Ultimate Challenge. 457 days / £16600!!!

Siouxsie32

Evening everyone :wave: How are you all?

By my reckoning, there are precisely 300 days left of this challenge - time to stop and take stock. Kat, by this point you should owe just under £11,000 if you were to continue at the same pace for the rest of the year. You owe less than £10,000 so you're well ahead of the game :j:j:j:j The fact that you've also raised money for a holiday and a house move means you're streets ahead of yourself! At least you know that you don't need to push so hard and you can afford to take the odd weekend off and spend a bit extra on your pre-holiday pamper and still be ahead of the game :T:T:T:T:T Super well done so far :beer: (non-alcoholic of course )

And lilt :T:T:T:T:T:T:T to you as well!!! Brilliant news - all tales from the debt free side of life are most welcome

I'm keeping up, just! I'm about £210 ahead of where I should be at this stage. I was seriously hindered by a woeful February (through no fault of my own) but now it's all back on track and I'm confident I'll be crossing the finish line ahead of time...although, there's a whole new challenge after that - maybe I should start my own diary for my 2014 final financial countdown!

I received my letter today from the council to confirm that I'm on the electoral register so I'll send a copy to all the credit reference agencies and hopefully my credit file will be shiny and sparkly enough to secure a 0% credit card of some sort to help with the debt busting. Currently, I'm paying around £600 a month in interest alone just servicing my debt. That's the equivalent of £9000 pre-tax per year :eek: Any amount that can be shifted to 0% is a good thing!

In the meantime, I shall continue to scrimp, save and do everything I can to raise a bit more money and get rid of this debt.

Happy day 157 Here's to the next 300 :dance:

NinjaSavingKat

Siousxie you are so bang on the money....today we are at T-Minus 299 days!!!.. This means

• £9787 / 299 = £33 a day.
• £33 x 31 days ( rough estimate ) = £1023 monthly
• £1023 - £430 ( monthly re-payments ) = £593 Extra Required.
• Delete March and April as I can't make over payments during these months = 299 - 54 = 245 days left if extra payments started on the 1st May.
• On 1st May Total = £8927 / 245 = £36 a day.
• £8927 / 8 Months = £1115 - 430 = £685 EXTRA PER MONTH.

Hmmmmmmm I think it just might be possible - extra £700. Nice round figure!

Siouxsie32

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

Hmmmmmmm I think it just might be possible - extra £700. Nice round figure!

Yes, possible (or, in your case, more than probable!). And an extra £15 x 8 months = enough to pay for your flight back to NI at Christmas

NinjaSavingKat

I might even stretch to a little Christmas something for the parentals if they are good!:rotfl:

Sholly

Good afternoon all,

I’ve been completely AWOL – I’m sorry!!

Lilt – congratulations on becoming debt-free, that’s such an achievement!! I bet it feels amazing!!

And Kat, under £10k!!! WOW!!!! Your holiday is definitely going to be well deserved. I hope that your new home brings a new positive outlook; financial freedom will be amazing but you need to look after yourself and your happiness too, try not to sacrifice that.

I’ve had a manic few weeks – lots of ups and downs. It all started with that bloomin’ snow. I heard a ‘drip drip drip’ coming from the kitchen and found a huge bubble in the wallpaper full of water. The bubble popped and a nice little waterfall poured into my kitchen. Once the snow had melted, the waterfall stopped but in the meantime it had pulled the tiles and wallpaper off the walls not to mention the damage to the roof inside and out. So, I called the insurance company who came out the following week – the decided not to cover ANYTHING! So the roofer came out and quoted £1k, I was devastated…and there were tears! This would push my debt free date back by months. And in the short term, I wouldn’t have any spending money for the holiday that we’d already booked which included money for food etc. However, and this is when things seemed to change, once the roofer had been up on the roof and had a better look, the total cost of repairs…£80!! The whole flat roof didn’t need replacing immediately and he said it can wait another couple of years. I can’t tell you how happy I was! And since then, things have definitely be on the up. I’ve moved teams at work so I’m much happier, and there’s overtime!!!! As a result, I’ve been able to pay extra off my debt and it now stands at £4,500 (I hadn’t updated my signature since 18.02.13 and had no idea what the figure stood at – it was £5,536.37 – that’s £1,036.37 in 18 days!!!! I did have a payday in there though) and can move my debt-free date forward, I’m thinking to 31.08.13 but I’ll have to see how achievable this is. I’ve booked the October half term holidays off work just in case I can afford to have the holiday that I missed out on last year. I know two holidays in one year would be a bit much but as soon as my debt is paid off, my money is going straight onto my mortgage to try and meet my mortgage-free target of 30.06.18 so I feel like I should have this reward for getting to the point where my only debt is my mortgage.

Sholly x

liltdiddylilt

Thanks for the congrats everyone! I am loving, loving, LOVING being debt free. It is like a weight that has been hanging over me for years has just gone in a !!!!!! of smoke. Hard won, but well worth it!!

I am glad that the repairs were so much cheaper Sholly! £1k would have made me cry too!!!

Siouxsie, you are doing amazingly as well. I cannot believe the sheer amount of debt people are shifting. It seems like my total debt would have been cleared in 2 months by you and Kat!! Haha!

I have GOOD news!!! I have been back at work for 2 months today... Yesterday, was my annual staff review. I got a £3000 payrise!!!!!! They even offered to buy me an iPhone/iPad instead of the pay rise to help my tax credits not mess up but it was ok! I'd rather earn my money than get it handed to me just because I procreated!

