£121K debt payoff - challenge accepted

Dark_Sunday

Hi Sarah,

Just read your diary. well done on the great start. My main advice is try not to worry too much, easier said than done I know !

For what it's worth I treated my own debt journey as a marathon NOT a sprint. For me every £500 reduction is a great milestone. We all want it just to go away right now, but normally that ain't gonna happen unless you get an unexpected windfall. Perhaps target £1k at a time. instead of looking at it as £121k of debt, perhaps only 121 small steps of £1k. Hope that makes sense.

The real killer for me when I started was the fact all of the CC debt was on high interest. However gradually as the debt reduced CC balance transfer offers of lower % slowly started rolling in.

savvysarah

Buffythedebtslayer wrote: »

My GOD Savysarah you need a new tenant! 14 times about a tripped switch??

So sorry about the wall. Can you replace it with a fence? Would that be cheaper? that must be cheaper?

I would definitely try for a new tenant. When are you allowed?

very good to be 1K down in the circumstances XXX

Thanks Buffy - I know!! The thing is she's the best tenant we've ever had believe it or not - previously we've had people who got black wax all over the bedroom ceiling, a pet snake that we didn't know about, puppy farming, dubious dealing and late payers EVERY SINGLE TIME. But we have been spurred into action so we're making a plan....

Dark_Sunday wrote: »

Hi Sarah,

Just read your diary. well done on the great start. My main advice is try not to worry too much, easier said than done I know !

For what it's worth I treated my own debt journey as a marathon NOT a sprint. For me every £500 reduction is a great milestone. We all want it just to go away right now, but normally that ain't gonna happen unless you get an unexpected windfall. Perhaps target £1k at a time. instead of looking at it as £121k of debt, perhaps only 121 small steps of £1k. Hope that makes sense.

The real killer for me when I started was the fact all of the CC debt was on high interest. However gradually as the debt reduced CC balance transfer offers of lower % slowly started rolling in.

Thank you Dark Sunday, that is actually really helpful to hear, and I do think I could do with worrying a lot less! I've tried to limit myself to looking at finance stuff once a week (but checking the accounts every day at this point), but the rental house is just completely out of control in terms of sporadic rental income and so many repairs, so dealing with that all the time piles on the worry!
I do think we'll be similar to you though, celebrating the small wins and accepting it will take a long time is better than just being cross all the time that its not gone immediately. So hank you!

savvysarah

So, my money worries rumble on. We've been working really hard on planning Jan, no credit cards to be used, minimising fuel, clever food shops/batch cooks, no spend days etc etc. We've set up a St@rling joint account where we can divide everything up into pots, see exactly how much we have left in every category etc.

And then.....the rent from the rental is late. Again. For the 6th time in the last year. And I am just so over it. I'm over the way she doesn't ever contact me to let me know this is happening, its always me chasing. I'm over the fact that the letting agent never chases until I chase them up. I'm over the fact that last night I had to scrape every penny from every account/pot we have and move it to cover that mortgage, and that it didn't even cover it so I had to walk into town this morning with ours and the kids Christmas money to put in the bank to cover it. And that we decimated our emergency fund on all the countless repairs on that house in the last few months. I am so ANGRY that I now have £0 for my kids shoes this month.

So I'm getting the house valued on Saturday. I absolutely don't want to see the tenant but I'm going to out my big girl pants on and get on and do it. I want the house gone and I will do whatever I can to make it happen.

Ugh. Sorry for the grumpy post but I do feel a lot better now! Hope everyone else is having more peaceful Tuesdays

Buffythedebtslayer

How £$%^&*" grim. Don't be sorry about being grumpy. It is utterly rubbish that this has happened. Good that you have made a decision re house. Definitely good XXX

Take care XXXX

Silver_Queen

Hi, just wanted to say that I think you're doing absolutely fantastically. I think maybe looking to sell the property would be a good idea, given all the hassle you've had with the tenant. Chances are, if they're already continuously paying the rent late, they'll carry on paying the rent late. Do you have an easy tenancy in place to get them out? Is it worth looking into getting them out of the property now to sell the property without a tenant, or would it be worth looking for a landlord buyer to sell the property with the tenant in situ?

enthusiasticsaver

I agree that selling the rental sounds like the best option given the maintenance issues and late payments. Any good you are doing by repaying debt is being undone by the expenses of the rental. I assume it is negative equity and that is the reason for not selling earlier? Is the mortgage interest only?

Silver_Queen

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I agree that selling the rental sounds like the best option given the maintenance issues and late payments. Any good you are doing by repaying debt is being undone by the expenses of the rental. I assume it is negative equity and that is the reason for not selling earlier? Is the mortgage interest only?

They mentioned before that it's interest only and negative equity.

Working_Mum

I have read your diary and I want to say a big well done for juggling everything and making inroads into your debts!! Great Result!

I repaid £90k of debt ten years ago when my (now ex) husband left me - I was self employed and had 2 young children to support. I cut back on everything and made every single penny work for me.

My children are now 18 & 21 and are fiscally savvy and understand the power of their frugal childhood as we worked hard to have experiences and open communication rather than "things"

I became a fan of Dave Ramsey, gratitude for everything I already had, frugal tips from this site saved my life on more than one occasion and becoming mindful of my spending every single day meant I can now focus on my mortgage - am now 53 and need to put some effort into getting that millstone removed from round my neck.

I read a great book called The Millionaire Next Door and took life lessons from Warren Buffet (richest man in the world but SO frugal!!).

Good luck with you journey, as Georgiana Cavendish (a fellow poster) said repaying her debts felt like emptying a lake with a teaspoon! But she is getting there and so will you with a focussed, dedicated approach.

savvysarah

Silver_Queen wrote: »

Hi, just wanted to say that I think you're doing absolutely fantastically. I think maybe looking to sell the property would be a good idea, given all the hassle you've had with the tenant. Chances are, if they're already continuously paying the rent late, they'll carry on paying the rent late. Do you have an easy tenancy in place to get them out? Is it worth looking into getting them out of the property now to sell the property without a tenant, or would it be worth looking for a landlord buyer to sell the property with the tenant in situ?

Thanks so much for your reply I agree I'm sure she'll continue to be a sporadic payer. In theory we do have an easy tenancy to give notice, but I have a feeling she won't leave that easily - she is a really anxious and I'm concerned this won't be easy all round. Unfortunately we definitely won't be able to sell to a landlord, the numbers just don't make sense (hence all the roubles we're having now )

savvysarah

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I agree that selling the rental sounds like the best option given the maintenance issues and late payments. Any good you are doing by repaying debt is being undone by the expenses of the rental. I assume it is negative equity and that is the reason for not selling earlier? Is the mortgage interest only?

Silver_Queen wrote: »

They mentioned before that it's interest only and negative equity.

That's correct. Interest only, and until this week we believed it was in negative equity. However it seems the market in that area has picked up in the last 6-12 months, and after speaking to a couple of agents they seem confident we could at least break even. It's been close to this for a couple of years but we've worried that it would sit on the market for too long and/or not quite break even, both of which could cause us a lot of problems.