£121K debt payoff - challenge accepted

savvysarah · 16 January 2020 at 1:14PM

Morning!

Just a quick update before I pick up smallest from nursery in 15 mins.
Good news! We have all the rent in from the tenant. Although £100 was taken off for some more maintenance issues, which I hope are now fully resolved. I so hope!!

Less good news: I got in touch with the neighbour about the wall (finally!) who is basically denying all knowledge, he's not living there yet just doing it up, and is basically handing it all back to us. So now we feed that back to the insurance company, see what they say, and if its a no from them then we need to get some more quotes fast!! As £3K is a no from us :eek:

Side news: I've managed to bake 2 tea loaves, and squeeze a home workout in this morning so I'm feeling goooood - exercise is just a real tonic for me and I really should do more of it. After school pick up its swimming, then to assess the finances to see if I can buy the older two new trainers - they are desperate for some for PE but if it has to wait then it has to wait.

sunflowerlady · 16 January 2020 at 5:34PM

I’ve only been here a few days but the first thing I did was post my SOA. I can’t begin to tell you how helpful it has been, I’ve never felt so clear and focused! Everyone was super lovely and gave me loads of advice that I’ve taken away and applied to my situation. I honestly couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel before posting it.

I had a DFD of 3.5 years time and thought that was the best I could hope for, but since posting the SOA and getting advice, it’s come down to 18 months.

Just remember that you are SavvySarah to all of us, we could walk past you in the street and have NO idea that it was you - nothing to be embarrassed about by posting your SOA.

We will all be here to hold your hand and offer advice.

savvysarah · 19 January 2020 at 10:25PM

sunflowerlady wrote: »

I’ve only been here a few days but the first thing I did was post my SOA. I can’t begin to tell you how helpful it has been, I’ve never felt so clear and focused! Everyone was super lovely and gave me loads of advice that I’ve taken away and applied to my situation. I honestly couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel before posting it.

I had a DFD of 3.5 years time and thought that was the best I could hope for, but since posting the SOA and getting advice, it’s come down to 18 months.

Just remember that you are SavvySarah to all of us, we could walk past you in the street and have NO idea that it was you - nothing to be embarrassed about by posting your SOA.

We will all be here to hold your hand and offer advice.

You are so right! I WILL try and see about getting one on here soon, I promise! And thank you for the reality check, I do feel a bit exposed on here but its nice to be reminded you all don't know who I am in real life!!

savvysarah · 19 January 2020 at 10:34PM

It's that time of the month again.....new debt total is

£115,859

Super happy with that this month - sometimes its nice to have the reminder that despite the feeling like I'm wading through mud, we are making progress, even if it is slowly. And £1.8K off isn't too shabby. So yay!

savvysarah · 20 January 2020 at 11:56AM

Morning all

A little update here from the weekend. I visited the rental house, and it could not have been more awkward :eek: I arrived early as I knew the tenant would want to offload all her moans about the house, and omigod did she ever! I must point out here, that we give the green light for repairs as soon as she reports anything, but she didn't let that stop her moaning about everyone and everything. She also told me that her benefits keep being changed and that's why the rent is always late, and that she didn't know when they'd be sorted. The next rent is due this week.

Then the estate agent turned up to value the house - which I had told her about - and he let it slip that I was thinking of selling - which was my fault as I hadn't asked him not to

He then did the mother of all cover up jobs as he realised straight away, but it was basically a merry mess!

The upshot is that husband is worried we can't afford to sell it (void periods, legal fees to ensure she leaves, not getting enough to cover the mortgage) and I'm worried we can't afford to keep it (ongoing maintenance, lack of rent with no improvement for the foreseeable). But if we do the maths, the last year has shown that at the moment we are basically paying for her to live there, rather than the other way round. We've averaged a loss every single month. And visiting her and listening to her toxic chat was just horrible.

So, I think we're going to sell it, we just need a plan. And to fix the bl**dy wall!! It's going to be a bumpy ride though. So I'm off to figure it out, elastic finances seem to be a specialist subject of mine so I'm up for it :rotfl:

Silver_Queen · 20 January 2020 at 11:59AM

Honestly, if nothing else, for the sake of your mental health, it sounds like you're better off getting rid of it.

Cinny91 · 20 January 2020 at 1:45PM

Just to echo Silver Queen, I think I'd take the hit on selling it to just be rid!

And well done with the debt clearing, that is brilliant!!!

db2016 · 20 January 2020 at 3:09PM

get rid of the money pit!

although i do think "her toxic chat" was a bit harsh to say, i mean you may have been the first person she had seen that day or saw you as someone to explain things to and reached out too.

if one thing being on these boards has shown me, its that finances have an impact on mental health and vice versa, so she could be struggling too! given her circumstances.

savvysarah wrote: »

We've averaged a loss every single month. And visiting her and listening to her toxic chat was just horrible.

Silver_Queen · 20 January 2020 at 3:15PM

db2016 wrote: »

get rid of the money pit!

although i do think "her toxic chat" was a bit harsh to say, i mean you may have been the first person she had seen that day or saw you as someone to explain things to and reached out too.

if one thing being on these boards has shown me, its that finances have an impact on mental health and vice versa, so she could be struggling too! given her circumstances.

Not really Savvysarah's job to be her therapist, though.

Moneywhizz · 20 January 2020 at 6:43PM

It sounds like you really need to work out a way of getting rid of the rental. No-one needs that extra stress in your life, especially when it is not actually making you any money. You are doing well bringing the debt down even while this is ongoing. You will have much better control over things once you do not have to meet the unexpected costs of the rental which seem to just go on and on.