A Year in the Life of...

girlatplay

[Deleted User] said:

Oh you're so hard on yourself Gap! You are absolutely worthy of the cheering - you've done so much hard work, and even if the debt was calculated, it still counts - you got stuck in, and cleared it, and shaved a whopping 2.5 years off. Others could easily have sat back and let that trickle away...or have found temptation and added another lump to it. But not you. You cleared it in style, and you are worthy of praise. Even if you don't feel that way just now, I hope you can take some self-satisfaction at some point...even if not quite now.  Right here with you on the reverse-debt-busting-replenish-EF train, choo choo  

PD and I send a gentle cheer (me), a nose boop (PD) and a swift headbutt to the chin (PD again, she shows affection in odd ways). Take care, and be nice to yourself. If it was one of us, you'd be first in line telling us the same  

astrocytic_kitten said:

Totally agree with BCNS, you’ve dealt really well with a tough hand and still deserve cheers - you’ve done incredibly well. For what it’s worth I felt slightly deflated when I paid the last of my loan off from savings too, it was like I’d cheated somehow and I wasn’t really debt free till I’d paid the savings back. That’s daft though, debt free is debt free, and you’ve saved on interest.

Your plan to eat healthily and be nice to yourself is a good one, be very very nice to yourself xx

Thank you both for your kind words.
I remember the deflated feeling from the first time round.  It took a few days for it to sink in.

girlatplay

So the EF money appeared and it's now on its way to the loan account.

Watch this space 

beanielou

joedenise said:

You had the money there in your EF so it made sense to pay off the loan to save interest.  Now to refill that EF.  You can do it now you don't have that loan payment to make.

Well done.

Agree with this 100%.

Now we can cheer each other on with the EF's.
How much are you aiming for?  xx

beanielou

& Be KIND to yourself, you are AWESOME  xx

girlatplay

beanielou said:

joedenise said:

You had the money there in your EF so it made sense to pay off the loan to save interest.  Now to refill that EF.  You can do it now you don't have that loan payment to make.

Well done.

Agree with this 100%.

Now we can cheer each other on with the EF's.
How much are you aiming for?  xx

beanielou said:

& Be KIND to yourself, you are AWESOME  xx

And you are one of the kindest, most supportive people that I know.  Thank you.


I wasn't looking for sympathy yesterday, honestly, but thank you all for taking the time to post.  I had an early night last night and I do feel a bit better today.  Health not perfect but I'm not exhausted like yesterday.  Afternoon tea number one of the week this afternoon so nice short day at work.  That should put a smile on my face.

In other tiny news, I received a text message and an email from the loan provider this morning confirming that my loan is paid off.  That is the fastest I have ever seen funds hit that account.  I logged in to be sure and I have taken a screenshot.  This means:

I AM DEBT FREE

Again. Apart from mortgage.

I have a plan to go forward with.  I am currently writing up a new diary post (for this diary) which I will post later.  @beanielou my initial plan is to set an achievable goal as I need to take my foot off the gas a bit.  I'll share more in my next post but looking at £2,500 to start with.

Thank you everyone who has ever posted on any of my diaries.  I'm so lucky that I found this community back in 2008, even if I didn't pluck up the courage to start a diary until a couple of years later.  I've paid off a huge (to me) amount of debt since joining here (we're talking just over £30k in three different segments) which includes buying out the HA share of my flat.  I'm not sure how easy that would have been without having somewhere public-ish to babble.

Onwards and upwards for me now, apart from mortgage which will be going DOWN (eventually).

astrocytic_kitten

Yayyyyyyyy! So pleased for you ☺️ An afternoon tea sounds like an excellent way to celebrate too. Make sure you have all the cake xx

girlatplay

astrocytic_kitten said:

Yayyyyyyyy! So pleased for you ☺️ An afternoon tea sounds like an excellent way to celebrate too. Make sure you have all the cake xx

Thank you!  Not the chocolate cake or I'll be ill for days 🙄😆

New goal post next (goal post haha 🥅)

girlatplay

Financial position and plans

Can I stay debt free this time?

Financially right now, my position is that the only debt I have is my mortgage which stands at £87,220.  As of today I have £34.94 in my EF, scary but I've had less than £zero before and I do have a plan this time (plan number 1 is to get 6p into it to round it!)

I am working full time definitely until the end of September.  After that I don't know what will happen so I'm basing things on worst case scenario which is I go back to part time hours and part time wages.  On a positive note, I won't have the loan payment going out anymore so that will free up £133 per month.

My immediate plan is to save most (but not all) of the difference between part time and full time wages into my EF from all paydays up to the end of September.  The goal for now is an easy £2,500 as I know it is achievable so anything above that is a bonus.  £2,500 is only around 2 months of part time salary but I've go to be realistic and start somewhere.  I would push for more but I need underwear!  Last time I bought some (about 2 years ago) I went to the cheap clothes store starting with P.  Seemed like a good plan but they started unravelling as I was putting them on!  I need to invest in decent ones.  My favourite ones that didn't break the bank have BHS printed in them.  That's how long it's been since before the P shop.  I'll keep aside some funds each month out of my wages and if there is any left at the end of the month I'll transfer it over to the EF.  That's what I was doing with my weekly allowance so I know I can do that going forward.

After that I'll be looking to save further, overpay the mortgage and start thinking about a holiday.

• I'm more a saver than a spender these days anyway (usually) so I'll be putting away any spare cash.

• My mortgage is interest only.  I do have a repayment vehicle in place but it is a long term plan and I don't plan to have the mortgage long term now that I'm otherwise debt free.  I'd like to start properly chipping away at that.  My current deal is due to end on 31st July so I am waiting for my mortgage advisor to get in touch.  He usually does around 6 weeks or so before my deal ends.  I'm not sure what will happen deal-wise but my  LTV is 58% so hoping for a decent one.

• LMG and my bf have been talking about holidays and because of the current situation in the world I've managed to avoid a serious discussion.  This is not realistic long term as they are going to start pushing for it in the next couple of years (once things are more open - bf and I both have health issues and neither of us want to take any risks).

Starting with the EF now, I will assess the situation on September payday to see where I'm at.  I'll keep posting updates.

girlatplay

Plan 1 complete.
6p paid to EF ✅

EF balance £35

astrocytic_kitten

Excellent plan! The goals sound very sensible, and I thoroughly approve of the new underwear plan.