The Four D's

alt80

You and me both mate re working don’t take this the wrong way but you don’t get paid enough to worry about someone else’s business. Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t be saying that if you worked for me but that’s the long and short of it.

Re house, idk what to say to that one mate. I couldn’t imagine being my age before getting on the ladder but ultimately that is what it is- yeah you’ve screwed up, haven’t we all in some way? On the positive you’ve done a smashing job turning it around, you’ve got a lovely family, your health (as far as I’m aware) and hopefully lots of good memories. You can always look for a place in the area you’re renting and for a similar house type unless it’s somewhere properly rural where places don’t come up for sale often or something particularly unique.

Legs21

If you’re still young enough to get a 25yr mortgage at the age of 40 then you’re definitely not too old. There’s nothing stopping you from overpaying the mortgage to get it paid off sooner than 25 years. I had to start all over again at the age of 45 due to divorce but aim to pay my mortgage off in 15 years. It can be done if you treat it like a debt you want paid off. The mortgage free wannabe board is full of people paying off their mortgage early. 

FootyFanDan

Legs21 said:

If you’re still young enough to get a 25yr mortgage at the age of 40 then you’re definitely not too old. There’s nothing stopping you from overpaying the mortgage to get it paid off sooner than 25 years. I had to start all over again at the age of 45 due to divorce but aim to pay my mortgage off in 15 years. It can be done if you treat it like a debt you want paid off. The mortgage free wannabe board is full of people paying off their mortgage early. 

I think I started the whole wanting my own house idea very late in reality. I was young an silly/ naive so when I was racking up the debt I never cared about impact it would have on future me. I guess I never really had myself down as settling down with a family kinda person and buying an house just wasn’t in my thoughts. Neither of my parents own their home and neither does my brother so I dunno maybe I never will.

it’s only now that I’m older and little wiser with a family I’ve considered buying, that comes with a financial responsibility I never thought I’d have but slowly getting there. 

FootyFanDan

alt80 said:

You and me both mate re working don’t take this the wrong way but you don’t get paid enough to worry about someone else’s business. Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t be saying that if you worked for me but that’s the long and short of it.

Re house, idk what to say to that one mate. I couldn’t imagine being my age before getting on the ladder but ultimately that is what it is- yeah you’ve screwed up, haven’t we all in some way? On the positive you’ve done a smashing job turning it around, you’ve got a lovely family, your health (as far as I’m aware) and hopefully lots of good memories. You can always look for a place in the area you’re renting and for a similar house type unless it’s somewhere properly rural where places don’t come up for sale often or something particularly unique.

Your 💯 percent right mate, just have some days I can’t switch off. I think I just want to give the best version of myself and my hours are pretty flexible so some days I’ll do more then other depending on my workload....although that workload is about to increase massively 😂

Buying an house was never ever what I wanted and maybe I still won’t end up with it but I want to be able to provide an asset to my daughter too.  My health so far is all good and right now I’m focusing on just trying to keep myself in the right frame of mind and trying to hit some targets. The area we are in is lovely, we are settled here and ideally wouldn’t really move from here unless we had no choice. 

FootyFanDan

Hey All, hope everyone had a good and has enjoyed soaking up some sun

I have had a lovely weekend with the family and also enjoyed a bit of time out too. Saturday was drama day for the little one and then we took her to park for an hour before having a bbq in garden with paddling pool out. Sunday we had a visit from bro and his gf so had a few drinks and catch up in garden, before heading out for a late lunch. It was great to be out and not really worrying over been able to afford it, as we normally have a budgeted category for this. 

Work wise I have agreed to cover a set of nights this week, as they were desperate. It will give me some time to do some admin work before I get tied up in the next project and get work overload.

This month will officially be the end of my current debt (providing I never get into debt again!). Its been a really hard slog the last 6 or so months, as I was all hyped up for been debt free to then get landed with another debt and although it wasn't a huge amount it still annoyed me. Onwards and upwards though now, I feel like I have learnt so much in the last few years that even though I will have no debt I won't slip back into old habits. The plan is to keep up with the budget and maybe treat savings as a debt repayment.  I have just set out the next 6 months of budget and a rough map of where funds will be prioritised, I think breaking down into 6 months will give me a chance to keep re-evaluting my targets and adjusting where needed. Thank you for the many ppl who follow and support, the encouragement as kept me going in times I could have just scraped the plan.

