Clearing my debts 1% at a time

Rud0lf

Next month's pay has arrived early and has been in my account since Tuesday I have however tried to be sensible and not used it for anything that wasn't already budgeted for next month. So far apart from paying bills a few days early I have dipped into it for three things, a smol trial as I have wanted to try their products for a while and have ran out of a few things so am ready to try it rather than buy other alternatives, noise reduction earplugs designed to help noise sensitivity caused by my probable ADHD and have paid for part of the youngest's birthday weekend treats, instead of a party he is having 2 birthday days out, a cinema trip which I've booked tickets for for him, a friend his brother and I and the other will be football golf which OH will pay for. Total cost is about £80 so much cheaper than a party. 

All of these things will be covered using the extra money from not paying council tax in February. March's council tax money will be changed to euros for husbands birthday trip. We don't usually do big birthday presents it was booked impulsively but it's a zero birthday  and I want him to feel special because he does so much for us as a family. The trip and all spending money have been budgeted for over the last year as I am making sure we've had a balance between paying off debt and living our lives. So many people around us have been seriously ill so I've realised there is no point scrimping too much to pay off debt and save for retirement if it means us being miserable and perhaps never having a chance to spend it.

My parents never had much money growing up but owned their own house, now they've sold it but are in I'll health so can't enjoy their money in the ways they would like. It's given me a slightly different perspective. I still want to plan for a comfortable retirement but want to enjoy life as much as we can at the same time instead of wishing the next 17 years away.

Once debt is paid my priorities will be making the most of my LISA which I can top up for the next 9 years but then can't access for the next 10 years until I'm 60. And build up a really good emergency fund, aiming for £5000. Then I'll start looking at savings which are locked away or stocks and shares ISA etc. 

Of course that is the aim unless life throws up any curve balls. We're also doing a lot of bigger jobs to the house over the next 2 years, a rewire, new kitchen, decorating the hallway which needs the wallpaper stripping as it has about 10 layers of paint then we need to freshen up the living room and our bedroom and the bathroom. 

Being a grown up is hard work and expensive but I've finally learnt so save for things before I buy them which will make a big difference going forward.

 I am lucky because I do a job I love which pays well. The only reason for wanting to retire 10 years early is to be able to enjoy other aspects of my life because my job is stressful and mentally difficult at times it is not easy to switch off from and even when I'm on holiday I still have to be able to answer the odd work email. 

Enough waffle from me for now, well done to anyone who is reading my rambling.

lucielle

It’s a good idea to plan for some fun stuff, as it’s a marathon to get rid of the debt and you need something to look forward to. 

L

MFWannabe

I buy Smol products; I think they’re great 👍 
You can change/ cancel deliveries as you wish 

Rud0lf

lucielle said:

It’s a good idea to plan for some fun stuff, as it’s a marathon to get rid of the debt and you need something to look forward to. 

L

Thanks for commenting Lucielle, I've been reading along on your diary for a while, reading other people's diaries has definitely helped me stay on track and keep focused, it often stops me from impulse buying too so you amongst others have really helped change my mindset thank you x

Rud0lf

MFWannabe said:

I buy Smol products; I think they’re great 👍 
You can change/ cancel deliveries as you wish 

Thank you, I've already been on to change them as for I while I have some products to use up. I got the bundle.as it was better value but some of the products I don't need just yet. I'm going to use the products I've bought in the past and don't like while the kitchen is partly a building site.

lucielle

Gosh, thanks for reading. It’s usually just waffle. 

enthusiasticsaver

You have done brilliantly in reducing the debt over the last few years and you seem so switched on now with budgeting, saving etc etc. 

Rud0lf

Since next month we get paid on the 28th I've decided to let myself have tomorrow as payday. Have kept my pay in a separate account since Tuesday as I didn't want to struggle in February. The boost to my pay with the change in national insurance contributions was very welcome, I'm going to use it to but a few nice things for the new kitchen this month utensils etc. 

For the next few months I'll add it to the house pot as my dad always told me with houses jobs always cost slightly more than you think and take longer than expected especially any where it's DIY. 

Jobs for today are tidy up before we hopefully see the electrician (if not today it will be tomorrow) and collect a radiator. OH will do a few tip runs as we've removed a few kitchen cupboards. 

Most of the big work is being completed by others and paid for but there are a list of things we need to do ourselves. 
- remove a couple of cupboards to give access to the electrician. 
-match current kitchen flooring so we can add some extra to allow for a change of layout in the kitchen.
-whilst buying extra flooring buy extra to use under the stairs which we are going to open up to utilise the storage there better.
- tile the splashback once the cupboards are complete. 

We also need to pay someone to relocate a gas pipe as we found out the layout when removing the cupboards. 
Met with the kitchen fitter who has confirmed we can have our chosen date, just need to pay for the kitchen now but that is budgeted for also know we need to pay the fitter directly for the relocation of a pipe and to add on our own handles which we new about we just need to get the quote for that and count up how many handles and buy them.

Rud0lf

enthusiasticsaver said:

You have done brilliantly in reducing the debt over the last few years and you seem so switched on now with budgeting, saving etc etc. 

I think I've finally changed my mindset for the better, organisation skills don't come naturally but having realised there was a problem I've worked extra hard to find a system that works for me x

Rud0lf

Trying to do major house renovations on a budget is tricky but we are doing okay. My dad always told me jobs take twice as long as expected and cost twice as much so we saved for longer than should have been necessary before getting the kitchen started. This has really helped as so far we have had a few little setbacks but nothing too far out of our control. We found out we need a rewire because ours is the original wiring from when the house was built in the 60s. We knew this would be needed in the time we are in the house just not yet, but knowing how much redecoration we need now it makes sense to do it before the kitchen.

We are getting the kitchen fitted at the beginning of June but we have a lot of work to do before it's fitted.

So far we have removed all top kitchen cupboards and two bottom kitchen cupboards, we need the space plastering before the new kitchen is fitted and we need to add some flooring as originally we laid the flooring around the existing kitchen and we want a slightly different layout. We have removed an archway and squared it off. In doing this we have found we need to remove some bricks and some plaster board to then replace and finish the job properly. We've also had a small amount of rising damp and so have had to pay extra for treatment of that.

We need a light switch moving, a radiator moving and a gas pipe removing. These are beyond our capabilities so we have people who are going to do these jobs for us.

So far before paying for the kitchen I've spent £1127. This has paid for the new radiator and fittings, 6 square meters of oak flooring which we will fit ourselves. A washing machine because ours nearly went on fire last week, we've fitted it ourselves after having to switch the water off overnight as the switch on the pipe is faulty and didn't switch the water off, this I found out the hard way and was soaked but hasn't cost us any extra just a little inconvenience. 

We have saved some money by demolishing the archway and existing kitchen ourselves and taking it to the tip a couple of cupboards at a time as we've removed them. We'll save money by laying the flooring and doing the tiling ourselves.

My mum has been really kind and done all of our washing this week while we haven't had a machine and she cooked for us a few times while our house has been a mess.

The kids have been fairly well behaved so far and the cat has taken it mostly in his stride.