Wobbling my way out of debt

findingthisdifficult

Ooh that's a great bargain, Mother in Law is all over coffee machines, she's got a fancy bean to cup type one...still spends a fortune in coffee shops though (when she's allowed of course)
I wish the father in law made it that easy for us, not helped by the fact that he's just had his birthday in May.

IrishSean

😂
I think my hints are landing: a weird money fact with me is i'd have thought nothing of waxing £2k in an online casino room, once made spins of £217 per spin on lightening roulette (😱) but paying £4.50 for a take away coffee would have killed me. 

Still, those crazy days are in the past but it is bizarre how we justify some of our spending excesses that got us to where we are. I knew ppl in debt who smoked £7k a year but wud say "Here Seán you need to quit that gambling craic"😂

findingthisdifficult

Fingers crossed you get what you're hoping for!

Ouch to those numbers but look how far you've come.
For a few years on our debt journey, we thought nothing of buying stuff for the house on HP (only £15 a month, only £25 a month etc)  but then we'd be like nope we can't afford to go for a coffee at the weekend or nope can't afford fuel in the car to go out that close to the end of the month... looking back now so ridiculous!! 😂

Our biggest savings so far have been ditching Sky (£65ish a month) and paying for Netflix and Prime instead and ditching our mobile phone contracts (£135 a month for 2)

IrishSean

My mobile is 8 years old; it has a key pad, lol, but I love it. Battery lasts for ever: they don't make Samsungs like it now. I'm still paying too much at 7.50  a month contract tho. What was good about the handset was I could never connect to betting sites when I wasn't at home; it was one of a few self regulations I put in, that and never spending the dd or mortgage money or borrowing against the house. What a God send, as my debts have been easier to clear.

Weirdly even when I was gambling I saved to pay off things like rates, car ins. Rather than dd them, as the dds including debt payments topped out at £1460 for me at one stage😱. Now I have them down to £295 a month. Kept Sky even tho I think its not worth it either; I suppose 3 years of sports at £16 a month honey-trapped me a bit, hehe. 

I so agree tho, keep the dds and so's low per month and if you've debt you've a stack more to chuck at it. When you're saving and your dds are low? Man, those savings fairly rack up!

One other thing i'd say is too many of us don't think of mortgage as a clearable debt; again it was ironic I was aggressively paying my mortgage for years while spunking thousands on betting sites; still it's paying off now as the house is cleared. I think it was sub-conscious: I never wanted the DW or kids home to feel at threat because of my addiction. 

If ppl clear the unsecured and then focus on clearing the mortgage it feels like semi-retirement while still working when mortgage debt is gone. I've a bundle of smart kids (too smart by half😂), who'll be going to uni most likely so i've 10 years of savings regardless, lol.

missymoo81

Hey findingthisdifficult we ditched amazon prime and scaled our sky right back, Netflix is great for keeping the kids entertained though. We do exactly the same thing with the HP but best scale back on coffees etc as if the HP doesn’t count! You’re doing such a great job love reading your diary. 

findingthisdifficult

IrishSean said:

My mobile is 8 years old; it has a key pad, lol, but I love it. Battery lasts for ever: they don't make Samsungs like it now. I'm still paying too much at 7.50  a month contract tho. What was good about the handset was I could never connect to betting sites when I wasn't at home; it was one of a few self regulations I put in, that and never spending the dd or mortgage money or borrowing against the house. What a God send, as my debts have been easier to clear.

Weirdly even when I was gambling I saved to pay off things like rates, car ins. Rather than dd them, as the dds including debt payments topped out at £1460 for me at one stage😱. Now I have them down to £295 a month. Kept Sky even tho I think its not worth it either; I suppose 3 years of sports at £16 a month honey-trapped me a bit, hehe. 

I so agree tho, keep the dds and so's low per month and if you've debt you've a stack more to chuck at it. When you're saving and your dds are low? Man, those savings fairly rack up!

One other thing i'd say is too many of us don't think of mortgage as a clearable debt; again it was ironic I was aggressively paying my mortgage for years while spunking thousands on betting sites; still it's paying off now as the house is cleared. I think it was sub-conscious: I never wanted the DW or kids home to feel at threat because of my addiction. 

If ppl clear the unsecured and then focus on clearing the mortgage it feels like semi-retirement while still working when mortgage debt is gone. I've a bundle of smart kids (too smart by half😂), who'll be going to uni most likely so i've 10 years of savings regardless, lol.

I don't think I will ever go as far back in handsets as that, if I get another one it'll be paid for outright for sure.  Our bill is £40 a month now, which I'm ok with compared to the +£100 we were paying before.  
£295 a month is so good!!  Ours is nowhere near that yet but we're going in the right direction.

We have a couple of things we want to save for/buy outright when we've cleared the loan and CC but after that we'll be looking at overpayments on the mortgage, neither of us want to work to state retirement age.  Hopefully by then we will be in to our 'forever' home.  Luckily we don't have children to worry about and something tells me the dog isn't going to uni any time soon...although he does cost me a small fortune. 😂

findingthisdifficult

missymoo81 said:

Hey findingthisdifficult we ditched amazon prime and scaled our sky right back, Netflix is great for keeping the kids entertained though. We do exactly the same thing with the HP but best scale back on coffees etc as if the HP doesn’t count! You’re doing such a great job love reading your diary. 

Aw thanks for popping by @missymoo81 what a lovely thing to say, sometimes I just ramble on a bit really but I kind of use this so that when I think things are bad, I can go back and see how far we've come.
We use Netflix so much, we were reluctant to ditch Sky and get it but I really wish we had done it sooner.  We don't use Amazon prime quite as much but we do use the delivery side of it 2/3 times a month if the products we need are cheaper there so think it's worth the cost for now.

findingthisdifficult

Today's musings

• Still on the hunt for a Father's Day gift for the father in law...Mr FTD is being less than helpful.  
• Need to improve my work from home set up for when I eventually return, turns out a dining chair at a table and working at a laptop is not good for my posture at all (neck ache and back ache anyone?)
• Must encourage Mr FTD to actually take some breaks during the day (seems working from home makes him feel like he has to be available at all times)

Lookafterthepennies2020

Hi All, 
Just had a good binge read FTD and loving the diary, I have just cancelled three Now TV subscriptions?  I didn't even realise three were going out totalling £23.97 and my amazon prime account which I should be getting a small refund from £7.99 so going to stick that straight on the CC whilst I am motivated lol....It's amazing how these little things mount up, I've just printed a postage label to return a top that I bought and had sat in the draw (£18) so I am feeling very motivated today.

I am getting my dad an airfryer for fathers day, usually I would buy it for him but I have called my 2 sisters and asked if we want to chip in and get him a joint present so I hopefully will spend a bit less this year. No idea on DSF yet though ! Hope everyone is well, the rain has stopped and it looks to be brightening up for the day here !

IrishSean

DW works next door to her work so early april I encouraged her to nip in & bring office chair home; her best move to date; dining / kitchen chairs are no good; I feel your (back) pain!

Airfryer is a good idea; shaving stuff never goes amiss; trust me, if its a good razor, saving foam etc. Packaging & gift sets dont matter a crap to most men! Men like tools too, stuff like a Dremel you can get (replica) in Lidls for £15 or £50+ for the branded one; not worth paying the difference imho. Garden stuff; im always running out of lawn feed, again if its off the shelf its fine, throw in a pair of nice socks or a quality 6 pack or beer and its all good