Once I pay off debt I will maybe look at how I track and update here but there is always another target to hit I guess.

Current EF : £250
Help To Buy: £750
Other Savings: £250

I actually can't believe I have savings and although some of the 'Other Savings' are accounted for it is so good to feel in a okay position finance wise. I feel very luck given what some have faced in the last 18 months

Hope everyone is staying safe

alt80

@FootyFanDan Glad to hear you’ve had a good weekend and massively congratulations on this month being your debt free month, that’s a massive achievement and you’ve come a long way mate. Congratulations is 100% deserved, you’ve smashed it - crack open a bottle of champagne the day that last payment goes out and take your Mrs for a nice meal out at a smart place. 

If you haven’t guessed I def can’t switch off so any advice I’ll give you is futile or preventative at best ha. I have had some coaching for it but only marginally successful just part of who I am tbh. Worth doing though you do start to build more of an understanding of why you do what you do. I did get into a mess, reckoning in my own head I needed to do all nighters so don’t sniff powder not that I think you would, more !!!!!! sense I’m sure ha. Worth getting yourself on one of the chill apps though it’s quite pleasant once you get into it a bit silly at first or I found so but all have free trials so nothing to lose.

Hope you don’t think I’m being a !!!!!! but speaking as I would to a mate rather than as a LL - (I often let property to people who are from what I can only describe as non-property owning families so have come across people who seemingly aren’t bothered about owning their own house and are from generations of renters). I don’t get it at all and tbh I think it’s a rite of passage; I imagine if you asked your mum and dad about it they’d likely regret not having bought their own home, I find this to be the case with quite a few older tenants who haven’t ‘known anything different’. Appreciate my views and your views on this are majorly different though mate and ultimately what matters is if you’re happy.

FootyFanDan

alt80 said:

@FootyFanDan Glad to hear you’ve had a good weekend and massively congratulations on this month being your debt free month, that’s a massive achievement and you’ve come a long way mate. Congratulations is 100% deserved, you’ve smashed it - crack open a bottle of champagne the day that last payment goes out and take your Mrs for a nice meal out at a smart place. 

If you haven’t guessed I def can’t switch off so any advice I’ll give you is futile or preventative at best ha. I have had some coaching for it but only marginally successful just part of who I am tbh. Worth doing though you do start to build more of an understanding of why you do what you do. I did get into a mess, reckoning in my own head I needed to do all nighters so don’t sniff powder not that I think you would, more !!!!!! sense I’m sure ha. Worth getting yourself on one of the chill apps though it’s quite pleasant once you get into it a bit silly at first or I found so but all have free trials so nothing to lose.

Hope you don’t think I’m being a !!!!!! but speaking as I would to a mate rather than as a LL - (I often let property to people who are from what I can only describe as non-property owning families so have come across people who seemingly aren’t bothered about owning their own house and are from generations of renters). I don’t get it at all and tbh I think it’s a rite of passage; I imagine if you asked your mum and dad about it they’d likely regret not having bought their own home, I find this to be the case with quite a few older tenants who haven’t ‘known anything different’. Appreciate my views and your views on this are majorly different though mate and ultimately what matters is if you’re happy.

Funny you should mention it re the regret not buying. I remember when we first moved into our council house as a kid I was about 10, it was around time the council were doing a lot of the right to buy, my dad was offered his house at 16k...I know it was a lot then but he refused as he said he wouldn't be there forever....Spoiler alert he still is! haha...houses in that area now sell for about 100-120K, its not perfect but I like my dad's house and I grew around there so don't mind it, although did have a reputation for being a bit rough back in the day! I think back now and wish I had a nice house I owned, but the reality is I wasn't financially secure enough or happy in work at all. It isn't something I am proud to admit but if I had bought an house before my lightbulb moment it would have ruined me mate. Will I ever get to own my house maybe or maybe not but either way I feel no matter what comes I know I am better prepared and certainly better financially both in terms of income and being more responsible...although it took a while ha. I would love my own home I just need to get the debt gone and then really focus on it.

