A Humble Return
Posted on
March 20, 2010 by
Lee
It has been a long time – particularly in blogland – since my last post. To the small but dedicated readership I had built up in the couple of months I was posting in the beginning, I offer my humble apologies for my abrupt disappearance. In mitigation, I had a lot going on in my life, and there just wasn’t enough mental powe left to blog as well.
But now things are coming back to a sense of normality, and I am extremely pleased to be able to share this with you all.
My job is safe
At least, as safe as it can be in the current economic climate. I am not ashamed to have made the preparations I did, as I think they provided an amazing insight into how a financial disaster can be handled, even when it seems hopeless to even try. I’ve even had a small pay rise since my last post, courtesy of a 3 year pay deal agreed before the credit crunch hit.
I am debt free*
On the 19th November 2009, I sent in the last debt payments to my remaining two creditors. £7,858.63 to Barclays Bank for the consolidation loan I had taken out to combine the debts left to me by my ex-wife, and a whopping 11p to my credit card provider BarclayCard.
This settled the loan 2 years early, and cost me £80 to pay it off, than if I had just let it run. But it was worth it.
*I am now using the credit card again, but sensibly. It is paid off in full every month, and as it is a cashback credit card, I now put all my spending on it. That way I technically get a 1% discount on everything I buy! I have no debt that I cannot repay instantly if required with cash savings.
I am divorced*
The judge stamped my Decree Nisi and the Financial Consent Order I applied for at the beginning of January 2010. This means that I’m all but divorced now. The Decree Absolute (the final part of the divorce procedure in the UK) was due to be signed by the judge last week. This will hopefully bring to a close a very bitter and expensive part of my life.
*I am waiting for my solicitor to forward the Absolute to me. Until I have it in my hand, I won’t actually believe it is over! I still need to pay my solicitor for his work, and the bill should be arriving some time this month. I can’t say I’m particularly looking forward to it.
I have found new love
It’s funny how life works. I was on a residential training course for 16 alternate weekends as part of my profession. After 3 or 4 weekends, I was finding myself drawn to a particular girl who was also on the course. We got on so well, liked the same things, laughed at the same things and loved spending time together when we had finished for the day.
Towards the end of the course we acknowledged that we were ‘in a relationship’ (thank you Facebook for making the lines so clear cut!), and we’ve been spending a lot of time with each other ever since. Each of us has done the ‘meet the parents and family’, We’re going on holiday together in July, and we are looking for places to move into together eventually. Although she still lives at home with her mother, her mother is happy for me to stay, and so I have done just that countless times since January.
Some people were concerned the age gap would be our undoing (I’m 26, she’s 19), but there is no sign of it being an issue, and long may that continue.
I have savings
Being single is considerably cheaper. Being in a new relationship has put pressure on my preset targets for 2010/11, but can you put a price on happiness? I don’t think you can. I am saving at a minimum 50% of my income each month still, and sometimes way in excess of that, but doing things as a couple (dinners out, clothes shopping etc) isn’t something I’d budgeted for when I originally wrote my plan!
All said though, I’d rather be happy than rich. I am debt free, I am all but divorced, my life plan will happen (just a few months delayed thanks to extra expenditure), I am blogging again, and I am 110% in love with someone very, very special.
Life doesn’t get much better than that. I love you Catherine.
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I am so happy for you and the love of your life!!
Wow, what a comeback! Congratulations on being debt free! The best.
Also, happy to hear whenever anyone’s in love. Just promise you’ll take is slow regarding big financial commitments, eh?
(Sorry Catherine. But this is a finance blog).
Best of luck to you both.
LOL Monevator, thank you.
And yes, we’re in no rush for any big financial commitments. Certainly not any joint ones, anyway. I need to move out of my parents place at some stage, and if I do that with her or alone, it’s immaterial really on a financial side.
One could argue it’d be better to do it together. Less costs for one person to be responsible for !
Congrats on being debt free Lee! I also lived with my parents in order to pay off my debts and it was one of the best moves I have made in my life. Now I have a very affordable flat and feel like I am finally an adult again – a financial wise adult!
I just discovered your blog thourgh Magical Penny so I can’t wait to read the old and new posts.
Welcome to Five Pence Piece Kate!