Lolu's Mortgage Free odyssey

misslolu

It's payweek & DD week (for some) all at the same time so some progress has been made debt wise and it seems like I made a miscalculation on the debt increases, so I've corrected that here. Some of the other DDs will come out next week, so will get a much better picture of the debt then.

CC1 (Mine) - 1256 1250
CC2 (Ours) -  3907 4057
CC3 (His) - 4015
Medical Loan (Mine) - 1864 1779
Student Loan - 7,914 
Mortgage - 185,862 185,647

Total Non - Mortgage Debt - 19,014
Total Debt - 204,830 204,662

S&S LISA - 7,509 7,929
Premium Bonds - 7,525 7,575
Joint Savings - 2,700 3,400

Assets - 17,734 18,904

The joint savings have got a nice little boost, which is great. Technically I've just put in my last payment for the year as I do my payments in advance & OH will top this up again at the end of the month. If we don't end up using it to buy a car or need to pay any more deposits, this will likely end up just shy of £4000 for the year which I think is pretty great. I've also noticed that it looks like savings will overcome non-mortgage debt by next week, which is another great hurdle to pass as it means that technically we can clear all our debt if we want to. 

On a small negative note we've had an expected bill come out at a lot more than expected (does that then make it unexpected?) There isn't enough in the joint account to cover it so we're going to have to pay off some and put some on the joint credit card meaning all that will go up slightly again next month *sigh*. Feels like we're making great progress, then we go back again. In fact, the last few weeks have definitely felt a lot more restricted than usual, not helped I guess by extra driving & other expenses. I'm hoping that all that will be done in December & we can start off the new year in a really good position.

January is also when most of our wedding plans start in earnest, our first stop is a caterer and we're already in talks with some. Hopefully that means we'll be able to put a deposit down on one by the end of January. Then we can start on the smaller bits that aren't as expensive and hopefully take credit card ha ha. 

I've been thinking about next year's goals and it's still looking very tricky. I guess the main thing would be to finish the year out of any interest-bearing debt after paying for the car, wedding & honeymoon. It's possible, but not probable but I forsee us making steady inroads into it, maybe leaving us with <£10k non-mortgage debt for the year. We won't really be in a position to make overpayments to most of the mortgage progress will be from the normal payments plus a tiny overpayment I've put on it every month.

misslolu

This is coming a bit late but more debt progress this week, i've been reading some MFW diaries and realising how little effort I'm putting forward into being MFW. I need to fix up, so as well as my saving the change pot, I'm going to be doing weekly tilly tidies to the mortgage to get some more movement on that. I'm also going to be increasing the direct debit to our joint credit card because I can see that it's just going way too slowly. Hopefully, with this + the decrease in NI next year I'll be a bit more excited about the smaller mortgage overpayments while we battle debt. I can't wait to battle the mortgage because I've just had a quick look and can see we're paying almost £30 a day in interest. A DAY??? Truly awful, I'm getting at that ASAP. A quick look at the debt & mortgage progress:

(Mine) - 1,189 1213
CC2 (Ours) -  4,057
CC3 (His) - 3,715
Medical Loan (Mine) - 1,779
Student Loan - 7,914 7,726
Mortgage - 185,647

Total Non - Mortgage Debt - 18,490 
Total Debt - 204,830 204,137

S&S LISA - 8,079 8,222
Premium Bonds - 7,575
Joint Savings - 3,403

Assets - 18,904 19,200

And we've done it again! Assets have finally outstripped non-mortgage debt again (to be fair this was achieved a few weeks ago but I don't add OH's savings to this because its harder to keep track of for now). But again this means we can pay off our debt if we wanted to(though we know it wouldn't be particularly smart as we'd have no emergency funds). I'm also expecting some bigger survey payouts at the end of this year/early next year which will help us in the right direction.

OH's pay is weird this month so debt will likely be paid throughout the month rather than just at the beginning so we're still set to pay a bit more off, lets see if we can get the number under £18k for the year. In other news, I'm getting a 5% payrise from January which is all going straight towards the debt. With the reduction in NI, that should be at least £100 extra to chuck towards it fingers crossed. OH is still looking for a better job but I'm feeling a bit discouraged because everything is moving sooo slowly. Also I'm feeling super broke, whilst also not really spending much, I'm not sure why. Ah well, got to keep moving.

misslolu

I'm back here again with some news and more twists & turns in the debt/MFW journey. In great news, I managed to pass my test last week, with no minors which I was super excited about! Things moved pretty quickly and we ended up deciding on a car to buy finally after lots of umming and awwing. We went for a manual smaller car in the end, so a big win for me, it's not new but still new enough for us to use for the next 5-10 years, especially since we are expecting low mileage for the near future. We decided to get a loan (from OH's CC) to protect our wedding cash but are aiming to pay some back as we applied for slightly too much to cover all initial car costs. The loan has a low APR so shouldn't cost too much interest-wise.

