Post wedding debt plan

Pengwern

Just updated signature. Sp wrote off our energy charges due to the shocking service. Really pleased as that is 3 months free fuel. New dd is now £24/month but I know we can get that lowered as on our big house we only pay £19/month. Tyres still have not hit the cc, money is put aside if it ever does. Blind material purchased so the flat can look a bit more like home. Job still uncertain so we are looking at letting our cottage as a holiday let. Debating whether to upgrade my phone, it is 8 yrs old but I only pay £10/month.

Pengwern

It has been a while and quite a bit has happened. Blinds for the flat have been made so it now. Feels a lot more cosy and we can sleep at night. Job has been confirmed so just in the process of handing over my old job. I can then finally put in for home working and my daily 80mile commute is a thing of the past. Tried to be as good as I can with spending money, I have good weeks and bad weeks. Still not spending more than I earn but not saving very much if anything. Transferred the cc to a new 0% deal but I could not move it all so I have used our savings to repay the remaining £1000 before it starts acruing interest. Therefore the cc is now standing at £6,000, the family loan has dropped to £9,400 so small progress is being made.

I just received my inheritance and could wipe out all the debt however I would rather stash it away and keep paying off each month while it is all interest free. We will see how much is left when the interest free period is over and make another decision then. I have 18 months to think about it.

Season is nearly over so some much needed holiday has been booked. We have yet to decide if we will go away. We keep mulling it over but no decision made yet.

Cottage holiday letting is more complicated than I ever thought it would be. I have had 4 firms round and all want different things and the price they will rent it varies wildly. Still also not found a company that will do the changeovers. So until that bit is sorted we cannot move forward. One thing I will say is as we did not sign on the line straight away with the letting companies they are all now falling over themselves dropping the contract term, their cut and the price they will let it at. Note to anyone thinking about letting their house I would not accept their first offer.

So current debt is decreasing and not getting any worse. However I could do better on the debt busting.

Pengwern

Holiday letting the cottage has been scraped but we have decided to let it on a long term let. It went on the market the other week, we are in no desperate hurry as it will mean squeezing a 3 bed house into a 2 bed flat. The rest of our stuff will go round family, storage or it will be sold or given away. We have decided that if it rents spend 1 year in the flat will enable us to get rid of the debt, save some money and decide what we want to do next. So each time we get frustrated with the lack of space we can just think of those reasons for doing so.

Managed to whittle the cc down to £5,800 and the family loan to £8,300 so doing ok at the moment. Inheritance is in savings and it is taking a lot of will power not to throw it at the debt. But that would be slightly silly as all debt is 0% so need to earn some interest while I can. It is also our cushion if something goes very wrong and means every spare penny left at the end of the month goes to the debt.

Pengwern

We had our first few people to look at our cottage to rent it on Saturday. A few seemed very positive others liked it but not what they wanted. So all in all I think it went quite well. Just have to wait and see if any actually take it. Have some more viewings booked in for Monday. Spent most of the day trying to sort through stuff, we have found some items to ebay which end today, lots to go to charity and we also have a lot of recycling! As we are not here in the week we miss the collection days so have now a weekend trip to the local recycling centre. Slowly taking more items to the flat on each return journey which is helping us see what we can actually fit in it! Found some more places that do storage so need to find out their prices. Have booked in a boiler service and pat testing the appliances we will leave. Just need to get the chimney swept and windows painted!

Pengwern

Well the couple who came liked the cottage but it is not for them. No more viewings booked in, I know the place is unique but I had thought we would attract more viewings. So plans for early debt repayment are put on hold a little longer. Managing to stay away from the shops and my petrol bill for my car has reduced dramatically from £300 a month to last month only spending £60! I cannot believe it but I am also now wondering where the £240 a month is going as it certainly is not being saved! Husband and I are considering getting rid of one car now I work from home. It would be the first time I would not have my own car since I was 17. Need to see how it would work, in the Summer I can see it not being too hard to cope but in the wet dark winter it could cause issues.

eBay items have been listed and one has sold so far, if all go for the starting price then I should have £30 at least by Sunday. Now the question is do I send to the cc, family loan or save to then throw at the cc once the interest kicks in?

Pengwern

Hello so today is the day I like, I feel very productive on the money front, bills all go out of the joint account and I can make a payment to the family loan. Stills ending £200 a month and that is what I sent today. Sent £200 to our savings, seems a little odd when we have debts but I am paying a standard £100/month to the cc with the savings being built up to pay as much off as possible once the 0% deal ends.

