No More!

hamiltoes

Thank you Bob the early night did help and I was up at 5.30am today getting things organised for the tip run, I have only just stopped this second!

So something I haven't mentioned is that my relative has been making a few noises about my house situation. I think I've mentioned it before but they paid cash for my 25% share and I have been paying them back monthly ever since.

Well, I have just taken the plunge and took out a loan to cover everything else I am due. It was either a loan or a mortgage and I felt even though the interest rate is higher, it's lower than the rate of the family members that I was paying (an eye watering 18% APR which I had no idea about!!) and hadn't been taking account of in my tptals as I thought the interest would be minimal.

Also because of the shared ownership a mortgage would have meant solicitors fees for me, family member and the housing association, as well as the home report to be able to sell legally in Scotland and then mortgage product fees and remortgage fees along side any early repayment fees! Due to the amounts involved it just seemed to make more sense to take out a personal loan and then none of my debt is secured but family member will transfer the property to my name.

So, my debt as increased in total but so have my assets, I have taken slightly more and paid the bulk of my original personal loan off leaving only £100 to pay at the end of the month before the big loan kicks in.

This means I will be freeing up the £130 loan payment plus the £225 loan payment for a £380 loan payment which will essentially be my mortgage. I still have the car, currently sitting at £1250 (0% as due to a family member) and the big CC which is on 0% until Summer 2019.

My plan is to pay off big CC at £100 per month whilst simultaneously saving so I can clear that before interest kicks in. So thats my goal. My goals seem to be changing every month!! But to be honest knowing the house will be sorted is a huge weight off my shoulders. My relative is in good health but if god forbid anything ever happened I'd be completely devastated as well as having a huge worry over my head about what would happen once her legal beneficiary(?) found out that my house is their only inheritance on paper! Even if I have been paying for it for years I just don't know how that would stack up legally.

So here is to clearing my debt

hamiltoes

Sat down with a coffee before getting us all ready for some grocery shopping.

Have been thinking long and hard about the plan now the goal posts have changed (for what I hope is the last time!) and I have basically doubled my debt over night. My "net worth" has increased but I am now at -£28750! :eek::eek::eek: So this has turned into a very long journey.

So I said yesterday plan was to hit big CC with £100p/m and then throw everything into a savings account. After some thought I actually think I will be much better off throwing everything I can at the big loan which has interest. I did the MSE mortgage calculator and paying an extra £200p/m would see the loan paid off about 3 years earlier than the original 7!!! So it sounds like a no brainer really, I will continue making £100p/m payment to 0% CC which should bring it down to £2500 by Jan2019. I then have 6months to think about transferring to another card or saving up to pay it off. And thats with no payrises, or changes in outgoings which I am hoping there will be since I will be cancelling phone contract in July and my car insurance should hopefully go down once I turn 25 and have 1 year no claims and 1 year driving experience.

This is obviously all pie in the sky, I might lose my job next month for all I know but it helps to have a plan formulated and I know myself I am better when I have rigid rules and have forecasted exactly what the situation will be.

My 2yo is running low on clothes and I also really need a few things for work, have googled when the next TU 25% is and i think its 14th of Feb so I am to put aside £100 to spend when the sale starts.

Thats all from me for now, just wanted to get that all written down.

hamiltoes

Doubled debt over night?? More like tripled!!

JoJoC

Try not to look at it that way. If you're happy with the route you are now taking, it might be a longer one but ultimately with better results so you need to make peace with that, gather up all your positivity and crack on with your debt free journey!

It's hard, I know, but you can do it

I just caught up on your diary yesterday, and you've got a busy life but you seem in control :T

Drawingaline

Look at it as securing your future. Yes it is now going to be a long slog, but keep ontop of the plans and it will happen. My plans seem to change from month to month too!

Bobarella

You've done it for all the right reasons though. You are in control!

hamiltoes

Thanks for all the support!

I have planned my first overpayment of £200 for the 24th. I feel like this will hopefully make me feel a bit more in control.

