Stop the regret. Here is to the future

dionysia

Well done keeping up with your running! Those couch-to-5k programmes are really good for building a habit.

Your job offer sounds like a nice problem to have . Being able to be mortgage-free in a few years could open up so many possibilities. But being very self-directed and working from home are really valuable too, 35m into a city centre every day could end up being a killer commute. Is there any chance of an honest conversation with your current manager and perhaps leveraging the offer into more money or a commitment to develop you more where you are?

middleclassbutpoor

Yeah it is a nice choice to have.

We have experienced redundancy within the household which happened shortly after starting a new job so that sticks in my mind still also. Its this that makes me even more cautious when I think about walking away from nearly 10 years service with a 3 month notice period required.

I have spoken to my manager to wanting to progress. He is really supportive but the issue is that until a position opens up there isn't a lot they can do. There is talk of the company growing over the next couple of years and opportunities being created but you just never know. Lots of 'ifs and buts'.

Re trying to get more money, it is something I am considering in how I approach. Its one of those things where I don't want to ruin a good thing either so will see how it plays out with the other company I think. I do feel like my role has had increases in responsibilities of late so maybe thats an angle to approach it on.

Re the other job, I believe it would add about 3hrs on to my day. Which seems fine in summer but come winter, I know it will be less appealing. I just couldn't see the role being more than a 5 year role with that kind of travel involved.

The bottom line is that I appreciate what I have and whilst that is there, I think it would always make it a difficult decision to move. There are no doubt many people on here who are in a far worse position than we are and my problems are not bad problems.

welshlady33

Hi MCPM

Just my humble opinion but your girls will never be this adorable age ever again - enjoy as much time as you can with them, I wouldn't change jobs if it meant more time away from them.

When you kick the debt to the kerb you it will be like having a pay rise anyway.

All the best

middleclassbutpoor

Been a little while since I updated.

Having started a 2 week break from work last week, it was nice to not have to think about work or jobs.

We took a decision to try and have a last minute few days break with the kids and appreciate some family time together. Today we have come back from 4 days at Butlins. We got a really good deal which has cost me my credit card overpayment for this month but haven't come back with any financial regrets as a result - as it's not been done on the never never.

As an added bonus due to the flatness of the park, I managed to run 10k with a couple of 1 min walking breaks along the way - super impressed apart from my first running injury of my moobs and t-shirt causing joggers nipple!

A bit of a curveball for me was that I have been presented with an expected bill however the unexpected bit was that it was nearly double in cost than I was led to believe. I will get this repaid as I have agreed to pay it in a couple of instalments. This has taken nearly a year for them to complete some work which in the main was done last summer.

The plan to hit 11k for end of September has now become a real challenge but going to try and flog some stuff that I never use etc and have set out a budget for the rest of this month so it should still possible with some good planning I believe.

As an update on my career conundrum, I managed to have a conversation with my boss before starting annual leave. It seems to have landed as well as I could have hoped at this stage. There is likely a lot of things going on within the business which will require some changes so he thinks there will be a good opportunity to get this on the radar but agreed that now was better timing given the last time the business was in the middle of some major projects.

Not counting my chickens but as it has accepted and agreed that my responsibilities have increased there seems to be a good case for a review of grade and title etc. So will see what happens there when Im back from holiday.

I am really lucky to have an employer like I do so this has really made me appreciate that the grass may not be greener and even though I'm unlikely to get an increase on the same scale as going elsewhere the pay is still excellent and I don't think I can put a price on having to start again in building up a profile.

Anyway, another week off to go and relax with a view of spending as little as possible.

middleclassbutpoor

Just a quick update. I decided in the end that the grass wasnt going to be greener and remained in my role.

I have managed to get my barclaycard balance down to £9618 which has come down from £13,500 in June. - I set a target to have it down to 11,500 by September so given where I am it looks as though I have smashed this. The reality is that I thought I would try and see if I had any PPI and found that I did so I have been able to surpass this target with a successful claim.

