Running out of time! Trying to get debt free & house ready by June 2016

DFWannaBee

Enough is enough! Whether anyone else reads this or not I'm going to keep this diary to see me through the next 12+months as its now or never for us

I'm married to a lovely hubby and we have an insanely cute daughter who is 4 months old.

As it stands, we manage, and we've actually got rid of some debt in the past year when we were pregnant and panicking! which has spurred me on but we are living to a timeline with our flat so we have to do this now before we end up stuck!

Work situ: We both work hubby full time, me going back part time (hopefully, work allowing!) no chance of tax credits or any help like that

Home situ: We currently live in a 2 bed flat under the govt "rent to buy" scheme,so we basically have a lease on the flat for 3 years (started July 2013) paying discounted rent and the option to buy shares in the property at the end of it. While we love our flat realistically its not an option to buy here, the area hasnt got any schools I'm happy with and being 2nd floor I really want her to have a garden and we definitely want a 2nd child once we're all sorted so will be needing a 3 bed house. This however puts us on a time line as obviously we need to be out of here summer 2016 and if we cant get a mortgage then well have to go into private rented and where we live is £1000+ for a 3bed house so we'll be eternally stuck - something I want to avoid any way possible

The goals: To pay off our debt, sort our crippling car situation out and the dream is to buy a house, most likely through shared ownership realistically, in 2016. Whether our credit stops that dream is another matter

The debts

Nationwide - £85 - PAID IN FULL OCT 13 :j
New Look - £160 - PAID IN FULL OCT 13:j
Littlewoods - £255 - PAID IN FULL OCT 13:j
Wonga me - £937 - PAID IN FULL DEC 13:j
Wonga hubby - £505 - PAID IN FULL JAN 14:j
Capital 1 me - £387 - PAID IN FULL JAN 14:j
Capital 1 hubby - £590 - PAID IN FULL MAR 14:j
Next - £403 - PAID IN FULL MAY 14:j
Hubby Very - £811 aug14
Me Very/NDR - £654.75 aug14
Debenhams/Lowell - £786 aug14
Lloyds/Capquest - £825 aug14
Halifax OD - £1755 aug14

Our biggest problem monthly at the minute is our car. We got it on HP with a bad credit company so we pay over the nose for it, at the time it was a means to an end and we were in a pretty crappy situation and it was the only viable option at the time. We know better now. our halfway point is 1st november 2014 and this coincides with hubbys "bonus" payday, so looking at the budget i've worked out that we can voluntarily terminate the HP agreement then, and buy a little ford fiesta type run around with a years insurance paid for around £3000 and this is tight but possible to do in November so this is what we plan to do. This will save us £260 a month in HP payments as well as petrol as our current car is incredibly expensive to run and we spend over £200 on petrol.

Once this payment is gone, according to my budget we should be debt free by June 2015, giving us a year to save and leaving us in a pretty good monthly savings position. Of course whether we will actually be given a mortgage in 2016 is a completely different matter but I'm thinking optimistic for the minute to keep me going.

Not sure what else to put in here so any suggestions to helpful info would be great!!

On my list is to look into full & final settlements for the 3 debts currently with DCA's to see if we can save some money there

DFWannaBee

Phoned the finance company today to ask about the HP termination, want to check that my working out is correct that we can do this without any extra payments come November 1st and of course they won't discuss it over the phone so will have to wait for a letter in the post!!

Have paid my arrears with the electric company though with a bit of bonus money we got today rather than spend it but little miss needs some new clothes so will have to allow some cash from hubbys payday on Friday!

We also both now have our Vanquis cards up & running so have set up direct debits for the full balance each month on those so hopefully that can do our credit rating some good!

bellybaby

you've already paid off a lot so you're doing brilliantly! Subscribed!

DFWannaBee

bellybaby wrote: »

you've already paid off a lot so you're doing brilliantly! Subscribed!

Ah thankyou! Nice to have some support, no one in real life really knows about our debt problems so its doing me good having this on here I think

DFWannaBee

Thought it was about time for an update, had a lot going on lately and been a bit distracted but back on focus now!

