Mr and Mrs K's New Journey to a Debt Free Life.

AlexLK

:rotfl: I'm going to have my lunch first (no cafes ) and then get on with it. Considering I will be working all afternoon until 10pm tonight, I'm sure having the morning off won't be too bad. Are you going to let me off now, maman?

maman

AlexLK wrote: »

:rotfl: I'm going to have my lunch first (no cafes ) and then get on with it. Considering I will be working all afternoon until 10pm tonight, I'm sure having the morning off won't be too bad. Are you going to let me off now, maman?

Oh shift work!! That's fine then.:rotfl:

AlexLK

Shift work, that's something paupers do isn't it? (Hope you realise that was a joke).


You have raised the question just what am I doing this afternoon and why is my son in nursery... erm, better actually check that diary thing.

Muser1

4164 posts later and I'm finally finished!!

Alex you have taken over my life for the past two weeks. :eek:

I have laughed, cried, shouted and thrown things at my screen! Absolutely loved following your story.

Most of my family live in Bakewell (well surrounding villages) and our sons are the same age so enjoyed following 'Little K's' journey too.

Keep up the fight Alex.

Muser x

AlexLK

Muser: Thanks. Rather surprised you've stuck with reading all the drivel I post. :rotfl:


Do you live locally? Or are you the one that got away?


After realising anyone can read this (clearly far too naïve) and that I have somewhat failed with anonymity I've thought about pulling this many times in recent months but decided I don't really care. If somebody thinks worse of me due to this that's their problem.

AlexLK

This evening I finally feel well enough to write some goals for this coming year.

So, here goes:
2015 Goals

Business
Comprehensive customer database.
Get online.
Chase all leads.
Produce two new designs.
Continue to work at least 4 hours per day, Monday - Friday.

Financial
Make the final debt payment.
Make £10,000 from hobbies to put towards a BTL.
Reinvest all music teaching money into business.
Start to overpay mortgage? - Not sure if this is worthwhile.

Personal
Choose son's school and don't make a fool of myself on his first day.
Be the best father I can be.
Remain married.
Go on holiday with my son in April and as a family later on in the year.

House
Finish windows.
Finish grounds.
Repaint exterior woodwork and guttering.
Refinish kitchen.

Muser1

I'm not too far away just over the border in Sheffield.

Excellent goals. Good Luck!

maman

Well done on getting yourself organised.:T


That's quite some list of goals. Personally I would just focus on moving from the debt situation through living within your means to being able to save. When you get there you could think about overpayment (not a lot of point considering your likely future) or BTL ( aren't you inheriting those too? and likely to have to manage them even sooner?). I think the living within your means/saving is probably the best thing you can practise for now and future life.


Is the four hours just on the business and the music lessons on top of that?


Is MrsK on board with the house goals? What I'm really asking is whether she'll be contributing to the costs?


I won't bore you with all my reasoning but sending LittleK to a state infant school would give you three years to get on a financial even keel. You could always then rethink if you wanted private at the age of seven.


Sorry for the inquisition.;)

AlexLK

Muser1 wrote: »

I'm not too far away just over the border in Sheffield.

Excellent goals. Good Luck!

Thank you.

maman wrote: »

Well done on getting yourself organised.:T

Not sure about organised, today has been somewhat wasted sorting a mixed up order out.

maman wrote: »

That's quite some list of goals. Personally I would just focus on moving from the debt situation through living within your means to being able to save. When you get there you could think about overpayment (not a lot of point considering your likely future) or BTL ( aren't you inheriting those too? and likely to have to manage them even sooner?). I think the living within your means/saving is probably the best thing you can practise for now and future life.

I managed to make around £10,000 from "extras" last year which was reinvested in the business. Therefore, I do not see why it's not doable this year?


Whilst I will not be staying in this house forever, my thinking behind making it nice and paying it off was that we would either have one to let out at quite a high price or that we could sell the house and buy two other properties to let out. I will inherit my parents' properties eventually and am starting to help my mother manage them now. Having thought about eventual goals, I think I would like to add 8 more properties to their (my eventual) portfolio bringing the total to 20 properties and become a "professional" landlord. Currently, my business is more a hobby than anything.

maman wrote: »

Is the four hours just on the business and the music lessons on top of that?

Yes, just on the business. The music lessons are done in my free time and I put the money straight into the business.

maman wrote: »

Is MrsK on board with the house goals? What I'm really asking is whether she'll be contributing to the costs?

She won't be contributing to the costs but will help me with some of the work.

maman wrote: »

I won't bore you with all my reasoning but sending LittleK to a state infant school would give you three years to get on a financial even keel. You could always then rethink if you wanted private at the age of seven.

May I ask your reasoning? I am not going to dismiss the prospect of my son attending the pre-prep years at our village school. Currently, there are four potential schools: my old one, another prep school and two village schools. I intend to visit all the schools in question with my son and see which he seems to like the most.


Finances are not really an issue as my parents understand I'm not willing to help them out with their properties for free. The village schools are on the list for different reasons (locality, less hours, a chance for him to make some local friends and focus on his music making).

maman wrote: »

Sorry for the inquisition.;)

No need to apologise to me, it gives me something to think about. Thank you.

AlexLK

Friday 9th January, 2015.


Dear Diary,


Well, after reading somewhere on here that it's now the weekend, it dawned on me that I often miss whole weeks, including this one, in some kind of haze. Not really sure how things can get better and I'm aware I've got so much to be thankful for which only leaves me more annoyed that I seem to find the day to day impossible and be permanently depressed. Convinced this does not help my judgement of situations and led to me stuffing unopened letters into a draw and letting the debts pile up in the first place.


In many ways I wished I'd paid off the reminder of the debt in December as planned because now I'm struggling to let go of the cash and actually pay back the money I owe.


Yours Faithfully,
Alex.