Crunchy pays off the loan early, and other stories

remote_control

I think my first debt was around age 26 when I had £600 on a credit card when I got back from 2 months travelling. I spent every waking moment trying to get rid of it and lots of time on here! I felt so guilty. Fast forward 10 years and it was £30k+!

crunchy_time

remote_control said:

I think my first debt was around age 26 when I had £600 on a credit card when I got back from 2 months travelling. I spent every waking moment trying to get rid of it and lots of time on here! I felt so guilty. Fast forward 10 years and it was £30k+!

Same here!  I came back  from travelling with about £2k of debt and it felt massive!  The debt is for very different things now.
I agree with you all - these years are expensive - I haven't bought anything 'pointless' for many years.  Having children is expensive these days.
So it looks like I'm going to carry on with my diary - warts and all then!
So it was pay day for me yesterday.  Money is all shuffled around.  I paid off the clothes that I had bought on credit card.  My budget is £100 a month and I have been buying a range on credit card and then deciding, sending what I don't need back.  This has been working well and I have now paid off the spree I had at the beginning of the year.  I will need to start looking at spring and summer clothes now so another spree may literally be on the cards soon - literally!  (being transparent)  I also paid off the H&M spree for the children's clothes - there will be £15 a month left to pay off though.  The only things left on my credit card are, water bottles which come out of house money.  I shall pay those off when the minimum payment is due after the 1st, a present for a friend I didn't have enough money for so I am paying off a bit at a time and some interest.  I like using my credit card in case I need to return things and it offers more protection if things go wrong.
So, with the savings we have from childcare this month we now have £360 in the house pot - the water bottles will be paid off from this and we shall be buying a few bits over Easter holidays to finish off some jobs in the house.
When the 1st comes around my £200 loan payment will be paying off the last payment for my course that I did in 2018 which was the start of all these recent debt problems.  It will be such a big moment thing.  From the 1st May the £200 will be paying off the £5000 house renovation stuff every month.  There is about £2500 of consumer debt on there but I am not thinking about that just yet.  My loan has the lower interest.  Husbands has a higher rate so we are focusing on overpaying that one first, when we make overpayments that is.
What a surprise, we seem to be overspending on food again but only from being disorganised. Husband can't remember his pin again so has been using his credit card and then I can't see what the true figure is.  Need to get this sorted of course.  One more week till his pay day so I'm going to try and be as frugal as possible  so I can use the rest of what is in Monzo (£130) towards his credit card.  
Thank you for your continued interest in my money journey!  I really appreciate it!  I'm not even going to call it a debt journey any more - it's a money journey.  And it won't end once I am debt free!
Have a lovely day!
Crunchy xx

crunchy_time

I’ve just worked out that we will have paid off over £8000k of debt off the loans since I started this new diary in mid April last year.
That’s amazing! That’s minimum payments and averaging an extra £100 a month.
Very pleased with that!
Crunchy xx

crunchy_time

£8000 not £8000k - we are not millionaires! Ha ha! Xx

crunchy_time

Husband has been accepted for a 0% balance transfer credit card. 1% fee and a whopping £13k limit! We won’t be using all of that! That’s for sure! Xx

crunchy_time

Evening all
I thought it would be a good idea to update our SOA - we haven't done this since July.  There have been a few changes I have put in bold.

It's important to note as well that in a year we have shortened the larger loan by 4 months and overpaid £1559 saving £236 of interest.  I'm taking this off my signature!!
Crunchy xx

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 2

Number of children in household......... 2

Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 1150 Now £1161

Partners monthly income after tax....... 4050 Now £4273

Benefits................................ 0

Other income............................ 0

Total monthly income.................... 5200 Now £5,434

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 1136 Now £1250 - overpaying and feeling good about it

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 186 Now £193

Electricity............................. 90 (This is for the winter months - during the summer its £54 a month - still budgeting the extra to slush the deficit towards the debt. Now £100 all year round.

Gas..................................... 0

Oil..................................... 50 (we have half a tank currently unused and £200 in a savings account ready for the the payment.  I may be overbudgeting for this so if I am, the deficit will go towards the debt. I'm currently not saving for this.  Oil tank half full.

Water rates............................. 26 (we don't pay sewerage as we have our own tank which was emptied last year for £150 and won't need doing this year.  I usually save the Feb/march council tax money to pay for this.  Must get some insurance or maintenance agreement for the pump/tank though - ON LIST!! Still £26 

Telephone (land line)................... 71.5  But it was £59 last month.  I must ring up and check we are getting the best deal.  This is for a phone we don't use because you need a landline and the best internet we can afford.  We don't have many options for comparison as we live in the sticks but always keeping an eye on developments in our area. Now £61

Mobile phone............................ 38 - just mine as husbands is a work one. Still £38

TV Licence.............................. 11.39 Now £13.37

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0

Internet Services....................... 0

Groceries etc. ......................... 550 Now £600 or £150 a week

Clothing................................ 250 - non-negotiable and for two growing kids too. Same £250

