Newlyweds: J_pink's debt free diary

J_pink

Thanks Compingirl. I leave work soon and promise to catch up and read your posts!

Major breakthrough...paid off our 10K car loan!! Woohoo. Now driving round in a 20 year old Mercedes (thanks Mum -in-law!) but saving £200 a month in debt repayment. Going to need to tighten my belt from August again as I am on Maternity Allowance. Think I may be eligible for other benefits just checking.

Baby is due 17th October and we have already decked out the nursery with free furniture, freebie clothes from my sister, charity shop bargains and I have bought a sewing machine to make some beautiful linens. I can't wait to finish work and start making things.

Compingirl

Good for you, many folks run up huge debts buying for a new baby and they don't need hardly anything! Believe me there is plenty of time for that as they get older!

Lucky you for some wonderful times ahead cgx

J_pink

Update!

I am now off work and enjoying some me time before the baby arrives. I'm pretty pleased that our finances have not stopped us getting all the things we need. I've learnt to be really thrifty but I've still managed to end up with nice things for the baby. Recent freebies include:

- Free Car from Mother-in-law now being sold as we saved £2K for a little 4x4 much safer and more economical on fuel. Might get £900 for the merc.
- Free pram and matching car set from Mamas and Papas
- Free cot
- 3 x binliners of Next baby clothes
- Free steriliser, bottles, bouncy chair, etc all donated
- Plus a competition prize from Mother and Baby magazine (toy) - FAB!

The main things is we have paid off the second loan so total debt now stands at around £10K and we have around 1K saved for a house deposit.

J_pink

J_pink wrote: »

Hello!

I am one half of newlyweds. Last month was mine and Hubby's light bulb moment!

We started our lives together £13,000 in debt - and that was before the wedding day! An accumulation of nothingness; debt mainly holidays in the sun and student debt.

We owe:

• £8,400 on a Halifax Loan at 9% APR
• £3,000 on Virgin credit card 0% until next May - NOW £1,250
• £9,900 on a Tesco Finance loan for our car (worth £9,000) at 7.9% APR
• Our outgoings are £1,120 a month - I've got this down from previous £1600!
• We earn £2,400 a month as hubby got a second job.
• We aim to be debt free by the end of next year.

UPDATE!

It is 6 months since I last posted and hubby and I have just put an offer in and had it accepted on our first house. :TThe ONLY way this was possible was having saved up 5% deposit and had a gifted 5% deposit to add to it (from the seller). We also looked at houses below our monthly budget so it would still be affordable if monthly interest rates went up.

We have been renting and saving for the last 3 years.
Our monthly budget is now going to be:

Mortgage £580
Loan payments £200 - had to increase to over 5 years to pay for furniture
Credit Card £30
TOTAL DEBT now £10,000 loan and £2,000 credit card
[STRIKE]Sky TV £34[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]BT Phone £22[/STRIKE]
Internet £10
Mobiles £50
Council Tax [STRIKE]£105[/STRIKE] now £90
Car Insurance [STRIKE]£900[/STRIKE] now £600 as nicer area!
Utilities £90
Groceries £280 (slightly more as baby formula and nappies)
Childcare £360

New total monthly spend = £1800 ish

Leftover from wages = £800 :rotfl:

Since my last post we have had a baby boy who is now 6 months old. He doesn't cost that much extra really, just the childcare, but as I'm now a qualified teacher I am earning more now and so it doesn't sting as much!

It's a shame we've had to take out more debt to furnish the house but I know we can afford to pay it all off within 3 years and I refuse to keep living with cheap nasty furniture. I will give the house a quick makeover and buy a few quality items that will last us years. No sofa's on credit or anything.