Hello Dear Reader,


Some one wrote to me today, at the beginning of their journey, and wanted to know how I started mine. I wanted to downsize, I wanted to move to a smaller house, have a smaller mortgage and have smaller bills. I put my house on the markets, sold it, found somewhere and the offer was accepted. Santander, who kept us on hold until New Year’s eve, had an underwriter phone me and tell me that I had too much in the way of personal borrowing and they would not lend us the money. We had/have a mortgage deal, that if we came out of it, even 1 minute before the deal was up we would have a £10K get out clause. The house sale fell through, another £1500 was added to my debts as that’s how much the selling/legal process had taken up to that point. We had also spent £3K re-decorating, re-carpeting, landscaping, re-tiling two bathrooms so that we could sell it. We were well and truly fucked! I was now stuck in a house, that I couldn’t really afford and I was going no where.


I crawled out from the bottom of a gin bottle, pulled myself up by the bra straps and got on with it! I had a home loan from my previous house, about ten thousand on credit cards and overdrafts and a car loan.

I had a huge mountain to climb, it was scary, I can’t stand heights or being told no, and I had no way to go but up, as I was hanging off the edge. I started by phoning the National Debt Helpline, which was a government funded advice line. I asked if I should reduce my mortgage by paying that or pay off personal debts. They advised me to pay off my debts first and pay off my mortgage later. I had an interest only mortgage for a while……………I was in no hurry to give Santander their money back!


The first thing we did was to get the balance on everything we owed. We then looked at our income and made a budget using the two. I wasn’t a big spender anyway and always shopped and dressed reasonably frugally. Dearly Beloved and I sat down and had the biggest and frankest talk we had ever had. It was one of those ‘I solemnly swear’ moments, where we decided, then and there to pay off everything we owed before we bought anything else ever again.


We started saving money straight away. We changed credit card companies, we transferred a card at a time to zero % balance transfer cards and paid the maximum on one until it was gone. We snowballed our debts, until we only had the car loan left and put money aside each month until we could pay off the total balance. The more we paid off the homeloan, the smaller the interest payments were and we could pay that off as soon as we liked without penalties.


We shopped around for cheaper energy, we got a water meter. We turned off our central heating and froze our tits off (wear more clothes, snog more………….you’ll get by). We got a lodger, I marked exams, I tutored private students, Dearly Beloved went to jumble sales, car boots sales and auctions looking for things he could sell on ebay. We used our ‘ebay money’ to pay for large annual bills such as home and car insurance. We made on average another £5K a year in extra income and £1.6K from having a lodger. We used every penny extra we ever made to pay off debts in big chunks. I cleaned caravans in the summer holidays and DB worked and still works extra as an ebay trader.


I always cooked but took on the food budget as a military operation, I got my weekly shop down to £30 a week. I don’t shop every week. I use Approved Food for some dry goods. All my cleaning materials, toiletries and basics were Tesco Value. I would internet research for pet food prices, where laundry soap was the cheapest…………..I still do. I made Christmas and Birthday gifts, we only do this in a very minor way in our family and DB, myself and our children no longer exchange gifts at all for either. We love each other any way and nothing that can be bought can make that any better. I make my Dad a cake for his birthday and take mum flowers on hers, other than that, there is no expense.


We went without. We didn’t go on a holiday, didn’t have a day out anywhere that cost anything until our debts were gone. We took a flask and a piece of home made cake on day trips and internet researched places to park for free. If you live in Wadebridge, on a housing estate at the back of town and wonder whose car that was? It was mine………..I don’t pay for car parks!

At the height of our debt repayment, we had £150 a month for both of us to live on and that included food. We went without new clothes, without new shoes, without having my hair done, without anything which wasn’t needed. I mended tights, I stitched up holes in my bras if the wire poked through, I mended knickers, I cut and coloured my own hair, I could make a mascara last a year. We cancelled the satellite TV, the mobile phone contracts. We found cheaper broadband, we still have the same steam powered PC and we made do with what we had.


We went to work by train (both worked in different directions in those days) and even charged our lap tops and phones on the train to save money. We turned off the lights, we wore more jumpers.We took any food and drink we needed, where ever we went, including when we went to visit family. We declined all invitations and now people don’t invite us as they know we don’t go, don’t send a wedding present, don’t go to work ‘do’s’ - they accept we are the people who don’t.


We aimed to pay off all our debts by the London Olympics, we did so a year early. We managed that by taking on extra work and earning extra money. I still mark exams and did so to pay for our holiday, if I hadn’t have earned the extra money, even though we are debt free, we wouldn’t have gone.


When I look at what we’ve achieved, it was relatively easy. It was fun. We played at it. We now pay, almost the amount we were putting towards debt repayment, towards reducing the capital on the mortgage. We still have a hefty interest payment each month and it is only reduced by £100 month, each time I reduce the mortgage balance by £10K!! Every time I see the amount of interest I pay each month, I can see my money going to a blood sucking bank and I want to pay off the balance as quickly as I can. I still aim to move house when I’m out of the terms of the deal I am in and when the market picks up again, so I don’t lose the balance I’ve paid off. This could go on for years, in fact, I may never get the money back.


I can now manage and afford the house I live in because, I have very low bills, I live frugally, I don’t spend money I haven’t got on stuff which isn’t essential. I haven’t changed my lifestyle one bit as I still owe thousands and thousands to the bank for the house. When the government has decided how much they want me to pay for my pension, then and only then can I start paying extra into that as well as paying extra into my state pension to pay for the years I didn’t work. With that in mind, I have to save every penny and still continue with food for nutrition and not fun, clothes for warmth and not style and be careful with every penny I earn.


I am now a judicious saver and live frugally to put money aside for: pension, monthly mortgage capital reduction, car replacement in the future, emergency fund, dental bills, an annual week long holiday, some new clothes and my favourite Aldi make up.


Starting was easy enough, we just decided to do it and did it. Sticking to it wasn’t hard either, we just held on and kept at it. Sticking to it now is harder as we could spend money but continue not to. Neither of us cared what people thought, some people were OK about it, some weren’t but I couldn’t care less. Our friends stayed so and happily came for supper and we went to them and we continue to do so. Now, the hard bit , is just keeping this up for the rest of my life.


Until tomorrow,


Love Froogs xxxxx