Babystep 6

BabyStepper

Hiya

How's everyone doing? I'm a newbie here and have spent the last 2 years hanging out on the dfw boards, paying off £21,228.07 of debt - here's the link to my diary if you fancy a look. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5865681/tidying-up-the-mess/p1 

I am self-employed and OH has a very stable job. We learned how to budget and live within our means while paying off debt and used a mix of Dave Ramsey, Martin Lewis but mostly the helpful people on this site to get there. I need help with all this, managing money does not come naturally to me, and the support, encouragement and advice from everyone on here has been the single most valuable thing. So here I am for the next step, mortgage freedom.  

It seems to be the worst possible time to be starting a challenge like this - my job has taken a hit because of the virus and the future is uncertain. I had lots of plans for managing the finances once the debt was gone, all of them have had to be shelved for now. My wage has reduced temporarily but we can live on OH's wages, anything I can bring in is helpful, and who knows what I'll get from the government in June, just need to wait and see.

If anyone would like to join me for the journey, I would appreciate the chat. I'm also hoping that my wise friends from my previous thread find their way over here too, I still need your help! I'm planning to have a look around and see how others are getting on with it all - at the minute it seems like an insanely big task but hey, you've got to start somewhere, right?

It's good to be here, finally.  
     

Sunshine_girl2

On for the next challenge , look forward to reading your new diary. 

DancingInTheRain

Good luck on your MF journey, will continue to cheer you on 🙂

Drawingaline

Have subscribed. Loved your previous diary (read the whole thing on my holiday last year!) and I am hoping to be able to move to this board at the end of this year too. 

savingholmes

Hi - followed you - I'm sure you will knock it out of the park. How much do you need to repay?

longway2go

Well done on clearing your debt, that's a fantastic achievement and welcome to the board. I think in these uncertain times it makes it highlights how nice it would be to have no debt and setting an intention of what you want for the future is good. My OPs are being directed to savings until this settle and then hopefully I will have a nice lump sum to OP with which a few of us are doing.
How much have you got to clear and any targets in mind in the short term?

Lots of luck 

jenni_fer

Sounds like your dfw experience will help you on your way.
Good luck!

bexster1975

Hello. Wow re:debt clearing. Fabulous news. I shall take a look at your previous thread.  As for self employed, me too. Also took a serious hit. Also no idea what HMRC might provide in June. As you say, we will see. You say its a bad time to start MF, but actually you probably have more time for planning, meal planning and batch cooking etc which will all stand you in great stead. It sounds as though you have picked up some great skills from DFW, and if you can manage on OHs wage, you don't need to worry about debt repayments whilst your salary is down. I may have not seen this on your DFW diary, but do you have an emergency fund? If not, I think I would start there.

Good luck

Bexster 

BabyStepper

Hi everyone, so glad you can join me, I definitely can't do this alone so the more the merrier. 

The mortgage is around £139k. I've been playing with the overpayment calculator and am amazed at how much time can be knocked off the term with even small overpayments. I'm wondering if the secret is to be persistent and committed, make regular payments and just keep on it in the long term. That seemed to be the secret to debt repayment anyway, this is a way bigger challenge though, any tips on how to think about it would be gratefully received. 

At the moment I don't even know how to make an overpayment. The mortgage is with TSB - I've checked their website and apparently I can fill in a form to make a regular overpayment or I can make a big one-off payment but I really wanted something more flexible. I'll maybe phone them up but I think the time is not right for that. I'm sure they'll be inundated with calls from people with more urgent issues to address. 

I have an emergency fund of £500. It fluctuated between £0 and £1,000 depending on what was happening during my debt free journey. It definitely needs increasing and the plan is to top it up to 6 months expenses, rounded up to £10k. 

But first things first, my old car needs an mot and tax in the next couple of months. Facebook says my garage is open but no answer when I call. I'll keep trying. I have £300 in the car fund, that's not going to cover it so every spare penny will need to go towards this and I'll keep everything crossed it's not too expensive. I hate how unpredictable car expenses are. I'm also aware that since I'm not driving anywhere this may not be an essential journey so possibly I shouldn't be going out to do this, but my car is too old to go 6 months without an mot and we have used it once for food shopping. Just need to see.   

Goals at the minute are to figure out how to make an overpayment and do it (however small), get the car sorted for the next year, begin increasing the emergency fund, and keep my head above the water until this situation we're all in settles down and I can get back to work. My wage seems to be fluctuating just now so I'm taking it a week at a time. As long as everything keeps moving in the right direction, however slowly, then that's good enough for now.   

I can hardly bear the things I'm seeing on the news just now. I have no idea how we are all expected to manage or what things will be like once it's all over, but trying to keep doing what I was doing (without leaving home) including planning finances, is helping to keep me sane. I hope everyone is finding a way.    

bexster1975

Hello babystepper. I think a substantial emergency fund is always a good idea. Do hope the car survives the trip. Banks often let you overpay online, and some MFWs do "Tilly's Tidies" - TTs where they move just a couple of pounds across that they saved on shopping, or have free to round down their current account. However it isn't actually in the banks interests for us to overpay a mortgage, so it isn't a surprise that some banks don't make easy to OP.  I agree with you, re: news. I am significantly limiting my exposure to the  news, as there are nothing I can do about it. It definitely has a negative impact on my mood if I watch too much. We can do nothing more than keep going, and staying home if we are able to and not a keyworker. If people follow the rules, we will emerge from this faster and with the least possible fatalities ( which as we approach 1,000 deaths a day sounds ridiculous). I think things will be very different once this is all over. Hopefully in some good ways too.

Bexster 

in_need_of_direction

hello, just following you over from your old thread.  Has your mortgage been reduced by the rate change? If so, a relatively pain free option for overpaying might be to keep to the same payment amount.