Thistle grasps the nettle! Again....and no sting this time!!

Thistlewhistle · 10 August 2015 at 1:18PM

Hello there:hello:

I've been dibbing in and out of the forum for longer than I care to remember and I've even dabbled in the odd diary here and there, but never managed to see it through, primarily because life always gets in the way. Who else recognises that feeling?!!:D

Anyway, I've been doing some serious thinking about where I am in life, where I want to be, and how I'm going to get there (whilst trying to ignore the little voice in my head telling me I should have started 20 years ago!) Reading Midnight Child's diary and seeing how clued in he is, has relit my fire and prompted me to have another go.......

So here we go!:eek::eek::eek:

About me:

I'm currently 43½ years of age and I live on my own in a two bedroomed terrace in a northern town, which I purchased 8 years ago for £95,000 with a deposit of £5,000 which I'd saved with a little help (a lot of help actually!:rotfl:) from Bank of Mum, Bank of Dad and Bank of Granny!

I have a partner of nearly 4 years, who is my soulmate. He's not as savvy with his pennies as I am, but our finances are completely separate at the moment - maybe this will change in the future.

Income

I am self-employed as a franchisee and have 2 main streams of income within this framework, (one which is relatively fixed and one which can vary a lot depending on season) along with a few "extras" which come in from time to time from other things I do.
If I hit certain targets, I can achieve large bonuses.:T

Expenses

I am not extravagant by any stretch and usually live well within my means. I try to plan for the future but never seem to achieve anything major, like finally paying of Credit Cards, or building an Emergency Fund etc.

I currently overpay £102 a month on my mortgage each month, every month, and I've done my best to shave all my monthly outgoings to a minimum. I'm not able to re-mortgage at present as I don't have enough equity in my house yet, so this is something I'd like to work on as it'll give me options.

I currently use YNAB software to help me budget and have been doing so for 8 months now. Best £37 I've spent in ages as it really helps me to see where my money goes. I record on it, my business finances and personal finances too and it's saved me a lot and helped me get my CC debts down. More about this in a future post.

My goals:

First goal is to work towards paying of my CC debt once and for all.
It's all on 0% cards which saves me buckets but the downside of this is that there's no urgency to clear the balances. :wall:
This needs to change!

Second goal is to build an emergency fund (and to carry out some long overdue house maintenance too).

Third goal is to then work on the mortgage.

I'm lucky in that if I want a payrise, I just need to get off my backside and go out and promote my business and this will do the trick. It'll also help me achieve my bonuses too.

Well, that's enough for now - if you're still reading then well done - I've not bored you senseless!! Or maybe I have but you're a glutton for punishment!!:rotfl::rotfl:

Please pop by and see how I'm doing - I need all the encouragement I can get!

Thistle xxx;)

Luckyinlife · 10 August 2015 at 1:21PM

Hey there seems like you have a great life :]

whats left on the mortgage ? currently ?

Thistlewhistle · 10 August 2015 at 1:55PM

Hi Lucky, thanks for posting!

At end of July 2015, there was approximately £81,750 outstanding. My opening balance in May 2007 was £90,202, so I've paid off about £8,452 in 8 years 2 months.

The mortgage term is 35 years:eek: but I hope to make serious inroads into this as I go along.

My rate of interest was 6.09%:eek::eek::eek::eek: back in 2007 but for the first 2 years, interest rates rose to 5.75% so I was not too bad. At the end of Year 5, the rate dropped to the standard variable of 4.79% and last year, they gave me a 0.25% reduction for loyalty, which means I'm currently on 4.54%, which I know is high but I'm not able to do anything about it right now.:mad:

T;)

Luckyinlife · 10 August 2015 at 2:20PM

Thats ok makes for great reading :]

Ya i know how you feel my rate now is 6.49% currently waiting to remortgage now next month hopefully

only way to pay more capital of with rates of 4% and above is to overpay a lot i over payed 2.3k after my first mortgage to get it to around 65k

81k remaining tho isnt that bad may i ask the monthly repayments ? do you know your current LTV ?

Thistlewhistle · 10 August 2015 at 2:28PM

Right, I'm off to do a little job this evening which won't pay massive amounts, but will bring in £25 for a couple of hours work.
As soon as I receive it, I'll pay a little more of the CC debt to bring it down.

I've got some transactions to enter onto YNAB and then I'll know where I stand with my other liabilities. Once I know what I'm dealing with, I can really put plans in place.

Thistle

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS · 10 August 2015 at 6:49PM

Hi Thistle, I've found you

Only advice I can give is keep posting on your diary. It's the main thing which has kept me accountable and focussed.

Look forward to hearing about your journey.

Best wishes Tilly x x x

Thistlewhistle · 10 August 2015 at 10:51PM

Hi Tilly,

Great to have you looking in. You're past advice has been a godsend. Bless you xx

Thistlewhistle · 10 August 2015 at 10:56PM

Hi Lucky,

Current repayments are £448 per month but I pay £550 and have done since the rate dropped in June 2012. I just kept on paying at the old rate as I wasn't missing it and it made me feel like I was making an effort.

All my current CC debt is at 0% so I could have channelled it there but I'm doing ok with the CC debt. I currently have about £5k on CC but don't owe that much as £3k sits in my S@nt@nder 123 a/c so I get the 3% interest rate. That's why I need to do my YNAB transactions to find the current true value of my debt.

Tx

midnight_child · 10 August 2015 at 11:06PM

Hey Thistle:whistle:

Said I'd be keeping tabs on you!!

Do you know what the current value of the property is?
I don't understand why you cant change off the 4.54% variable rate.

Even if the property value is lower now than in 2007, you have paid off a reasonable sum so may have enough for say 90%LTV (would need a valuation of 91k). Maybe you are not as stuck as you think.

MC

Thistlewhistle · 10 August 2015 at 11:08PM

Well I went and did this job tonight and haven't calculated my earnings from it yet but guess it'll be in the region of £25.

Had to spend some money on groceries (£4.74) so I could eat and have milk for coffee tomorrow morning. I rarely have no spend days as I've discovered if I buy my food daily, I spend less across the month and am less wasteful because I throw less food away. This took some working out but YNAB helped me to see this. I'm no longer swayed by the supermarket offers unless I can freeze, or it's on non perishables. I buy to order. With OH living 35 miles away I was finding I was buying £80 of food a week and chucking most of it because I'd be staying at his whilst the food was going off in my fridge at home. False economy. Now I decide what I want to have for lunch & dinner, and go and buy it, eating any leftovers the next day.

I'm on operation "freezer-empty" this month as August is a typically less lucrative month for my business. September will pick up though so I'm biding my time and munching through my accumulated frozen stuff.
I've budgeted £100 for groceries for August.

I'm doing ok so far having spend £13.73 and we're 1/3 of the way through. Will have to buy fruit & veggies tomorrow though as running out.

Thistle;)

Thistlewhistle · 10 August 2015 at 11:15PM

Hi Midnight,

I have to admit I'm not right good at working out all this mortgage speak. I'm not sure what my house is worth although I do know I'm in one of the cheapest areas in the country. The house next door sold for £85k a couple of years ago, and they have a loft conversion and nicer kitchen than mine so I don't think there's much give in the system. I did look at it about 3 years ago, just after my rate change at the end of my fixed term / penalty clause time limit but LTV was still too high.

To be honest, I don't really know how/where to start. I'd be scared that valuations and stuff would cost me money which I can't spare at present.

Thistle

Thistle grasps the nettle! Again....and no sting this time!!

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