Debt and mortgage free wannabe

strandedinaber

Hi everyone. I've been reading diaries here for years now, but never started one of my own and I've been a bit of a lurker. I've decided to start one myself because I completed my first SAO this evening and it came as a bit of a shock, and because I'm still living the 'mortgage is less than 1/6 of my income' life while my mortgage is now just under a third of my income, having moved a year ago. And because I'm now in my late thirties and the aim is to retire as soon as I can possibly do so - while I know that's realistically twenty years away, I don't really want it to be any later than that. So the main debt I am looking to pay down is my mortgage. I have a sofa on a 0% hire purchase but payments are profiled to complete before the interest kicks in. I also have about £3k on a credit card (boiler replacement) for which the 0% interest finishes in 12 months, so that's higher priority than the mortgage for now.

Single income no kids, except one asthmatic furry feline one with a taste for expensive cat food.

SAO:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household...........  1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 3250
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0[b]
Total monthly income.................... 3250

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 985
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 52
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 120
Electricity............................. 113
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 43
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 2.5
Car Insurance........................... 380
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 30
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 50
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Union membership........................ 36
Gym..................................... 40
Pet food/litter......................... 100
Total monthly expenses.................. 2637.5

Assets
Cash.................................... 2000
House value (Gross)..................... 315000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0[b]
Total Assets............................ 319000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 207996...(985)......4.19
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 1348.....(52).......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 209344....-.........- 

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card....................3625......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........3625......100.......- 

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,250
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,637.5
Available for debt repayments........... 612.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 100
Amount left after debt repayments....... 512.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 319,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -209,344
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,625
Net Assets.............................. 106,031

Created using the SOA calculator at www.LemonFool.co.uk.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

Lonelygambler

Welcome, I look forward to seeing how your journey develops. 

LG

MFWannabe

strandedinaber said:

Hi everyone. I've been reading diaries here for years now, but never started one of my own and I've been a bit of a lurker. I've decided to start one myself because I completed my first SAO this evening and it came as a bit of a shock, and because I'm still living the 'mortgage is less than 1/6 of my income' life while my mortgage is now just under a third of my income, having moved a year ago. And because I'm now in my late thirties and the aim is to retire as soon as I can possibly do so - while I know that's realistically twenty years away, I don't really want it to be any later than that. So the main debt I am looking to pay down is my mortgage. I have a sofa on a 0% hire purchase but payments are profiled to complete before the interest kicks in. I also have about £3k on a credit card (boiler replacement) for which the 0% interest finishes in 12 months, so that's higher priority than the mortgage for now.

Single income no kids, except one asthmatic furry feline one with a taste for expensive cat food.

SAO:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household...........  1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 3250
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0[b]
Total monthly income.................... 3250

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 985
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 52
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 120
Electricity............................. 113
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 43
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 2.5
Car Insurance........................... 380
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 30
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 50
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Union membership........................ 36
Gym..................................... 40
Pet food/litter......................... 100
Total monthly expenses.................. 2637.5

Assets
Cash.................................... 2000
House value (Gross)..................... 315000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0[b]
Total Assets............................ 319000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 207996...(985)......4.19
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 1348.....(52).......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 209344....-.........- 

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card....................3625......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........3625......100.......- 

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,250
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,637.5
Available for debt repayments........... 612.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 100
Amount left after debt repayments....... 512.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 319,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -209,344
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,625
Net Assets.............................. 106,031

Created using the SOA calculator at www.LemonFool.co.uk.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

Hi
Welcome to the board. Just a quick scan of your soa, is your car insurance really correct? 380 😱

enthusiasticsaver

Welcome to the diaries section for DFW. There is also a Mortgage free Wannabe section. 

Good soa but I assume the car insurance is annual not monthly? 

The debt seems under control and you have a decent monthly surplus. I look forward to following your journey. 

strandedinaber

Thanks everyone for the welcome and @MFWannabe and @enthusiasticsaver you are entirely correct, I forgot to divide my car insurance by 12 as I paid up front last year. Will correct the SAO this evening as I had forgotten that my mobile and TV contracts have price rises built into them now, so just received two letters saying they are going up.