The debts update

Nationwide - £85 - PAID IN FULL OCT 13
New Look - £160 - PAID IN FULL OCT 13
Littlewoods - £255 - PAID IN FULL OCT 13
Wonga me - £937 - PAID IN FULL DEC 13
Wonga hubby - £505 - PAID IN FULL JAN 14
Capital 1 me - £387 - PAID IN FULL JAN 14
Capital 1 hubby - £590 - PAID IN FULL MAR 14
Next - £403 - PAID IN FULL MAY 14
Hubby Very - [STRIKE]£811 aug14[/STRIKE] £991 dec14 (emergency household purchase :mad:)
Me Very/NDR - [STRIKE]£654.75 aug14[/STRIKE] £347.81 dec14
Debenhams/Lowell - [STRIKE]£786 aug14[/STRIKE] £801 dec14 (wrong figures in august, was £100 more than I thought)
Lloyds/Capquest - [STRIKE]£825 aug14[/STRIKE] £725 dec14
Halifax OD - [STRIKE]£1755 aug14[/STRIKE] £1550 dec14

More importantly though we got rid of our car!! :T:T:T:T:T
I used the Voluntary termination clause on our HP agreement to hand it back last month, they tried to sting us for charges on an unnecessary scratch, managed to get a 50% reduction on it so paid that full and final to get rid of them! Other than that it was hassle free. It did mean I haven't made as much of a dent to our debts that I had hoped but we scraped together enough cash to buy a used car outright so we're saving £260 a month on car payments, £30 a month on insurance and £100 a month on petrol as our new one is much easier on the petrol! Very happy with that and it will make a world of difference.

On a slightly less positive note, I had my return to work meeting with my employer which was awful. Theyve refused my flexible working request after maternity leave and have told me to come back full time or to find another job. Going to go to the CAB about this as sure this can't be right, they've given reasons that I think aren't valid but think they're going to get away with it. For many reasons I don't actually want to go back there but don't think they should be able to give me no choice in the matter. Full time isn't an option for me with the baby once you take into account childcare costs and the fact I'd see her for 2 days a week just isn't worth it to me. I need something more family friendly once my maternity leave is over.

Not much more to report. Work owe me over a years worth of full time holiday pay that I've accrued while on leave so that should be paid to me in Januarys pay day so hoping to clear some debts with that before I potentially become jobless for a while

DFWannaBee

Early xmas pressie from DH's work, more pay than we were expecting so thats enabled us to pay off one of the debts earlier than expected :T

The debts update

Nationwide - £85 - PAID IN FULL OCT 13
New Look - £160 - PAID IN FULL OCT 13
Littlewoods - £255 - PAID IN FULL OCT 13
Wonga me - £937 - PAID IN FULL DEC 13
Wonga hubby - £505 - PAID IN FULL JAN 14
Capital 1 me - £387 - PAID IN FULL JAN 14
Capital 1 hubby - £590 - PAID IN FULL MAR 14
Next - £403 - PAID IN FULL MAY 14
Me Very/NDR - [STRIKE]£654.75 aug14[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]£347.81 dec14[/STRIKE] PAID IN FULL DEC 14

Hubby Very - [STRIKE]£811 aug14[/STRIKE] £991 dec14 (emergency household purchase )
Debenhams/Lowell - [STRIKE]£786 aug14[/STRIKE] £801 dec14 (wrong figures in august, was £100 more than I thought)
Lloyds/Capquest - [STRIKE]£825 aug14 [/STRIKE]£725 dec14
Halifax OD - [STRIKE]£1755 aug14[/STRIKE] £1550 dec14

cyberthrifty

You're doing really well. Glad you sorted the car situation but it's a shame about your work. I think they can only say no if it's for a good reason and obviously you don't think they have one so hopefully CAB will help with that. Don't forget to look into benefits if you aren't going back to work as you may have become eligible for some. Good luck with it all!

DFWannaBee

cyberthrifty wrote: »

You're doing really well. Glad you sorted the car situation but it's a shame about your work. I think they can only say no if it's for a good reason and obviously you don't think they have one so hopefully CAB will help with that. Don't forget to look into benefits if you aren't going back to work as you may have become eligible for some. Good luck with it all!

Ah thankyou! I didnt think anyone was reading The car situation literally lifted a weight off my shoulders the minute I handed the keys back. We're saving so much money a month now without the car payments and on petrol which is really helping. Yes I'm going to go to the CAB in the new year as I don't see how they can just say no with no alternative options or anything but we'll see. Will start jobhunting once we get past the new year. I have looked at benefits but they think hubby earns too much - ha!

Fmess

Well done DFWannaBee, you're doing after job with the debt repayments

ratrace

You seem very focused on squashing them debts and getting that house in 2016 good luck ill follow eagerly, subscribed

DFWannaBee

Thanks guys! Very focused - I confirmed with the company who we rent our flat from that we definitely can not extend our lease and if we don't buy at least the minimum share in it then we need to be moved out by June 2016 so we've had to move our goals forward a bit so the new goal is to have the deposit amount together by Xmas 2015 so we can start househunting in the January 2016 giving us 6 months to find somewhere and move - eek!