My 5 year plan

Kitten868 · 26 February 2018 at 7:00PM

Hello there! Just read your diary start to finish through the merger and just wanted to say I'm very impressed with your positive attitude. Don't get too caught up in beating the whole debt now. The people who do the best out of this forum are those that change how they see money and maintain it. They build a budget and know what sacrifices they are and (most importantly) are not willing to give up. If there needs to be a fortnightly bacon roll to keep you on an even keel then so what? The people who try to be perfect in the first week fail. The realists can keep doing it. I think you're doing fantastically and embracing a lot of changes already. I think you need to focus on staying this on track and finding out if your budget works - which bits need trimming down and what categories need to be added. Yes bacon roll allowance is a category.
Do any of the motorhead sites you like do sales? Good place to put it. Focus on selling the car and see where your finances are then.
How is the car finance structured? Is it on the new car or is it outstanding on the old car? Would your employer car contributions be paid the same if you cleared the debts? Or refinanced? I think it should be factored in next as you say.
What homework have you done on the mortgage? Have you considered a free broker online?
Keep going you're doing great x

fatrab · 27 February 2018 at 8:37AM

Hi Kitten, thanks for taking the time to catch up on 'lil old me's diary!

I knew last year that my whole attitude towards my spending and my priorities had to change, not just because we had a baby but from a health point of view too. I'm finding the SOA a fantastic tool as it really sets the scene for the coming month and spending tracker app is great for seeing where the other spending goes. Bacon rolls can live in "Entertainment" for now

I've had to rewrite the plan a few times so far as you've read, so I'm ready to adapt and change where necessary and I'm constantly on the look out for better ways to safeguard and ensure the plan stays on schedule.

As for the car, I have a month to hopefully sell Mrs' car before I need to decide what to do. It doesn't really make sense to run 3 cars, that's just an additional expense which is exactly what I'm trying to avoid. So I'll let the advert run for a few weeks before I make any changes to my strategy. I've advertised on as many free sites as possible, all other options have a cost so I've gone for the most popular, but as yet no joy. Only a few timewasters.

The HP is for my car. It is HP, not PCP. I will own the car when the final payment is made, I don't believe PCP deals are "good" in any way, shape or form! I receive car allowance regardless of how I pay for the car, so paying it off has no bearing on my income. Paying this of is my number one priority now. It's not on a stupidly high rate of interest and I don't want to re-finance, I'd rather just over-pay and get it cleared.

I took out the bank loan at the start of last year and bought a small economical car which I used for 6 months, then sold at no loss. We then used the money to buy my wife's car. The intention was to keep it long term but we were living outside our means and weren't being realistic when we bought it. Obviously now that the light bulb has ping'd we need to restructure.

Regarding the mortgage, I'm going to see what the bank offer by way of a retention deal. If it's not competitive I do have a plan B. A friend of mine's partner is a mortgage broker and has offered to sort it out for me.

It's a big year for change in lots of areas and I'm positive that my SOA will be a much prettier picture heading into 2019. Can't believe we're at the end of February already! I felt as if Feb dragged in but I've suddenly realised we're 2 months into the year already!

Onwards and upwards!

fatrab · 28 February 2018 at 8:18AM

Credit Card 1 - £978.80 - paid - 28/2/2018

fatrab · 28 February 2018 at 8:33AM

February's round-up

February's Goals:
19/18 NSD - Better than expected!

18/19 Lunches - Think I did ok here, maybe set my sights a little high but happy with end result

28/28 AFD - Delighted to say I'm now 31 days off the booze!
24/28 TAFD (take away free days) - Again, set sights a little too high on this one but definitely room for improvement.

February's Stats:
Fuel - 55%
Shopping - 23%
Car Advert - 9%
Chiropractor - 6%
Eating Out - 3%
Snacking - 1%
Travel - 1%
Pub - 1% (soft drinks only)
Entertainment - 1%

Some big changes have happened this month. Spending habits have been addressed, eating habits have too, but the big one for me is not drinking. No matter how stressful the day has been or what has gone wrong, there has been no notion to drink. The money I must have been spending on this previously doesn't bear thinking about.

Oh yeah, the credit card! It's gone. Paid in full.

Another step closer

fatrab · 28 February 2018 at 8:59AM

So the next steps of the plan....

Highest interest first is the rule, so that's the car finance. Every spare penny will be thrown at that now. I'm going to drip feed the emergency fund as and when I get any overtime as I won't miss that money. I'll then use the emergency fund as a sort of savings pot to pay home & car insurances IN FULL (July and October respectively), maintaining the balance at £1000+ with a view to having that up to £2000 by the end of the year.

JoJoC · 28 February 2018 at 10:08AM

Sorry, I've got the kids running around my ankles because of school and nursery closures today so just stopping by swiftly. Your figures look great! Well done!

[Deleted User] · 28 February 2018 at 12:14PM

fatrab wrote: »

Credit Card 1 - £978.80 - paid - 28/2/2018

Fantastic, Well Done

:j :T

Storm89 · 28 February 2018 at 12:24PM

Brilliant stats for February fatrab. Well done on paying off the credit card and the booze free days. Even if we weren't in debt , looking at our spends really helps to see where we've been spending (or rather wasting) money. I hope March is just a successful and your long term plans sound great.

supersaver1000 · 28 February 2018 at 10:03PM

Whoop Whoop - goodbye credit card 1 :j:j:j

fatrab · 1 March 2018 at 7:44AM

Well February, I'd love to be able to say it's been great but we'd both know that's a lie!

March - hold onto your hat because the wind of change is blowing!

It's time to get my fitness levels back up. My hand has just-about recovered from the operation so I'm going to start nice and easy with 40 press ups and 40 sit ups each night for a week then gradually increase it to 100 of each by the end of the month, and I'm going to get out for a long walk/jog 3 or 4 times per week while I'm away from home, I've been a bit lazy recently on that front. Also need to address a few more dietary issues as the shopping list still has a few naughty items on it!

Target for end of March - 15st 9lbs

Hopefully start picking up some overtime this month too which will help as I've increased my pension contribution. I'll obviously have a decrease in take home pay as a result so a little overtime here and there will balance things out.

I've had a re-think on how to tackle things. Going forwards, on payday, every penny in my account over £2750 will go straight to debt overpayment. When my expenses go in (usually around £200 in the first week of the month) that'll transfer into the emergency fund. Any other money that comes in (e.g. tax rebate) simply gets paid straight off the debt. Obviously the £2750 will be reviewed as each debt is cleared or outgoings are reduced and the snowball effect will begin.

Lets see how that goes!

Thanks for the encouragement and support so far, it really has helped

My 5 year plan

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