There is always tomorrow

MayDogsandCoffee

Just wondering if you could offer some ad hoc camping - I often see a place near us that have 3 -5 caravans about 4 times a year via caravan club.  Literally in the field, no fancy kit.  Might be worth looking into if you have the space without a buy to let mortgage commitment.

joedenise

MayDogsandCoffee said:

Just wondering if you could offer some ad hoc camping - I often see a place near us that have 3 -5 caravans about 4 times a year via caravan club.  Literally in the field, no fancy kit.  Might be worth looking into if you have the space without a buy to let mortgage commitment.

Not quite true - the field must have fresh water available and somewhere to empty chemical toilet waste.  Waste grey water (from washing and washing up) can be used to water hedgerows and/or trees.

Ordinary_Yet_Unique

Personally I would not take on any extra financial commitments for the foreseeable future. Your life is already very busy and you are making great strides to improve your financial situation. Let things bed down for a while. If you are concerned about income in retirement perhaps look at a private pension or ISAs. It would be better to use any spare money you have to fund those rather than take on more debt in the hope it finances your future.( by buying another property or the field) Just my thoughts anyway.

Sponge_pudding

Thank you everyone for your thoughts! I am definitely exploring all options but am making sure I explore with my patience hat on. Quelling the impulse to run headlong into it.
I have thought about camping and caravanning as a friend of mine does it through the caravanning club so there is no need for insurance and literally it is just a place to park up. Planning is also no issue if through the caravanning club as long as you stay within the limits. DH does not want to do this, he doesn't want different people back and forth at all times of day and night. (His words). 
I am only thinking we may have a small to zero income from the buy to let as I would look at it as a future investment when we retire. Either as income monthly once the mortgage is paid off or as money in the bank if we sell it. We both have private pensions and hopefully by the time we retire I will also have a full government pension. DH already does.

Cara_

I've been reading through your diary and you are doing well.

I agree with Ordinary_Yet_Unique about not taking on more debt at this stage. I think it is a good idea to explore other income options but initially I would concentrate on setting and living within a budget. It can take some time to create a budget plus, extra payments can crop up which you had forgotten about and need to be factored in. I feel having too many things to juggle might derail your debt repayment plans because you are just starting out and possibly have enough to think about. These options will still be available later.

Your cooking and baking sound lovely. 

Sponge_pudding

Thanks @Cara_ for your kind words and your sensible attitude, as usual I am racing ahead and searching for answers, patience will do me very well I think.
I am so annoyed with myself. I gave in went crazy, and spoiled my grandchildren. I don't mind really but it was not very debt friendly of me. I did however only buy from the discounted rails so I did shave off some pennies there. They're definitely one of my weaknesses so I need to set up a spoil fund so I can dib into that as and when I have a moment of doting.
I also have had a few bills coming through from things like klarna and pay in three that I hadn't remembered. I think they are all finished now though so shouldn't be any more surprises from them.
I have a fridge full of the tesco shop last weekend that I didn't get to cook- very busy weekend (said horses are still hairy to their delight). The soonest I can deal with the cooking is tomorrow evening so I am praying I am not too tired and can sort out something, last night I was worried about today so only slept a max of 2 hours, my eyes are actually sore in my head today. Next weekend I am definitely prioritising batch cooking but also need a walk on a beach somewhere to clear my head. DH has been great and not moaned at all about the lack of biscuits which is amazing, I think he knows I am rushed off my feet like a blue arsed fly.
I've withdrawn £138.89 from Vinted and about £40 from Surveys. It sounds great but due to not starting this at the beginning of the month and having my grandchildren blow out the figures are looking as though we will be an extra £1.70 in debt this month. I really did not want that to happen. There may be a slight chance of some more surveys or Vinted money clearing in time but who knows.  
I am working late tonight and then I a planning a bath, tea and my feet up. Hopefully an early night and a good sleep will see me back on track.
Future me will be grateful if now me learns from these mistakes and bucks her ideas up.

Smudgeismydog

Thought I’d post in relation to your potential buy to let.

I had 2 rental properties for about 10 years, but sold them both a couple of years ago. I felt the pendulum had very much swung in favour of the tenant, and the tax position was not nearly as attractive. Capital Gains tax allowance has been drastically reduced, the way mortgage interest is now treated as an expense has been reduced, and then considerations such as annual gas and electrical safety checks, proposed changes to inheritable tenancies and potential rent caps were worrying. If you choose to self manage it can be time consuming, and if you use an agent to manage the property, then clearly their costs reduce your income.

Pensions remain very tax advantageous, so spending time to understand your current provisions is time well spent. Like other posters, I don’t feel taking on more debt right now is advisable. 

Sponge_pudding

Thanks @Smudgeismydog, seems everyone is thinking the same and not recommending it. We're waiting on a few financial advisors to come back to us, one is doing a pension review that will hopefully give us a bit more insight to our retirement monies. 
Feeling very overwhelmed at work to be honest, I never do well after going into the office and am slowly falling out of love with the job as a whole. Why oh why do we need money?

Ordinary_Yet_Unique

How does your monthly income compare to your monthly expenditure? Have you put together a SOA? 

You are making very good progress with getting your finances organised and under control. Have you identified what caused the debts and addressed those causes?

Perhaps consider bringing the vegetable plot into more productive use as a long term project. It could be a positive diversion for both of you from the stress of work. Just my thoughts.

Sponge_pudding

Thanks for your suggestions @Ordinary_Yet_Unique, I haven't done a SOA, I use money from microsoft which shows me ins and outs this works well as I have everything (at least most things now) listed on there.  I do know where the debt came from, just putting everything on credit cards with the intention of paying them off monthly and never doing it. Every month all extras are just stuffed on to the cards and not thought about again.  I have had them over 20 years so they have obviously been my worst financial mistake ever.  We have had times of low income that haven't helped coupled with high spending.  Once or twice I have consolidated to give us some more freedom which has only served to tighten the chains long term.  This time I am trying to address it from an honest and head out of the sand point of view, fingers crossed for me.
So I have had a very busy week, flat out to be honest.  I have now caught up with my finance totals as of yesterday.  When I decided to tackle the debt there had already been spending this month, so taking that in to account and the fact that DH decided purchase some items for resale (which in all fairness he does well at) but I hadn't accounted for we have increased the debt. The total debt figure on 1st June was £20,668.28 and today 1st July it is £20790.35. This is an increase of £122.07.  I want to say but...........if we hadn't bought those DH things which cost £237.64 the debt would have decreased by £115.57. However this is childish and ostrich behaviour. We did spend that money so the debt has increased, no excuses.  
In addition, I am holding myself accountable for any spending that has gone on the credit card in the month.  I  have taken it out of the bank and brought the credit card back down to the level it would have been. Otherwise the credit cards creep back up and we are not accountable.  Because of the extra spending it means less was paid off the credit card and we also have less to spend this month. Tough!
However, whilst things are balancing out which may take a few months realistically, some spending will have to occur.  Come September I have a different pay grade which means more money, which will enable me to create an emergency fund, and put money aside for insurance, holidays, horses etc. At the moment we are still living on what we have which is difficult with no money put aside.  Just trying to live as cheaply as possible to get us through till then.  Come September we wont be spending wildly just have more to put to the debt and a more balanced bank account I think. But focusing on the now, we do still have to pay for the euros, the car and travel insurance this month.  
On a more positive note the debt would have increased much more without all the efforts we both made to reduce it.