First post - good website

PapaDave_2

Hello all

This is my first post as I have only just got round to looking at this website. I had heard about it but just never got round to it.

Good to see all the advice about cutting back to repay debt. It all makes great sense and I can relate to many of the tips people are sharing on this excellent website.

My story is that 6 years ago I carried a good few thousand on a credit card, owned no home and despite earning good money (aound £60k at the time) in London routinely went hugely overdrawn. That all changed when I met my now wife. Despite being 4 years younger than me (27 at the time) and earning approx 1/3 of my income she had over £20k saved and no debt at all! I simply couldnt comprehend how that was possible, I was mystified. However, she challenged me about my wasteful ways and educated me about the value of my own money (I'm a chartered accountant - great with other peoples money but at the time useless with my own). She made me realise that perhaps buying a £1500 watch on a whim, buying a £25k new BMW on a high interest finance deal because I wanted one despite getting the underground to work, paying £1200 per month in rent, blowing around £200 on boozing/clubbing every weekend, blowing £400 per month on meals out/akeaway food, blowing £400 per month on designer clothes, £50 per month on a cable package, £150 per month on mobile bills, not caring or thinking about "trivial matters" such as the cost of insurances/utilities etc etc was REDICULOUS!

Since meeting my now lovely wife, I have undergone a "financial rebirth". Over the first couple (actually I think it was more like 3.5 years thinking back) of years we super economised, addressing every single aspect of our (my!) spending, a challenge for me but a rewarding one, and we managed to add around £80k to her initial savings. We now own a home worth £400k with a £250k mortgage and an investment apartment in the Alps worth €350k with a €180k mortgage and have no other debt. We look at every item of expenditure and question "do we need that", shop around for everything, have monthly budgets and long term financial goals, I have knuckled down at work and achieved several promotions so that we can afford to pay the mortgages on the two properties, both of which are very low interest deals, and make overpayments most months.

All the little actions really do add up to make a huge difference. Some of the things I learnt from my wife, most of which are obvious but weren't to me:

1. Dont go to the shops at weekends. Its easy to pop to the shops at the weekend and buy what seem like a few trivial items which add up to £100+. We visit friends or have friends to stay, visit family, visit National Trust Properties having paid for an annual membership, go for walks in the country. All cheap activities more rewarding than obtaining "stuff".

2. Dont buy any ready meals or takeaways and make packed lunches for work. The takeaways bit is easier now we live in the country as there arent any nearby but tough when we were in London. We spend a good hour every evening cooking proper food and making packed lunches. It seems hard at first after a long day in the office (typically 11 to 12 hours for me) but now its simply part of our routine and we quite enjoy cooking together.

3. No wasteful memberships. We cancelled our gym memberships and bought a second hand cross trainer (£300) for home. Every morning at 6.30am I do 45 mins on it and my wife uses it in the early evening before I get home from work. Exercise does not therefore interrupt our time together or our wallets.

4. Dont buy too may magazines. Full of great ideas on ways to spend money, loaded with adverts, expensive and wasteful.

5. No Sky TV. Took a while for me to get over this one but I'm OK now, my hands have stopped shaking.

6. Very little alcohol and have friends round rather than go to the pub. We do go to out still but much less often and are very careful about drinking.

7. Fuel bills - chop and change suppliers often, always give readings or they will overcharge you 99% of the time. Also we had a multi fuel burner installed - a cheap way to heat the whole house.

8. Petrol - shop around, buy groceries from supermarkets offering discount vouchers for fuel and run the car almost dry before filling to the brim up when a discount is on offer.

9. Buy no coffees during the day. Easy to blow a few quid a day at the local Starbucks. Colleagues mock me for my large flask of tea that I take in but I'm really not sensitive enough to care and a couple have even started copying me.

10. Avoid blowing money on short term entertainment. We only buy CDs which we have considered for some time and think we will still love in years to come, we dont have a game console so dont waste money on games, we get books from the local library, we dont buy DVDs etc etc. Some people seem to be addicted to having the latest CD/DVD/games - you just dont need them and they are expensive and only entertain for a very short period of time.

11. No package holidays. Package holidays can ALWAYS be beaten on price and improved on for quality. We have always bought Easyjet flights or cheap ferry/drive deals and booked our own accommodation (including camping - very cheap). These days we book Easyjet flights and take all our holidays in our apartment in the Alps so we spend about the same on mortgage payments annually as most people spend on their holidays but we get skiing and summer holidays out of it plus a long term investment/rental income.

Those are our main methods of stretching our income so that we can overpay on the mortgages. All very personal and I appreciate that everyone has their own needs/wants/likes/dislikes so they wont be for everyone. I'll post again if I think of some more.

Older_but_not_wiser_2

Some valid points there.

(Wish I earned that much though :rolleyes: )

Well done on realising that you had to change your spending ways :T

pudding06

Well done papadave - some excellent advice, which can be followed no matter what your income level!!!!

its amazing how many financial advisors/accountants etc can be great with other people's money but really cr*p with their own, lol.

I'm not jealsous of your income though - you couldnt pay me enough to work in London, lol

pudds

Mrs_Sparkle

Well done- what an inspirational story! I too earn a good income and have run up debts while on this income that people who earn half my salary manage to avoid. I'm dealing with it now though...

Baggiebird1nil

Wow what an inspirational story.

oops_a_daisy

well done papadave and as already said, what an inspirational story :T

PapaDave_2

Thanks for the replies. I agree with the poster who said that about London. I did get to the stage where my income was climbing higher and higher (closer to £90kb by the time I left London) but life in London was dismal and I think my spending was partly a reaction to being fed up there. We now live in the country near Bristol. I earn 35% less than I did 2 years ago in London but life is so much better here.

I can't take too much credit for my story as I suspect I would be in serious debt by now if I hadn't met my wife. I forgot to mention that at about the time I met my wife I had also started going to Casino's and expensive lap dancing bars with a particular crowd of rich investment bankers I got to know through my flat mate at the time. In one weekend I spent about £1000, which was normal for those idiots, so I really was on the brink of trouble before she hauled me out. I've never looked back.

jellyang

Well done Papadave!

I could do with some tips on the 'lack of Sky TV', mine has been cut off today & my hubby has the shakes, I suspect these will get worse over the weekend when he can't watch the footie!

Just remember ......

Behind every sucessful man is a good woman
Behind every sucessful woman is a pile of ironing!!