Friday 31 January 2014

Those dark days are over...

2011 was the year that changed my life as I know it.

In June 2011 I got pregnant.

I had been wishing for this for such a long time and finally it had happened to us.

Then came the panic. I am in debt, how am I going to afford a baby and be on maternity leave, pay the bills, service my debts and provide for the future.

You are probably thinking why didn't you think of that before you got pregnant. I did but then I had the notion of can you ever really afford to have children?

At this point in our lives we were renting a lovely two bed semi. We came over all responsible and decided we should buy. The OH had savings and we had offers of help with a deposit so we took the plunge.

In November 2011 we moved into a new build three bed house, which incidentally would cost us less than our old rented property. This was when I was six months pregnant and had no baby items except a cute hat

Cue the new me. Everything I bought was either pre loved (eBay is a saviour) or given to me by kind friends and family. I did want that £800 pram from the high street but settled for the £150 one from eBay which was just as good and later sold it on eBay for about the same. Hence free!!

If I didn't need it I didn't buy it, and if I thought I did I checked with Mum to make sure I did.

Fast forward to 1st March 2012

Everything that money couldn't buy filled my life with joy...

That new dress didn't make me happy anymore but cuddles in the middle of the night while feeding my son did.

Cocktail.. No thank you I will have a cuppa!

I had a new focus enjoy the small things and the money spent on the once big things to service the debts.

Fast Forward to October 2013

After a year and a half of getting used to motherhood I have paid off all debts.It hasn't been easy! I did get that urge to go shopping after pay day but not as you know it instead I went shopping on my debts. I overpaid the highest debts first than snowballed that payment to the next one until they were gone.

2014 is the year that I have started for the first time since 2001 with no debts except the mortgage that is.

2014 is the year we start to overpay our mortgage. We won't go without to do it but we will do what we want as cheaply as possible. Life is still for living but we are mindful of providing for our future selves also.

Why have I called this Spendthriftways you may ask?

I am a spend thrift in nature. I like what I like, I have expensive taste sadly. But I refuse to pay top dollar. So that might be my way but it is not what I do.

This blog for me will be about documenting how I reach my goal of financial freedom. I can't tell you how long it will take me or if things will change but I will show you how I have done it in my way.

It might not be right but it will be my spendthriftway.....






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