30s_Suffolk_Lass DFD

30s_Suffolk_Lass

Hi All

I've decided to start a DFD and am also after some opinions on how I should proceed with my financial situation. My heart says one thing but my sensible head says another!

The story so far:
- I currently have a bank loan which stands at £24,700.24, including front loaded interest. The original loan was £25k with the interest being £3453.32. I took the loan over a 7 year term and have been paying for almost a year so far, so I have about 6 years left to pay. The total of the loan if I don't overpay will be £28,453.32. I pay £338.73 a month.
- I live in a lovely one bed flat (no balcony) but would love to buy a two bed house with a garden. I imagine to go from a house to a flat I will need to find a few hundred pounds more a month for the mortgage (£100 of which may be paid with what I currently pay for service charges and ground rent).
- I am starting a degree this year and will start repayments in four years time. If my salary stays the same or similar I will be paying about £90 a month in repayments.
- I work full time and drive 100 miles a day. It looks like we will be returning 3 days a week at the most so with weekend driving I would say I will be doing about 20,000 miles a year. My car is currently on 63,500 miles, so in perhaps three maybe four years I will need a new car.

My sensible head says overpay the loan and try and pay it off in three years, freeing me up the £338 a month to go towards a new car and the student loan repayments, with some left over (hopefully around £100). Getting rid of the loan will mean I am in a much better position financially for the things I will need to pay for in a few years time. It would also be nice to enter my 40's in a few years time having finished paying off the loan.

My heart wants to save money to move and keep the bank loan as is to enable me to do this. However I am aware that if I had a house with a bigger mortgage, the bank loan, student loan and a new car to pay for, I will probably start to struggle.

I know the first option is the sensible one. I have started overpaying my loan with small payments so far (and I mean small, I paid 78p the other in a bank round down). I always have a budget and move money religiously on payday according to my budget. I haven't used a credit card for probably nearly two years, and haven't been in my overdraft. I've been in debt for alot of the last 18 years but the over the last two years I have really got to grips with money for the most part. I have recently had a bit of spending binge and spent some savings that I shouldn't have so I need to build them back up.

So my plan is as follows. I'm good at changing plans so I'm looking for some confirmation as to whether I am doing the right thing. My SOA for the rest of the year is a bit of a mish mash rather than the same thing every month as I need to make up money for Christmas and I have lots of things planned, so I will post what I think my SOA will look like in January. I know this is quite far ahead but I want to get everything in place. In the meantime this year I will be overpaying where possible. I know some people may think my personal spends will look a bit high, but I want to find the right balance. If I don't allow personal spending for doing things then I will very quickly get fed up and end up spending too much. My personal spends also include things like clothes and if I want to buy something for the house. I currently use the roundup system for spare change and this is taken from my bank every week. I am using this to build up an emergency fund.

Planned SOA:

Salary: £2397.62

Outgoings:

Mortgage	£520.00
Council Tax	£79.00
Service Charges	£100.00
Electric	£66.00
Water	£26.00
Car Insurance	£35.00
Sky	£33.00
Phone	£40.00
TV Licence	£13.26
Netflix	£5.99
Now TV	£9.99
Spotify	£9.99
Beauty Pie	£5.00
Contact Lenses	£15.50
Postcode Lottery	£10.00
Apple	£2.49
Loan	£338.73
Loan Overpayment	£200.00
Food	£200.00
Petrol	£220.00

Savings for car/ground rent/bills	£75.00
Holidays/Fun savings	£80.00
Lisa	£10.00
Christmas	£50.00
Personal Spends	£250.00

Leaves £2.67


Thanks if you have read this far. I know there are some things I could cut out of my SOA and I am looking to get my food spends down.

Any tips much appreciated!

30s_Suffolk_Lass.

30s_Suffolk_Lass

Hi All

One more day then payday Friday! Sometimes I feel like I am wishing the month away until payday so I can pay off more of my loan and put money in to savings. I don't like wishing my life away though so I must try and focus more on the month in hand.

Surprisingly I still have £10 in my food account, though this is probably because I was away in the Cotswolds for 5 days this month and I used holiday money for everything that week including food. I have just had a little stock take of my freezer too and I didn't realise how much meat and fish I had in there, so I'll do a stock take of the cupboards and fridge and try and get some sort of meal plan together, the I can just buy what I need to make the meals. Hopefully it means I will spend less on food in August.

I still have £50 in my petrol account aswell so might pay that off my loan tomorrow. I am also going to round down my main bank account to £20 so there'll be a bit more from there.

Next pay month I have quite alot of plans. I have done my budget and will give it a little look over today/tomorrow as well. I need to try and buy less 'stuff' this month. I have some returns to do so I might do this Friday after work and also get myself a free coffee using the voucher I got from work.

Hope all is well and hope everyone is enjoying the sun. My flat is ridiculously hot so I have a fan near my little hamster bless her.

I have tried to create a signature but it says that I don't have permission. Does anyone know why?

30sSL

enthusiasticsaver

You seem to have quite a lot of extra discretionary spending every month. Is it all really needed? Sky, netflix, now TV, (as well as TV licence)  spotify, Apple, Beauty pie and postcode lottery.  A lot of those overlap like do you really need 3 tv packages as well as freeview? 

What did you take the loan out for?

30s_Suffolk_Lass

Hi Enthusiasticsaver.

Sky is actually just my broadband it's not any extra channels. I was going to cancel Now TV as I wasn't really using it but then I started watching a series on there. I may still cancel this at some point. 

Beauty Pie I do use and love so it's a small price really for what I'm getting. The makeup especially is the same price if not cheaper than what I would buy in the shops, even once I take the subscription in to account and it's better as well.

Spotify I use alot when I'm working and I use it at home. Apple is for storage not music. I do need to look in to Apple though. It think it's because I've got so many photos but I need to look in to it.

Postcode lottery I would come out of but it goes towards alot of charities and my neighbours are in it and until I move or we all drop out I can't have them winning and me not haha. I have won on it a couple of times. Not much but something.

The loan was a consolidation of various things. It's on a low rate (3.2%) and it keeps me ensuring I am paying a decent chunk every month that is manageable.

30s_Suffolk_Lass

Hi All

So I have just done my bank round-downs for the end of the month as it's payday tomorrow and I have no plans to spend any money today. 

£4.90 from main bank
£50 left over from petrol account
£10 left over from food account
£15 from spends account 
=£79.90. Have rounded up to £80.

Proper chuffed with that! Can't quite believe I have that much left over, but in all honesty the money left from spends is probably transferred money that was taken from savings in July that I shouldn't have spent anyway.

Once the interest rebate shows I will add the total debt left.

30s_Suffolk_Lass

Hi All

Small exciting update. I decided to re-open my Monzo account tonight and I have £29.97 sitting there from last time the account was open. I thought it was lost so am super happy! I'll decide whether to keep in spends for August or pay it off debts. smiley: