Crunchy pays off the loan early, and other stories

Seasidegal58

A very good idea in that once you have paid down the loan you can use the spare cash to add to savings. You shouldn't miss the cash after paying it away for so long. 

crunchy_time

Hi all
Currently in a bikini in garden whilst kids have screen time to get away from the heat.  
I can't remember whether I have mentioned this before but we have booked an expensive trip next year to celebrate our 40ths jointly.  Another long haul for 2 weeks all-inclusive and obviously covid dependant. We have already paid £1000 towards it and have another £6474 (sharp intake of breath) to pay by 13th May next year, not including spending money.    We booked it in January and up until now I had roughly worked out £500 a month over a year to give us a rough budget.  Now we are back from UK holiday, I have been working out plans for this next academic year, including paying off this holiday. 
I already have £500 saved so that means another £6k over 9 months which is around £670 a month from the end of this month.  This is a lot more than £500 a month of course so I have been inputting figures into my spreadsheet to make it all work and it has made me look at my priorities.  
Obviously we are committed to this so after all outgoings, this is the priority.  I have then kept our savings a month at £100 each so that we can continue to build a good buffer.  I have also stated a figure for home improvements of £190 a month since we have nearly finished the bathrooms.  We mainly have decorating left with some furniture purchases as well and I will budget what we need for this academic year so that we don't go over.  The £100 overpayment that I was making for my course fees will have to be diverted to Christmas and birthdays now at least till the end of this year.  This way every pound has a job and we are forced to really think about each purchase which we haven't been so good at in the past.  But it means that for the next year, overpaying the loan will be slower than I anticipated, but this is fine so long as we are no longer getting in any more debt.
This is a once in a lifetime holiday for a milestone celebration.  This year's Uk holiday cost £1500 all in so we can still make the progress towards being debt free by the end of 2023 if we stay on track and have a cheaper holiday the year after.
We can still make massive inroads so long as we don't take our eye off the ball.
Crunchy xx

crunchy_time

crunchy_time said:

Both of our loans are just bank loans and I have a spreadsheet which tells me what is on each.  At the moment the smaller loan is in my name which we are calling the car loan.  The larger loan is in husbands name and has on it the following:
£450 for a vet bill 
£4744 for stuff we put on cc the year I was unemployed and failed to start a business.
£2800 for my course fees for said failed business
£2200 - summer 2019 overspends.
£1453 - winter 2020 overspends
£5000 - house move stuff - turf, tiles, boards for loft, extra insulation, a few pieces of essential furniture, curtains from when we moved three years ago.
I could transfer all of this except the stuff for the house onto my loan in my head and be paying this off at at £181 a month plush the extra slushing I do whilst the £365 pays off the car quicker.  They have already calculated the interest on this as £3554 over the five years and if I pay it off early, this will reduce of course.
Paying off the car over three years rather than 5 is more agreeable to me but I think I will wait until this summer is over before I start moving things around in my head again.

