£121K debt payoff - challenge accepted

Silver_Queen

Please take care with getting housing benefit paid to you direct... if the tenant turns out to be claiming benefits fraudulently, you have to pay back the benefit yourself!

Cinny91

Just read your diary and wanted to wish you good luck!

We're DR followers too, trying to do 2020 scorched earth as best we can. Our version of beans and rice, rice and beans tends to be more beans and toast, toast and beans :rotfl:

And good luck with selling the house too, I don't know all the legal ins and outs but clearing debt does take up so much energy alone the stress of that rental just doesn't seem worth it. Means you can put all your focus on the debt, and fixing up your own home.

savvysarah

Elisheba wrote: »

Hey Savvysarah,

I've just caught up with your diary, and can I say I think it's wonderful you are tackling this head on.

I know you are worried to post an SOA on here, but do you at least have one? Do you have all your outgoings listed, amounts of debts owed and the cost of each debt monthly, annually and in interest? I have found that very useful indeed. Having the written budget means I am able to play around with the figures and see where I can tweak things and save a bit here and there.

A wonderful tip I got on this site was to work out my debt free date, so I have something to try and beat! Also, setting mini targets - each 1k of debt paid off, or 1%, all are pretty strong motivators I'm finding 😁.

Thank you so much Elisheba, honestly it's lovely that people take the time to post and it is a massive motivation boost

Yes, I have an SOA; I write out most parts of it each month, including direct debits, debt payments (including how much of each goes on interest ), grocery budget, fuel budget, and use that to plan the month ahead along with any other expenses for that month e.g. swimming lessons. I also work out our debt totals every month, and have just started setting up sinking funds for our known annual/irregular expenses. I just don't know if I'm ready to share! I've been doing this for about a year, and its probably taken about that long to be really accurate with it.

Our DFD as it stands is March 2024 but there is NO WAY I'm letting it take that long :eek:

And I LOVE the idea of mini targets, I'll chat about this with Husband and we can decide when the first celebration can be!!

savvysarah

FootyFanDan wrote: »

Hey,

I have just read your diary and want to say i think considering everything you are juggling i think you are doing a superb job. I think it would be worth doing the SOA (even just for your own benefit), it will give you a clearer picture of what is going where.

I know it is so easier said than done but i think you need to figure out in your mind where you would be comfortable getting this debt gone, i know the thing most do is hit it head on and want it gone like yesterday! sometimes that isn't possible to pay of so quick. If you can get yourself into a place where you know its coming down without causing you massive shortfalls in the budget your stress level may decrease too. As some say its not a sprint, allow yourself some time to try enjoy living too.

Grr to the crappy tenants i don't know how some tenants push as far as they do, we rent and i would dread to think we would pay late (unless very very extreme circumstances). I think you do right in looking to sell especially considering this is putting a strain on you mentally and financially.

I have subscribed to see you progress and cheer you on! You are doing really amazing even if some days it may not feel like it.

Ahh thank you Dan for being kind, I am trying so hard with all this. I think you're right about getting my head around how long it might take and being ok with that, its so hard to accept it might take a long time but realistically that may well be the case....

And I totally agree about the rent! We rented until recently, and I wouldn't have dreamed of paying late. However, I completely understand things happen, and if someone just explained that there was an issue and the rent was going to be late I could totally be ok with that, its just the ongoing lateness, with no contact despite us asking for it that drives me mad!!!

savvysarah

april_hunt wrote: »

Morning


I've just caught up with your diary
What a great start you've had knocking off your debt! Sorry that your tenants are still being a pain in the !!!!! it's a shame your having to look into selling it as it could be a goldmine with the right tenant in which I think is what you could do with. As for your estate agent I hope there not the ones doing your valuation on it and I'd definitely be writing a strong letter/email to the branch about how they've not really dealt with the payments over the past god knows how long they get there cut and that's there job not yours to chase for money!


I hope you feel positive about tomorrow and are happy you've achieved even a little so far it's only the 10th day in plenty of time to pull back.


Look forward to seeing your updates soon x

Thanks April!

Fear not, we have a totally new agent coming to value it this coming weekend; if we decided not to sell (like if the valuation isn't high enough) we will be changing the letting agent we currently have. And it is so, so far from a gold mine!! I promise!!

savvysarah

Buffythedebtslayer wrote: »

Sarah, I have a decent income been here over 10 years and never really posted an SOA, I think it was mainly because I have been very lucky really and shouldn't have been such a disaster re money. I always had one worked out. In your case your issue is the rental and in any case people really don't judge here. It isn't that type of place.

