Debt free in ten years-my new, more realistic challenge.

poohbear59

In ten years I will be 61!!
My original plan was to be debt free by the time I was 55. I have had a major shift in life plan since then and have almost got my first business up and running.


Our mortgage is £114500
Owed to family members £9000
We still need to borrow to complete the business and get it up and running.

My original estimate to complete everything was £35000. With help and advice from people on here, offers of physical help from friends and family, items from freegle and friends I have reduced the costs by £10,000.

We have lived as frugally as possible for a long time now. I think my LBM was around six years ago when I had to give up my £33000 a year job. One thing I have learned is that we could suddenly change from £60,000 a year to £15000 and not only survive but also still have a good quality of life.

We manage to feed 4-6 adults on less that £150 a month, every extra penny goes into the setting up of the business.

I make all food from scratch, grow as much as we can, keep hens, 'make do and mend'. And I enjoy it too

I think my total to pay off will be £150000 by 2020. Final figure will be decided when the business is complete and up and running.

My ultimate plan is to then set up another sideline related to home cooking and old fashioned crafts such as rug making.

poohbear59

We are well on the way to completing a barn conversion which will be let as a holiday cottage but have had to re-mortgage twice and have borrowed from family too. I had to give up work because of health problems six years ago.

DH began working as a builder 's labourer 14 years ago to learn the skills to do our own renovation. He is now a builder in his own right but has spent a lot of time working on our property in the last couple of years.

I am going to rejoin Make £10 a day in October.

I should have said earlier that I am on IB but am quite determined to get off benefits and do something more worhtwhile with my life again.

chevalier

good luck with your new journey. will continue to read updates with interest· Have you been given any help by the govt to retrain etc because of the IB?
chev

poohbear59

chevalier wrote: »

good luck with your new journey. will continue to read updates with interest· Have you been given any help by the govt to retrain etc because of the IB?
chev

I have just completed a business set up course run by In Biz in conjunction with the job centre. The woman who helped me was an amazing person whose life experiences made her an ideal role model and the best person to help me:D

Today my cheque from a relative cleared so we have a positive balance at the bank but lots of building materials to pay for which we got on account.

The plumber has fitted the bath in the downstairs bathroom today. He owes us £300 so we are making the most of his time with DS3 helping him where he can.

poohbear59

DH has been made for some work he did recently. It will pay for materials for the renovation.

I also procured some fleece jackets (free) today so I can continue with my rag rug making. Last year one was sold for £30 in aid of the village hall but I have since found they sell for around £100. That has encouraged me to try to do more.

Our hens are laying now so I have put up a sign offering free range eggs at £1 per half dozen. Every little helps:)

poohbear59

Today's total debt is £123,500! It is going to grow before it starts to decrease!

poohbear59

Still no remortgage arranged yet. We have a local investment company coming to see us this week to see if our business idea is viable and worth lending to us. Fingers crossed that we make it through the visit and manage to acquire some cash so we can complete the cottage.

poohbear59

We have worked out all of our finances and at present owe;
Lloydstsb cc £825 @ 6.9 %
Santander £750@ 0%
Barclays kitchen loan £11400 @ 8.9%
Mortgage £113500

Our business loan is going to be around £30000 over 10. Years at 14% interest so I know which I am going
to aim to pay off first.

My plan is to save as much as I can on food, fuel and heating to decrease our outgoings.

We still have a lot of decluttering to do in the house which we could car boot in the Spring. At the moment not a lot else springs to mind. We have already done all the recommended routes to cutting spending.

poohbear59

I thought I should update where we are now.
We now have more debt but have our own business.

Owe a total of £55,700 plus mortgage of £113000!

I am still determined to be debt free by the time I am 60.

ETA I forgot the Barclays kitchen loan of £11400, just set up last month

poohbear59

Another £359 paid off.

DS3 and I are going to see if we can do holiday things local to home and avoid spending. So today is going to be NSD no 1

Other than basics like milk, bread, onions and petrol we are going to try to get to the end of the month without spending.

poohbear59

We paid off another £359 today but with interest added we now owe £29741 to Barclays. It doesn't feel as though it is going down yet but we added bank charges to it so it is slow to get below the £30,000.
Our aim still is to have everything paid off by the time we are 61 or 60 if we can then DH can retire.

Next challenge is to pay off the £850 supplier invoice. So far I have £150 saved towarsd it.

We should thank my cousin who brought us a massive bag of pasta and 4 tins of tuna to help keep the wolf from the door.