Morning all
The children are watching a film so I decided to play around with my spreadsheet and re-read my diary to make sure we are on track.  I found this from a few weeks back and I have decided to go ahead and rejig things.  In order to keep me motivated, I have looked ahead to see where we will be at in 3 years time (i.e coming close to paying off the loan) and if I am honest, we will always have some sort of loan payment for a car of about £350 so I have decided to transfer (on my spreadsheet) the car amount to husbands loan and I take on all the above listed overspending for my loan.  So under husbands name he has the car, the £5000 of home stuff and £1010 of overspending and I have the rest being paid off at £181 a month.  It was hard to reconcile in my head wanting to get rid of the elarger loan when actually it will just be remain in some form or another later down the line.  getting £181 back per month for mortgage or savings is more important and it will be lovely to get rid early but it is more important for us to not get into anymore debt, so if this is slower than so be it.
For some reason this way seems to sit with me better.  I'm working hard on my mindset so I am not constantly thinking of the total amount of our debt and that I need to get rid of it quickly as possible as that is my worth.  Thinking like this in the past has made me anxious.
I am now thinking that it is the day to day choices that will determine how long we have the £10k plus loan for.
yesterday I spent some time thinking through the big events that are coming up this autumn so instead of carrying on chucking free money at the debt and then panic buying at Christmas getting into more credit card debt, I am making choices and paying for it in advance.  I have also gone through each room in the house, decided on and costed up what we need to get it as finished as possible.
I have brainstormed 40 small gift ideas for husbands birthday as I am doing 40 gifts as his present and started to think about how I can buy and store them without him noticing.  I have also started making a list of stocking fillers and gifts that aren't frivolous and are useful and making plans for how we can celebrate these events in a meaning full way.  I used to think that this was boring but the anticipation of having organised something meaningful rather than just reacting is actually quite exciting!  Making lists and sticking to them is my new mantra.
So for the time being I am slushing any extra money into an account to pay for all of this and keeping lists of what I spend.  When I have ticked off everything on the list then I can start slushing at the debt again.
Today's plans are to chip away at my organising to-do list, go to the garden centre to see if I can get any more gifts for husband from my list as well as a plant and pot for the new bathroom.  I also want to go to the butchers to stock up on meat for the next two weeks but I also need to clean the freezer out so we have somewhere to store it.  It was accidently switched off when we went on holiday and everything was ruined.  I also need to nip to the shop to get wine for date night tonight and see if I can pick a few bits up for husbands birthday there without him noticing. or at least cost out the port and rum that is on the list.  
Phew - what an epic post, but I feel much better for writing it.  Well done if you have managed to read it!!
Crunchy! xx

crunchy_time

Morning!
We had friends over yesterday for a BBQ and the house is still tidy from the manic cleaning beforehand.  I love it when all rooms are tidy.  We also have lots of leftovers.which is always good!
Today's plans are to have a NSD and sort out the shed before it rains later today.  I'm going to put lots of stuff outside our house for free and I am going to finally list the stuff on gumtree that I think we could get money for.  I'm bracing myself for lots of spiders today.  I've costed up the shed revamp so that is my September house project sorted. And I'm still carrying on with my lists for Christmas and birthdays coming up.  Payday on Wednesday!! Hurrah!
Hopefully, the house painter will come this week too.
Crunchy xx

crunchy_time

I'm having one of those days today when I am feeling really rubbish about the debt.  Even though we are fortunate that we can afford the monthly repayments, I feel it is getting in the way of my life as I am obsessing over it and feel really guilty about it.  
What has triggered this?  Ordering a new duvet set for husband and me and paying for it on the it card.  We have two that we alternate and they just look awful.  They were white but they are now yellow. We have had them for 5 years. I'm embarrassed to put on the line.  I had a JL voucher for £50 which I have used towards a new one and two new fitted sheets.  One of our fitted sheets was so shrunk it no longer fitted over all corners of the bed and the elastic has gone in the other.  I had budgeted replacing our bed covers for the autumn but have brought it forward and now I feel guilty as I will have to pay it off at some point this autumn.  And I am panicking that we are back to this now.
Have spent about 20 minutes today staring at my spreadsheet feeling awful about how much we re-racked up in the last 3 years since we have been at this new house.  I feel like a fraud in a way as we bring home over £5k a month with just over £1k in mortgage so we should be able to handle this.  Maybe I need to reassess my priorities.  Maybe I should just take the scenic route for the next year until the house is finished and we have been on the special holiday.  I feel better when I make good choices and then slush the unexpected money towards the debt.  It feels really good and I feel in control.  My day to day lifestyle is not changing its just the debt being a burden and getting a balance between paying it off and living our lives.

shoppingobsessed2020

I’ve just read your new diary and it resonates with me, more because I think of the income level and the how on earth did we manage to get into this mess with what we have coming in.  Yesterday I had a moment of oh what the heck everything has gone belly up let’s just blow the budget as what’s an extra x on the credit card but I did reign myself in.  Laughed at the freezer situation, we are having similar. I’ve 2 feeezers bursting so going to do lots of freezer meals over the next couple of weeks so I can then have a good stock up and reorganise in some fashion.