My lump sum is still tucked away and I am still debating what to do with it. It could clear our slate but while debt is not acrurring interest I feel slightly better that it is earning a little bit of interest.

eBay sales have finished, £50 made but not all paid yet! Posted the small items and two of the larger ones are being collected tonight.

I feel like debt is reducing but just very slowly. We also have someone viewing our house today so fingers crossed they like it and we like them. If they take it we will get £900/month in rent. We will have to deduct fees and storage costs but we will also not have to pay the bills for the house which will more than cover the fees and storage. So I have worked out that conservatively we will have £600/month coming to us.......

So plans are being drawn up on my spreadsheet then deleted as I do not want to jinx it. Then I keep swaying with stashing the money and throwing what we have when the 0% ends or sending the extra each month so we can see real progress. Decisions decisions.

Working at home is going well and the savings on fule and time is amazing. This morning I went for a run and was still working by 9am, before that time was used up with the commute. I wish I was a little more inspired to get the house chores done.

Pengwern

They liked the house and we are now doing the referencing. Packing up has started and a few trips to the flat with our items has taken place. The moving boxes we kept meaning to throw out have come in handy but we do need some more! money saving is not going to happen this month but I am shopping around to get the best deals on packing tape bubble wrap and boxes. There is a lot being sold and going to charity. Other stuff is going into storage, off to reserve some space at the weekend for the move over the bh weekend! September will be a write off in terms of savings again as the letting fees will need to be paid. We just need to stay in the black. October should be the first month with reduced bills and a rent payment to go straight to pay off the cc. We have decided that is what to do, we want to see it reduce rapidly each month if we can. Some will be kept if the house needs repairs.

Another lot of books were sold for £6 not a lot but it helps. I have just cancelled our milkman. I will really miss that service but the costs were high compared to the supermarkets. Mail redirection has been ordered and I have just opened a new 123 account for the rent to go into. Hopefully with that and the dd I have moved we will make more than the account fee. Still not convinced paying for an account is the way to go. If we all move to a fee paying account will they remove the free ones with perks? Currently staring at a lot of boxes we have just moved so need to get them unpacked but not sure there is space! I can see us having to go through it all and put some more into storage!

Pengwern

So the ebay frenzy has begun, a few more items sold and posted today. Managed to loose money on one item due to underestimating the postage. A few more items were collected in person. The van has been loaded this weekend with the final lot of big items to go to the flat. Husband is currently there trying to work out how to fit is all in. I am still in the house surrounded by boxes so this next week I can make a bit inroad into the packing. I will be doing shuttle runs of all the boxes in my car to the storage place. husband returns at the weekend with the van again to do the final move out. We are both really sad about leaving the house as we love it here. however it does not make financial sense to have a place empty but we are paying to run it. We have not sold it but rented, so hopefully we will have a little bit of income to pay for the place and help pay down the debts. 12 months will fly by I am sure and then we will see whether our jobs bring us back. Only bonus at the moment is the £200 we have made from ebay sales and there is still more to sell.

Pengwern

What a difference 24 hours makes. Tenant has pulled out! So all plans put into disarray. I now have a house packed with furniture that I sold and is being picked up at the weekend. A flat with too much in it and a big decision to make. Do we really rent our house out or not? We both got so emotional about leaving the house even for a short period that we do not know what to do. We face the prospect of unpacking slightly to try to stage the house for letting or moving all our stuff back in. I also have to undo all the cancelling of bills etc. if only she had said something on sat when I showed her round we would have been annoyed but much less impacted than we are now! People are funny as she will have lost here deposit for referencing. How much can change in a week? Still some items left selling but stuff we would get rid of either way. Loving our new post office hours, 8 till 10pm mon till sun. Means I can post things Sunday evening if the buyers pay promptly.

Pengwern

Well a week on and the cottage is back on the market. People are picking up the sofa this morning so £155 up. However the flat central heating system needed repairing and that was £240, so £85 still to make on ebay. I think I am nearly there £51 for some garden chairs and £12.50 for some shelves I make that £22 to go. There are some more items for sale so let's hope they bring in the final amount.

I also have a few more bits to list, need to dig those out today. Then it is in the garden to make it look a bit more presentable as everything is growing so fast. Then it play hunt the items in all the boxes that are sitting in my house so I can cook and clean. A further £200 was sent to the family loan and £100 off the second cc, the final £100 should hit the other cc this week.