Flying solo

twiggy86

Ok, so I thought I'd do a separate post for a bit of annual round up of how 2025 has gone...

Let's start with the debt... I've paid £3,505 off my debt this year - which equates to 23% of the total starting debt. Meaning I've paid £10,300 off altogether, or 66%. At the start of the year I had set the target of paying off £5,000 over the course of the year - but this year has taken many twists and turns and my approach changed. OH losing his dad (and then subsequently his mum) and us getting engaged meant he was insistent on me paying the minimums and then him clearing my debt when his inheritance comes through. Neither of his parents had savings, so this is in the form of OH's share of their properties when they sell. So this has meant that since August I have only been paying small amounts towards my debt. 

However, despite paying various amounts towards the wedding already, I currently have just over £7k in the bank! So if I completely wiped out my savings, I could clear the debt entirely! Those savings are a mix of emergency fund (currently have £1,500), wedding/ house move savings (£2,120) and then various sinking funds (including the pooch who has £900 saved towards any vet emergencies). Oh and I'm also nearly at the end of the Monzo challenge where it saves a penny more each day, leading to a total of £667 saved at the end! This will be shuffled towards house move savings when it completes (I was debating what to use it for but seems like it's timed the end perfectly!) Christmas has been paid for out of the sinking pot I've been adding to over the year, so that is all covered! 

So although I was a long way off my target, overall I feel in a good financial position to deal with the coming year! I do feel like I need to reign in my spending slightly, as have definitely got more frivolous and get back to being focussed to have as much savings as possible to deal with the upcoming expenses. Will have the benefit of the pay rise from the end of January and then at some point later in 2026 I will FINALLY finish paying back my student loan! 

Sarahwithlove

Sounds like you are going to have a wonderful 2026 and be in a much better and happier place financially and in life. Congratulations on the house, fingers crossed for a smooth house sale. 

liselle

Well done, you’re doing brilliantly! Excited for you for the future.

satchmo1

You've done amazingly well, and should be rightly proud of yourself! 2026 will be Twiggy's year.

weenancyinAmerica

Just remember - the more expensive the wedding, the shorter the marriage. Need to get the priorities right.

twiggy86

So it's a new year and I'm debating a new diary as my life, outlook and priorities have changed so much!!! 

So I'll start with the debt - starting debt for the year is £5,300. Moving forward I will be paying off £100 per month - which is more the minimum but keeps the numbers nice and round! The plan is to clear whatever is left when OH receives his inheritance, so this isn't a priority for now. 

The number one priority for the time being is to save up as much as possible for the house move. I've paid the solicitor £475 for their upfront fees and have £600 saved for now. I am finishing my Monzo savings challenge in the next couple of days which will total £667, so the plan is to put that mostly into that pot. 

The other big thing happening this year is obviously the wedding! My parents are effectively giving us a "bridging loan" until OH receives his inheritance so I don't need to save for that and can focus on the house move. (Fully aware that this is effectively debt and the sensible thing would have been to wait until all the money comes in before we make all these expensive life changes!). However, weddings come with "peripheral costs"  such as hen do and honeymoon - so I do need to think about saving for them! My parents have given us £5,000 as a wedding present, a big chunk of which has already been spent paying for the venue. I currently have £1,700 (which includes £925 from parents) saved for wedding costs - although given my parents generosity, I may reallocate some of this to the house savings. 

So basically the priority this year is to save as much as possible!!! I do have a pay rise which comes into effect this month - which should add about £100 per month to my salary. I then have a £3,000 bonus (before tax) being paid at the end of February. Plus my student loan will finish in a couple of months as only have £320 left to pay off that. So thankfully my savings will get boosted by these various things! 

twiggy86

I just realised there was a piece of information that would probably help explain the above...

I accepted an offer on my house plus me and OH had an offer accepted on a place we fell in love with! In terms of budget (besides the actual cost of moving) it does mean that the mortgage will go up but something we can both manage. It has made OH re-consider his approach to money as he is a "fritterer" and laughs at me and my spreadsheet! For clarity, he always pays his way but then he spends where I might save - and he's seen that he needs to reign in his spending slightly and not be as wasteful (e.g. buying lunch when he's in the office).  

twiggy86

Just realised it's been a few weeks since I posted anything! 

