Debt Free by 40, best Birthday present ever!?

Mrs*Spendalot

Good morning.

I'm a long time user of this website and it's helped me so much over the last few years. Our original LBM was in 2006 and we've made good inroads into clearing our debts on our own using tips from this site and the snowball calculator. Our original debt was £41000 (:eek:) and we've chipped away at it and it's now down to £21,500 despite moving house in that time.

We have good incomes (approx £4500 total per month) but have had 5 children in the last 10 years and moved house twice.

We are now in our forever home (although it's a doer upper!) with our family complete and we'd now like to concentrate on clearing our remaining debt and then start on our eye watering £250k mortgage and the home improvements we have planned too :rotfl:

I'm on a tablet so can't post our SOA, I'll definitely do it at some point though as I'm open to constructive criticism.

We have a car loan (£10k), a personal loan (£5300) and a 0% CC of £6200. The personal loan is set to finish Dec '17 as is the 0% rate on our CC so we'd love that to be our DFD :T

Thanks for reading xx

cmcavon

Just wanted to say "hello"

I'm also on my second lightbulb moment, and more determined than ever to sort things out this time.

Good luck with your debt-free journey. That's one mammoth mortgage you've got!

eraclea

Hi! just wanted to say good luck! I'm in a similar position debt and age-wise, except I'm single and I only have 1 child. My mortgage is £196K though, and debt £10K, no loans, and good-ish income. I like it that you are in your forever home... I don't think I am, mine's a flat. Hoping to find someone and buy together.

Mrs*Spendalot

Ha, yes, mammoth mortgage. The joy of living in Berkshire! £500k for a 4 bed doer upper.... On the upside; it has a large garden and the garage and loft are both perfect for conversion. Means we can make it grow with us as the children get bigger..... Once we've paid this debt off of course ;-)

try_harder

Welcome and good luck ,i shall be following your journey with interest.

chelseablue

I'm in Berkshire too and our mortgage is £228,900 so I feel your pain!

Mrs*Spendalot

So, here it is, our SOA....

A few points:

-I only work 2.5 days a week which is why my income looks a little low
-The £17 for phone is freeview, broadband and phone combined, all with Sky (I recently downgraded our huge package)
-The £7 in TV is for Now TV
-Buildings/Contents are joint
-Our second car is owned outright and we both need cars for work

Any constructive feedback gratefully received!!

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 5
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1250
Partners monthly income after tax....... 3500
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 4750

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1250
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 200
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 45
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 17
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 12.5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 7
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 500
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 180
Other child related expenses............ 100
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 30
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 35
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 25
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 200
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 100
Professional Fees....................... 20
Total monthly expenses.................. 3416.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 550000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 18000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 568000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 249000...(1250).....2.49
Total secured & HP debts...... 249000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Car Loan.......................10000.....200.......6.9
Loan...........................5300......300.......4.9
Virgin CC......................6200......65........0
Total unsecured debts..........21500.....565.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,750
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,416.5
Available for debt repayments........... 1,333.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 565
Amount left after debt repayments....... 768.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 568,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -249,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -21,500
Net Assets.............................. 297,500

Mrs*Spendalot

We've decided to concentrate on saving until we have enough to pay the smaller loan off and then concentrate on paying the credit card off before the 0% rate runs out.
After that we'll save until we have enough to pay the other loan off. I probably should have put the car loan in the HP bit as we've got 2 more years of £200 a month and then the last £5k is a balloon payment at the end
I've worked out that it's 18 paydays until our wished for DFD and my 40th is the month after that.... Means we have to pay off £1200 a month.... £565 is the minimum and in the budget anyway, but it means finding an extra £635 per month. Hmmmmm.

Mrs*Spendalot

So payday 1 on this journey.

Minimum payments into all 3 debts done, so £600 off our total. Unfortunately, we had nothing left over last month to pay any extra off. This is my last payday on maternity leave though, so hopefully next month will be a bit less tight.
On the plus side, our Christmas fund is full and our planned August holiday (UK based) has been paid for outright. I'm hoping that the money we've budgeted for these in our SOA will be available for overpayments....
I've sold a few baby items that my little one has outgrown, I'm finding it quite cathartic clearing baby clutter.....

Mrs*Spendalot

Nothing much occurring, we're being more mindful of what we're spending, so hopefully that will result in some money left over.

I've been offered extra work, I'm weighing up the pros and cons. Obviously, the money would mean paying the debts off sooner, but would ,Evan less time with the children. Ho hum.

My husband's interviewing for a promotion, perhaps the outcome of that will help us decide....

Mrs*Spendalot

So, an eventful month financially. My hubby got his promotion, he moves into the new role in September..... After tax, NI and pension he'll be getting an extra £650 per month, so we're really pleased.

I've agreed to take on some extra work from September to December (I agreed before we found out he had got the promotion, otherwise I'd have turned it down. Still, it'll be £650 per month for 4 months so should make a nice dent in the debts....

We paid all the minimums off this month, plus had £500 left over to put in the savings pot to pay off the loan early.

With the summer holidays and 5 children to entertain, I think it'll be harder this month, but I'm definitely spending less than I have in previous years!