Reducing Debt - being accountable and taking responsibility

DrSpendLittle

Forgot to add, I closed my S/S ISA and have put the money into savings. New totals in my signature. I think I made £2.46 on 2 month investment

Looking a bit short on savings at the moment but I'm hoping to stretch the completion of the sale to 8-10 weeks from now, which would hopefully enable me to include two pay days worth of savings, (£2,740) which would be enough to cover my half of the selling / moving fees and the rental deposit / fees. I'm not unduly worried as I have DF to count on if there is a shortfall.

PositiveBalance

DrSpendLittle wrote: »

Oh, and I bought some new night moisturiser too. My skin is looking a bit crap at the moment and I think its because I've been using a light moisturiser (designed for oily skin) for day and night. I need something richer for overnight, so I've bought something designed for parched oily skin. Hoping it works!!

Not sure if putting an oil on oily skin is a good idea or not, but a woman in her 50s with amazing skin once recommended Bio Oil to me for the night. In fact, she recommended it to four of us and we all went out and bought it, given how good her skin is! :rotfl:

DrSpendLittle wrote: »

Still waiting for the sellers pack to arrive from our Solicitors, whom we have now instructed. Once that arrives, I will need to sit down and go through it all. House is officially Sold STC on Leftmove. Sales board still up. Not sure whether the EA will put a Sold board up straightaway or whether they wait until contracts are exchanged.

T minus 12 days, 8 hours and 51 minutes

DSL

Wow! That was fast work!


Looking at all your debt-busting and selling the house, isn't it amazing the difference a year makes?

DrSpendLittle

Hi Positivebalance, I have a balancing oil - Manuka doctor - and it works wonders! I must start using it again. Its really good for reducing pores and redness. I'll ease my skin in with the new overnight stuff (I have sensitive skin) and then reintroduce the oil too!

What a different 18 months makes indeed!

DrSpendLittle

The start of a new week. I am determined not to buy lunch this week. I'm in the office for most of it. We have plenty of stuff at home to make sandwiches and other stuff, so it will only be sheer laziness that means I left myself down. Challenge laid bare.

Over the past few days, I've been wondering whether I should hold off clearing the debt and keep that £926.49 in my bank for moving fees and expenses. I conscious it's all moving so quickly. I'll chat through with DF tonight. I'm sure he'll say clear the debt. Plus, its likely to be 8 weeks before we move and I should have a good amount saved by then. But if we buy too, we'll have extra conveyancing / survey / mortgage fee costs. We're looking at a couple of houses later week, both of which have potential, so who knows what the end of the week will bring!

Busy day in the office so I'd better crack on with earning the ££s.

DrSpendLittle

Thoughts of selling and moving are swirling around in my head! Taking a 5 minute break from work in an attempt to process and regain my focus.

Think I've scraped my budget too thin this month. Will need to dip into savings to cover some things. My car service and a £1,000 credit card payment is half my take-home pay. On top of that, I've had two birthdays, some social stuff and a solicitors bill to cover, as well as everyday expenses. Will need to buy a new parking book at some point too. Nice to know I have savings to cover these things but every £ I take from there will leave less for the house move. Will speak to DF and clarify stuff later.

I'll be debt free in 10 days, 12 hours and 17 minutes, so in the grand scheme of things, it aint all bad. Just mildly frustrating. I suppose the feeling of being frustrated about not reaching savings goals should be celebrated

Focus on the long game, so to speak.

DSL

PositiveBalance

DrSpendLittle wrote: »

I'll be debt free in 10 days, 12 hours and 17 minutes, so in the grand scheme of things, it aint all bad. Just mildly frustrating. I suppose the feeling of being frustrated about not reaching savings goals should be celebrated.

Yes it should - it shows just how far you have come! :T


I would definitely get rid of the debt before you move. I can't remember if you have been and sorted out your financials etc yet for moving but I waa shocked at how much difference having even a modest amount of credit card debt made to how much they were prepared to lend me. (My circumstances being a bit different, of course, with only one much smaller income, but still...)


Also, psychologically it will make a big difference to you - the new house will represent a real fresh start for you both in terms of finances and moving onto the next stage of your life.



Go for it - what have you got to lose but the debt?!

enthusiasticsaver

Considering you have only just accepted the offer I would think 8-10 weeks is a perfectly reasonable timespan if not longer before completion. Are your buyers chain free? Your DF could step in if you have not saved quite enough I guess. Seems a shame not to get rid of it and start with a clean slate in the new house. Have you seen anything yet?

DrSpendLittle

Thanks folks! I think I will crack on and clear the debt. DF can step in. Plus, we spoke last night about keeping back a bit more equity / savings than originally planned as a 'doing up' fund for whatever house we buy, so there will be plenty of ££s to 'borrow from'

Enthusiastic - seeing a couple of houses this week. We really like one and would offer if it meets our expectations. Hoping to submit selling paperwork on Thursday. Lets see what the end of the week brings

DrSpendLittle

Yesterday was a low spend day. I put fuel in the car. I'm working from home today as we have some house viewings (to buy) booked for later this afternoon.

Not sure on spends today - DF may want to go for a post viewing pint to have a debrief. That may turn into a pub dinner. We'll see. We're both in the office tomorrow so we can't have a late night. I might cook a pasta sauce whilst I'm WFH today that we can eat later when we come back.

DSL

DrSpendLittle

Just swinging by to check in. Had some spends relating to the house sale this week - EPC and disbursements payment for the solicitors. Paper work has arrived so that is one of this weekends job.

Also been a bit naughty with a takeaway and wine this week BUT I'm delighted to reveal that I have not bought my lunch all week! I've been in work every day this week (unexpectedly) and have brought in sandwiches each day. I had to buy milk for the office today but that came out of some random cash I had lying around.

Exciting news - we've put in an offer on a house we like. We're waiting for the vendor to respond. They've had three other offers but we are the highest. We think one of the other offers is viewing the property this weekend so I suppose they may match our offer. We have set a limit of what we will pay so what will be will be. We're fairly relaxed about it all.

No plans for the weekend other than de cluttering. We've realised we need to make a start on clearing out the junk and I figured I'd get ahead of the game. Might go on a walk

What else? The enormously expensive new build we went to look around has now sold so its most definitely off the table. We are super relieved we didn't go for it and feel like we made the right decision. Phew.

Have a good weekend!