Time to Face The Music

RelievedSheff

joedenise said:

Is your water dump close to the heater then?  As on a lot of vans they are quite away apart, in fact on opposite sides!  The most we do without EHU is a couple of nights in winter but we can easily do 6 nights without in summer - might even be longer but never tried more than that!  In fact this year is the first year we've stayed in one place for nearly a week; usually we move every day or two!

Our grey water tank has it's own electric heating element to stop the grey water tank freezing. The grey water tank is located centrally under the van.

The fresh water tank is internal to the van and is under one of the seats in the lounge area with the Truma boiler under the adjacent seat.

We don't plan to plug into EHU at all during our 16 day trip to Scotland in a few weeks but we will be travelling every day so between the alternator and the solar panel the battery should be well charged.

The most we have stayed in one place up to now is a couple of nights and we have found that the van really doesn't need plugging in for that length of time. We have a couple of breaks booked for next year (Easter and the long Jubilee weekend) where we will be sited for 3 nights both of those have EHU. I don't think we will make a habit of that though, we bought the van to travel not to site it!

joedenise

We were the same.  Can't wait to get back to France as it's so much easier to travel with the van over there.  Unfortunately medical matters stopped that for us - we should have been in France for the whole of this month but I had a fall a couple of months ago and just had a scan and found out I've got a torn tendon.  Hoping I can get it sorted soon as we've now booked to go early December for a month - will definitely need to be travelling at least every 2 days in order to keep the batteries topped up.  The vast majority of campsites will be closed; they mainly close at the end of September over there with just the odd one here and there will open.

Last time we went in December we managed to find quite a few places to stop which had both water and electric so hoping we can do the same again this year.

alt80

@RelievedSheff well done mate and don’t forget you’ve also got off that !!!!!! horrendous mortgage rate, all the adverse off your file - all looking up for future. Should be proud of it all 100% you’re smashing it. Seems to be some on here that are choosing to live a future pretty much free of debt entirely but think you and I are similar in that there probably isn’t a ’debt free’ future for either of us, just more thinking before handing the card over ha.

enthusiasticsaver

RelievedSheff said:

alt80 said:

Haha yeah Whitby on a bank hol weekend wasn’t your best pick if you were looking for a quiet one mate.

Be careful with the 18 month old bargains - alright if you’re buying cash but you’ll be clobbered for the high rates of interest financing it. New cars are always lower rates - used Range Rover is something !!!!!! stupid like 10% through the dealer. I prefer buying new tbh lower interest, know how it’s been cared for from day 1, full warranty etc get buying as 2nd owner can be cost efficient but work exploring both options when it’s being financed. Lease other option but don’t think that is cost effective for personal purchases. 

We will arrange our own finance rather then using dealer finance.

That is what I would do  if we weren't paying cash.  New cars may have decent finance deals but depreciation is ridiculous on it.  Our cars are both starting to cost us now so may have to look at changing ours too.  New air conditioning condensing unit on mine today and new window motor a few weeks ago has mounted up to £700 on repairs and MOT/service due next month so goodness knows how much else will have to be thrown at it.  It is 7 years old now and I have had it 6 of those years. 

Shame your debt will have to increase but at least it is for a car rather than overspending. 

RelievedSheff

enthusiasticsaver said:

RelievedSheff said:

alt80 said:

Haha yeah Whitby on a bank hol weekend wasn’t your best pick if you were looking for a quiet one mate.

Be careful with the 18 month old bargains - alright if you’re buying cash but you’ll be clobbered for the high rates of interest financing it. New cars are always lower rates - used Range Rover is something !!!!!! stupid like 10% through the dealer. I prefer buying new tbh lower interest, know how it’s been cared for from day 1, full warranty etc get buying as 2nd owner can be cost efficient but work exploring both options when it’s being financed. Lease other option but don’t think that is cost effective for personal purchases. 

We will arrange our own finance rather then using dealer finance.

That is what I would do  if we weren't paying cash.  New cars may have decent finance deals but depreciation is ridiculous on it.  Our cars are both starting to cost us now so may have to look at changing ours too.  New air conditioning condensing unit on mine today and new window motor a few weeks ago has mounted up to £700 on repairs and MOT/service due next month so goodness knows how much else will have to be thrown at it.  It is 7 years old now and I have had it 6 of those years. 

Shame your debt will have to increase but at least it is for a car rather than overspending. 

