Free at last

It's probably tempting the gods to write a post celeberating this, but I can't resist. I have made my final loan repayment. It's over. It's done with. I have a closing statement, and the loan balance has disappeared from my list of online accounts, as has all mention of the monthly direct debit. I won't be paying that any more.

I haven't felt so unburdened financially since the Cottage was finally sold and off my hands in August 2011.

I'm £240 richer every month from now on. But I won't be spending it. I've just upped my monthly savings by £250. I have that new car in 2025 in sight. And I am good at sticking firmly to a plan. Provided nothing intervenes to stop me.

It all began in late 2015 - four and a bit years ago - when the Volvo dealer broke the news to me that Fiona's auto all-wheel-drive gearbox was kaput. I didn't have more than a few hundred in savings, and a fancy new box would cost £5,000. I almost cried. My beloved car wasn't in fact indestructible! But I bit the bullet and had the work done. Meanwhile I got a £5,000 loan from my bank in November 2015, and a month later commenced loan repayments.

Little did I know that I was going to need three more loans in succession!

In late 2016, the investigation of a worrying whining noise led to the replacement of the rear differential (a sophisticated electronic affair, not merely a box full of mechanical cogs). I had by then repaid some of the original £5,000 loan, so only top-ups were required: £1,750 in November 2016, then another £2,000 in January 2017. These were consolidated.

I'd repaid most of what was owing, and saw the end in sight, when the caravan dealer advised me in February 2019 that I'd need various things seen to on the caravan - chiefly a front-end rebuild to cure damp ingress. So yet another loan, as my savings had merely bumped along since the end of 2015, and I couldn't fully cover the cost. This time, 'only' £1,500. I now made sure that the repayment schedule would get rid of the new outstanding balance in twelve months. I was eager to be loan-free early in 2020.

And now I'm free at last. It's taken me four years and three months, but I've just repaid a total of £10,250, plus interest. I think that's quite an achievement, as it's all come out of my pension income.

I'm hoping that nothing unexpected happens before the end of 2020 to force me into applying for new finance. For instance, a central-heating breakdown. I'd certainly be able to borrow whatever I needed. But want a long, long, long break from all that. So it's still very much 'fingers crossed'.

As for exotic holidays, such as a nice cruise - perhaps as a treat for my 70th birthday in 2022 - it's great to contemplate such things. But putting money together to buy an electric car must come first - car ownership entirely underpins my countryside-based life. And beyond that, a 'green' replacement central heating system. And then a makeover for my home.

No, I think I'll be relying on my affordable caravan holidays for the foreseeable future!