£25,000 to clear. Ready...steady...GO

banwa

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

:T Look forward to them :rotfl:i'm sure they can't be as long and rambly as my ones are :eek:

kerri_dfw wrote: »

Nor mine enjoy the day off banwa x

Don't say you weren't warned

banwa

Bought our first house in 2004, a reasonably new build so that as first time buyers we wouldn't have to do much to it. Ha! We had so much to learn... At 9 years old, everything was just reaching the stage where it would need replacing, not helped by the fact that everything the builders did was as cheap as possible, we just hadn't looked properly before we bought it.

The bathroom leaked into the living room, and the kitchen was falling apart. The carpets were a filthy blue colour, like off of the early 90's. Obvious water damage in living room. Horrible plastic electric faux fireplace:o. Awful.

We replaced the kitchen and the bathroom in 2008; the kitchen because I was catering for 6 every other weekend, and I needed a more workable space. And the bathroom because it was damaging the rest of the house. But still the house was still grotty. We were living like students. Even my Mum would come around (and she is 'frugal' to put it politely) and ask us when we were going to replace the carpets. :rotfl:

I didn't want to get rid of the fireplace until we had replaced the carpets. I didn't want to replace the carpets until we had painted.
I didn't want to paint until we had fixed the ceiling. I actually didn't know where to start, so I just didn't start at all.:p

A switch was flicked in me about last Easter. The sealer on the bath had gone black so I ripped it off, and replaced it. It looked so much nicer and I felt all satisfied. So I told Mr B we were doing the house up, even if it meant getting further into debt.

And I am so glad we did. I love my little house now, it's lovely. It has slightly changed my life, I am always on top of cleaning and washing and ironing. I feel organised and grown up.:T

Sorry I know this is a long post but I want to be able to read back through this diary and remember where we spent our money. And I am quite proud of what did with the house this year. It's probably normal for most people to have a nice house but it's a first for me:D

banwa

Our spends since October 2010

Home/ home improvements
TV unit £350
Wooden flooring and skirting £600
Gift for friend for laying flooring £65
Carpets bedrooms hall and stairs £700
Print £100
Ceiling replastering £160
Nest of tables £40
Painting £3,250
Lighting £250
Windows £3,800
Paint £200
Headboard £50
Door handles £35
Cutlery £150
Subtotal £9,750

Electronics
TV £800
Laptop £350
Car £8,000
Gaming seat £290
Subtotal £9,440

Holidays and celebrations
Isle of man £800
Center parcs £1,300
Friend's 40th £200
My birthday £120
Subtotal £2,420

Grand total £21,610



So my thoughts on this are

• If we hadn't spent this, would we now be debt free?
• But at least we know where the money went that we are in debt for
• However, essentially none of this came out of our wages which means that we spent ALL our wages and then all of this on top, doesn't it?:eek:

banwa

Still to do

• Put some fencing around the bins
• Pave the back 'garden'
• New curtains for the living room.
• Repaint the 'feature wall'
• Clean out loft
• Retouch paint at light switch
• Sort out front garden (this was done and returfed in early 2010 but Mr Mole had other ideas):p
• Sort out kitchen taps (they were installed strangely)
• Replace bathroom sink. (it's ok but small and cheap and a sink 'makes' a bathroom. when we come to sell I don't want it to look so obviously cheap)

If I can tick these off throughout the year and still get the debt sub £10k, I will be delighted. I guess I will have to keep coming back to the post, and to no doubt add to it.

ScarlettOHara_2

When you have done your house Banwa what about tackling mine?

banwa

What else?

We got married in 2008. That's a dear do. My Dad gave us £5,000 but we spent even more than that.

We wanted a small wedding. Of course, it totally escalated, as did our spends. I don't know exactly what we spent, I think I stopped logging it after a while, it was too depressing. I do remember that the week before the wedding, we had no money for anything, all credit at its limit, so much so that I needed a new foundation and couldn't afford it. Luckily my lovely sister bought one for me.:)

• Venue food and drinks for 70 - £3780
• Registry office fees £300
• Photographer £600
• Hair - £35
• Make up - did my own
• Flowers £200
• Wedding gown £870
• Rest of bridal party outfits etc £200
• Groom party suit hire £200
• Cars - free
• Bus £150
• Stationery, postage etc £70
• Cake - free
• Ceilidh and disco £600
• Hotel on wedding night £90
• Honeymoon £1500

Total £8,625:eek:

So not including the honeymoon that was £7125. I don't think we could have done the 'white wedding' any cheaper. This was registry office not church, hired suits, a friend doing the cake, another friend doing flowers, a friend putting ribbons on their posh car, a photographer filling his diary on a Friday last minute so doing it cheaply (and he was so so wonderful), doing the stationery myself, doing my own make-up. We got a great discount at the reception venue because it was a Friday, and it was last minute (the venue is beautiful, we were so lucky).

Actually, that's a lie. Now I have properly discovered MSE, I am sure I could do it cheaper now.:D

I know it's not a lot compared to some weddings but it was still nearly £4k of extra expense. Still, no regrets, my Dad got to walk me down an aisle (the registry office is quite big and it's it a beautiful georgian building), my Mum got to host it, and see me in a big meringue dress.:D:D

Knitting_Nora

Just my opinion, honey, but I think you've spent well on the house and the wedding - and it's really about what you do now that counts for MSE....the fact that you've got your house sorted (almost), and managed a wedding too is just amazing, and I bet will help you be even more thrifty in the long run, because you're largely happy in yourself and your environment.

Be smug - 5 minutes...we'll wait.

Nora.x

GreenSaints

Me and my BF have another BOM loan (£30k!) which is all down to house improvements. We're slowly paying her back, but house renovations have stopped because we can't afford to pay for them! Swings and roundabouts really......

Not married or planning on being, but that figure seems quite low considering what you can spend on a wedding.

Needless to say, you have a fabulous home and had a great wedding, and you are sorting out paying for it now. Sounds like a good idea to me

kerri_dfw

Think how much happier you are now you have a lovely house I think you've done the right think. Debt is depressing, so living in a fabulous house whilst your paying it off is definitely the right way to go, and you got in there before the prices skyrocketed.

debtfreewannabe321

Wow at least you know where all your debt comes from! I know that 4k of mine was a car, and 2k was paying mortgage whilst tenants lived in there not paying me (grr) and another 1k was moving & wedding (we really did it cheap!!! Lol) but the rest well i couldn't say :eek: now that's bad!

And how lovely to be in a nice home that you love and know that it is all done (nearly) so you won't have to be forking out for that once your debt free