I had my cooker looked at. Turns out it had not been installed correctly by the previous owners. One of the wires had a really bad connection and had completely melted the back of the oven and all the insulation. It was a blooming mess! I should have checked it, I'm actually an engineer by trade and did some wiring in college so I am kicking myself as I would have noticed it if I'd only thought to check when I moved in. We are extremely lucky this didn't cause a fire!

I could have stripped the wires back and found aomething to re-insulate but I just wouldn't sleep very well so this morning I got a new cooker. Will be delivered next Sunday and you can bet I'll be checking the wiring! My dad is a gas engineer so he will connect it all up for me.

My accounts were looking very healthy indeed and now not so much. But at least I didn't touch credit to purchase it which is a big improvement.

Been feeling very rubbish and run down this week, spent most of yesterday in bed so housework has definitely been lacking. Really hoping I am back to 100% tomorrow as I have a busy week in work. I don't get sick pay as haven't been there long enough so I have to go regardless. Time for another coffee!

Bobarella

Wow not good about the oven! Hope you feel better soon.

Treadingonplaymobil

Hi! Just been reading through your diary.

Wow, how scary to take on that big change in circumstances, but it sounds like long term it's the right move, and you seem very clear on how you're going to manage it.

New oven sounds like an essential! I don't have an emergency fund for things like this, but reading this post has made me hope ours mounts up quickly before we have any actual emergencies.

Best of luck with your ongoing journey :-)

hamiltoes

Well it's almost a year since I started my DFD! So much has changed during that time it was actually quite surreal reading it all back. I really wish I'd stuck with it but things were getting more serious with the BF, he was here 6/7 nights and as he didn't know anything about the debt I couldn't find any time at all to post in the thing and then life just took over.

Reflecting back on 2017 I think I did OK. I am pleased to report that my LBM did stay switched on for the most part. I feel like I kept up a lot of good frugal habits and stopped so many of the things that put me into the debt in the first place (expensive makeup, clothes, takeaways, constantly decorating and buying new things for the house!)

I did fall slightly back into old habits towards the end of the year in that I moved jobs in December and kind of got double wages just before Christmas so I ordered a new sofa and £750 worth of new next furniture, + eye wateringly expensive wallpaper and paint for the living room. But I thankfully did see how silly I was being and cancelled both the furniture and sofa! Well that and the fact that once I'd painted and papered I actually fell in love all over again with my old stuff haha!

The new job is much closer to home so petrol has went from £40 per week to minimal. It's also less hours for more money so it was a no brainer to move although I have to say 2 weeks in and I am so bored! Its one of those places where there is 5 people to do the things I used to do myself in my previous job. Frustrating.

I bought a new car on finance in April!!! But at the time I was spending 10hrs per week in it and doing 500miles a week, the car I had was 9 years old and I constantly lived in fear of it breaking down and me not being able to get to work. My new car is nothing flashy, 3yo low milage city car and £130pm which to be honest I think is fine for a depreciating asset when I think I'd have been saving £2-300pm for a new car anyway only for it to lose value the second I drove it home.

We also did go on that holiday and it was very, very spendy. In fact the most expensive holiday I've ever had but it was absolutely fabulous and I don't regret it at all.

Other than that I have increased my debt BUT it's entirely down to starting my own business which is finally beginning to pay off (just this month in fact!). My goal is now to have multiple income streams (as much as possible) and really start building a fabulous future for myself and the girls. I'm very 100mph and my uncle (who is extremely successful now and is entirely a self made man) told me when I was younger that you will never get rich selling your own time, and I think that has really stuck with me. I don't think I even want to be rich, but I have realised that in my job there is not much higher I can go really. I earn very good wages for my age in this area but realistically the ceiling of my earning potential is £45-£50k. Which is amazing but that really is chief engineer status which everyone aspires to and there only is one of them! Being a woman (and quite a low class/ bad accent type too!) I don't really fit the stereotype at all so while I'm happy with my current status if I want to be set up and secure on my own I really need to have a few different basket with eggs in them I think. Hence the business was born!

I feel I've rambled an awful lot... I'm no longer living with BF so my priority is to keep this diary going this time- so here is to a fantastic 2018 of debt busting, frugal but fun living, trying to keep all my balls in the air at once and STAYING SINGLE :-D