Our road to recovery-Part 2

ltm07

Thanks folks. Been off here for a week now & please don't feel offended by this, but it has been a breath of fresh air to be honest. We started the DFW journey with so much enthusiasm but as you all know there's times when nothing goes right! We now have to have some work done on the bathroom as some water was coming through to the kitchen ceiling:mad: ! So that's more expense but luckily a good friend of mine can sort it out so it shouldn't cost too much! The debts are slowly going down & OH has 2 extra shifts this month so her wages next month should be great. I just feel that I will be on here forever updating our debts, so again I think it's time to say my goodbyes( I will be sorely missed I know:rolleyes: ). We have learned so much from you folks & Martin, & I will continue to check out the website & have a lurk on the forums now & again, but for the time being at least I definately feel I need a break from it all. I will not update our debts but we have managed to clear quite a bit in the last week. We know we can stay on top of things & the debts will gradually go down, but we are now treating it as though we have a £100k mortgage, rather than nearly £70k mortgage & £31k debt IYKWIM. Not going to consolidate, as I think that we can crack these debts sooner or later. So at the moment it's a case of just getting on with life & enjoying it & keeping our spending habits under control. As I said before, if it wasn't for you folks & of course Martin we would never have been able to keep our spending habits under control & for that we will always be eternally grateful to you all! So I am now signing off & I know that we can never say never, but I really do feel that we now need to deal with these debts in our own way & at our own pace. So goodbye to you all & God bless! LTM07 x

ltm07

Hi all again! You can't get rid of me that easily;) ! Seriously though I have been having a good think about things the last week or so & have decided to stick around with you folks if you don't mind! Just been struggling with all the DFW thing so we are going to be more realistic about things & whilst it was always our intention to be DF by my 40th birthday this would mean that we would have to pay off over £6000 a year! We have decided to put our DFD back 5 years, in the hope that we can gain as much ground as possible on that, so we have set our snowball at £260 a month. This way we can live life the way that we want to, whilst slowly clearing our debts. Not too much damage done in the last week, but if I'm honest, if I do stay away from here then I know that we would be missing out on all the great advice from Martin & you good people and probably start slipping down the slippery slope again. I guess you could call this our new LBM! Could kick myself though for not setting up DD with Citicard, as I forgot to pay last month's payment, so they have charged me £12 & withdrew the LOB of 5.85%, so have had to put the £3k off that back onto overdraft for the time being:mad: . I am also going to update our debts monthly rather than weekly, so hopefully by doing this we will see our debts continue to go down, rather than them going up & down like a yo-yo from week to week! I will update our debt now & from then on it will be at the end of the month. Debt update looks worse than it should, as I have lent my mate £150 til Wednesday, when a cheque from one of his customers clears. I know that you will say that I shouldn't do this but he has done so much work for us on the house & saved us £1,000's over the years that it is only right that I should help him out too. Thanks for reading & here is new update.

Debt at LBM 1(July 1st 07)-£33,744.48
Debt at LBM 2(July 20th 08)-£32,158.37

Keeping_Positive

Glad you are back LTM07. Slow and steady is my approach much better to be the tortoise than the hare!

ltm07

Thanks KP. Hopefully we can be DF alot sooner but we would rather do it this way than get there ASAP & not enjoy life in the meantime. All the best!

chevalier

I think that there is a lot of life evaluating going around at the moment, so it is not surprising that you are looking at what you are doing and deciding to live a bit more.

Currently we are in new zealand, and my OH is looking at various jobs over here. One of the most important things FOR ME with his prospective jobs, is that it is going to be decent pay, BUT FAR MORE IMPORTANT, is that it doesn't stress him out like his UK job did. That for me is priceless and worth all the scrimping I can manage until I too can get a job here
chev

