Decreasing spending - increasing happiness

Enjoying_life_more

After viewing diaries on here for quite some time - I've decided to start my own. There are some amazing and inspirational people on here and I have picked up many tips to start me on my journey to sorting my finances out.

I am single (apart from my lovely dog ) and work full time. My family have now left home and a lot of my debts are as a result of lots of years bringing up family on one wage. I thought I already lived fairly frugally - however after reading diaries on here I can see there are still many savings I can make.

I did have quite a lot of Credit Card debt however I have very recently remortgaged my home to cover most of this. I will post more info tomorrow and I welcome any tips / advice/ support that will help to keep me on track and motivated not to over spend.

The good thing about joining now is that I am already at a stage in life where i've realised (probably a little late) that buying most "things" doesn't bring happiness - especially when they are bought on credit.

It's late and not sure I have done this thread right - i'll post again tomorrow....:)

Coco114

Welcome and good luck!!
I spend half my life reading diaries on here - there are some amazing stories!

I look forward to reading another one :j

Coco x

Enjoying_life_more

thank you so much for replying Coco ! at least I know I have joined up correctly - still have lots to learn regarding use of the forum but i'm sure I will pick it up!

I have a busy day today but hope to post later today regarding my debts and plans to clear them. Have a great day !!

EssexHebridean

Welcome! :santa2: Yes, looks pretty much like you've done it right to me - all good!

I'm an imposter here really - technically I ought to be over on MFW but this board's lovely - so I've stayed. :rotfl: (bad luck for Greying Pilgrim and Pippi on whose diaries I linger much of the time!) I assume once your debts are cleared you'll be looking to start laying into the mortgage too will you? Good fun, is that.

Looking forward to reading more!

Enjoying_life_more

Deep breath and here goes - my life in financial figures -

Outgoing
Mortgage - 622 per month (79,000 balance)
Loan 232 per month (14,200 balance)
Credit card 25 per month (1,000 balance - 0% )
Incoming
Wage - 2060 (this will reduce next November as i'm on protected pay at the moment)

I haven't worked out my monthly / annual house and car bills yet - i'll do this tomorrow - one step at a time !!

If I was twenty years younger I wouldn't be too worried about my debts but at my age (about 14 years off retirement) I want to make sure I enter retirement debt and mortgage free.

Thanks to the people who have made me feel so welcome already !!

Sanchsoot49

Will be following with interest and wishing you all the best along the way! If its not too intrusive can I ask roughly how old you are and what has made you decide to do this now? :-)

beanielou

Wishing you well on your debt free journey

can I suggest you close all your credit card accounts if you haven't done so already.

Enjoying_life_more

Thanks for following. I'm the wrong side of fourty to be honest I decided a few months ago, when i was in a redundancy situation, that I needed to sort out my debts. Luckily I kept a job in the restructure at work but my pay will reduce next year. I have done quite a lot of money saving things with regards to shopping around for cheaper utilities, insurance, etc etc but there's still more to do I've also recently remortgaged and took out extra to pay off 16000 pound of credit card Debts. So my outgoings are much less than they were and leave me in a better position each month.

Enjoying_life_more

beanielou wrote: »

Wishing you well on your debt free journey

can I suggest you close all your credit card accounts if you haven't done so already.

Thanks for your input - yes this is something I am in the process of doing. Ive already cut them up but need to ring and close the accounts down. My relationships with credit cards is well and truly over (apart from the remaining one with 1000 balance - I was hoping to extend my morg enough to cover this one too but the max I was allowed didn't stretch to the last thousand )

Enjoying_life_more

Well thanks to everyone for the support today ! as I'm sure you are aware it's quite a big step to share personal info with others even if it is anonymously I'm glad I've done it and ill be back with more info regarding outgoings. One thing I would like to ask is how I subscribe to your diaries. I managed to subscribe to graylings last night but not sure how I did it ? I've tried to look on you kind people's profiles today but can't seem to find a subscribe button ?

EssexHebridean

You can subscribe via "Thread tools" which you should find at the top of the page. It's by far the easiest way to keep up to date I think!

You're sounding very organised. If you've not already done it then a full Statement of Affairs might be a good idea to absolutely pin down every last penny you have accounted for. There's a link on the main DFW board I think.