Are we ever going to make it?

Joe_Bloggs

@madfrenchgirl
Your dedication to the cause of saving deserves an award.
If you are a consultant in the conventional sense then you will have to keep up an appearance with clothes, shoes, hair etc. Clearly you are gaining experience every day and those excuses for rejection will not apply in the future. I wish you every success in your future ventures.
J_B.

Spendless

madfrenchgirl wrote:

well, I am a "consultant" earning 19k basis... my salary was 18k when i started, after a year i got a 5% increase. I still think the job is pants, I am being treated like a secretary, but I am working on getting more resposibility. I do not see myself hitting above the 20k line for a long time. I have tried changing jobs but it is always hte same thing: not enough experience. As for fuel costs, BF drives everyday from Farnham to Romsey and my company sends me from Farnham to Staines. My company pays for the fuel 40p a mile, this covers for OH and mine plus some left to go towards servicing and parts. So we roughly know how much it is going to cost us fuelwise. I am perfectly aware that my company wont pay me a cent for the journey from Sotton to Farnham because I would have chosen to live there. Eventually, after getting some experience, i will leave this monkey's business that is my company.

Lush: when did I say we were planning on moving to Sotton before buying a house there? We live in Farnham. If i want to trek some areas, I have a friend living there who can put me up for weekends and stuff. I have done the journey from hers to my workplace several times in the orning and it tooke about an hour, which is what it takes now. I do not see the point in us spending a lot more in rent than we are now, just to live in Sotton. Unless I misunderstood.

But thank you guys for the advice on the other areas: I have found 2 houses in our price range and to (my) our (possible) liking. I am perfectly aware those houses will be gone, I am just doing some price research.

Being from the North is Sotton a nickname for Southampton or a different place altogether? Personally I think it would be a good idea to rent in one of the areas you are considering buying that way you can check out nearest doctors/dentists eg do they take new patients do you have to go on waiting list. Is the local school under threat of closure? (if you're intending stopping for a while having kids there). What time do the shops shut on w/days, whats public transport like if car breaks down (don't mean to get you to and from work-just round and about -back from garage for example). Do kids hang about street corners regardless of what day it is and whether its term time or not? How often is the bin emptied weekly/fortnightly- all sorts of things would give you a 'feel' of the place, and you might discover that you like an area that someone else has described as a warzone.

madfrenchgirl

Thx Joe_Bloggs, I am not a Consultant per se: I do not negotiate wiht clients bla bla... I am part of the administration and support to the team. Once the contracts and the specs have been negotiated and the team designated, we go work at the client site. I do deal with clients but it is merely room bookings for meetings, maintaining things like billing, reporting times, etc.. In brief, I am the admin nagger! As for keeping up appearances, my partner plaits my hair (i have my showers in the evening as I leave for work at 6h30 in the morning, arrives 7h30, leaves at 4h30) for the following day. For the clothes, I opt for classic, cheap but not too cheap looking. I do not have tailored stuff, I have different jackets that match different skirt/trousers, same thing with the tops. And I have tons of jumpers that I never paid a dime for as my mom has been knitting my jumpers since I was born. The only prob is shoes: hard to find, expensive, not very good price/quality balance sometimes.

Oh and I only have 7 pairs of shoes, of which 2 need replacing:

- sports shoes (Reebok paid 15 pounds)
- high heeled ankle boots (paid them 20 quid, lasted 2 winters, now trashed)
- leather knee-high boots (bought last year for 80 quid, classical, match everything and un-fashionable)
- schoolgirl leather shoes (bought 12 quid instead of 40, 2nd winter)
- trainers (paid 10pounds in May, gone in the trash already)
- summer flip flops (3 quid on a market stall)
- swanky barefoot type of shoes to go with my evening gown (given by my mom, dress was only 26 pounds in a "designer rejects" shop)

I have some tops in my wardrobe I have had for 6 years now... Most of the trousers I have, I paid less than 10 pounds. Same for the tops and jackets (one of them was 2 pounds in newlook just because of a tiny pen mark you cant see). I have 1 big fury coat in pork leather that I paid 50 quid for very cold days, a medium long proper leather jacket (the most expensive piece of clothing ever: 200), a short pink suede jacket (40 pounds), and a black parka for hanging round that i have had for 6 years (lasted me thru senior high, uni, and now).

That is how I do it... And I never got told off for my lack of taste at work! LOL! I think the last time I went on a shopping spree was in May at my mom's with some gift money that my Gran gave me: spend 40 euros on a new pair of jeans (same style in designer shop was 10 times more), a pair of crappy trainers, a nice shirt/jacket, 3 nice tee shirts with pearls, another fancy top, a piece of jewellery, and there is something else i have forgotten about...

Hey! i guess this is how I do it!

madfrenchgirl

Sorry Spendless, yes Sotton is short for Southampton...

I understand what you mean by living there for a while for things like kids and stuff. However, I dont think the house we will be able to afford in a year's time (or 2 years') will be the one where our kids will be: as far as I can see, our budget only gives us a 2 bedroom... Might get a bit tight for kids! But the suggestion are making me think that OH could rent a room in the area during the week to see how it is since his work is so close. That is a brill suggetsion

THX a lot! gona discuss that tonight!

Rave

Just keep saving. As far as I'm concerned there's no way that prices are going to continue sprialing up faster than the rate of inflation, they're far more likely to drop. A year from now you'll have a bigger deposit and house prices are likely to be cheaper in 'real terms', so you'll have much more purchasing power. It doesn't sound like you're doing too badly where you live at the moment.

FWIW I'm 26 with no house, no savings and at the moment, no job. I'm not worried though, ATM the average age of a FTB is 34 so I have at least 7 years to sort something out. Personally I plan to try and start saving to buy in about 3-4 years as near to the bottom of the crash as I can:p. My wife and I might move in with my mum for a while to maximise the amount we can save if it looks as if prices are falling into a range we might be able to afford.

madfrenchgirl

yeah, if we manage to buy something in a years time we will be almost 10 years too young! lol!