DFB35 Diary

stepuptothepl8

All going in the right direction DFB :j

DFB35

I'm in my 5,xxx woohoo!

Very happy about that :j However I have learned my lesson from last year so won't make any overpayments yet as the summer is always a bit more costly with school holidays, new uniform, car stuff in early September and I have little ones bday. I have been good though and already have some school uniform bought

Not sure at all what is happening with my house building plans, we had some set backs and now with brexit I'm not 100% sure it's sensible to hugely increase our mortgage! Lots of thinking to do.

stepuptothepl8

How are things, DFB? x

DFB35

I have gone quiet again, mostly because im not making overpayments this month and not feeling very MSE as been taking the kids out and spending more than usual due to the school holiday.

But.............. things are still very good, and i have made some huge overpayments and progress this year so far, was overpaying 500 or more each month

We are also almost 100% doing the house extension, just waiting for the final quotes, will then apply for planning permission and then need to draw mortgage funds, but if everything goes to plan we will start building in autumn.

On the debt front though I am planning to continue overpaying once the summer is over and putting any bonus i get towards it, we should be debt free by early 2017!

But we will have a much larger mortgage :eek: (of course it is an investment as we would nearly double the house value).

And another little bit of news we are thinking once the house build is definitely going ahead we might be trying for another baby Number 3!!! I dont know if we completely lost our minds or what hahahahahahahaha

DFB35

Ok not been on here for awhile and getting a bit more relaxed and now worried that im slipping back into my old ways - so I am back and will post more regularly!

First things first I need to update my signature as with the latest payment due my debt is now £5,715 :beer:

I also have £1,500 in a savings account, but my car service and MOT are due this month so will have to come out of that.

What I have noticed myself doing which alarmed me is popping to shop at lunch to buy something to eat (we have a subsidised canteen albeit not that tasty grrr) and then again to buy a treat around 3pm (just a pick me up, a coffee or a chocolate bar). And breakfast which i have started into a habit of buying.. all these small transactions are adding up and I really ought to nip them in the bud!

So from tomorrow it will be - breakfast at home
Lunch - the canteen allowance or take something from home if i really cannot face it
Treat? I dont know about that one as sometimes I feel that I really cannot get through the day without it, its a psychological pick me up as well as caffeine and gets me away from my desk for few minutes ;(

Maybe I will keep the treat for now but limit to £2 a day (which is £10 a week??). Will think about that.

Other plans are decluttering again and selling the bits we dont need and then starting to make overpayments on the loan again. I am tempted to overpay a bit from the savings but sensibly want to hold off until the car is sorted!

We are also pushing on with our extension plans so will need to be watching the pennies more than ever! For anyone interested I have a separate mortgage free wannabe diary, which I will update in a mo.

Speak soon

DFB35

Having a successful LSD, brought in breakfast from home, had a free coffee out of a machine at work (yuk), canteen soup and crisps for lunch (we get an allowance and it was within that) and now having a free vending tea :money:

Not too depressed about the lack of treats, also we are doing our weekly (aldi) shop tonight so will pick up some bits to take in for work.

DFB35

Just a little update on the coffee/ treats situation.. (I know its trivial but its the little things and changes that all adds up )

I got a pack of 10 instant cappuccino type coffees in Aldi for 99p - all you need is hot water which i can get from the work machine and it was actually pretty decent - thats a saving of £1.60 a time and I used to have 2 a day! A pack of 10 should last ma a week

I have also got up a bit earlier to have breakfast and have a ham roll with me in case i dont like the look of lunch and can spend my lunch allowance on a nice juice etc..

Its all good so far

DFB35

I had a successful MSE week in regards to coffees, breakfasts and work lunches! Really pleased with myself and it shows that it is easier slipping back into good habits than starting those good habits in the first place ie... As I have been working hard on reducing my debt for such a long time it's easier to reinstate the habit, I remember how hard it was for me to get into MSE frame of mind initially... Phew

So Aldi instant cappuccino coffee, breakfast at home and something like a soup, small s/w for lunch out of work canteen allowance, plus some treats from home for the 3/4pm crash - sorted (i also feel a bit slimmer )

Totally stuffed my fridge from Aldis weekly shop (£58 for 4 and a cat).

This weekend will be more spendy as we have sons football presentation, so will need money for entry/food/drinks and also have a kids birthday party so need to get a present.

Meanwhile I'm sorting the house and am in the process to sort the garage and front and back gardens so plenty keeping me busy and out of trouble

The car service and mot has been booked for end of month and then I will start getting ready for Christmas, which will be the next big spend!

DFB35

Payday on friday, and the car service is after that (I will use half from next pay and half from savings), so I am making an overpayment! First one since June £755

This brings my total to £4,960 and means I'm in my 4xxx :j :j :j

I also have an idea to close the loan and transfer it to 0% card, like Ive done with a previous loan I had, so watch this space

DFB35

OMG!!! I have the most exciting news ever and it still not sinking in to be honest! But in just 3 days time when the money goes clear I will be debt free! :money: :beer: :j :T :A

This is how its all happened! I have called up to enquire about my loan balance to see how much I could save if I did a balance transfer on 0% credit card and my outstanding balance was £4,841.39p - however if I pay it off before 30th September I would save over £870 in interest and therefore my closing balance is £3,966.70p.

I have £1,000 in savings, so would need to find £2,966.70p to settle the loan - however when we were planning the extension I have saved up and paid roughtly 2k to the architect and planning fees so me and my husband agreed that I could take this money out of our remortgage fund (which we have sitting in a separate account for the upcoming extension!) AND the remaining £966 - which I would "borrow" out of the house remortgage..

To be honest, I was reluctant to use the remortgage money to pay off this loan as essentially "you'd be turning the unsecured loan in to secured borrowing", but in my particualr case feel that this is the right move as the amount is not large and we would save so much in interest. Plus I KNOW that I will put this back within 2 months!

And once this debt is paid off I will truly concentrate on savings, rather than trying to save some and pay off the loan at the same time!

I am very happy but also in Shock! I will come back once my loan is closed to confirm and to get the badge just to make it my last post on here

And I hope you guys will follow me on my "Building my Dream home and then paying it off" diary - as I do have a huge mortgage to tackle next!! :money: