It's time to begin.....

greensalad

Woo well done @Kakiste ! Now don't open it up again a year later like I did  It won't be long until you're under £20k and that will feel fantastic!

Kakiste

I'm pretty dead set on getting it all cleared as fast as possible and then I'd love to be a cash buyer from now on. 

I know it was only small but I loved the ability to buy a switch for my daughter's birthday from a 'daughters birthday savings pot that I had £150 in-house it's wrapped and completely paid for. No future stressing about end of 0% periods. 

Kakiste

Bank have defaulted my loan and credit card and passed them to the repayment team. That means that I've only got one single creditor who hasn't defaulted me  which is £299 and is my first target to pay back (either in part on October 1st if they accept my offer or in full on November 1st if they want paying back in full)
So the last impact on my credit file will be July 2026 when the newly applied defaults drop off by when I'll hopefully be long debt free and should by then (hopefully) will have a mortgage. I reckon I'll be completely free of all debts by Spring 2022 and then be able to save £1000 a month for a house deposit from that point onwards. 
Currently in discussion with husband about whether or not we want to buy somewhere really crappy for £40-60000 as there's lots of houses for that round here and then spend a few years living there whilst doing it up- In which case we'll probably be able to buy in the spring of 2023 or we could buy our current lovely house (3 bed detached with garage and massive garden with lovely neighbours) which our landlord has already told us he'd sell to us if we wanted but he'd be looking at about £200,000 which would mean buying in the late spring/summer of 2024. 
That's also assuming we can find a broker who can get us a mortgage- however if not then by July 2026 I should have something like £48,000 in house deposit savings. 
Plenty of time to decide what to do when I get there and I've got the money though!

Kakiste

Sorry for clarity as it doesn't sound like there's much of a choice as waiting 1 year more to live in a much nicer house sounds by far the best deal. 
Basically our current house is lovely but needs some substantial work doing on the roof in the next few years- also the shower in our ensuite needs repairing and hasn't worked in 3 years (long story) and all the carpets need replacing as theyre at least 8 years old. So we would need to outlay about £15-20k for repairs plus it's a sizable mortgage to take on. Also as much as I love the house- the bedrooms are small and most houses on our estate have an extension to create a decent size master bedroom. But there is the garden, lovely downstairs and lovely neighbours and surroundings as a huge plus. 
Buying a scrappy house to do up would obviously be work but between us We we've got most of the skills we'd need to do up a house; also the houses that are in the £40k-60k bracket around here are the old victorian seaside houses so 4-5 bedroom, massive rooms, high ceilings etc. Also we would be mortgage free within 5-8 years rather than 20-25 just by paying the current amount of rent we manage now which would give us a 1k a month budget for home improvements.
So it is a bit more of a decision to chew over. 

Mumoffourkids

I’d love to buy an old Victorian seaside house. I love the older houses. I’m in a new townhouse which although has high ceilings, the rooms are quite small.

Kakiste

I also have a proper love of them. The only downside is that 80% of them around here have a tiny yard as the only outside space. 
However about 20% of them have long and very green back gardens so it's clearly just a matter of finding the right one. Best aspect of lockdown when we were on the 'only out once a day for one hour of exercise' bit was spending 10 hours in the garden at the weekends and not feeling cooped up. I don't think that I'd happily go and live somewhere with just a postage stamp backyard again now that I've had this. 

But There are lots of them that crop up arpund here on rightmove for around £40-50k where it was clearly last decorated in the 70s and needs new flooring, kitchens either below code or missing, bathrooms missing, skirting boards and plasterboarding needing redoing and a lot of the internal fittings changing but we can do all of those ourselves. (My husband is great at woodwork and plastering) and we have two local friends who can do electrics/plumbing so We're pretty set. 

But only musing at the moment. Browsing rightmove is my guilty 'me time' pleasure where I plan out what I'm going to do next, once I've paid off all my debt. 
 

Kakiste

Been gardening this morning. Lot of deadheading and weeding. My tomatoes are looking pretty rubbish- I don't think I've watered them enough this year- shame because I had a bumper crop last July/August. 

Kakiste

Payday
Smashed through the next thousand barrier both paying down debt and the running total I've paid off. Go me. 

Kakiste

It's my birthday! Felt very decadent today as my husband organised him and his parents to buy me Joe Brown's vouchers- they also had a sale on so I've ordered £130 worth of new clothes- bought myself a bunch of new clothes for the first time in 18 months and a pair of new heels- can't even remember how many years it's been since I bought myself new shoes.
My daughter was let loose in a supermarket to buy me a present and bought me prosecco, chocolate and flowers (Well trained child!) Which will be lovely later as I never buy routinely buy alcohol (£28 a week shopping budget certainly doesn't stretch to It!) 
And I'm having a takeaway curry for dinner. Om nom nom 
Feeling incredibly spoiled right now, in the best way.  

joedenise

Happy birthday and enjoy your Prosecco, flowers and chocolate.  Definitely a well trained child!

Wish I could get our shopping down to £28 a week!  We're nearer £45-50 a week for just 2 of us.