Our SOA...

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Just read through your thread, sounds like you're doing amazingly.

I do think you're being stitched up on childcare though.... not all childminders charge retainers (50%!!), some offer term time only contracts, might be worth looking around

HonmaDP

How are you managing to pay roughly £4K per month off your debts?

JamesEmma

We've very lucky..

Wife was a private boarding school teacher and from Sept.will be a house parent.. The role comes with accommodation on site so no more rent and bills and our monthy diesel and food food bill will halve.

Her salary should more than cover our budget and i bring home 3 to 4k a month which will all go towards the debt.
The plan is to be debt free with at least 30k stacked up by Sept 2021... (baring any hiccups)..

kangoora

JamesEmma wrote: »

We've very lucky..

Wife was a private boarding school teacher and from Sept.will be a house parent.. The role comes with accommodation on site so no more rent and bills and our monthy diesel and food food bill will halve.

Her salary should more than cover our budget and i bring home 3 to 4k a month which will all go towards the debt.
The plan is to be debt free with at least 30k stacked up by Sept 2021... (baring any hiccups)..

You may have done this already but it could be worth checking up to see if the free accomodation/bills attracts Benefit-in-Kind tax. It may even be declared by her employer but you don't want to get a tax bill in, say, 5 years time for underpayment of 5 years tax.

If the role requires living-in then quite possibly it won't be a taxable benefit but worth a check.

JamesEmma

I cant imagine it will as like you say living on site essentially is the roll. I will look into it though to be sure...

Thanks

JamesEmma

Hey all,

Just dipping in to update this thread with our latest figures. We started tackling our debt back in January 2019 and here's where we're at...

First Direct Loan E £9185.76
First Direct Loan J £8687.20
Credit Union Loan £5393.29
Work Loan £6133.24
HSBC C/C £1297.53


Total unsecured debt WAS £52852 02

Total unsecured debt NOW £30697.32

So £22154.70 paid off since start Jan 2019

It's been a hard slog but we are getting there. Looking at being debt free by late summer 2020 if all goes to plan. (We have a holiday to pay for next summer and need to direct another 4k into our lifetime ISA before the end of this financial year which will put us back 2 or 3 months)..

EssexHebridean

Congratulations of making such a big impact - and well done for acknowledging that there has been some "luck" involved - although I'd suggest when it comes to getting a job with that sort of perk,you to do an extent make your own luck!

enthusiasticsaver

Wow what a success story. More than £22k paid off in less than a year. Brilliant result. As you say having the free accommodation helped but you still did the work in pay8ng the debt down. Keep going now.

JamesEmma

Absolutely. It sounds amazing on paper but the reality is we are both now working a 65-70 hour week, often like ships in the night, whilst looking after a toddler who just loves to be awake at night!

But you are right, none of this has come about by chance, it's all part of the plan..

JayRitchie

Thats amazing! What a great achievement.