Financially I'm doing good! I'm noticing the difference now my savings challenge has ended - as towards the end of the year, the amount per month was wracking up but as it was coming from my personal spends, it made me feel like I was massively overspending! So that £667 savings has been shuffled away now - £600 towards house move and the rest towards my hen do. So savings wise - currently have £1,600 for wedding costs and £1,200 for house move. I know this is no where near enough and I am lucky to have the "bank of mum and dad" to call on for wedding costs - meaning I may reallocate at least some of the savings to the house instead! We did take the kids to see the "new house" on Saturday - can't wait to get in there! 

The one thing I do need to do is sit down with OH and go through all of our individual/ personal bills. We've provisionally decided that from when we move in we will combine finances - discussed whether to do it from move or from wedding, but decided if "we're all in" and buying somewhere together then we should be all in! My financial position is currently better than his and so he is reluctant to do it (as he is fully aware of how I was taken advantage of in the past) - but my view is that it is about commitment and working as a team.  Ex wasn't committed to contributing a fair share, even if that fair share was less because he earned less - it was about what he wanted to spend his money on and I got the scraps of what was left! And OH has always shown that he wants to be fair, split things equally and work together. And things will change with OH in the future when he receives inheritances, which will not only give him a chunk of money, but allow him to pay off debts so give him more money each month.

Spending wise, I have booked accommodation for an acro weekend in March that I'm going to - sharing a house with a few other people. I've also signed up for the gym - as the "bride body" mentality has really kicked in and I'm having a body confidence wobble! Currently going to the gym on the mornings I'm not in the office, which is usually just wasted scrolling in bed! OH has joined too, and it's nice to have company - even though we get there and then go in separate directions! I'm utilising AI and have my own little AI personal trainer which sets the workouts for me and is tracking my progress! 

Of course, both me and OH having a little fitness kick and being mindful of spending has meant that we haven't eaten out nearly as much as we usually do. It's bad when even his son commented on the weekend that we hadn't had a takeaway! Shows this is something I have definitely relaxed on! So it should do my waistline and bank balance some good! 

Humdinger1

Fab to hear from you @twiggy86! All sounds good.   Onwards and upwards love Humdinger xx 

twiggy86

Payday today! (Well mine was actually last week but I ignore it until the end of the month - plus OH got paid today).

I ended the month with about £50 that I have shuffled into my savings! Plus we had just under £70 left in our joint account, and I had a further £50 set aside to top it up if necessary! Shows the difference us not eating out as much has had - as actually we had to pay a plumber £70 as we had a water leak! (Well it was more of a shower in the kitchen as the pipe under the shower had completely disconnected!) One slight area of overspend/ under-budgetting was fitness - so I had to rectify that by putting another £22 there.

Speaking of fitness - me and OH have been the the gym every morning this week! It was helped by the fact that I didn't go into the office this week due to the flooding - plus as it's 40 miles away, saved on the petrol!!! Next week I will probably be back to normal, so office twice a week and won't gym on those days (leave the house at 7:30).

One bit of good news - back in September, me and OH went to Poland for the weekend and had a 26 hour flight delay on the way back. Well I'd completely forgotten, but OH has been arguing it as they refused any type of compensation. This week they finally agreed to pay us £775!!! So that will be a nice bonus when it comes in. Oh and my payrise has now come into effect - so got paid an additional £110 to previously. Plus as I pay the council tax over 10 months, that's a bit extra in my pocket this month!!!

Slowly building up savings for the house move! Have £2k sat in there now. Plus £1,100 for wedding costs. The £5k my parents gave me has nearly run out though. They gifted us £5,000 but have agreed to lend us the rest until OH sells one of his parents properties. So I need to discuss with them if they're happy to send me a chunk of money, rather than have to ask each time we want to buy something.

If you're here for knitting news… I'm still working on two projects that I started last year! They got to trickier points so I'd put them down for a while! I also wanted a "quick win" so made a hat - used a free pattern and yarn I got from OH's mum stash. I have now braved tackling the tricky parts (fyi, they weren't that tricky) and so those projects are now back underway! I'm promising myself that I will finish my "Christmas" vest before I'm allowed to start anything else!!!

I think that's enough waffle for now!