My 5 year plan

fatrab

A few weeks ago I cancelled the mobile contract for my tablet early and accepted the get-out payment. Well my billing date is the 19th so I'm going to wait until it's billed and then do the same for my mobile. Mrs fatrab is effectively paying for her own phone from now onwards as she'll have a "normal" wage again this month, so we've come to an agreement about who pays what going forwards.

When we were both working full time it was 50:50 but now she's only part time I'll pay the mortgage and we'll divide up the other stuff fairly. She's got her own debts to service but as I've said plenty of times before, we keep our finances separate. It works for us to have it this way at the moment. She has a mortgage on a property with her mother which is rented out, but they're thinking of selling it. Maybe once that financial association is over we'll have one pot, but certainly not before then.

Read from that what you will!

fatrab

Storm - I wasn't trying hard enough last month, and did a little bit of damage to my weight loss plan. I am only aiming for 1 pound per week but I was stagnant there for ages. Just think about everything before you buy it, eat it or do it (or don't do it in the case of exercise!). I still find it hard to get up off my backside and go for a walk in the evenings. I still struggle to walk past the pastries in Lidl.

I'm sure you'll be fine, small changes are all it takes.

jwil

We keep our finances separate too, and just split the bills. It works for us, and I don't think it makes us any less committed to each other! The only thing we don't 'share' are the debts, mine are mine, and his are his.

Out of interest, as you obviously are keen on cars. If you had a budget of £3k, and you were in the market for a small car, what would you buy? That's what I'm aiming for eventually. Small car , economical to run and repair, mainly used for around town, but with 1-2 longer journeys a fortnight.

fatrab

jwil wrote: »

We keep our finances separate too, and just split the bills. It works for us, and I don't think it makes us any less committed to each other! The only thing we don't 'share' are the debts, mine are mine, and his are his.

Exactly the same as us. I think once we've cleared our individual debts and the MIL (monster in law lol) is no longer financially associated with Mrs fatrab, we'll wipe the slate and just have one pot.

jwil wrote: »

Out of interest, as you obviously are keen on cars. If you had a budget of £3k, and you were in the market for a small car, what would you buy? That's what I'm aiming for eventually. Small car , economical to run and repair, mainly used for around town, but with 1-2 longer journeys a fortnight.

That's a great question, and one that I'm going to answer by PM - for fear of p!$$ing off anyone who has cars that I recommend that you shouldn't buy!

fatrab

Going forwards I think I'm going to hit the spending diary on the head. It has served it's purpose, and served it well. I go shopping 2 or 3 times each week. I don't eat take away/fast food every day or go to cafes for breakfast every morning any more.

I like the stats and figures it pumps out but I need to focus more on getting the small debts tidied up and the big debts cleared now.

Being off the alcohol certainly helps look at things with a clear head too.

Some great news for this weekend, nightshift overtime Sat & Sun! That will be a lot of pennies towards the debts. We have a big project starting up and it's going to be good for overtime but a bit disruptive to the work:life balance for a while. If things work out this might be my last project working away from home..... fingers crossed.

I spoke with my mate's OH today about re-mortgaging too as the rates look likely to go up soon. If she can find me a good deal to lock in for 6 months then I think I'll take it. Will find out more next week. My current fix ends in October but if rates go up in May I don't want to miss out.

Just need the big car to sell soon and I'm going to feel a lot better about where I stand.

Things are gathering momentum

Silver_Queen

You're doing fantastically well! I've lurked from the start and always pop in to read your posts. It's really inspiring how knuckled down you are. Well done!

fatrab

Silver_Queen wrote: »

You're doing fantastically well! I've lurked from the start and always pop in to read your posts. It's really inspiring how knuckled down you are. Well done!

Thanks!

Still got a long way to go, just wish I'd had my LBM sooner.

Summer12

fatrab wrote: »

Happy new year!

I made a thread at the end of last year in the DFW section (https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5756197) because of a few silly financial decisions I made in the past year and wanted to set them straight. As part of that I made a spending diary for week and realised how much more I was spending than what I though I was.