Petrol/diesel........................... 200 same but less at the moment £200

Road tax................................ 11 Same £11

Car Insurance........................... 40 - for two cars Same £40

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50 Comes out of savings

Car parking............................. 0

Other travel............................ 0

Childcare/nursery....................... 275 - hopefully we can get this down as husband can do more pick ups and drop offs to school thanks to covid stopping all his traveling. £260 - worse case scenario when things go back to normal.  Currently about £100 

Other child related expenses............ 120 -  swimming lessons x 2, Karate and Gymnastics. £120 in normal times

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 29.5 - contact lessons although currently cancelled as husband is investigating a cheaper provider. Found cheaper provider - £9 a month! but would need eye regular eye checks

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 24 Just pay £9 insurance now.  Vet bills come out of savings - annual jab

Buildings insurance..................... 19.94 including contents now £20.28

Contents insurance...................... 0

Life assurance ......................... 76.57 same £76.57

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... Out of house money - extra money per month.

Haircuts................................ 35 same £35

Entertainment........................... 200 same £200

Holiday................................. 500  I know people will be horrified at this but travelling is our thing!  Big holiday booked for next year - South America!  Covid dependent of course!!  Cornwall this year.  Currently upped to £670 but aware that we might not be able to go this year.  Would normally be £500 but extra special holiday (in theory) this year.

Emergency fund.......................... 100 Now £300 a month - we've upped our savings to £150 a month each to make us feel more secure.
Entertainment - spotify, prime and netflix = £28.99
Union fees £4
Monthly charity contribution £10

Total monthly expenses.................. 4189.9 Now £4525.21

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 3312 Now £3910

House value (Gross)..................... 355000  - what we bought it for 3 years ago.  No idea of value now. Valued in Autumn as £368,000

Shares and bonds........................ 0

Car(s).................................. 10,000 - for larger family one.  Smaller run around is 13 years old 140k on click and worth nothing.  Before covid all we used it for was taking husband to the train station at stupid o clock as there were no taxi's at that time.  We could survive without it but to be honest when it dies we may replace it with another banger. £10,082 - 

Other assets............................ 0[b]

Total Assets............................ 368312[/b] Now £381,910

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 279792...(1136).....1.49[b] £273,605

Total secured & HP debts...... 279792....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Consolidation Loan.............16668.....365.......6.9 

Car Loan.......................10363.....181.......3.6 This is for our 4 year old family wagon - I don't take this into account in my debts really as car's are like a tax to us.  The loan has only just started so there will be plans to pay it off.  I may have a play around as I think we should pay £365 towards the car debt first and £181 towards the consolidation loan as we are likely to want to replace the car sooner than in 5 years.

Sofa Loan......................1396......41.06.....0 Again - don't include this in debt signature as it is 0% and the sofa will last us a while.  It's a year old and the debt will run for another 3.

Total unsecured debts..........28427.....587.06....-  [/b]

Loan one - 6.9% £16,224 £356 a month
Loan two 3.6% £8,698 £200 a month
Sofa Loan 0% £1069 £41 a month
Total £597 per month
Total debt £25,991

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 5,200   Now £5434

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 4,189.9 Now £4525

Available for debt repayments........... 1,010.1 Now £909

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 587.06[b]  Now £597 

Amount left after debt repayments....... 423.04[/b] Now £312

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 368,312 Now £381910

Total HP & Secured debt................. -279,792 -273,605

Total Unsecured debt.................... -28,427[b] -£25,991

Net Assets.............................. 60,093[/b] £80,314

Phew that was long winded.

remote_control

That was a really interesting read. Not to dissimilar to our's. I REALLY want to talk in great detail about your South America trip - maybe via PMs? I want to know all about it! I love travelling. 
Are your house improvement spends on this SOA? (maybe I missed it)
What about husband spending on the credit card for bits here and there?

crunchy_time

We are just going on a Tui all inclusive to a Central American country. It’s not travelling around. And of course with every day that goes by it looks less likely to happen at the moment. 

Home improvements will come out of the £300 ish left at the end of the budget.
I was looking at options last night. We could increase my loan by £4K over 4 years and pay an extra £60 a month. To pay for the pergola. The fence is what is going on the 0% credit card although it might not be a fence now - some strategically placed shrubs and then a path as well. The money for the house paint job is coming out of our savings.
Husband has been buying some food top ups on his credit card as his joint account wasn’t working but it is now. I just didn’t know and couldn’t keep tabs on what he was spending as I couldn’t see it. 

Looking forward to finishing for Easter in a few days time - I am exhausted! 

Crunch xx

crunchy_time

we we are also considering refinancing the larger loan once we have paid more off and it gets closer to £10k. The interest rate is double what mine is.
Crunch x

remote_control

I've not had a loan before, can you refinance them?
Can the pergola fit on the 0% card? 
Holiday sounds nice, I would love to book something but I think we'll wait until last minute. After what happened last July and Aug when the rules kept changing I don't think I can take the anxiety.