I plan to have a few beers and go for food once debt free to celebrate, (although it might be delayed as mrs will be back up with her family for a few weeks). It has been a long time coming and I am still not quite sure how I have managed it. There has been a few sacrifices but not anywhere near as many as I imagined, I suppose the income has been there all along it just needed me to actually commit to fixing the crap! 

I think my issue is if I struggle to sleep I then get up and either watch crap tv or put my laptop on and do some work, I know I don't get paid extra for it or anything but it also easier to work not in office just to catch up on stuff. I really need to stop tbh as I would love to be able to just to get to 5pm and it be day over til the next day. The problem is I have email alerts come to my then I see em and have to deal with them lol, even though they could wait. Today is the first day off I haven't actually replied to a work email for a long time.

On another note I am glad to see you had a good weekend away at CP, sounds like there is chance in getting a bit of a better relationship with FIL on the horizon haha. Keep up the top work, I know last month has been a challenge but you should be proud mate you have come along way.

alt80

Fml re your dad and the £16k rtb place. No rtb was ever a 'lot of money' though mate - always were bmv. I own a couple of ex-council places, they both let well. I'm 14 up counting my res home plus a comm investment and the last !!!!!! thing I am is sensible just !!!!!! love buying units, worse things to be into ha. 

That's a shame re your Mrs mate though ikwyacf re income being there just fixing the !!!!!!; I've always had the mindset of needing to earn more, no amount ever being 'enough' and don't get me wrong I'm still driven to work towards making a larger personal income than I currently have but I've sat back and thought actually I do earn enough to have a decent life. First time in my life I've thought like that, it's a good place to be. 

Thanks mate this past year I've really tried to begin to address a few things that tbh I let myself and others down with. Ha re. my FIL he's not and never going to be my best mate, lot of differences between him and me ha but he's got a heart of gold really lol.

Poppy1984

Hey Dan, just been catching up on your diary you've had a tough few months!! 

Well done for sticking in there though, extra kudos on the savings! What a great feeling after being in the minus for so long. Looking forward to that feeling myself. 

Not long to go now until you're debt free, you should be so proud of yourself what an amazing achievement! This debt busting is one of the hardest things I've done, it's definitely not a walk in the park but it's going to be soooooo worth it! 

Hope you manage to make the occasion with a small celebration at least 😁

cheering you on to the debt finish line 🎉🎉🎉 you've got this in the bag now. 

Poppy

FootyFanDan

Poppy1984 said:

Hey Dan, just been catching up on your diary you've had a tough few months!! 

Well done for sticking in there though, extra kudos on the savings! What a great feeling after being in the minus for so long. Looking forward to that feeling myself. 

Not long to go now until you're debt free, you should be so proud of yourself what an amazing achievement! This debt busting is one of the hardest things I've done, it's definitely not a walk in the park but it's going to be soooooo worth it! 

Hope you manage to make the occasion with a small celebration at least 😁

cheering you on to the debt finish line 🎉🎉🎉 you've got this in the bag now. 

Poppy

Aw thank you Poppy, its comments like this that make it worthwhile sticking with and toughing it out tbh. It really has been a tough few months for many reasons and there is tougher ones on the horizon but hopefully I can ride through that and come out the other side. 

It is a bizarre but nice feeling to have a tiny bit of savings it is not something I am used to at all tbh. I would not class saving as my strong point ha, but slowly building up. The whole journey of becoming debt free has been a real eye opener for me, I was stuck in a rut and always dreading a knock at the door or the next phone call I would have to ignore. This was all i remember growing up too with my dad always worrying about answering the door and i didn't want that for my little one. I am glad that despite some challenges and falling off the horse at times that I have persevered and did not just give in. 

I am super excited that in 10 days I will be debt free. You are also making fantastic progress and should also be extremely proud of what you have achieved. Your debt free day will fly in