Looking forward to reading your original diary later today for some inspiration, it’s odd but I do find it inspiring reading about similar income levels also having larger amount of debt knowing it’s not just us.

crunchy_time

shoppingobsessed2020 said:

I’ve just read your new diary and it resonates with me, more because I think of the income level and the how on earth did we manage to get into this mess with what we have coming in.  Yesterday I had a moment of oh what the heck everything has gone belly up let’s just blow the budget as what’s an extra x on the credit card but I did reign myself in.  Laughed at the freezer situation, we are having similar. I’ve 2 feeezers bursting so going to do lots of freezer meals over the next couple of weeks so I can then have a good stock up and reorganise in some fashion.

Looking forward to reading your original diary later today for some inspiration, it’s odd but I do find it inspiring reading about similar income levels also having larger amount of debt knowing it’s not just us.

Hi Shopping obsessed - thank you for commenting on my diary!
When I first started paying off our debt 9 years ago we only had about £50 after all our bills came out and a small amount of spending money.  Its lifestyle changes that have done it for us.  Three years ago we were £2800 away from paying it all off and then I decided to quit my job and do a course with the aim of setting up a business.  Because I was then going to be self-employed, we then decided to move to a bigger house and it snowballed from there.  Looking back, my best year was 2017 as we were living in a smaller house and our income to mortgage ratio was in our favour and we managed to get rid of a lot of it very quickly.  'Debt pay back fatigue' is a real issue for me.  It gets tedious, especially when you have to go back to the start.  But I guess its ll about balance.
Perhaps I should read through my old diaries for inspiration too ha ha!!  Do you have a diary?

crunchy_time

I'm feeling better after my wobble yesterday.  I think it was a combination of a lot of things and i do like to beat myself up about things.
Here are the current things I am in debt for spread over 2 loans.
Car - £10,082 - 4.5 years old.
Debt from the house - furniture, tiles, lawn, floorboards for loft etc. - £5000
Course fees from 3 years ago - £2700
Overspending from the year I was unemployed - £4488
Overspending from the summer of 2019 - £2200
Overspending from winter 2019/2020 - £1354
Vet bill - £450
Total = £26,274 (i've never counted the car before.)
We plan to keep the car for at least the next three years and also stay in the house for the next 5 so for now I am going to park these two debts and revist them once the rest of the 'consumer' debt has been paid off.  This leaves us with £11,192.  The minimum payments total £537 a month so with no overpayments this can be paid off in about 21 months.
I have a list of things we need to buy/do to the house for it to be 'finished.'  Once these things are done and the holiday next year (if we do get to go) is paid for, then I shall aim to pay off this consumer debt off quicker than 20 months.
On reflection, if anything I have learned over the years, it is better to focus on one thing at a time and I am feeling particularly determined and thrifty at the moment so, there you are, mind changed again!!  
This time next year, just with min payments only, the bigger loan will be £11,820 and the smaller loan £8010 with £4748 left of the consumer debt left.  This is the plan but with a fully decorated house and almost finished garden in place and no more credit cards or overdraft debt.
I think this is the most realistic plan and enables us to pay over £500 a month on the consumer debt which is great!!
I will amend my signature now.
Crunchy xx

t2rry

Hi Crunchy!! 

I think we all have those wobbles occasionally, rue our past selves for letting it get to this, imagine what we could do with all the money we are now putting to debt. But I think it’s better to think about how we’re now setting up our futures rather than paying off our pasts. If that makes sense! 

Also - it’s got to be right that sometimes we have to rejig how we think about it all, sometimes I think a refresh gives you back some incentive that you can lose after so long slogging away at it and thinking about it so much!!   I’ve certainly had enough of them 😂

I also agree that it’s got worse quicker for us when our income went up! It’s definitely a lifestyle thing, not to mention kids!! 

Anyway glad you’re feeling better 😊

shoppingobsessed2020

I’ve just reread your old diary and you sound so much more positive in this one.  I have a diary but unsure how to link to it, but it’s just my ramblings as no one knows the level of debt we are in so we are trying to do it, well more me than him without compromising our lifestyle.  A large portion of our debt has gone on courses and then just ballooned from there so it’s so easily done.

im really looking forward to reading your diary going forward