Reducing Debt - being accountable and taking responsibility

DrSpendLittle

Having a WFH day. Nearly done with my project deadline - thanking yesterday's self for doing some prep work so I'm under less pressure now.

Not a NSD as the Oc4do order will arrive later but no other spends than that. Feeling good and in control of my finances. Looking forward to March 29th and my debt free day.

I've been assured my work expenses will be paid by the end of the month so I think I'll put them into my savings and stick to my debt payment schedule. Having extra ££s in my EF will benefit me more than paying an extra £150 off my debt with no bearing on my debt free date.

What else...?

I spoke to a mortgage advisor today and got an AIP. They will lend us a scary amount of money :eek: More than we anticipated.

However, DF and I want to move to somewhere that is affordable enough for us to take our current lifestyle AND start / raise a family. We've had many long chats over the weekend, we've run the numbers through YNAB and we've both realised what is important to us in the short, medium and long term. We don't want to be saddled with a big monthly mortgage payment. We want to live too.

So, we're tentatively looking at houses and considering putting ours on the market. We've not seen anything yet that fits the bill but we've made our decision on price brackets and we're happy with it. Based on our plan, we will have paid off the new mortgage 10 years before my retirement date. This means, depending on the value of my pension at that time, I could consider retiring early or going part time

We've already got a moving fund saved up to cover moving costs and stamp duty. I've done a YNAB budget of our new house lifestyle at a monthly mortgage payment based on the upper end of our price bracket and I'm happy with our projected outgoings and surpluses. We'd be comfortable.

DF has had a mini LBM through all this. He's even quoting Dave Ramsey back to me (rice and beans, beans and rice) and he doesn't even know who Dave Ramsey is :rotfl: He wants to save like I do (he has no debt but is a terrible fritterer) and we've set a mini savings target to cashflow moving fees and expenses so we have plenty of surplus in our moving fund. We can then use that for decorating / furnishing the new house or even buying a new to us car.

Feeling really positive about our financial future. The end of debt slaying is in sight. Paying debt off has been one of the biggest, hardest but best life lessons I've experienced. It's often hard to see the wood for the tress with debt slaying, but I'm getting there and I can tell you, it's good. Keep on keeping on everyone! The rewards are worth the battles.

Silver_Queen

You are so very, very nearly there! Very soon you'll be totally debt free

enthusiasticsaver

I think it is very sensible not to go up to the maximum they will lend you on a mortgage particularly if you want children in the not too distant future. Having a lower monthly payment will help you with that if you go off on maternity leave or want to go back part time or whatever.

BabyStepper

I'm loving how organised you sound. Brilliant. :beer:

Great advice there re. the mortgage. There is no need to mortgage yourself to death. When we got ours the adviser kept asking us if we wanted a bigger mortgage. She's obviously not a pal of Dave's. So very glad later on when I left my job that we didn't do that. Less debt (even a mortgage) = more choices in life.

I also liked that you're not throwing every spare penny at debt any more. You have a debt free plan and you're confident in following it. So good! I'm only starting to work it like that, debt overpayments are now on the budget and anything extra will top up various sinking pots, or be spent or whatever. It's like working backwards from how it was in the beginning.

Keep going, you're doing it and everything sounds fab. Hope to see you on the MFW boards once we're done with all this debt!

DrSpendLittle

A successful NSD yesterday. In the office all week so need to avoid spending temptations like to nipping out for mid afternoon chocolate indulgence

Have managed to bring in brekkie and lunch today but it won't be a NSD as I have to get some conditioner on the way home from work. Sure there is something else I need to... can't remember..

I've enough fuel in the car for another day's commute but I may need to fill up on Friday.

Not much else to report - it's the middle of the month plateau where all bills have been paid and I'm itching to get stuck into March. Must stop wishing away the days and weeks like this!! Only 44 days to go and then it will be all about building the savings / moving fees pot. Eeeek!

Back to the grind. I don't really have time to be on here wittering about MSE stuff but sod it, things can wait!

DSL

DrSpendLittle

Oooof, what a long and tiring work day - 10 hours at the office, plus a 1 hour commute there and back resulted in 12 hours 'on the go'. Was too knackered to pick up conditioner on the way home so it turned out to be a NSD :T DF had dinner sorted too, so I managed to arrive home, get in my jim jams and lounge. Bliss.

I will try for a NSD tomorrow too but I think I may need fuel. Might play chicken with the fuel gauge depending on what mood I wake up in the morning :rotfl:

Plans for the weekend are probably to drive around various places we may move to and think through a plan of action for getting ours on the market. DF seems really energised by moving, so I'm going to ride that wave whilst I have it (I've always been a bit more gung-ho than him). I won't lie, the timing is not perfect with the B word looming and the natural business cycle beginning to tilt downwards, but I'm hoping a long term, 20-30 year investment will mitigate against any market fluctuations we may experience by buying this year.

DSL

enthusiasticsaver

There may be static house prices at the moment due to the B word but that will help you with buying as any fall in your current house price will hopefully be matched with a fall in the house you want to buy. The problem may be lack of house supply as people who don't have to move may be delaying putting their houses up for sale.

DrSpendLittle

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

There may be static house prices at the moment due to the B word but that will help you with buying as any fall in your current house price will hopefully be matched with a fall in the house you want to buy. The problem may be lack of house supply as people who don't have to move may be delaying putting their houses up for sale.

Yup, that's what I'm hoping. I've always operated on the basis that value depreciation / appreciation is relative within a housing market area - the tide rises for everyone, so to speak.

We've been those people who hesitated - for years to be honest. We've not seen anything to entice us out of our little house. But, we're now ready. What will be will be. I'm a great believer this was the path we were meant to take.

Interestingly, the market where we are selling is fairly robust and properties have been going for their asking prices. There hasn't been much in the way of new supply for a while, so I'm hoping we'll sell ours relatively easily (famous last words :rotfl:) and perhaps be able to negotiate a decent purchase deal if we choose to move to a housing market area that isn't fairing so well.

DrSpendLittle

Busy day again. Just popping to say hi

NSD so far. Reckon I can get back home (I'm in the office) without a fuel stop. However, we might go our for dinner as we fancy a little treat and we're both knackered from busy working weeks. All the usual justifications for unplanned spends Lets see what DF says to my plan when we both get home from work.

Two weeks until pay day

DrSpendLittle

DF and I did go out for dinner last night We had a lovely night. He paid :T

We were both WFH today so we popped into town over lunch to get some bits and bobs for dinner and I treated us to a nice bottle of wine as a quid pro quo for last nights meal. £50 spent (I won't tell you how much the wine was as you'll shout at me:o). Also did a £5.15 shop for the food bank - our local W4itrose has a donations bin so I make it a habit of donating something every time I go.

Whilst we were out, we took a drive to two properties we had seen on leftmove. Just to get a feel for their locations and streets. Whilst they are both perfect properties, they do not meet our location needs. It's a real shame as we were very excited. On paper, both were properties we'd described as 'looking forward coming home too after a long day in the office'. Real homes. But, they're just too close to busy main roads / on rat runs. We want to get away from that and are completely uncompromising on the issue.

Still, it's been a useful process as we're more certain than ever of what we don't want. Hoping more properties come on the market once the spring selling season gets underway.

Tomorrow is operation 'what do we need to do to the house before we put it on the market'. Not sure on spends. Nothing planned.