£29,303...Enough is enough!

WelshKitty85

Hello & welcome @Rgib89
Wow that must have been a bit of a slog. I should probably read it back myself and see how far we've come. We'd not long moved into this house when I started it and DC3 was a newborn. Feels like only yesterday.

mark55man

@WelshKitty85 - I just read my dairy yesterday (maybe 10 fewer pages that yours) - it is like watching a film in fast forward.  I think you will be impressed - how you started your business how it grew.  The thing I found was that you can spot the danger areas, the ones you don't really address no matter how much you talk about them. Good luck - it will take you a couple of hours even speed reading

savingholmes

I re-read mine from time to time. I can see how much my £ attitude has improved. But I can also see the traps I have fallen into along the way.... Good luck

missymoo81

Hey @WelshKitty85 I thought I would pop over to your diary as you’re always so positive on mine, and I have spent the last week reading it from start to finish! You are absolutely amazing! You’ve managed to climb so many mountains! You do so much. No wonder you’re tired. Try and rest sometimes! Absolutely LOVE the pup. There is a big part of me that would love one. But I struggle with the children and 2 very needy cats. I will keep reading as you go! Keep up your fantastic work love.

WelshKitty85

Well I did it & have just finished reading back through my diary. Isn't it surprising how much you forget about?! One thing that stood out to me was some wise words: 'Progress not perfection'.

If we'd stayed on track with our debt busting then our total debt should be less than half the current balance and we'd be aiming to be debt free next year. Between job losses, poorly children, and a global pandemic, that plan has gone out the window. But, we've got through it all, and our debt is lower than it was this time last year. Not perfect, but it's progress.

Reading back has reminded me of the little things that we've let slip. The grocery budget has crept up. Not surprising since 2 of the DCs are now grumpy teens who only come out of their pits to raid the food cupboards, but we really need to work on cutting this back again. Getting back into the habit of batch cooking and proper meal plans should help with this. We've not done very well on survey sites this year. Overtime in my main job & working on the business will always take priority over surveys, but I need to get back into the habit of checking them when I have a spare 5 mins. It's surprising how quickly the points can add up. 

We started the year with a new budgeting spreadsheet and that was forecasting that we would be £3799 short by the end of December. As of today, we've cut the shortfall down to £1951. However, we've also used up nearly all of our easy access savings buying a puppy. We need to start filling the savings back up and working on the shortfall.

We clearly have a problem with clutter as I'm constantly posting that I have another mountain of stuff to sort through. I need to make more of an effort to get it out of the house, preferably by selling it.

It feels like I have a lot of things to work on. I think I need to break it down into manageable goals and start setting myself daily/weekly/monthly targets again.

savingholmes

Progress not perfection is the way to go. Be kind to yourself along the way. Get your family to help if at all possible. 

WelshKitty85

Thanks @savingholmes I'm not very good at asking for help. I must get better at this.

I was thinking about our mortgage earlier and that I must check how much is outstanding & when the fixed rate is up. As if by magic, a letter came through the door telling me our deal's coming to an end. The balance is a little less than I thought & we're being offered a good rate to switch to (1.39%). I'd like to fix it soon but can't decide whether to keep our term the same so payments reduce slightly, or decrease the term so that payments remain about the same. Part of me says reduce the payments and send the difference to the loan to pay that off sooner. The other part of me says keep the payments the same for the long term benefit. DH is no help and says he'll leave the decision to me.

I sold an old baby gate today for £12. I've got about £70 in my purse now from sales so need to get that paid into the bank soon as I've already worked it into my spreadsheet. I've managed a couple of SB surveys today but can't get PA to work for some reason.

mark55man

I would do the one that makes you feel better, unless there is a significant difference.  Note decreasing the term, may involve significantly more admin than just rolling on.  You have more flexibility if you pay less by default, as you can always OP if you have money burning a hole in your pocket which you don't want to pay of the loan, but if you up the payments then that's a commitment. 
On the other side of the coin,  if the worst came to the worst you could regret paying off unsecured debt over secured debt, but in that scenario you are already in a world of pain and I don't think that these marginal amounts would be the main worry for you

savingholmes

Personally I would leave the mortgage term the same term and clear  other debt with the extra... Only you know what feels right to you though. We're focused on clearing debt first and then mortgage. It depends whether you think you will lose momentum...

joedenise

I'm another who would keep the term the same and clear the loan first as it will be much higher interest.  Once the loan is paid off then you can overpay the mortgage and over time reduce the term.