ltm07

Hi chev! I hope that you are enjoying it over there in NZ! My Brother lives in Oz with his Wife & Daughter & is never coming back to live in the UK, they love it there! I have been over there twice(once on my own which i worked 60-70 hour weeks to pay for & once with my family that we paid for out of some compensation she got from her old workplace as she & all the female staff had been underpaid for years,she was underpaid for 5 years) & loved every minute of it! I think that if either my OH or I could get a decently paid job then we'd give it a bash over there, but neither of us have any trades or skills required to live there. I am in a job that I still enjoy & OH is settled in her job too, so all being well we can get to go to see my Brother & his family every 3-4 years by putting our DFD back( and we too want to check out NZ for a week or so next time we head Down Under)! At my workplace now there are major changes happening, which means that the overtime is becoming more & more scarce, so trying to pay our debts off quickly would mean that we would virtually have no life for the next few years( and plus, to be honest I am sick to death of doing overtime & being knackered week in week out,so I may as well get used to living on a basic wage & at least I still have a job). Up until a couple of years ago, my OH & I wanted different things, she was happy living where we are now, whilst I wanted to move to a 'better' area a few miles away, with a nice brand spanking new car! I am glad that I came around to her way of thinking as, although we are in debt & most of the debts is through doing this house up, we can manage to slowly repay them. I think if we had made that move to the 'better' area we would probably have become one of the casualties of the credit crunch & lost our home, as the houses we were looking at buying were worth £40-£50k more than ours. I don't like to plan too far ahead but our ideal future is going to be something along these lines. Stay put in this house for a few years, get married next year, holiday in UK most years & Oz every 3-4 years & when DD has grown up, sell our house for a cheaper, smaller house in a nice village in the countryside! So for us it will be DF in 10 years at most & MF in 15-16 years at most! Sorry for the long post but we can & will do all this if we pay our debts at our own steady pace.

ltm07

Well quite pleased & very surprised with new update! We have managed to clear nearly £1,000 since 2nd LBM, largely due to OH's excellent wages this month. We have also all in all cleared nearly £700 this month & that's without missing out on anything that we want to do, so the average of £250 a month that we aim to clear looks quite easy,without sounding arrogant, on months when we don't have any unexpected bills,car costs etc. Going on holiday tomorrow & for a family meal tonight & also got a busy day ahead with tidying house, shopping for holiday food etc., so won't get chance to get on here again til a week on Sunday. I think that after this holiday we will feel refreshed & in the right mindset to tackle these debts. Thanks for reading & here is our new update.
Debt at LBM 1(July 1st 07)-£33,744.48
Debt at LBM 2(July 20th 08)-£32,158.37
Debt Today(July 31st 08)-£31,169.18

ltm07

Hi all, well not been on much lately due to one thing or another,but had a fantastic holiday & didn't overspend too much, so hoping to be well below £31k by the end of the month. OH picking up plenty of extra shifts & I am still getting quite a bit of overtime so it is helping no end towards chipping away at these debts. Thanks for reading & will update at the end of the month.

ltm07

Well it's the end of another month & going on holiday is the main reason that we have managed to add over £450 to our debts this month:eek: ! That said we have quite a bit saved towards the wedding & as long as we can stay around the February 2018 target then we feel there's no need to get too alarmed. I know that many of you are chipping away at your debts much faster than us but this is the only way that we feel we can do the whole DFW journey, slow & steady. Thought one of our loans had finished in July but it finished this month so last month's total should have been nearly £100 more than it was, so really we have added £350 to our debts! Thanks for reading & hopefully we can get back on track in September! Here is our new update.
Debt at LBM 1(July 1st 07)-£33,744.48
Debt at LBM 2(July 20th 08)-£32,158.37
Debt Today(August 31st 08)-£31,626.61

ltm07

Hi all! Well we both got letters yesterday confirming that one of our loans has finished:j ! Quite enjoying life at the moment & it's been good to get out of the house & catch up with old friends the last few weeks, although a few have taken the p1ss saying that they haven't seen me for so long that they thought OH had buried me under the patio:rotfl: ! Sort of finding my old self again in going for a pint with my mates, as although it's nice to sometimes chill out & watch T.V. on a Saturday night, it is also nice to socialise with pals & that is something I haven't been doing enough of for the last few years, but the main reason that I was staying in was to save for the 2 times I have been to Australia, so it did make it worthwhile staying in(don't mean to sound like I want it all:rolleyes: ). That said I know that it has to be a once a month thing rather than every week, as obviously a night out isn't cheap. So I think from now it will be a night out with mates once a month & a night out with OH once a month. The trouble is at the moment England are on the box Wednesday night & my team Derby County(don't laugh:D ) are on on Saturday, so whilst we are saving money by not having Sky, I am spending far more by going out, but it is out of my own monthly 'pocket money' so it isn't affecting our budget.