. This includes a large expenses payment, all of which I'd hoped to put towards the MBNA card.

Currently I have the following:
£650 to go into the joint account for our rent/bills/food.
£948.24 set aside for car PCP (£269.15), Barclaycard (£100) and MBNA card (£579.09).
£239.46 set aside for my direct debits, e.g. phone, gym, car insurance, dental. £100 of this is a buffer so in theory my account never drops below £100. In theory.

£343 for the horse's bare minimum costs
£222.82 discretionary spending which sounds good until you realise that £200 of it is for fuel. :rotfl:

I'm working away next week which means paying out for meals etc which I can claim back, but I won't see the money until the end of the month. £22.82 isn't going to cover that, nor will it get me a birthday present for OH. Just realised I missed the £50 that'll transfer into savings too. I'm going to have to reduce how much I pay off the MBNA card.

Now I'm going to complete an exercise to see whether I could actually cover all my bills on my basic salary, but I'll do this outside of my main budget to avoid messing things up.

DD265 · 9 April 2017 at 2:10PM

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I found out that I can't pay all of my bills and maintain my current level of debt repayment on my basic salary. I can manage the bills and minimums and still have money left over though.

I dropped the MBNA payment down to just over £250 (minimum repayment plus £225 - normally it'd be bang on £250 but there's a higher minimum this month) which is what I'd normally aim to be repaying. I have also reallocated the buffer in my account. I know I have savings to use if needed, it's just that I really don't want to.

Unfortunately all of this is putting a lot of weight behind the financial element of deciding my horse's future. It's a decision that I'm already beating myself up over and this doesn't help. I can't bring myself to break it down to for/against lists as that feels so callous and uncaring. I do feel like I'm in a lose-lose situation as whichever way I lean feels like the wrong way.

Bobarella · 9 April 2017 at 5:48PM

Can you look for another higher paying job or is that not an option currently?

DD265 · 16 April 2017 at 11:17AM

It's always an option Bob, but I really don't want to as all of the other things I love about my job and the other benefits do outweigh this. It's just frustrating, I think, because I was relying on that to sort myself out and I had it all sussed.

Basic salary at the end of April too (unexpected) and May (expected) so I've made some decisions. I'll be returning my car at the end of May, and doing a money transfer from one of the credit cards to purchase a new one. I may also have some contributions from family. The money transfer will be interest free into next year (exact date depends on which card I choose to use) so there'll just be the fee. I worked it out at £80 fee for £2000 off the MBNA card, the Barclaycard is a better offer (lower fee and longer interest free period) but I'd be near-maxing out the card.

I am planning to have my horse put to sleep next month - this may of course change but it feels like the best thing. He had another bout of acute illness last night (colic; different to what happened at the end of January) and it was touch and go as to whether we could save him, as surgery is not an option for him (or me). Another "episode" is exactly what I wanted to avoid, and I almost called the knackerman rather than the vet last night, but he pulled through. He's bright and happy this morning. I would not have let him suffer but I would rather he goes happy with the sun on his back and a mouthful of the lush cow's grass that he's been coveting for years.

ani*fan · 16 April 2017 at 8:52PM

Hi there

I just read your diary and don't want to read and run so am ducking in to say hello. You're making excellent progress with your debts, well done.

Also wanted to say I empathise with your horse situation. I have a much loved old furry purrball cat and lately he has been very slow to stand up, trembly legged and is prone to throwing up his dinner for no apparent reason the vet can find. I love him dearly but he is really such an old man now and I don't want him to be uncomfortable or in pain in his later years. I understand your heartache, but I think there's a lot to be said for making a compassionate decision at the right time.

Best of luck, I hope it all goes as well as it can.

AFxx

DD265 · 17 April 2017 at 11:55AM

Thanks for your kind words ani*fan.

I am paying £269.15 per month for the car, and £303 in rent (there are less rigid additional costs on top) for my horse. Obviously by doing a money transfer from my credit card I'll be increasing my debt so I'm just trying to work out what to pay where and when.

Assuming that the last car repayment and horse rent are in May, in June I will have, for the sake of argument, £600 "spare". I think I'll put all of this into savings which will take me to £1300ish in my emergency fund. Thereafter I'll pay £200 a month into my emergency fund, and split the rest (£800, including what I already repay/save) across credit card repayments. I need to maintain the £100 a month off the Barclaycard, to ensure I pay no interest on the current balance, but I will focus on the MBNA card to clear that off, as it has the larger limit.

In theory, by December, I could easily have both credit cards cleared and over a months take home in savings. Any bonuses/extra cash will only speed up the process. Now that is something that I can get excited about.

Once the cards are gone, there's the wedding to pay for. After that, what I'd like to do is:
Help to Buy ISA - start with £1200, add £200 per month
Club Lloyds Monthly Saver (3% interest, 12 months only) - pay in £400 per month

It may make sense to save into these accounts sooner, but I want to maximise the benefits, so I'll probably seek advice on this forum about it. I'll also have to find somewhere else to put the rest of the potential savings and also look at starting to pay into my pension. I can earn 2% interest on up to £5000 in my current account, but may do better elsewhere. What a nice dilemma to have. :rotfl:

DD265 · 21 April 2017 at 7:02PM

I am feeling decidedly mardy this evening. I had an expensive collectors item on eBay and was asked if I'd put it on hold for somebody. I did that (by increasing the listing price unreasonably until it ended, then relisting on a given day) and they've bought it, but now when it comes to paying they have started asking questions about the item. Hopefully I'm stressing over nothing and they'll come through.

If they don't pay, I'll need to take some money out of savings though I may be able to put it back next week when I've been paid. It grates but I'm reminding myself that this is why I have savings. Basically I have £85 to last me a week - and need probably £25 of that for fuel - but I've also got to pay my Pilates classes today which is £80 (or I lose my place; they charge earlier than expected) and my WeightWatchers membership is due at £30 (for 6 months, through Vitality).

I've been looking at car reviews but there's just too much choice, so I've put a thread in the motoring part of this forum for a bit of guidance.

Now I am watching the cats have a mad half hour, and wishing I had that much energy! There's a lot of procrastination going on here today.

Ready to be debt free

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