In addition, next week I'll pay the bill that came up unexpectedly on the interest-free CC, so we should have a true idea of how much we're in the hole *sigh*. The car was necessary and planned for, but I can't help but feel we're taking two steps forward and three steps back debt wise. We're going to have to really look at our finances for the next year and find a way to make serious payments on debt so we don't get ourselves into trouble. I've already upped most of our DD's to accelerate debt payments as we were not going anywhere fast on the old ones, I'm also hoping for some larger survey payouts in the next few weeks.

Current look at the new debt:

(Mine) - 1213 1,197
CC2 (Ours) -  4,057
CC3 (His) - 3,715 9,034
Medical Loan (Mine) - 1,779
Student Loan - 7,726
Mortgage - 185,647

Total Non - Mortgage Debt - 18,490 23,793
Total Debt - 204,137 209,440

S&S LISA - 8,406
Premium Bonds - 7,575
Joint Savings - 3,903

Assets - 19,884

In other news, OH and I are in the middle of another argument about chores and housekeeping. I wfh and he does longer shifts out of the house, so I'm not surprised that I do the majority of it. Neither of us is properly domestic, but I do find myself feeling a bit unsupported, and on top of that, it does feel like he doesn't think I do that much, which is more than a bit hurtful. I'm feeling frustrated because it doesn't seem like he sees where I'm coming from at all, and I don't agree with his stance either. *sigh* the joys of relationships.

misslolu

Merry Christmas everyone!!! It's the last spending update of the year! It's been an ok week spending-wise, we did have a little shop in the boxing day sales but it was all budgeted for and tbh under £200 for both of us altogether. We both got some nice stuff that we liked, so I'm pretty happy for the new year clothes wise. I'll still keep a look out for any nice deals for sportswear and pajamas but otherwise I think I'm done for the year. I've also paid our rather large, unexpected bill on our 0% CC. It gave me a bit of trouble and I had to change browsers and break it into smaller transactions (6!!) but it's done and has been added to our debt total.

A final look at our finances for the year including the big bill:

(Mine) - 1,197 1,142
CC2 (Ours) -  4,057 4,856
CC3 (His) - 9,034 8,834
Medical Loan (Mine) - 1,779
Student Loan - 7,726
Mortgage - 185,647

Total Non - Mortgage Debt - 23,793 24,337
Total Debt - 209,440 209,984

S&S LISA - 8,406
Premium Bonds - 7,625
Joint Savings - 4,403

Assets - 19,884 20,434

We had some larger survey payouts which has boosted some debt payments which is nice to see. I'm also praying that nothing else comes up because I'm super tired of money flying out of my account. We've had a warning light come up on the car but this should be under warranty, and I'll take it to the dealer today if possible. I've also had a bit of thought about our goals for next year. Most will be financial but there are also a few life goals in there too.

Financial
Clear my CC
Joint CC to £1k
OH CC to £4k
Medical loan is on 0% so will leave that to naturally be paid off
Student loan £4k
Mortgage £175k
Increase budget to incorporate car additional costs

Overall I'm aiming to get under £10k of debt and pay off at least 14k which is absolutely doable, less doable maybe is to pay £10k off the mortgage. Currently we're paying just under £4k based on normal payments, so that's looking at £6k of overpayments which is a huge stretch goal but something to really strive towards.

Life
Get Married! (September)
Get pregnant (November)
Have fun (All year round)

Next year has the potential to be quite pricey. I have 4 weddings, including my own, and only mine is in the UK. I guess I'll have to make some hard decisions about where I'm going because the money only stretches so far. I also have a payrise  (as well as the NI decrease) which should up my net by just under £150, an amount I'm going to have to split between debt & the increased bills budget. Altogether, I'm hoping this is our last year of getting into debt and next year we can bring the debt back into a much more manageable level. We also have to consider funds for moving and babies in late 2025, so it would be great to be debt free (or at least interest free) by the end of that year with a healthy amount we can use for all the things we want to do. I'm excited for whats in store!!!

misslolu

First update of the year! I hope everyone had a good Christmas & New Year. We just had some friends over for the night and fell asleep just after 12. Most of our DDs came out this week, so we've started making some progress.

(Mine) - 1,142 967
CC2 (Ours) -  4,856
CC3 (His) - 8,834
Medical Loan (Mine) - 1,779 1,694
Student Loan - 7,726 7,499
Mortgage - 185,647 185,399

Total Non - Mortgage Debt - 24,337 23,850
Total Debt - 209,984 209,249

S&S LISA - 8,406
Premium Bonds - 7,775
Joint Savings - 4,403

Assets - 20,434 20,584

I think there's only one bill left to come out for OH's CC and then it's back to business as usual. As you can see, we've just dipped into the £23ks which is exciting. I've raised the DDs on all of our debts so hopefully we'll be dropping £1k at least every 2 months which should put us on track to hit the targets in my earlier post. The only one I haven't raised is the mortgage and that's just because I don't quite see where the money will come from at the moment.

