£37k -> £2.5k Almost there, but...

Milestones

Andyjflet said:

Well done, you are so close now, dont ruin it. Follow Dave Ramsey and the baby steps then pay cash for anything you want after you are out of Baby Step 3.

BS1 - £1000 emergency fund
BS2 - clear all consumer debt except mortgage.....everything
BS3 - save 3-6 months expenses as an emergency fund

Thanks - must admit I do like Dave Ramsey's podcast

newsgroupmonkey_

You're going to hate me for saying this, but I keep my eye on laptop and desktop prices for a couple of forums I'm a member of.

The best time of year to buy them is around Black Friday week (quite often before). Join HotUkDeals and there are a lot of people on there who will be able to spot the best deals too.

As an example...

Lenovo Legion 5 laptop with 2060 graphics, Ryzen 4800H 16gb/512gb SSD for £949 on 23rd Nov.
I'd be very surprised you'll find that kind of deal in the sales, even with the Ryzen 5000 series being announced in January / February (and it'll be another 6 months before the H will be available freely in the UK if at all with the logistics issues we're about to hit)

Matt8888

Huge congrats on the progress you have made! But now a slight word of warning... When I was near paying off my debts and then mortgage after many years, the mindset I was in meant there was no way I would consider such a purchase. I just wanted the debt all gone, and that gave me more satisfaction than a computer. And the great thing is that, even though I am now financially sound and could buy anything I could reasonably want, I am much more careful about spending. Things I used to buy on credit that I never really needed now don't tempt me even though I can afford them. I live very comfortably, but I have a much better sense of the value money. It is the one good thing I got from being in debt. There was a thread on this a while back, with many people saying much the same. It sounds like you are not quite there with this yet, so do be careful, or the debt might return. It feels great to know, for example, you could easily buy the latest iPhone tomorrow and barely notice any impact, but to realise that the one you have now is working fine, so why bother? That feeling gives me more satisfaction than all of the things I used to buy when I could never really afford. I do buy nice things and take good holidays, but I also learned to appreciate money safely saved away at least as much as a shiny new toy. Gaming PC - why not set a savings goal, and buy it once you have reached that? Don't deprive yourself if that's what you want, but get some money set aside first. Buy it in the sales next January? The car - I would get it patched up when you need to, but I would definitely not buy a new one.

Milestones

Thank you to everyone that’s responded.  So a quick update – the loan will be paid off in 22 days time, we'll finally be debt free.  I was never going to borrow to buy the laptop or PC, those days are over but the advice from everyone was right and the debt should be and will be paid off first and in fact it has dropped back down the list of priorities.  The car isn’t even being used at the moment but when we get normality back I’m not planning to replace it anytime soon and if it needs work I'll get it done.    

I'm not going to defend and explain everything, life can be complicated but this is perhaps relevant to some of the thoughts and comments.  I’ve been in debt my entire adult life - 22 years.  16 years ago we used house equity to almost clear our substantial loans and CC’s (to within a few hundred pounds) as you’ll know from this post that didn’t work out.  4 years ago I crunched the numbers, without the deals on CC’s I realized we couldn’t afford to pay minimums, it was scary but LBM truly happened.  No shortcuts this time, I reviewed and scrutinized all our spending and we cut our cloth where appropriate, everything was\has been budgeted for and we’ve balanced a good family life with paying back the debt.  I admit my original post was a wobble after what has been a bad year on so many levels, that’s why I posted, daft because I knew deep down the right thing to do but I just needed to see it in black and white and yeah perhaps have some support, so again – thanks.  4 years ago I was reading posts like this and it inspired belief in me that it could be done, so if you're just starting out and thinking 'I can't do this' - trust me, you can - the forums show that there's always a way.  Continue reading\using these threads, use the knowledge from others, plan it out month by month, keep returning to it and keep going - it comes good in the end.    

madaboutspots

Well done Milestones. Great work, great attitude and great post. Good luck with your future.

smartpicture

If it helps, I have a 14yr old Honda Civic that has numerous cosmetic damage, including peeling paint that has been there for years but has never rusted (I'm assuming just the top layer of paint has peeled off??). The car itself still runs perfectly, does not cost much to run and does its job of getting me anywhere I want to go, and frankly at this stage any cosmetic damage won't make a huge difference to any valuation anyway. I have however saved the cost of buying another car for a whole 7 years longer than you are considering, with no appreciable difference to my way of life, just a significant difference to my bank account. Which allowed me to indulge in a few other (cheaper) luxuries over the last 7 years. Something to consider maybe.

Milestones

smartpicture said:

If it helps, I have a 14yr old Honda Civic that has numerous cosmetic damage, including peeling paint that has been there for years but has never rusted (I'm assuming just the top layer of paint has peeled off??). The car itself still runs perfectly, does not cost much to run and does its job of getting me anywhere I want to go, and frankly at this stage any cosmetic damage won't make a huge difference to any valuation anyway. I have however saved the cost of buying another car for a whole 7 years longer than you are considering, with no appreciable difference to my way of life, just a significant difference to my bank account. Which allowed me to indulge in a few other (cheaper) luxuries over the last 7 years. Something to consider maybe.

Thanks for the insight on this. I'm pretty sure it is only the top layer so you've given me hope because if it doesn't rust I can definately live with it, if it does rust I'll have to make that call when I see it but as time is going on I'm more confident that I can just live with it.  You've done well to get to 14 years, I'd love to do it but I've had bad experiences with cars at 9 and 10 years old, although this time I'm the one that's looked after it most of it's life, so we'll see.