Tidying up the mess

BabyStepper

Thanks Lydia42. It was rubbish timing but we knew the bathroom would have to be done at some point and it was getting us down. Feels great now, though!

OH's wage arrived yesterday and after he transferred it to the joint account I noticed it was £60 more than usual. He had no idea. Wow. Men! It means we have a better chance of making ends meet this month so that's good.

Not much else to report. I might be selling an old musical instrument I don't use later on today. Let's see if I can get an extra £400.

ftbwannabe

BabyStepper wrote: »

I have used a technique something like this for years and it has not stopped me from accruing debt, paying some off, accruing more, paying some more off, and the cycle continued like that. I somehow felt that debt was a helpful and ordinary part of everyday life

THIS! Just reading through your diary (thanks for keeping one!) and this is exactly how I've been 'managing' my 'finances' for years. Never paying interest, but never paying anything off, & having the total borrowing creep up...

Good luck, sounds from your posts like you're doing really well.

BabyStepper

Hi ftbwannabe and thanks for visiting. Dave Ramsey's way of thinking about things is truly an eye opener for me, but it is still taking a lot of effort to change my behaviour! I need a car right now and in the past, I would have gone straight to my local car dealer and taken out a £5k loan with barely even a thought about anything other than the monthly payment. That's quite hard to believe now, even though I'm trying to resist doing exactly that! I'm just plodding on and hoping to stumble across others who feel the same way so thanks for commenting.

I sold the musical instrument yesterday and am hanging on to the cash for now in anticipation of a big-ish business outlay later in the month. We'll see how it all works out.

BabyStepper

I've been researching student loans in the UK after reading a couple of articles advising graduates not to repay them. Confusion seems to be rife around this issue but it became clear that considering individual circumstances and doing a few sums is the way to work out what to do.

The situation for students is definitely getting worse with course fees increasing and interest rates on student loans rising. However, the vast majority of people with student loans now got them ages ago when things were different. Also, Scottish students ring up smaller debt due to no tuition fees and as is usually the case, this is not reported widely.

My OH has around £27k in student loans. Every month £60 is taken from his wage and £50 is added in interest (roughly). So the amount decreases by £10 per month. Over a 40 year working life (he graduated age 28 and got a job in his field straight away, assumng a retirement age of 68) he will pay 28,800 towards his loan (keeping in mind he has already paid some of this) and the loan won't be paid off. He is in the process of getting a promotion, with another one being hinted at in 3 years time when his boss retires. This means his wage will increase along with student loan payments. After a quick calculation this means that as things are, we would be slightly better not to pay it off. But if his career progresses as hoped then it makes much more sense to pay it off.

There is also the peace of mind of having no debt to consider and to me that is priceless.

Luckily we have not reached that debt yet, it will be the last one to be hit, so we don't need to decide yet. The lack of information around this issue is not helpful though.

BabyStepper

We have u-turned on the decision to buy a car. After lots of thought, time spent doing sums and consideration of how new my self-employment is, we have decided to wait. It just feels safer. So me and megabus will need to continue our difficult relationship for a while longer. Ah well.

I'm really hoping for our first debt overpayment at the end of this month. Even if it is a small payment, I want to get started on the snowball just to show that we are doing it. It has taken forever to set this up and get our emergency fund in place and then dealing with the bathroom has delayed things. But now we're ready. Bring it on!

BabyStepper

I have a confession to make. Me and OH both smoke at the cost of somewhere around £200 per month. We keep costs to a minimum by smoking roll ups but given the current financial situation and the obvious health implications we have decided to quit. Today. OH has an old puffer and some oil from a previous failed attempt to quit and I am going cold turkey.

Expect some fireworks around the Babystepper's household in the next couple of days/weeks/however long it takes to feel better. But I'm determined.

[Deleted User]

good luck with quitting smoking!! I will be doing the same myself by the end of the week:eek:

You're doing really well....it is hard to stay motivated at first but these boards really help (you can talk about it all you like without rolling eyes etc! ) and it really is about changing your mindset, not just paying off the debt......

I've been on my journey for a long time now - it's been hard, I've fallen off the wagon more times than I care to remember and I haven't reached all the targets or goals that I have set myself, but even when I have been off the wagon, I've had the little voice in the back of my head telling me that I need to reel it in!

What it has meant in reality, is that despite all the setbacks, I am in a really good position now - I've gone from being 24 hours away from bankruptcy and homelessness to being 16 months away from being debt & mortgage free and the house done up - it's taken about 7 years to get here since my real LBM but it's been worth it and the support here has been invaluable

Good luck with your journey - I'll keep popping in to see how you're doing

Working_Mum

Hey Babystepper I stopped smoking about 25 years ago - I used to smoke 30 cigarettes a day (and was in a non-smoking office during office hours!!). I chose to give up my routine cigarettes one at a time and eventually got to the point whether I didn't want one.

I gave up one cigarette at a time - I consider myself a smoker who chooses "right now" not to smoke. If I get drunk and have a cigarette I cut myself some slack - the last time I had a cigarette was about 8 years ago!!

It's all about mental positioning!!

Are you motivated by rewards?? At the end of each month s could you put away 25% of the monthly costs into a little fund for you so you can have a little treat?? Or save for a weekend away to celebrate??

I wish you luck and am sure you'll find the resolve to give up one cigarette at a time!!

BabyStepper

Hi squirrelgirl and Working Mum and thanks for dropping by and for your words of encouragement. I really don't know how this quit is going to go but I need to believe I can do it. I like the sound of one cigarette at a time, makes it all more manageable somehow. Squirrelgirl, good luck at the end of the week, maybe we can encourage each other? I'm trying to keep things as stress free as possible to help with the immediate withdrawal. I have 2 meetings today and not much else other than relaxing and thinking up plans to pay off the debt. It's all good, I can do it.

[Deleted User]

Stay strong....you can do it!! I'll be your partner in crime from Friday