My journey to a debt free life

Onebrokelady

Busy day at work today but still a good shift. I met the new HCA that started this week and discovered she lives just up the road from me ,she very kindly gave me a lift home 🎉🎉 she seems really nice 😊
I now have another two days off 🎉🎉 and tomorrow will be sorting house things.My mum and Dad are dropping off either a thermometer or pulse oximeter that they ordered for me and I am giving them some seat covers that I ordered for them,Mum reckons they've bought me a thermometer and Dad says it's a pulse oximeter so I will se when they get here 😀they aren't coming in the house they are going to text me when they are outside so I can just go out to the car. I did tell Mum I would wait until the lockdown was over but she always likes to do things yesterday and I can't be bothered to argue 🙄 I've got some magazines for her as well.
I went on my online banking app earlier to see if there was anything on there about making overpayments on my mortgage and there was some generic info but nothing specific to my mortgage so I'm going to pull out the paperwork tomorrow to see what it says. This might also spur me onto doing a job I've been avoiding which is sorting out the files that my important paperwork is in. I know there is some stuff in there that can be disposed of so I might as well do that at the same time 

Sun_Addict

I’m with the Nationwide and went on their website to find out the information I needed about overpaying. Then I did a web chat with a very helpful advisor who confirmed as I was on a fixed rate I could overpay by 10% of the original amount loaned. For variable rates it’s a lot more. Worth looking on the bank’s website rather than the app there’s more information.

Onebrokelady

Sun_Addict said:

I’m with the Nationwide and went on their website to find out the information I needed about overpaying. Then I did a web chat with a very helpful advisor who confirmed as I was on a fixed rate I could overpay by 10% of the original amount loaned. For variable rates it’s a lot more. Worth looking on the bank’s website rather than the app there’s more information.

Thanks SA,I'm also with the Nationwide so will have a look today, a complete coincidence but my mortgage statement arrived today and the letter that came with it says I can overpay unlimited amounts and can also borrow back overpayments if I need to. It does also say to check my individual mortgage offer so will have a look. Do vaguely remember them saying something about this when I took it out but I just laughed to myself thinking that's never going to happen😀

Onebrokelady

How funny that my mortgage statement arrived this morning after all the chat about it on my diary. It has led me to believe I can overpay but I'm going to check it out further in case I've misunderstood. 
It basically says that one or more of my deals has come to an end so I am now on the Base Mortgage Rate which is guaranteed to be no more than 2% above the Bank Of England base rate,I can apply for payment holidays and also have the option of making unlimited overpayments while on the account, it then also says I have the option of applying to borrow back any overpayments made on the account 
Mortgage 1 taken out to buy the house :-
Base Mortgage Rate = 2.10%
Capital Repayment Mortgage 
Remaining term = 6 yrs 4mths 
Left to pay = £8,215.29
Monthly payment £ 115.53

Mortgage 2 taken out for windows and consolidating debt when I was first in debt and hadn't found this place 
Same as above but 
6yrs left 
Left to pay = £4,165.77
Monthly payment = £61.63

This has reminded me its never a good idea to consolidate your debt with another form of debt and that at the time I only owed £3,500 but thought it was the end of the world. If I had been sensible then I would be nearly Debt Free now 😟

milann

That sounds like a good deal in that you can  overpay but take it back if needed. 

I’d be tempted to go ahead with the plan to get your floor done so that you can live in comfort and get the feel good factor. And pay a little bit extra to your mortgage but be careful not to over  commit. I say this, as I overstretched myself paying extra to debts (got carried away reading on here about the amounts other folks were paying) and ended up having to use credit cards and put more debt on them than if I’d have not paid them off in the first place. We are all individuals and need to go at our own pace. Once I realised as long  as it was going in the right direction it was ok, I did a lot better. It seemed to take the pressure of timelines and deadlines away as they were self inflicted 😏

badmemory

Whilst I appreciate that having debt is a worry, you appear to be sorting yours in the long term & they will eventually sort themselves.  I too would go with the flooring & follow that with any extra pennies to the mortgage.  And I do mean pennies.  I assume you know about Tilly Tidies.  Well some of those tidies are indeed pennies.

Have you considered checking out how much pension you will receive?  It may ease your mind a little to do that.

Onebrokelady

milann said:

That sounds like a good deal in that you can  overpay but take it back if needed. 