So I promised 2018 was going to be different and that I'd make a thread here to set my goals and note down any achievements!

My 5 year plan looks like this:

Year 1 Timeline (2018):
Jan - Pay HMRC - £1017 - PAID 25/01/18 (page 5)
Feb - Pay off credit card 1 - £978.80 - PAID 28/02/18 (page 12)
March - Build up £2000 safety fund - ACHIEVED 12/03/18 (page 14)
May - Tax rebate
June - Remortgage
July - Pay home insurance IN FULL
July - Cancel mobile contract for tablet - CANCELLED 27/03/18 (page 16)
September - Pay TV licence IN FULL
October - Pay car insurance IN FULL
October - Pay car tax (big car) IN FULL
October - Cancel my mobile
October - Renegotiate TV/Broadband/Phone package
Throughout year - Overpay car finance - £2152.54 overpaid so far

Year 2:
January - Cancel Mrs' mobile
Pay off car finance
Pay off loan
Continue to build up the safety fund

Year 3:
Pay off credit card 2 (currently on 0% deal)
Overpay mortgage if possible

Years 4 & 5:
Overpay mortgage. I have 7 years and 5 months remaining at the moment but I have been making regular overpayments and I'm due to re-mortgage in October at the end of a 5 year fix.
At the end of year 5 have enough money saved to pay any outstanding balance on the mortgage.

Obviously as each debt is paid off I'll have extra to pay to the next debt, this is where I'll struggle. It'll take a lot of commitment and focus not to go bananas with any spare cash but I'm 43 and want to be debt free by 50. I can do this in 5 years. Debt free by 48 would be amazing!

Wish me luck!

Robert

NOTE: Due to a malicious attack some diaries disappeared and this was one of them. I started a new one, but the nice people at MSE towers managed to recover my original one and they're now merged, from page 6 onwards.

From April 2018 onwards:
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 3380
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 170
Total monthly income.................... 3550
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 800.3
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 401.81
Rent.................................... 250
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 139
Electricity............................. 35
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 14
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 42.5
Car Insurance........................... 34.21
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 12.94
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 6.81
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Netflix................................. 5.99
Total monthly expenses.................. 2172.55

Assets
Cash.................................... 2200
House value (Gross)..................... 128000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 25500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 155700

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 63466.6..(800.3)....3.14
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 15848....(401.8)....6.9
Total secured & HP debts...... 79314.6...-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................5717.96...166.3.....3.1
Credit Card....................3740......110.......0
Total unsecured debts..........9457.96...276.3.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,550
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,172.55
Available for debt repayments........... 1,377.45
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 276.3
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,101.15
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 155,700
Total HP & Secured debt................. -79,314.6
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,457.96
Net Assets.............................. 66,927.44
Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Hi

I will be following your diary (once I log on via a pc as on a phone I cant find the subscribe link!!) I find it really motivating reading the diaries and pick up so many tips from them. I wonder if selling one of our cars and getting an older one is the way forward but then worry about increased repair bills. Think I need a crystal ball! Well done on your progress so far x

fatrab

Hi Summer, it's definitely not a decision to take lightly. Finding the correct car to trade-down to is the hard part.


If you find anyone selling crystal balls please send me a link!!


Thanks

fatrab

This morning I have cancelled my mobile phone. Cancellation was £140 which is a bit steep but it's a lesson learned and it's hardly been used since I got the company mobile back in October.

Just got Mrs fatrab's mobile contract to go but it won't be cancelled until January. It's £38/month

Never again!!!

So what next?

Payday in 5 days time. Should get my self assessment completed the following week assuming the P60's from both of my employments in the past 12 months come through quickly. It only seems like a few weeks since I was ranting about having to pay my tax bill back in January. That was 3 months ago!!! Where has time gone??

Hopefully the car will sell by the end of May. By then, the equity from it plus the tax rebate plus another 2 months worth of surplus from my salary will go a long way towards paying off the bank loan.

Plus remortgaging should see £50/month reduction in mortgage payment in October, will find out full details next week hopefully.

That's the plan, lets see how it works out