I think the OH has decided he is going to get the gearbox fixed on the Hyundai. He has found a specialist who will do the repair and fit a new clutch for £1300. They are located in Bedfordshire so we will need to get the car to them but we will probably just take the van down as well and make a weekend of it down there and same again when we pick it up.

Still leaves us needing to replace the tyres but we know it is sorted then for a while. Also means that the HP Loan on the car will be paid up in February and we won't be taking on any further finance. 

RelievedSheff

alt80 said:

@RelievedSheff well done mate and don’t forget you’ve also got off that !!!!!! horrendous mortgage rate, all the adverse off your file - all looking up for future. Should be proud of it all 100% you’re smashing it. Seems to be some on here that are choosing to live a future pretty much free of debt entirely but think you and I are similar in that there probably isn’t a ’debt free’ future for either of us, just more thinking before handing the card over ha.

Yes the mortgage rate is much better now thankfully. It's nice to see the remaining balance substantially dropping each month.

It was a big weight lifted when the last of the adverse dropped from my credit file. It is now going to stay that way. I really don't want to be in that situation again.

Like you, I doubt we will ever be 100% debt free. The cards will definitely be paid off by May 2026 as will the motorhome HP just in time for remortgaging the house again. We are keen to knock ather couple of years from the term if we can. We want to be mortgage free ASAP. But I do think that we will probably still have vehicles on finance.

enthusiasticsaver

Sounds like a cheaper option.  How old is the car? 

RelievedSheff

enthusiasticsaver said:

Sounds like a cheaper option.  How old is the car? 

It's just over five years old, just out if warranty!!

enthusiasticsaver

RelievedSheff said:

alt80 said:

@RelievedSheff well done mate and don’t forget you’ve also got off that !!!!!! horrendous mortgage rate, all the adverse off your file - all looking up for future. Should be proud of it all 100% you’re smashing it. Seems to be some on here that are choosing to live a future pretty much free of debt entirely but think you and I are similar in that there probably isn’t a ’debt free’ future for either of us, just more thinking before handing the card over ha.

Yes the mortgage rate is much better now thankfully. It's nice to see the remaining balance substantially dropping each month.

It was a big weight lifted when the last of the adverse dropped from my credit file. It is now going to stay that way. I really don't want to be in that situation again.

Like you, I doubt we will ever be 100% debt free. The cards will definitely be paid off by May 2026 as will the motorhome HP just in time for remortgaging the house again. We are keen to knock ather couple of years from the term if we can. We want to be mortgage free ASAP. But I do think that we will probably still have vehicles on finance.

It is always a trade off when deciding on where to spend your money.  We were advocates of FIRE and retired 8 years early and I get the impression that you would like to do the same.  That inevitably means keeping outgoings low although ironically by the time our state pensions kick in we will have a higher income than when working. Keeping outgoings low means ideally no mortgage and vehicles without finance.  My sister and brother both have expensive cars either on lease or HP and go for new but cannot afford to retire. That is their choice but I have no sympathy with them moaning they cannot afford to leave work. Our vehicles were about 2 years old when we bought them for cash so our only unavoidable outgoings are utilities/council tax and food/living costs. My DH was used to brand new company cars every 4 years when working but he balked at paying almost £30k for a new vehicle of the size and spec he wanted when it was coming out of our money.  We just save £500 a month towards our next cars and will take the rest out of investments if we don't have enough in savings. We wont pay any more than £15k for each vehicle though so they  will have to be a few years old.  Maybe when we go down to one car we may go back to new. 

Ideally what you could do is save the £250 a month when the finance is finished towards your next vehicle. 

alt80

@RelievedSheff Having had a bit of a !!!!!! situation myself not with adverse but having to remo my btls to a !!!!!! stupid level just to live on the personal side I get the whole not wanting to get into the old situation again.

I look back and think what a !!!!!! !!!!!! I was, there was no need for it and I’d be in a whole different position now had I not been a !!!!!! for the majority of my 30s. Def don’t want to spend my 40s a cokehead with ridiculous spending habits can tell you that much however is what it is just need to move on. Like you with the adverse. Tbh you’re an inspiration for moving on not just going !!!!!! crazy because you’ve !!!!!! up in the past.

Where you and I differ I 100% don’t get the mortgage free thing - cheapest finance you’ll ever get. Looking forward to doubling my res mortgage and on the BTL side I’d take a new one everyday if the right place and I could, I’m not even joking best way to level up.