Thanks also to @enthusiasticsaver and the forum team for moving my diary to the mortgage free wannabe section - I had forgotten that board allowed diaries as well, and it feels like I should be posting there as my debt is under control. Or it will be when the garage stops phoning me about new things the car is failing its MOT on!

enthusiasticsaver

strandedinaber said:

Thanks everyone for the welcome and @MFWannabe and @enthusiasticsaver you are entirely correct, I forgot to divide my car insurance by 12 as I paid up front last year. Will correct the SAO this evening as I had forgotten that my mobile and TV contracts have price rises built into them now, so just received two letters saying they are going up.

Thanks also to @enthusiasticsaver and the forum team for moving my diary to the mortgage free wannabe section - I had forgotten that board allowed diaries as well, and it feels like I should be posting there as my debt is under control. Or it will be when the garage stops phoning me about new things the car is failing its MOT on!

Unfortunately everything seems to be going up We got our council tax bill for next tax year today and 5% increase.  

Do you have a car pot for things like car insurance, mot and service etc? 

No gas or is that included in electricity? 

I think I would be tempted to start with the mortgage overpayments by upping that £985 mortgage overpayment  to £1k as I like round numbers but I agree tackling the credit card might be best to minimise a BT fee if it is not repaid within the 12 months. 

Good luck. 

LadyWithAPlan

enthusiasticsaver said:

strandedinaber said:

Thanks everyone for the welcome and @MFWannabe and @enthusiasticsaver you are entirely correct, I forgot to divide my car insurance by 12 as I paid up front last year. Will correct the SAO this evening as I had forgotten that my mobile and TV contracts have price rises built into them now, so just received two letters saying they are going up.

Thanks also to @enthusiasticsaver and the forum team for moving my diary to the mortgage free wannabe section - I had forgotten that board allowed diaries as well, and it feels like I should be posting there as my debt is under control. Or it will be when the garage stops phoning me about new things the car is failing its MOT on!

I think I would be tempted to start with the mortgage overpayments by upping that £985 mortgage overpayment  to £1k as I like round numbers but I agree tackling the credit card might be best to minimise a BT fee if it is not repaid within the 12 months. 

Good luck. 

Good luck indeed. Yes a £15 op would definitely make you feel like the ball is rolling - some on here calculate their daily interest rate going down

save_dog

Hi, welcome to MFW! I’ve only just started my diary too - I find reading everyone’s so motivating! I like a round number too and agree it’d feel like you’re making some progress ☺️

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary. Keep posting ☺️

sick_of_being_in_debt

Hi strandedinaber, Good luck on your journey. I have also started to try and clear my mortgage as 46 and feel retirement will be here before I know it. I've just cleared my debts and vow no more after this as it's been going on for the last 25 years.

strandedinaber

Thanks to everyone who has been reading It's been a busy week so I'm a bit behind but just caught up on my finances. The credit card has taken a bit of a hit this month - I paid £500 off using a birthday money gift and then promptly added £600 to it thanks to the car failing its MOT! I've now decided not to try and pay any more off this month, as I've changed jobs and not certain how much I'm going to get paid at the end of this month. I'll reassess when I get to March payday as I really don't want to use the credit card for everyday expenses. As several of you have suggested, I think I'll increase my mortgage repayment to £1000 from May, as it's probably a bit too late to do it for April. £15 does not make a big difference in the budgets but is a nice round number and I'll feel like I'm making more progress.

@sick_of_being_in_debt I know how you feel, and well done on trying to clear your mortgage! Do you have a diary? I'd be interested to read your journey.

@beanielou thank you for the encouragement I have a tendency to start posting and then stop, but determined not to do that this time.

@save_dog I'll definitely check out your diary - I find reading everyone's both motivating and intimidating, as I feel like I should be doing more. I'm not sure I want to find out how much my current daily interest is, but I'm super impressed that you have and that others have as @LadyWithAPlan says.

@enthusiasticsaver I did have a pot for my car expenses, and I decided to use it on paying for my car insurance up front last year, so I wasn't as prepared for the MOT this year as it was higher than I thought it would be. Lesson learned and I definitely need to put more aside this year, as the car is now ten years old and will need replacing in time.