First Steps to Solvency

alt80

@efes_shareholder Very true - you’ve hit the nail on the head about why I’ve come to a point where I hate the card debt. I want to sort that out and get into a position where I don’t spend more than I earn. I worked out the card debt has happened because I was spending on average £3-4k/m More than I’m earning. Absolutely shameful tbf.

The card debt is all 0% and I’m not sacrificing another car. The ftype which has gone today has cost me a car I owned outright worth £25k and the payments which totalled just over £20k that’s £45k on a car I don’t own anymore and can’t get the car I p/xed to get it back either. I know so many on here don’t understand the cars especially the RR - kind of think you need to have owned one to ‘get it’ and not the entry level diesel model haha. 

I’m making massive sacrifices to clear these cards - car gone wish I’d hung on to it tbh as wife’s found all this stuff to sell So we could have had 10/15 months worth of credit card payments and kept the ftype. Also hardly spending anything on myself anymore and won’t be for the foreseeable.

RelievedSheff

alt80 said:

Well aware this probably sounds bonkers but just ran the figures could swap the BM for a Vantage and just have enough to live on including paying cards at current rate / fuel it / maintain it. If we binned the school that’d be £1k/m could split between overpaying the cards and maybe having a holiday. Once the cards were gone I’d have just about enough time to save up for a deposit on a new car or refinance the balloons. 

Obviously realise I can’t live my life in a deficit every month so will have to see how the next few months are on the reduced budget. Appreciate I should probably stick with the BM and overpay the cards, get those gone and buy the AM but this is so tempting and the deal is unbelievable tbh. 

I thought you had made progress but clearly not☹

This is a disappointing read!

alt80

@RelievedSheff I don’t realistically think I’m getting one tbf even if the figures just about stack. If I’m honest with myself I’m just trying to delay the inevitable downer. 

Looking at AMs surely better than drinking the rest of the day away lol?

enthusiasticsaver

alt80 said:

@enthusiasticsaver Aston Martin Vantage. With the ftype gone I have a surplus not a deficit if I can stick with the budget I can say bye bye to the BMW, use the money we make from selling stuff we don’t want, throw £5k on a card and get one. 

Depreciation makes a difference as it affects the end value (balloon) on the car - a three year old Aston has lost less than a three year old top spec ftype. Hence the deal being better on the AM.  

A quick google has shown me the deal you are looking at. A £21k deposit on top of the £15k they are "giving" you and £849 over 36 months at 6.3% APR. Total credit charge £82k over the 3 years then a £66k balloon payment. Total cost £148k. It does not sound a good deal especially when you can buy it for cash at £113k. 

cyphertheory

Thank you for having the gumption for making this diary. I read your previous thread with interest and now all 50 pages here. It has been a bit of a journey of self-discovery for me too, wondering how I would play things, reading some of the advice and feedback (and sometimes backhanded comments) that you have read, taken on board and responded to, without getting into any arguments.
I really wanted to stop by and say this may be genuinely one of the best diaries I have read, you are like a lot of people who find they desire more than their means, and have realised a bit later on that someday we all have to settle up, unlike a lot of people who continue their consumption, you are looking to do something about it. I can relate to you in terms of income bracket, but not in my spending habits, so you are giving me a look at the other side of the mirror that I might have ended at if I had made different decisions.
so no advice, no judgement, but just a thank you, and the very best of luck and good decision making for the future!

shoppingobsessed2020

alt80 said:

@ladyholly I will expect him to get some kind of employment - doesn’t matter if for me. If he’s living far away he could still find a job. I did. 

Tbf I’d like to buy a hmo in the area if he goes to uni. He can live there for a low rent and the others can pay my mortgage still going to be some left over for a decent profit if the right house is chosen and always an investor looking for a student hmo If the figures work. 

That’s what my parents did for me and they did the same last year for my brothers when they went to uni.  Really helped knowing I didn’t have to find the rent money every month and could live without money worries when at uni,  can’t thank them enough for that.

strawb_shortcake

You're right a lot of people don't get the cars, but those of us looking in see the cars as a massive financial burden and a quick win to reducing your debt. 
I've not followed many diaries, but how many have a big fat elephant in the room that just get brushed aside like your cars?
Further up you mention about it being context and how someone may not understand as their monthly income would only just cover the RR payment? I get that, and it may be a part of it but not whole story.
If you scale it down and someone came to you for budget advice and their "hobby" cost them roughly the same as their mortgage would you tell them to persevere with their hobby or knock the hobby on the head for awhile until they get themselves straight? 
I appreciate you can't just get rid, but at times it can be a bit like listening to a gambler or addict defending their vice. 

That said I do think you're making great progress.

RelievedSheff

alt80 said:

@RelievedSheff I don’t realistically think I’m getting one tbf even if the figures just about stack. If I’m honest with myself I’m just trying to delay the inevitable downer. 

Looking at AMs surely better than drinking the rest of the day away lol?

We are currently on holiday and certainly don't spend every normal day drinking the day away. This is the first chance we have had to have a break this year and it will be a relatively cheap one at that once all is said and done.

Normality will resume next week. But at the same time we are away and still paying down our debts. That is budgeted for.

theoretica

What I don't get is car finance and the way the first years are basically a rental - when I want to own something I want to own it, not just have use of it on some rental/probationary ownership scheme.

Which does raise the question of gap insurance - do you have it or have thought about it if you don't?

alt80

@enthusiasticsaver well I very clearly don’t have £113k cash lying about or I wouldn’t have five figures of card debt a load of finance outstanding on the other two cars and need to remo my home in a couple of years to give back money to my BTLs. Probably won’t have a marriage either if I buy it lol.

@Cyphertheory I’ve no choice, tried everything going to make the figures stack up as they were and could bury my head in the sand for no longer. Had I done so I don’t think I’m being dramatic in saying I think I may have got to the point of running out of all options. I hope like some have said on here my mindset will change over time or I’m just going to have to be miserable with life unless I can work on making the income significantly higher.

@shoppingobsessed2020 great to hear. I’m always looking for the next deal so will hopefully be interesting to learn more about the market in another area if he goes. 

@annabanana82 the cars are more than a hobby - I do need to drive for work.