I’d be tempted to go ahead with the plan to get your floor done so that you can live in comfort and get the feel good factor. And pay a little bit extra to your mortgage but be careful not to over  commit. I say this, as I overstretched myself paying extra to debts (got carried away reading on here about the amounts other folks were paying) and ended up having to use credit cards and put more debt on them than if I’d have not paid them off in the first place. We are all individuals and need to go at our own pace. Once I realised as long  as it was going in the right direction it was ok, I did a lot better. It seemed to take the pressure of timelines and deadlines away as they were self inflicted 😏

I think reading what others are doing has influenced me a bit to be honest and I'm also at the stage where my debt is just being paid off in the background but I don't feel like I'm doing anything to help or not enough action. I also panicked when I worked out I would be 70 before I paid it all off. Since I've been thinking about it more rationally I've come to the realisation that I do need to be able to have a life as well as clear this debt or I will go off the rails again. I just have to make sure I'm not wasting money that could be being used more effectively. I'm definitely carrying on with getting my floors done 😊

Onebrokelady

badmemory said:

Whilst I appreciate that having debt is a worry, you appear to be sorting yours in the long term & they will eventually sort themselves.  I too would go with the flooring & follow that with any extra pennies to the mortgage.  And I do mean pennies.  I assume you know about Tilly Tidies.  Well some of those tidies are indeed pennies.

Have you considered checking out how much pension you will receive?  It may ease your mind a little to do that.

To be honest I hadn't thought about it until I checked my SC account to do the review, it sort of bumbles along in the background and I mostly feel relieved that I'm managing the problem. 
What are Tilly tidies I haven't heard of them 😊 I haven't checked out how much pension I will receive because I'm too scared it will be rubbish which will make me worry even more. My head is firmly stuck in the sand when it comes to my pension 😳

Onebrokelady

Today has been boringly productive because I sorted out my important paperwork files. I'm so glad I've done it though as there were things in there from years ago that I just don't need to keep.
I also found my mortgage offer paperwork and it does indeed say I can make unlimited overpayments so at least I know I can now if I want to, however a situation has come up today that might mean I cant do it anyway. 

DDs job is a rotational job where she spends 6 to 9 months in each department,her current rotation ends in April and she had to pick where she would prefer to go next and also pick a reserve choice ,they have to be two acute placements in the hospital or two community placements, because  she hasn't been able to learn to drive yet she picked two placements at the hospital and one community placement that she can get to easily on the train but she found out today she has been put down to do a community placement in a town that she didn't pick because it's quite hard to get to. She would need to get a train for an hour then the hospital is another 7 miles away  from the station which will mean getting a bus, her line manager is trying to change it for her to the other community choice which is a 20 minute train journey away.
 The upshot of this is that if she has to do the rotation she has been put down for she will move out and go to live in the town where it is based which means I will lose her money in April. This will mean I either have to put my hours back up to what they were or forget about any extras on the house or overpayments to anyone. She was planning to be here for at least another year while she saves for a house deposit so I would have had a years worth of money to do the things I need to do in the house. I can afford to live on my current hours but can't afford anything extra so will have to wait and see. Ideally she wants to move to Bristol and saw a job advertised there today which is only hospital based so she is also going to apply for that which of course will mean she moves out but that would be a permanent move so I could rent her room out if I needed to. She doesn't want to move out yet because she won't be able to save as much if she is paying full rent somewhere else

In other news I procrastinated by deep cleaning my hob today, this is how much I hate sorting paperwork, I will do anything to avoid it. I do actually wipe my hob down every day but today I took it apart and blitzed it,it looks pristine now 😀
Ive also got two loads of washing done 🎉🎉 and sorted the 🐓🐓
Mum and Dad came by and they had got me a thermometer and a pulse oximeter so they were both right.😀I got a text just now to say the seat covers I got them are on the chairs and look lovely 

milann

I think that’s the best outlook - you definitely need a life as well as paying the debts. Yes they are important to get paid off but living is also important. It would be so easy to have blow outs and end up in worse debt if you don’t allow as much wriggle room for living as you can. 

You will miss your dd when she moves away. It’s a good job you didn’t commit to using her  money for debt repayments but kept to one side for houses things. Hope she gets herself sorted. Does she have to go where they say or can she appeal to get somewhere easier to get to.