My 5 year plan

fatrab

JoJoC wrote: »

I think it's great that you're able to clear it but I'd be wary of clearing out your emergency fund to do it. By waiting a month or two, you could build up your emergency fund a bit more to ensure you have enough extra in there to take the hit?

Yeah I'm kind of thinking along these lines, if I wait until payday I'll be able to leave £1000 in savings and pay £3500 off the loan. If I sell the car or get the tax rebate sorted before then I can wipe the loan completely.


I think the savings are burning a hole in my pocket, I just want to feel like I'm doing something and getting somewhere.

JoJoC

I know - I feel your impatience. I'm the queen of impatience. The middle of the month is horrendous for me and it's when i tend to go "f-it" because nothing is happenging, there's nothing coming off the debt and I just want to do something. But that's when I spend some money then something I've forgotten or unexpected crops up and i end up borrowing from pots to cover it.

Can you pay half now and then half again at pay day just to be on the safe side?

fatrab

JoJoC wrote: »

I know - I feel your impatience. I'm the queen of impatience. The middle of the month is horrendous for me and it's when i tend to go "f-it" because nothing is happenging, there's nothing coming off the debt and I just want to do something. But that's when I spend some money then something I've forgotten or unexpected crops up and i end up borrowing from pots to cover it.

Can you pay half now and then half again at pay day just to be on the safe side?

I think I'm going to wait until I'm in a position to clear it in full. I'll sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning but I quite like having money in the bank, it feels "safe" having it there. And the debt is only at 3.1% so it's hardly going to save me a fortune in interest by paying it off 23 days earlier!


Just typing things out on here and reading it back is sometimes enough to make you realise what you're thinking isn't right!

JoJoC

Absolutely, that's what this place is for And it's a good idea to sleep on it - it's my favourite delay tactic but it also generally gives me clarity so I hope it does for you.

fatrab

fatrab wrote: »

Lodger hasn't given notice yet and has just paid another full month's rent so we're not sure what's going on....
watch this space.....

Lodger has handed in their notice....

fatrab

Following last night's news that the lodger has accepted the job I'm quite glad I didn't fire all that money across into the loan.

As much as I don't want to get involved in the selling of the property, I think Mrs fatrab is slightly panicking about the short term financial implications. It's between her and her mother to sort out but obviously I'm not going to let her stress about it. There's about £20k equity in the property so whatever we need to shell out now we'll get back.

Just going to have to sit back and let events take their course for a little while.

Coasting, yet again!

JoJoC

I understand the second property worries - we have that generally every 6 months. We have a lovely flat and are flexible landlords, i just think the tenants we attract seem to be in that 'in between' phase of life and are using our place as a stop gap. That means every 6 months more spending on letting agent trying to find a new tenant and more months of double mortgage payments until we find someone to move in again.

Fingers crossed your wife and her mother can get the place on the market pronto and you get rid at a good price

fatrab

They've been really lucky with the folk they've had in the property, first was a friend of Mrs fatrabs for 3 years and current is a former colleague of mine who's been there for the past 2 years so it's been pretty easy going to be honest.


Also, although she's just paid the months rent she's moving out on the 14th so the house should be good to go on the market in about 2 weeks time. Fingers crossed.

fatrab

Received P60 from current employer so just waiting on previous employer form last year sending theirs out and then I'll have my self assessment to complete.

Should hopefully have the tax rebate in my bank this month


Unfortunately my rebate isn't going to be as high as I thought . My total for the past 6 months was only £3386.52 so the tax relief will only be around £900-£1000 but it's still better in my pocket than the tax man's!

fatrab

Started to fill out my tax return and it looks like I'll only be getting £860 returned, but I noticed a discrepancy on my P60. Phoned HR who put me onto HMRC and it turns out I've been paying too much tax since October! So I'm getting that back in 2-3 weeks but they didn't say how much... the suspense and anticipation will kill me!!!!


Also, we won £25 in the pub lotto! We kept my Dad's numbers after he passed away and Mrs fatrab has been paying it every week (she does the occasional shift in the pub to help them out) so it's nice to get a little something back from that!


Every little helps