Its a new Me! Wannabe Debt free ... and get a Mortgage! 27 May 2019 at 1:14PM in Debt free diaries 35 replies 3K views

Darkslider

Congrats on all your hard work so far! The house sounds lovely, have you got any pictures you'd be willing to share with us?

You're not alone with the buyers remorse and what you're feeling is completely normal. I don't think anyone signs up to buy something for hundreds of thousands and doesn't wonder if they've done the right thing at some stage, you wouldn't be normal if you didn't worry! However for what it's worth I think you've made the right call, we bought our house in similar circumstances there was an end terrace 5 doors down on the same row with a larger garden, slightly quieter, nicer view and extended to gain a bigger kitchen and 3rd bedroom. But we just missed out on that one at 190k so had to settle for ours at 155k in the end. It's still a lovely house but if I could go back and make the upgrade I definitely would, we just needed our deposit ready a few months earlier!

Keep up with the running, amazing how much better the world looks if you've got your heart rate up recently!

SandyShores

Thanks Darkslider, really nice of you to respond.  It does seem really weird when I'm saving 5p down at Aldi or taking loads of time to choose the right value product, then on the other hand spending thousands on a house and it all seems so rushed.

We're in our fifties so time running out to get back on the property ladder, but even now I'm realising that purchasing gives us choices. 

Sarahwithlove

Well done on being debt free and getting your first mortgage. It's very exciting havong your own place and at least with a new build you shouldn't get too many problems. So you have an emergency fund saved? If not I would maybe start on that before any mortgage overpayments. Good luck. 

SandyShores

Thanks Sarah its definitely been the right thing to do.  We've bought from a reputable builder and they've been really good so far.  We used up the last of our savings for the garden (and put £700 on a credit card), but we have just received another PPI payout unexpectedly of nearly £1200.  It was well worth writing all those PPI letters last year and I'm glad I paid for redirection of our mail.

I also reclaimed the tax from the last lots of PPI which was a bonus and we received a £200 bonus from the builders in cash.
I also have a £200 monthly direct debit to savings until April, so we have about £500 in the emergency fund account and we are also expecting my DH's tax refund any minute now, so we will have our £1,000 starter emergency fund back as soon as that hits the account.  A few expenses to come - about £200 on the car and about £250 to renew DH's public liability insurance but those should covered by the tax refund.  It means that from December we should be in a good starting point - although I know that you have to be prepared for the unexpected.  I've also done the saving a £1 a day for Xmas 2020, and have now reached target - looking forward to having money to spend for December for the first time (We're not huge Xmas spenders but it all adds up and its going to good not having in the new year.

Sarahwithlove

That's great news. Maybe once you have paid for it all start pots that you put regular monthly payments into. That's one of things I like about ynab but I know a lot of people use monzo for similiar. I. E a car fund, home fund, present fund etc 

SandyShores

Thanks Sarah.  I've set up another saver this month, so we now have four savings accounts with Barcs, Santander and Sainsbugs.  One is the regular saver where £200 is the max. per month and is our emergency fund together with Sainsbugs.  The other Santander one and the Barcs are savings pots for DH's business and his hobby.  Getting DH on board has been a journey - but we are almost there.  I'm planning to use my Sainsbug saver for additional savings as well - I keep a spreadsheet and am religious about listing everything on there so that should work well, but we'll have to see.

Sarahwithlove

That's good sounds like you have a plan in place. 

SandyShores

Thanks Sarah, its a been a very long journey for me to get here and it feels like its just beginning, so I'm always grateful for any advice and encouragement.

I joined MSE back in 2006 and back then I was looking at using vouchers more than anything.  It didn't really twig in my brain that we were just splurging money.  In 2008 I started keeping a spreadsheet of our monthly spends - looking back at that I can see that it was really getting out of control - it was quite stressful as I was juggling repaying the debts.  International holidays, new cars (all on finance), extending the mortgage to pay for it and other things that costs lots of money so about £20k on credit cards constantly.  It wasn't until 2014 when I had a bit of a job disaster and I had my first proper light bulb moment, that I really started the debt-free journey.  It was hard to get MrShores on board, and to be honest that was really the problem - MrShores is a 'make £5, spend £10 guy - although he has changed so much over these past 6 years, he loves spending and even this year it became very clear he has no idea about budgeting.  Its very apparent that I just have to keep a tight grip on the finances myself and he recognises that by allowing me to do this we have become debt-free and have been able to buy our own home again.  The last 12 years have been a strain for me, and the last 6 years have been hard for the family but it has been worth all those lentil burger meals (A girl called Jack) and we did even manage a couple of holidays in spain (all pre-paid for) so it can't have been that bad.  I do wish I'd done it all earlier and that we could have been in this position years ago, but there's no point having regrets.  We've got good jobs, our health, a house and so its a good life.  

I'm going to start a new thread for the New Year, so that 2021 will be about the next part of our journey.  It will be about being mortgage free, but also how we can make the most of our money and still enjoy life.  (Here's hoping some kind of normality returns to us all so that can become a reality for us all soon).

SandyShores

Just popping in, I'm feeling more motivated again recently and its really good to reflect on our journey.  So, me and MrShores were several years spending money like water.  I totted it up a year or so ago and I think it was around enough money to pay for our house in cash.  Now we have a house again and on the mortgage-free journey it doesn't feel quite so bad to reflect on that.  We had some lovely holidays, meals out, drove some lovely cars - all those material things.  Of course, in hindsight we should have done it differently, but there's no use crying over spilt milk.  I'm a little in awe that it has only taken us six years to get to this place.  I say only because it felt like a very long six years, and I never thought we would ever get to our current position.  Its funny that when you are at the start of the debt free journey you feel like you are in a huge dark hole trying to climb out.  Now that we've climbed out I feel like we have an even huger mountain to climb, but this feels more of a positive challenge and at least now we aren't in a dark damp pit and can enjoy the view from time to time.  Yes, there might be some scary cliff edges along the way, but its an exciting journey now, not a relentless trudge.  Sorry to any wannabe debt free-ers who might drop in and read this, I hope it doesn't dampen your spirits.  Its just that it is such a great feeling to be climbing the mountain one step at a time.  Its all been worth it

Sarahwithlove

I think no matter how long it takes to climb the mountain the important part is that you started.