Flying solo

13thlegion

My parents had a similar experience once. Buyer wanted them to take up all the carpets and more before moving out. They said the buyer can do whatever they want, when the house is theirs. Before that it didn't belong to them.

twiggy86

I'M DEBT FREE!!!!

joeyjimbles

Congratulations!
Enjoy the feeling, I'm sure you will

twiggy86

That update deserved it's own post!!!

So the sale completed this morning on OH's late dad's house! Buyer caused a bit of stress at the end but it all went through ok thankfully! As I had mentioned previously OH was very insistent that for the past 9-12 months (I think), I only pay the minimum on the CC and he would clear the balance as and when the sale went through. So I have just paid off the £4,700 that was left on the CC!

It took me 3 years and 10 days from ex leaving to completely having the mess he left me with done and dusted!!! I feel like I can now completely close the door on that chapter! And now the debt has gone and I still have over £12,000 in the bank (various sinking funds, emergency fund etc).

And because that has been a very busy 3 years, I have also paid my parents back the £5k they had lent us (as in me and current OH) for our upcoming wedding. I still had £1,316 that we hadn't actually spent yet, but the whole £5k has been sent back to my parents. And OH has been busy paying off a few other wedding invoices (they weren't due yet but he wants them all paid) and clearing his own debts. So will both be starting marriage completely debt free!

On the house front…. it fell through AGAIN! However, by this point we had a very strong feeling it was going to happen so had already decided that we would go for house number 3! And that offer got accepted and they appointed solicitors straightway! We ended up getting it for £25k less than house number 2 as well!!! Funnily enough, my dad said he actually preferred house 3 to house 2, so whilst I didn't walk through the door and straight away think "this is the one" it definitely isn't a bad or panic choice!

Fingers crossed this one makes it to completion!!!

lucielle

Congratulations!! And n bring debt free and new house purchase.
L

DancingInTheRain

Congratulations!

How lovely to have everything settled ahead of starting married life and money in the bank too.

Fingers crossed on the house working out this time 🤞

in_need_of_direction

excellent news

Catscoffeecake

Congratulations on being debt free. So happy to see your life is coming together for you.

Property 3 may not be your first choice but that extra saving will be great and you can always make changes to make it the home you want.

twiggy86

Thank you all! Not sure it's properly sunk in that I'm actually debt free after so long! Yes it was 3 years and 10 days this time around since my last LBM, but this has been an ongoing battle for soooo many years!!! The oldest spreadsheet I can track down is from October 2014 when my debt was about £10k - but it went up and down so much over the years where I would fight to pay it off, rack it back up etc etc etc!!!

So now that we have a blank canvas, me and OH are combining finances from the end of the month! So are salaries are both being paid into our joint account and all direct debits have been changed to come out of there. We have also set up a separate savings account but will transfer each of our "pocket money" to our own accounts which we can spend as we please!

In terms of savings - I have about £12k in my accounts and OH has a big chunk left from the sale of his dad's - although that has been going towards paying off debts and wedding invoices. We also need to do a lease extension on his flat, which will cost about £10k. So we are yet to work out exactly how much we will have combined - once we have that number, we need to discuss what those savings are for! I think we've agreed on a minimum of a £10k emergency fund, but then everything else needs allocating. It's all a bit foreign to us having so much money! We have also agreed to book a holiday next year - this money is as a result of OH losing his dad and so should make some memories (besides the wedding!) as well as being sensible with it.

You may recall that OH also lost his mum last year - her property is worth a lot less and there is much more of her own debts to clear once it's received - and of course we are now in a much better financial position. So at some point in the future we will receive some money, but this one was the life changing one. Of course, there is so much more to losing your parents than just receiving inheritance, so I hope no one thinks of me as callous for discussing this.

Afdaff

Congratulations on being debt free and for the many ways life has turned round for you since you started this diary! It sounds the two of you will make decisions that are good for you about how to use and save the rest.

I don’t think it’s callous or inappropriate at all to talk matter-of-factly about inheritances and so forth. Rightly or wrongly, things like the ability or not of family members to help out with house deposits or emergencies, and the presence, absence and timing of inheritances make a huge difference to our lives and how easy it is to function financially in our society.

I’ve had to consider a whole range of possibilities recently around aging parents, partner’s parents, step-parent and uncle, where some scenarios would see me considerably better off financially, and others, in need of rapid downsizing and moving away from where I live to afford a tiny house. It’s complicated, and not related to caring about them all as loved ones.