Hazelnutty's recover and rebuild plan for a happier, simpler life! 25 June 2021 at 5:36PM in Debt free diaries 114 replies 8.2K views

Hazelnutty

The last two months have just flown by! Can't believe we're a hop, skip and a jump from Christmas. It all feels a bit cobbled together this year but have dispatched presents off to parents and got DD ready for a very hastily brought forward trip to France with her Dad and his French partner. They leave today - I'm a little bit sad but understand.

The ebaying has gone pretty well. Since I started in October I've sold 40 items with a profit of about £700! Some of this has gone on replacing some aging stuff in the house but I've also been paying down the M&S card. It's now under £4k  For the last couple of weeks I've been following the third/third/third rule with additional income: a third goes off the card, a third to savings and a third for fun. Sometimes it's a just a quid or so, but every penny counts, right?

Here's what my M&S grid looks like now:

Orange are the DD payments, set at £240. Blue are my additional payments, and I'm really pleased they've gone up from one square a month to 4

My plan for the new year is to hit this hard, saving very little and sending £690 a month for the three months til the 0% is up. This should leave me with about £1800 left to clear and I will be able to do that from savings, as long as I replenish them afterwards. I shouldn't need to try for another BT card, which is great. I've noticed checking my credit report that it's the M&S card that stands out, so I think it's best just to get shot of it.

I found out I couldn't remortgage early with my current provider - the exit fee was just too much unfortunately, so I'll have to wait it out and hope rates don't rise too much in the next few months. I'd ideally like to reduce my term but will have to see if that's affordable.

We've decided to host language students a bit next year, which will help. We're lucky to live in a city that's a destination for EFL students and DD is really keen on the idea of meeting all kinds of new people. It's not a great rate but will help me save for the remaining bits that need doing on the house. I need to be patient but hoping over the next 2-3 years to redo the bathroom, sort out front and back 'gardens'/bombsites, replace damaged patio and front doors and install a stove in the fireplace. The roof will also need replacing at some point, as will my car, but am hoping they'll both last at least another 3 years as tbh I have no chance of saving enough to do them too!

It's all a bit overwhelming so just need to take it one thing at a time. First step is this CC, then in March I'll set up a new plan.

Hope everyone's OK and I'll catch up with your diaries too

HN

beanielou

Baby steps.
You are doing really well.
Keep plodding 

savingholmes

Sorry that you're missing your DD. Hope you have a good xmas regardless. Sounds like you have a lot planned for the future. As you say it does help to break it down into manageable goals.

anjyeah

I missed your entries! And your bullet journal updates too. 

I have just figured out that I can be visual if I wanted reminding of my progress so far, so I have opted for a little line graph for next year's layout. 

Hope you have a good Christmas at least despite some adjustments. I'm sure it's bittersweet for everyone involved. 

And I like the idea of hosting students as an extra income. We did that before as a family when my dad lost his job when I was little, my mum said it helped with little spends such as groceries and made a difference with our spending. No doubt this would be a little help to your debt-free goals. 

Good to now you're okay