Turning Straw into Gold: Creating Long Term Security & A Solid Home

MillQueen

Hello, I am joining you on the debt free journey, for a couple of loans that are giving me anxiety and also my mortgage. I have been reading these diaries for inspiration and it’s time to start my own. I hope to get to know many of you as time goes on. I moved into my home last April and I have some loan repayments that are eating up my pay, and the mortgage is weighing heavily on me, as it will last in its current form until I’m very old and past retirement age. Here’s a summary of where I’m currently at. I don’t think these are horrific in the grand scheme of things, but debt makes me stressed and my net worth is a frightening level of minus when I think of my age.

#Loan 1: Postgraduate Loan of -£8,974 (interest 7.8%)

#Loan 2: Personal Loan of -£11,466 (interest 6.2%)

#Mortgage Balance: -£222,469.64 (interest 5.24%, 28 years left)

The plan is to focus on overpaying my postgraduate loan first, so it doesn’t keep reducing my salary, as it will be very wasteful if I let it run. I have set up a regular overpayment of £75 a month, and anything I have left at the end of the month will be a 50/30/20 split (with 50% going into emergency savings, 30% going to the postgraduate loan, and 20% into overpaying the mortgage). I also hope to reduce my mortgage term to a less scary 25 years when I remortgage at the end of the 2 year fix, in April 2027. Alongside, I am working to build up 10k of emergency savings, then after I have that I will tackle investments and improving my pension, alongside overpaying the mortgage. One good thing is that I do have a pension. I have made myself a 20 year plan and spreadsheet to cover it all.

At the moment, I am making savings on my weekly spending (no more Uber Eats, clothes or small purchases). I have downloaded the Sprive app and I tried “Too Good to Go” for the first time. There aren’t that many areas I can cut down, as I now only pay for necessary costs, bills and groceries, and those take up almost all of my salary, with the cost of everything. I have been gradually furnishing my new house with items from charity shops and market place, with an emphasis on low price and longevity, so I have mostly bought timeless wooden items that will last for decades. I have plans for 2 lodgers in the near future, as I chose a house that would have plenty of space for this. The house isn’t in the ideal area I wanted, as it was difficult to find an affordable property near work, so I have a longer commute, but I gained the advantage of a house I like with good space.

I am working towards greater financial freedom and security, as I would like to not feel worried about money, with that feeling that I'm only one missed pay cheque away from being unable to manage. I’m not sure whether this particular house will be a forever home with it not being the area I wished for, but I will make it a home whilst I’m here. For incomings, I have a full time job and also a smaller part time self-employed business. However, this is limited by time and energy, as my main role is very demanding and requires me to do a lot of work in my free time, so I don’t always have much capacity to earn extra outside of that in the way I would like. I plan to spend 2026 trying to get on top of my postgraduate loan, as I’ve already been paying it for years and owe nearly what I started with. I want rid of that now. The other loan was to pay for home repairs and I will tackle that afterwards. I have further dreams for work and home, but for now just working on a basic level of neutral security. 

Nice to meet you all and I hope to get you know some of you on your diaries  

Summary of Current Position:

Mortgage: -£222,469 (January 2026)

Postgraduate Loan: -£8,974 (January 2026)

Personal Loan: -£11,466 (January 2026)

Net Wealth: -£231,847 (January 2026)

Emergency Fund Savings: Needs calculating (January 2026)

ellenvan

Good ambitions.
I'm going to follow your diary.
Sometimes people put up a SoA for input.

MillQueen

A follower! Lovely! That's very encouraging, thank you. Always welcoming input for sure. 

Dakota_Rose

Welcome @MillQueen. I am wishing you much luck on your journey. I am carrying similar levels of debt and mortgage to you and have just started my own diary too. I already feel it’s helping me to clarify my thoughts and be more productive with my money. I am sure yours will do the same 😊 

MillQueen

Thank you @Dakota_Rose and good to meet you. I have just bookmarked your diary and will have a read. I agree about the clarifying thoughts. I think us "writing things down" sort of people can benefit enormously from this type of approach. I like reading other people's thinking around their finances too. It sets intentions! 

FootyFanDan

Wishing you luck

MillQueen

Had a few no spend days this week, as I am waiting to get paid on the 31st. However, I've been coming to terms with the fact the car is going to have to be replaced, as it needs a new timing belt, the heater is broken, and there are some suspension noises that sound expensive. It also needs a couple of new tyres as they keep going down when I pump them up, and now also a new windscreen. All that and the cost of the MOT and service, plus whatever else the MOT will throw up (it had a long list of advisories when I bought it), means that it's probably going to be near what I originally paid for the car to repair it. On balance, I've decided it's better to take my chances on carefully selecting another used car with a long MOT until I'm in a better position financially. I've decided I'm going to not worry about that until next month though.