Giblet's debt free journey

Divingmad

Hey Giblet,
Hope you had a good day at work, sending positive vibes to you
DM

giblet1979

Thanks DM! Unfortunately I didn't make it there on Thursday but I have been today, and I've been allowed to do shorter days (and make up the extra at home) at least for the next week, and can review on Monday. Everyone was really nice about it all too, so big sigh of relief. Exhausted now tho!

Well..generally managed to be MSE over the weekend only bought paint and 'blu grit' to prepare the walls for the plasterer which cost £45 but should save us about £240 worth of plasterer's time. Unfortunately, my poor DH is having to do the work himself atm, but I'll make it up to him

Few issues with the house tho which are a bit worrying. We discovered a leak in the new kitchen, and now even the stop tap is leaking also, the cats (currently living at the folks) have apparently picked up fleas, and now the house is having to be treated. It never rains but it pours, lol

Ah well...never mind hey. Onwards and upwards!

Btw, I've been very impressed with a website that was recommended by someone else on here this week:

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/

Well worth a read for inspiration, and although the US values don't all apply to us over here, there is still a lot I have learned, and it has focused me even more to pay down the debt, pay down the mortgage and get invested to increase my freedom!

Hope everyone is doing well, and is having a good week so far x

supersaver1000

Thanks GB. Sorry to hear about the problems though, hope you get them fixed.

giblet1979

Hi all,

Just a very quick update. Been a bit expensive here (£350 for a broken down car, and conference spends) but otherwise we are plodding on and focusing on trying to get the house done as cheaply as possible.

Hope everyone is doing well? Must go and finish some work (I set an exam question but forgot about having to write the model answer!) At least it'll be a few more pennies to the overpayment.

Take care all and night night x

giblet1979

Hey,

Starting to get the Sunday night blues... just over 10hrs till I have to get up for work. At least I love my job, but with recent events, it's a bit difficult to function but must focus!

I've been doing lots of reading and thinking about investing etc but in reality I think paying off my loan, and then paying down the mortgage is the best plan. I'm putting 1/2 of all my additional work pay into my ISA as a simple way to ensure all self employed tax is covered, and I have enough for paying 1/2 the following year upfront, and hopefully enough for a big deposit on my next car / part emergency fund etc. Not sure that investing is the right thing until I'm at least 'debt' free if not mortgage free, but I love the idea of passive income, and early retirement!

Also, really need to get back on my diet. I've put on so much, and have ended up throwing good food away (hangs head in shame ) because I've chosen cr&p over fresh. Please can I request a good hard kick up the backside?

House renovations are going ok. There is going to be more to do in one room repairs wise, but my dear OH has been smashing plaster, and blu gritting the walls like a pro to try and keep costs down. The plasterer is starting next week, which will be expensive, but once it's done we'll be able to get our stuff out of storage (now £156 per month) and it'll start to feel more like a 'proper' home, rather than a (lovely) 1 room squat / building site. Sent off £75 in Tesco vouchers towards storage for the next month tho which I'm happy about, and have had a NSD too

Hope everyone is getting on ok, and I'm looking forward to catching up with diaries. Just off to put the kettle on if anyone wants one:coffee:

Gib x

Divingmad

Hi Giblet<


I tried to find a 'kick in the pants' smiley, but alas no can do, so I'm sending you a virtual kick in the pants instead (it's a lot less painful than receiving a real one)


So after delivering that...can I still have a couple of tea?


DM

supersaver1000

Yes please, no sugar thanks...

Sunday feeling? I used to have that all weekend just a couple of weeks ago lol:rotfl: See how much you've cheered me up. :rotfl: But seriously I think it's hard to think about work when you've got so much going on at home.

Sounds like things are going well though, I'd love to be in your position, but I do remember how exhausting it is living in a building project. Home is usually the one place you can relax, though it sounds like it's getting closer to finished every day.

Be kind to yourself and don't be too hard on yourself. There's no way you can do everything perfectly.

You can have a boot for throwing food away as that could go towards your loan, here you go - put the tea down first - kick! Do you think you ought to put a hold on buying much fresh food just until you're not so busy? I know that's not very MSE and probably not healthy, but just while you get yourself a bit straighter, so you don't feel guilty about it.

Renovations sound great - plaster going on is the next best event to when the carpet goes down. It seems to stop so much dust, hope the weather stays like this and it should dry in no time - I love to see it drying out.

Good on OH for doing all the work, he's worth his weight in gold. Hope poor kitties (it didn't like p!!!!!s) are now flea free. There was a bit of an epidemic last year, hope not this year!

Good luck on your save or pay decision. I agree with paying off the debt. I would pay all the savings off the debt tomorrow but DH isn't so sure so I plan to build a fund equivalent to the debt and then anything over that will be savings.

Thanks for the tea, I'd better go and prepare to wow them tomorrow. :eek::rotfl::idea::coffee::think:

Have a great week

giblet1979

Hey DM and supersaver - teas up! :coffee:

Thanks for your nice comments (and helpful kicks). I agree that maybe sticking to more 'easily prepared' stuff is better; not an excuse for me to carry on eating rubbish tho you have permission to hold me accountable.

Kitties are (hopefully) flea free now. Seems to be ok; so much washing tho. An epidemic sounds scary

DH is definitely worth his weight in gold, I'm very lucky:smileyhea
I think an emergency fund is helpful as a back up (plus I know you'll wow them tomorrow SS) x

killerpeaty

If you like mrmoneymustache, you might like simple living in Suffolk. It's like a UK version.

Are you using your ISA for short term savings giblet? Once you take the money out you lose that tax free money forever! :eek: Also you would get a much better monthly interest rate in current accounts

Good luck SS, I don't know who you need to wow, but I'm sure you will!

in_need_of_direction

Is there another cup in that pot? If so, pour it now so it doesn't go to waste. I too have another half who's also mostly a godsend. Unfortunately, he's as good at DIY as I am. Fortunately, he accepts this so we don't have the increased costs of correcting poor attempts. You need to cut yourself some slack. When you're not feeling great, everything requires much more effort. However, dumping food is like dropping pennies down the drain. You sound a bit like me wanting everything done at once and yesterday. Why not just focus on food management for two weeks reporting in here every few days? It might help with the weight too. I know that although my sugar control was my most important issue, it took me to achieve baby steps with my finance and other areas plus a major LBM before I could start to tackle it. You just need to find a parallel to savings and ops with the other areas you want to tackle. If you do this, you can use a similar approach as you know you can do it. Hopefully this ramble makes some sense. Take care and I'll be watching