There looks like another one to come in the next couple of weeks so I am going to put a target of having this down at 5.5k by the end of the year. I am paying £1100 now on direct debit so have Oct, Nov and December to come so this should take me to around 6,500. The PPI hopefully will get me down to that point.

I am going to review our spending and I am looking to try and increase the £1100 to a higher payment to see if I can ensure that xmas doesnt impact on my debt repayment.

enthusiasticsaver

Brilliant debt busting there.

missmental123

HI! Well done so far on paying the debt and the PPI claim. I have just made a claim for PPI too! Fingers crossed.

middleclassbutpoor

I am now down to £8964 following a further £610 repayment that I have managed to do.

Its getting quite addictive is this debt repayment game. My DD of £1100 is going to come out too before the end of the month so I am hoping that my balance will start with a 7 by the end of the month.

It's half term week next week and Im off work - going to see what else I can do to get this down. Having tried to estimate when I will have this paid, I hope to have this done by April next year.

Ive not really talked about the rest of my debt but after this we have another card with around 8k and another one with what should be around 4.5k by April - both of which are on 0% deals. I am hoping our annual bonuses will pay the 4.5k in March next year and then we can spend 4 months paying off the last credit card with the snowballing effect.

I keep dreaming about when I get to the point of paying the credit cards off and wishing it would happen faster as I have a personal loan to hit after the cards - which should probably be paid before the 0% cards as interest bearing at around 3.5% but I just want to be credit card free for the first time in my adult life. I will make a final decision on what to pay next when I have got this interest bearing cc repaid fully.

Based on this all going to plan we hopefully will be celebrating around this time next year as we will have paid that off too. So just got to stay focused and not get carried away about how I will be able to properly save for cars/holidays etc in the future.

middleclassbutpoor

This months payment has gone and my card is down to £7664. There is £200 to go onto this so I increased my £1100 payment to £1300 this month to account for this and stay on track.

The statement that has just been produced has a figure of over £12k so it is quite amazing what the overpayments and PPI have done to this balance.

Just been looking at our bank account and have worked out what Direct Debits need to come out and it leaves us with around £1,200 to last for just over 3 weeks. This is looking good but for some reason we always seem to spend more than expecting in the last couple of weeks leading up to pay day.

I have therefore tried to come up with a budget of sorts:

Here is what I think we will need before the end of the month.

£180 for groceries
£120 for fuel for 2 cars
£100 for half term entertainment
£100 for after school club, Swimming lessons and 2 weekend entertainment.

Im thinking of drawing the money out of the bank and then putting a 'no card payment' rule in place to see if this controls it. This would leave us £600 in credit for the month.

My car insurance is due at the start of December and I'm just waiting for my renewal but expect it to be around £500 for the year so it would be good to have this set aside ahead of this.

As we are off with half-term I have been asked about 100 times whether i am going away. It was getting very difficult to keep saying no in my head.

I am desperately in need of some warm weather as not had a summer/sun type holiday in nearly 3 years.

I'm not going to lie and tell you that I haven't been questioning myself about the severity of my cutting back to reduce these debts and whether I really need to forego these things. Surely I could take a bit longer to pay these things off right? Well I have stayed strong so far. Just keep thinking how much better we will be when all of this is gone.

Anyway, I had a letter confirming my 2nd PPI complaint is being investigated. I would be delighted if this allowed me to clear this card before the end of the year but my wish for this balance to start with a 7 this month has been achieved. I will have next month starting with a 6 hopefully and it starting with a 5 in December. I doubt the PPI will be £5k so unlikely that I will have this fully repaid by then.

Anyway - onwards and upwards in life (or should that be downwards for my debt?)

middleclassbutpoor

Well just a quick update - having looked at my wife's credit card, it looks like her promotional balance has ended so looks like Im going to have to redirect my overpayments because her interest rate is higher than the one on mine by about 11%. Our balances are similar so will apply the goals that I have had on my card to her card.