Learning to live within my means

savingholmes

Just went back and read your whole diary - very impressive - how much you've achieved despite reducing your hours at work and this rollercoaster of a year. 

astrocytic_kitten

Oh wow, can’t believe you read the whole thing @savingholmes - I don’t think I’d want to go back and read over it! I’ve been very lucky with the way things have worked out, it could easily have gone the other way. 

savingholmes

I think you've made the most of the hand you've been dealt - which is different to passive luck

astrocytic_kitten

Thanks @savingholmes, that’s really lovely to hear. I tend to look at all the waste and bad decisions over the years and not see the positives from climbing out of it as much.

Bit of a slow start to the year here, was sick over Christmas and only just getting back to normal. Finally took some pics over the weekend for the last lot of stuff to sell online from the big clear out last year but haven’t got round to listing them yet - one is a down coat so should really get a move on while it’s still cold.

Loan payment comes out this week which will get me down to about 3.5k. I also plan to phone up the mortgage people this week and see if I can get online access sorted, I’ve tried online a couple of times but it doesn’t work. Apart from anything, if I plan to move soonish it would be nice to have an accurate idea of the balance - I’ve been going off the MSE credit club report but by my calculations I think it’s probably about 3 months behind. Would be nice to know if my calculations are at all accurate though 😆 my homemade amortisation calculator is pretty accurate for the loan interest but who knows about the mortgage.

savingholmes

The credit club is 3 or 4 months behind for me too which gets very frustrating - particularly if you've made big payments and are waiting for them to show. I've gone from very weak to good or very good on their rating though for affordability which feels positive.

astrocytic_kitten

That’s brilliant progress, well done! It’s such a slog at times, I love it when you get external validation from something like that.

Sarahwithlove

It is very frustrating when it takes ages for them to show as when you open a new account or something it appears right away but update or close and it's a few months behind 🙄

astrocytic_kitten

January loan payment has taken me to 85% paid off!

savingholmes

Fantastic result. Nearly there.

astrocytic_kitten

So on the plus side, today I sold the insulated coat for £75 on a buy it now....on the down side, I listed it during the week thinking I wasn’t likely to get a £1 selling fee offer anytime soon and one has just come up today, noticed it after the notification that the coat had sold 🤦‍♀️ Never mind. 

There’s something else with a few bids on it that will sell next weekend, and a couple of things that will probably end up going to charity as they’ve been up for ages with no bites. They’re both brands that normally sell well but I think it’s a function of lockdown - presumably nobody is buying work heels or blazers right now. They’re in great condition, I’ve dropped the price a few times but I’d rather donate them to smart works than drop the price further.

After that I’ve only got another couple of things to list (plus a couple of summer dresses I’ll probably hang onto to list later in the year) then that’s me reached the end of the selling pile. Proceeds of all of the selling will be going to debt. 

I’d really like to be able to pay it off at the end of March - taking into account these sales and the cashback I cashed out but haven’t done anything with, it’s looking like I’ll be around £200 short of being able to pay in full in March...