XXX

Thanks Buffy - That's my reason though too! The rental is the thing at the moment, but our disasters with finances are the back story to all this AND if it was just my finances I would probably post one but as its joint it feels a bit weird.

QueenJess wrote: »

Hey, it might be unconventional, but you could just post a small excerpt from your SOA relating to expenses you would like comments on to see if there were any good ideas on what you could cut back on. Eg, your standard expenses maybe excluding the rental house.

Thank you - I may do this in time, maybe when I feel like I've settled in on here a bit more!!

savvysarah

Bizzywizard wrote: »

Hi,
I have just read your diary.
I was a letting agent for a couple of years. I hated it, so left! Some tenants would always pay late and my boss was never concerned (she was also a tenant). I always was on the side of the Landlord (my parents were Landlords to had a good insight)! I had one lady, who I made come to the office to explain why she kept paying late, she said she could not afford a 2 bed, but needed it for all her stuff! I showed her one beds she could afford and explained that not all Landlords are well off and that no one knows other peoples circumstances, she started to cry...my boss was not pleased with me. The tenant gave notice a week later and downsized. The landlord was so pleased with me as he was worried the payments would completely stop and have to go down the expensive eviction route along with paying two mortgages! If your tenants are paying late, the agents will have a running record of this . It sounds like the tenants are on housing benefit and know how to play the system. What most tenants do not know is if they keep paying late the agents can get in touch with the local housing department and request the rent be sent to the landlord direct, just like it used to be! Proof of late payment needs to be sent and the tenant may need to agree it, but the local authority will apply pressure to the tenant, as they want them housed not evicted.

If you give notice (2 months) or a section 21 notice please note the tenant may not pay for the last few months, so might be worth getting the rent direct first and then giving notice. Request you are copied in on all emails to the local authority from your agent.

Clearly I am assuming your tenants are on Housing benefit or some sort of top up.

Hope this helps in a small way.

Bizzy

Ahh thank you - you sound like you're one of the good ones!! We actually did get the rent paid directly to us from the council with our previous tenant as they were even worse at paying than the current one! So we've been down that road and know it. This time our tenant is on ESA - do you know if it works the same way? The problem is though that she's never fully 2 months behind, but if she is I'll definitely explore it. She was that far behind on the rent once, but the guarantor stepped in when we contacted her. It's all so messy!

savvysarah

Cinny91 wrote: »

Just read your diary and wanted to wish you good luck!

We're DR followers too, trying to do 2020 scorched earth as best we can. Our version of beans and rice, rice and beans tends to be more beans and toast, toast and beans :rotfl:

And good luck with selling the house too, I don't know all the legal ins and outs but clearing debt does take up so much energy alone the stress of that rental just doesn't seem worth it. Means you can put all your focus on the debt, and fixing up your own home.

:rotfl::rotfl: beans and toast made me laugh!! We're just the same! Soup and toast tonight!

Scorched earth is hard though isn't it? I think it would be much more do-able without kids, we find our needs are so little but these kids insist on growing.....:D

savvysarah

Evening all

Quick update as I've been trying to reply to all your lovely posts! This forum really is friendly, it's super motivating

Tenant has paid two thirds of last months rent. I have no idea when she plans on paying the rest, but I now have to be careful about the amount of contact because its easy for tenants to accuse landlords/letting agents of harassment. So as I'm going there on the weekend for the valuation I'll leave it for a couple of days.

The neighbour said they would ring me tonight about the wall. they haven't.

I've done a sensible food shop for the week to arrive tomorrow. Online shopping keeps me in line with spending! That should last a week, but my stretch goal is to make it last (excluding fresh fruit and milk) to the end of the month :eek:

I'm not doing any selling this month because a) I think everyone might be skint? Or maybe I've just got a skewed view of the world right now :rotfl: and b) I think it would get swallowed up in rental house nonsense, when actually it should go to debts. So that can wait.

And that's that! I'm trying to stay chilled, enjoy cuddling my babies and appreciate what I do have. :)

Cinny91

savvysarah wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl: beans and toast made me laugh!! We're just the same! Soup and toast tonight!

Scorched earth is hard though isn't it? I think it would be much more do-able without kids, we find our needs are so little but these kids insist on growing.....:D

We had soup last night too. Thrilling meals aren't they :rotfl:

Definitely much harder with ever growing kids in tow. LO is my one "pass" on scorched earth, but I'm definitely being more frugal in our days out etc.

This whole journey really makes you appreciate the none material things in life more than ever. Hope you're having a good day!