It's the dreaded wedding 2 weeks tomorrow, with me as bridesmaid and my ex (who owes me £2700 - & refuses to take me off his mortgage/house deeds) is the USHER but I have amazing shoes, perfect skin, have lost weight & have my beautiful family to show off.

Life couldn't get much better right now!!!!

Hugs all x

Sholly

Siousxie, sorry I missed you out there. Being ahead of plan is fantastic, well done! It's amazing how good we're all doing xx

NinjaSavingKat

Good Day to you all....

Well now.. I love checking in here and seeing such great news! Sholly that is SUPERB news from you Kitten.. I can't believe you have paid off that much in 18 days but I am so proud of you! I have £1200 sat in my account ready to use for my house move and holiday and I really want to chuck it at my bike loan. I am one of those people who desperatly need to be told to take a break, find it hard to relax, feel guilty and ultimatly never take holidays due to the stress they cause me...:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

By the way I am sat here munching a Braeburn apple.. @ £1.70 for 5 of them I am being very MSE and only have half a day as they are so big...:p

So I found a house to move into! With someone from a different deparpartment at work which makes life easier. I will be within walking distance of my little town ( where I feel entirely at home and did my degree when I first came to London ), the cinema I am paying for but not getting to, a local leisure centre which I am thinking of joining, a Morrisons and a B&Q to amuse me on days off..(:D)..basically not far from a very large intersection that has a lot more amenities than I don't have now.

The house has fitted ward-robes and a lovely bedroom, garden, living room , miniscule kitchen though, and 1 bathroom between us. My landlady is in her late 50's and retiring soon so the house will always be warm and quiet.. I am currently down-sizing all the carp I have to make way for a minimalistic life.. I have been ruthless and am parting with £62 worth of books to Amazon's trade-in but have fingers crossed that they will all be accepted as "good"... although the best thing is I am paying only £17 more than I am not... From £433 to £450. And this is all inclusive.. and Wifi. I could not be happier and have truly been blessed.

So... my dilemma...once written and submitted I call upon you MSE'er's to allow me to realise, through a rational though process, clear instructions and a better argument that my own to set me back on the straight and narrow...:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:....

Here goes....

We are all aware of the housing crisis in Ireland. Due to this, my brother has told me, Ireland is always the first to suffer and the last to benefit from any upturn.

There are houses being sold for around £10000-£35000 and I want one of them. My logic.... my repayments would be low, very low. My brother can assess any property for possible larger scale issues ( asbestos / damp / electrics etc ) and I can plan ahead. I have two properties in mind.. one at each of the prices above.. ..

Now there is to be a very large scale event held in my home town late this year which will put it on the map. Once people realise just how amazingly beautiful the place is it will sky rocket tourism and eventually down the line - house prices.

My logic.... buy now, invest the basics ( new carpets, kitchen suit, bathroom and plastering )... and rent for a while. However even writing this makes me realise how difficult it would be and I think I just needed to put it out here to some savvy spenders like yourselves to see the madness in my method....

The cons...

• What if it doesn't sell.
• What if it doesn't rent.
• Can I afford it on top of my current out-goings.
• Can I afford to use a managing agent.
• My brother works out of town and my Dad is getting on in years - can I then travel over whenever it's required to sort the "problems" that might arise.
• The £10000 house needs a lot of work including a new heating system - is this viable for the remote location despite the size of plot thats on offer?
• How much will the renovation cost? Can I afford repayments on a larger mortgage to cover this?
• Australia or houses in Ireland..?
• Am I punching above my weight as the initial fee is so low? ( more than likely for a good reason)...
• I have no deposit and will be relying entirely on my monthly income which is stretched as it is.
• I cannot rely on overtime in any shape or form.

The pro's..

• If I don't buy it now I will miss a massive investment potential.
• My home town is about to be put on the map in the most unimaginable way possible - I should utilise this asap.
• House prices right now can only go up.
• A refurbed house close to the £35000 property is currently on sale of £695,000 due to both being with close proximity to a picturesque lake...
• A £50,000 loan ( to cover necessary development of the £10000 house) over 30 years is easily managable knowing full well I will pay ot off a LOT sooner or sell it well before then.
• Both houses have potential for different buying/renting markets.

I am running out of Pro's. I think I have technically talked myself out of this. What an idea though... perhaps for my DFD I will aim for this... who knows....:)

NinjaSavingKat

Okay I have read more... I can't buy a house. What a ridiculous idea. Just needed to get it out of my system so to speak..;-)

NinjaSavingKat

On another happier note.. I have only £490 left on my student loan!:j:j:j....£7800 on my land.... and about £1400 on my Bike loan.... So I shan't be calculating the student loan again as I am basing my "over payments" on what I get after ALL deductions which includes my student loan. I am guessing it will now take around 3 months to repay as I am averaging between £220 and £140 a month but at the moment hitting overtime like its going out of fashion.. I will get a more accurate figure at the end of April though...

So the bike will be hammered next. If I have managed to put away £1100 in one month following all the OT for my impending house move I am sure I can do it again and get money in for the bike. May and June - bike months.... by June the loan will be minus a further £399 due to monthly payments so I am looking at around £500 a month in M and J..
( Although I might plan on ploughing in more than £500 )...

Then from July onwards until the end of the year ( 6 months of the year left ) my land loan will be at £6900 ( roughly ) ....I will be looking at over-payments of £860.....:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

**Groan**** ...