On another note, my parents have mentioned they're planning to pay me back what I lent them in the next month or so which would really put a dent in the debt. That makes it very possible that by the end of March, we'll be under £20k!  OH and I would need to decide on where to pay it off, but I'm pretty sure the majority would go to the car since that would have the highest interest on it. It would mean I'm able to pay off my CC immediately, as that's where I purchased the items they're paying me back for. I would also potentially be able to pay towards my student loan, but that would depend a lot on what's left of it. It may be better to just keep hold of the extra and use it towards the weddings I want to attend.

I also won £150 on the PBs which is some good news, I never feel like I'm able to take my winnings out. I alway think what if one of them is the £1m winning bond, hahha. 

killerpeaty

Hi lolu, sounds like you've had a productive time! Your parents paying you back would make a massive difference to you. Fingers crossed!

powerspowers

Congratulations on passing your test Lolu and all the best for 2024 x

misslolu

It's midway through the first month of the year and I'm feeling brokety broke already. Somehow £200+ has been spent from my account and I have no idea how, oops. I've got to rein it for the rest of the month, I have some optional trips coming up that i'd really love to go to, but I need to save up for them in advance because paying off debt is the absolute worst as I've found over the past few months. The deadline for knowing if I can go is mid-February and to be fair, if I get my money back from my parents or at least a firm confirmation of when I do get it, I'll be happy to begin purchasing travel and making other arrangements, watch this space.

Finances for the week

(Mine) - 967 964
CC2 (Ours) -  4,856
CC3 (His) - 8,834 8,873 
Medical Loan (Mine) - 1,694
Student Loan - 7,499
Mortgage - 185,399

Total Non - Mortgage Debt - 23,772 23,886
Total Debt - 209,249 209,285

S&S LISA - 8,510
Premium Bonds - 7,775
Joint Savings - 4,403

Assets - 20,584 20,688

OH's salary is coming in dribs & drabs this month so we've not yet made the debt progress we're expecting to this month. It was always going to be less because he only gets paid when he works and he took some holiday over Christmas. At least we know bills can definitely be paid form his salary this month & only wedding savings will suffer.

@killerpeaty thanks! Yes it would help massively to get money back from my parents. Right now that would probably wipe out all of my personal CC debt and leave only joint/student debt to pay off.

On the wedding front, its really full steam ahead now, we're talking to decorators & cateres and hope to make a decision by mid feb. We've chosen the wedding outfits so my mum is now scouting for the fabric as we're getting them custom made, and I'm likely going to wait till June to figure out the reception dress. I'm also trying to think of fun things to have that aren't too expensive. I'm considering a photobooth, but would also love something else that's fun and memorable for the night.

misslolu

We're approaching the end of January and I'm fighting for my life money wise. I've had to take £150 from savings which isn't great, but I'm hoping that's just because it was Christmas time. Luckily, I've got a slight payrise and the NI cut should increase my take-home (plus student loan & pension payments) by about £250 altogether which is nice. Christmas really messed up OH's pay so we're down quite a lot this month on total income, it won't affect our daily spending or bill payments, but it does mean that savings will be a decent amount less than anticipated. Finances at the moment:

(Mine) - 964 898
CC2 (Ours) -  4,856 4,601
CC3 (His) - 8,873 8,673
Medical Loan (Mine) - 1,694
Student Loan - 7,499 7,539
Mortgage - 185,399

Total Non - Mortgage Debt - 23,886 23,406
Total Debt - 209,285 208,805

S&S LISA - 8,510 8598
Premium Bonds - 7,775
Joint Savings - 4,403 4,903

Assets - 20,688 21,276

Got some news that they need to charge us £300 more for the service charge so that will be going on the joint CC next week. It's annoying but at least we have an interest-free card to cover it. I've also been slacking a lot on surveys this month so will need to get back on it to pick up the debate payoff pace. It's only little bits, but it's the best thing I can do to accommodate while I've got so little time to spare. I've also gotten news that I'll likely be going on a work trip very close to the time of one of the weddings i was debating whether to go to, that's let me off the hook as I was loathe to spend so much on a holiday. Parents are definitely making more noises about paying me back, they're just expecting some money to come in which should be in the next few weeks. 

It's a bit gutting that we'll not look so good progress wise for the month,but I'm happy at least that from now on we're looking better financially. I'm expecting savings to dwindle as we start spending on wedding stuff but at least other assets are continuing to grow.

killerpeaty

Do you know why this month has been rough? If you know them you can work on it, but if you don't then it can lead to more of a problem