Doing up the House (and me) while doing away with the Debt

supersaver1000

I can't wait to post on the Debt-free Roll of Honour, so have been doing some sums and looking at dates and so on.

My trouble with debt started when I met DH - he had a windfall of around a £100k and there the spending started. We remortgaged the house a couple of times (about £80k). Then we had around £30k in inheritance and paid off the credit cards. Then a few years later we sold the house and used the £30k left to pay off the credit cards. Flash cars, watches, holidays, clothes, eating out, being over generous, expensive hobbies and the old just living beyond our means and treating money like water. Definitely well over £200k wasted!! Well not completely, there were some good times that I do treasure, but could have been a lot cheaper!!

I would say that my lightbulb moment was August 2014 (or there abouts). This was shortly after I started my first thread I believe. I had jumped into a massive job and found it was totally wrong for me, so I jumped out again to something more secure but around a £500/mth pay drop.

It felt pretty disastrous considering we had built up another £27k in credit cards and car loan debts. We did have £6k as an emergency fund so we had a cushion, but it really brought home that it couldn't go on. OHs work became unstable and I then had a couple of quick job changes and then OH had another job disaster and decided to work for himself. The debts went up a bit due to setting up self employment but then OH found that being able to claim taxes back against set up expenses meant we were in a slightly better position. It was all a bit hair raising at the time. But there were some positives and OH had his own LBM :T and we had a ppi claim come good so we've been able to pay back everything ourselves.

I'm not going to mourn the wasted £200k - we spent it, we enjoyed it, we've paid it back and now we can get on with life in a different way.

It feels good to have made it to a position to be able to wipe the slate clean next month. We both have good incomes, as stable as they can be in this day and age. I've just taken one of my pensions early - and it feels so good to be able to put £20k into a savings account, rather than have to pay off flaming credit cards :):) Life may change, who knows what is around the corner but that is going to be our focus now - shoreing up for the future

My turning point was taking the credit cards off OH and giving him a cash allowance. It just gave me the control I needed to start turning us around and gave him some focus on a budget.

supersaver1000

I've finally had some inspiration for my 'Doing up the House' idea.

As you know we live in a beautiful rental home, a couple of things need doing, but I don't want to spend a lot as its not our house and I also need to be quite creative so that we don't end up having to spend a lot to put it right when we leave. And also I just don't want to spend (I'm a saver right)

There are two smallish windows that don't have window dressings at all. No rails, no blinds and quite difficult to reach, so need a inventive solution. We've lived with it for almost two years, but we do like hanging around in our PJs so I'm trying to find the best solution.

I put a fabric notice board in the charity pile the other day and then realised it was almost the size of the smaller window. Hey ho - a pretty board that I can just about reach to put in place in the evening and slide to the side in the morning. Yesterday I was having a bit of a clear out and found a dry-wipe noticeboard I had for a job a bit back. Guess what - this is a perfect fit! So, today I found out some pretty wrapping paper and some modge podge and hey ho minutes later I have a very pretty board that fits perfectly and looks great. And MOST importantly - cost NOTHING :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I've just measured up the slightly larger window and am going to source a piece of card board and do the same. Great solution, really pleased.:T:T:D

Cherryfudge

Brilliant creative solution - free insulation as well

supersaver1000

Cherryfudge wrote: »

Brilliant creative solution - free insulation as well

Thank you - I didn't think of that. It is a double sided one and has got some squashy foam in the middle (I saw that when I removed the red edging). :beer:

supersaver1000

Sooo close to being debt-free. Doing a bit of moving money around - loaning bits to DH, DH loaning money to DD, me loaning bits to DD. Its a bit of a merry go round. All to do with year end, LISAs, savings accounts maturing and end of year tax bills.

Hopefully all resolved by mid-April. Then its just the student loan to pay off. I have to wait for the savings account to mature, then will have to wait for the HMRC to let the SLC know how much has been deducted from wages/how much interest has been added - then its bye bye student loan.

I've started to feel a bit more settled about my impending new found debt-free status. Feeling more in control of money, instead of it controlling our lives.

supersaver1000

I got too impatient not to post on the debt free roll of honour. I have saved up all the money to make my final payments in a few days - so in effect I have no debts anymore. Woohoo. I thought I might feel deflated, but I actually feel very calm now.

Its such a lovely feeling - just taken a big breath in and a big sigh of relief out.

Start of a new ....era...debt-free life...or/and just getting the old me back

Anyone who is not quite there.. just keep going..just keep going... I never thought I would be here.

So, I'm not going to stop here. Just need a little time to take this all in and then start the future.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me and good luck to everyone :T:T:T

in_need_of_direction

A truly great achievement. Well done now sit back and savour what all your hard work got you

Cherryfudge

That's fantastic! Well done! You will feel great when all the money goes across.

Are you going to diarise the further adventures of a super saver?

supersaver1000

Thank you Cherryfudge and INOD xx

Yes, definitely going to be another chapter

supersaver1000

Very proud of my 'debt free' badge. :T:o

Still waiting for the Student Loan Company to update my student loan. Then I'll be able to transfer over my soon to be maturing savings account. Another milestone for me and an achievement for me in later life

Planning to get a mortgage very soon, so I will probably be heading to the mortgage free wannabe board. We've been planning for retirement as well - get us !! :rotfl::rotfl:

Been looking at the mortgage information on here and it all looks very complicated - so many different alternatives - so I'm giving myself an extended break at the moment from all things financial and just enjoying being debt-free. Will pull my bootstraps up soon but its just nice to bask a little while .