I want to go home....

FrenchFancy

Hi everyone,

I've been a long time reader of these forums, and have been inspired by so many of you, so have now decided to sign up and post my own journey. I hope you'll help me along the way.

I'm 35, married, no kids. I have a total unsecured debt, as of today, of £75030. I have a mortgage remaining of £81000 for a property I don't live in (more on that later). I earn very well, but this job has me working away in France. My wife, and my life, are in the UK. We are newly weds and I miss her terribly. I just want to go home......

Our story:

We've been together since early 2007, and were married last month. I had quite a large amount of outstanding debt from education (good debt) but was paying it back at a good rate of around £1200 a month. I bought a house on my own in July 2007. Yep, the height of the market. Big mistake, because I did no research on the house, the area, anything. Couldn't lose on property I was told! You've heard it a million times before I'm sure. I took out a loan to do some renovations. I tried to carry out some of the work myself and ended up making such a bad job that it ended up costing more money to put right all of the things that I had messed up! I ran out of money. Big lesson learned! The house was half done and uninhabitable ( no running water, heating etc).

With the loans, the mortgage, my education payments, and some credit card debt, before I knew it I was spending all of my salary every month. We rented a small flat as the house wasn't liveable. The costs were low but we were still living beyond our means and the credit card debt was getting larger and larger. We would have lots of arguments about money and we were both really miserable.

A job opportunity came up that would double my salary. The problem: it was in France, but we thought there was no other way to fix our problems. That was three years ago. I'm still here. I commute back to the UK for my days off, which are never long enough. The debt has been coming down. The house remains unfinished, but now has issues with damp. It has been empty for five years! Our relationship has been much better without the money issues (although a large debt remains). We don't spend anything on luxuries. We are focussed on clearing this debt. We miss each other very much and, now that we are married, want to be together full time, and live our lives the way we should.
So. My task. Clear £75030 in a year. Get home. Live my life. Maybe one day I can finish the house!

beanielou

Happy shiney new diary
Keep plodding & keep posting!

Igamogam

*subscribes*

whitewing

I enjoy a good love story, I look forward to seeing your progress..

castlelough

Good luck French Fancy! That is a huge goal for the coming year! Wishing you every success! You CAN do this!

ragstoricheswannabe

They say there is nothing like a goal to help with motivation.............and you certainly have one!!! Good luck, will be subscribing!

dorothy52

Oh my oh my, your love for each other shines through, how lucky you both are to have each other. I too will quietly stand on the side lines and cheer you on. Frankly the title of your thread made me catch my breath and the content almost moved me to tears. What a fantastic and achievable goal you have, young man. I have no doubt that you will meet and even exceed your expectations and look forward to watching your progress and celebrating your success with you.

I wonder does your wife know about this thread? It would be nice for her to share your virtual journey with your new virtual friends and for her too to know how many supporters you already have and no doubt how many more you will have on board.

I am inspired. You are inspiring. You WILL do this.

hallsy85

Hi FrenchFancy - inspiring story, I'll definitely be subscribing, and I'm sure the two of you will pull through this - it makes you stronger if anything!

Keep us up to date, it sounds like you've got some plans to deal with it, so all the best.

trulymadlydeeply_indebt!

Bonjour!

Have you looked at Whatsthecost.com? On there, take a look at the Snowball Calculator. You input your debt totals and the APR's into it and it "snowballs" your payments, advising you which to pay off first. Logic dictates that you deal with the highest APR ones first, however, some people find ticking off the smaller debts first is better psychologially. Play around with the minimum payments and let it calculate your debt free date. It is eye-opening how a few extra pounds here and there chip away at the end date. It is also mind-boggling how much interest you can save (or not!) if you don't focus.

Bon chance.

TMD xx

FrenchFancy

Thanks TMD

Yup, I've done the snowball calculator and have a rather large spreadsheet of exactly who to pay and when for every month until I'm debt free. May 1st, 2014 is achievable but only if I stick to my plan, and perhaps with a few wee injections of cash from eBay sales, mystery shopping etc!
I have a big incentive to get this gone, and a good opportunity to do so as when I'm in France virtually every day is a NSD (long work days).

So this morning £40 went out by direct debit towards my Creation credit card debt. I closed the account so now it's just the balance being paid down.

Another rotten day here weather wise, and I hear it has been glorious back home! No doubt the rain will follow me when I return home on Wednesday evening.

Something to look forward to: we are having a little party on Saturday afternoon to celebrate the wedding. The actual wedding was a very small affair, only nine guests. It was perfect, but we wanted to throw a little party for all of the people we didn't invite. Finger food, a few drinks and a good chat (and hopefully good weather). Will be great to see everyone.

Deloria87

Have a lovely weekend Hope the weather is better where you are than here!