Lunars next chapter

pandapaws

Hi Lunar! I know how you feel, I've been away all week and it seems to take ages to catch up.

Hope all's good and little Lunar-junior is thriving! Catch up soon.

lunar

DEBT AT LBM AUG 07 £35560 DEBT NOW JANUARY 4TH 2009 £14400
HSBC £5550 BTCC £3250 BARCLAYCARD £2700 VIRGIN £2900
DFW NERD NO.656 LONG HAUL NO 46 16K BY 1ST DEC 2009 £1600/£16000 10% SO FAR
DS ARRIVED OCTOBER 2008

lunar

Big changes for me so far this month in my debts. Last week it was 3 years since mine and OH 'first date' he has finally convinced me to put our finances together. The week before I sold my car as we really don't need one right now, it works out less to walk, bus and the odd taxi for the places we go. I got enough to pay the finance off and about £1000 extra.


I have also had a huge e-bay spree and made just over £600 profit. I also received £500 payment for some work I had published last year. OH has paid off the remainder of my HSBC loan so ive just got the 3 credit cards left.


We have to move house in July this year due to OH's job and really don't want to rent again. We looked at a new housing development last year and the house we wanted was £205000. and we decided against it due to the interest rate on the mortgage.


There is 9 houses left on the plot now and they have been reduced to £145000. Its a 3 bedroom town house which has loads of space with a good garden and parking space. They will include all the kitchen appliances, carpet and laminate throughout, curtains and blinds, Light fittings, solicitors fees, stamp duty, and the cost of a removal company. The difficulty for us will be getting the deposit together by the time we have to leave this house.


We have £10000 in a fixed savings account that we wont use, OH is an obsessed saver and will never leave less than this in the bank. So after this we have £10000 in a joint savings account. We want to try saving a further £10000 by June as well as getting rid of one of my credit cards.


Ill post our new SOA as soon as DS lets me get it typed up.

doodledo_2

Morning Lunar. Congratulations on your 3 year anniversary and the pooling of finances. Sounds like you are in a really good place.

Lots of money coming in too which is fab, I bet you are feeling very motivated at the moment

lunar

Im not going to include my income on the SOA as im not sure how much more I will get paid on maternity before it stops, don't think its too much more now. We will just use anything I get to add extra to savings and overpayments on the debts.


OH income after deductions..........................£3250


Rent................................................................£595
Council Tax....................................................£111
Gas.................................................................£40
Electric...........................................................£40
Water..............................................................£25
House insurance.............................................£16
BT..................................................................£12
Virgin internet................................................£15
TV license......................................................£12
Food and Household......................................£200
DS nappies, clothes, extras............................£100
Travel.............................................................£150
Mobile X 2.....................................................£60
Professional fees me......................................£25
Professional fees OH.....................................£60
BT credit card................................................£45
Virgin Credit card..........................................£25
Barclaycard....................................................£100
Extras.............................................................£50


Total..............................................................£1781
Surplus..........................................................£1469


So if we behave and stick to the budget we can put £1469 between savings and debts as a minimum each month. Hopefully we can be really good and trim things down a bit more. Im going to see what extra bits I can earn form home, vouchers etc and OH is signing up to a locum agency.


We want this house so much I just hope we can get a mortgage in time. I cant wait to not have to get permission to hang a picture up!

lunar

Thanks Doodledo, feeling really motivated. Just got that anxious feeling about the house. it was disapointing last year when we couldnt buy it and i dont want to miss the opportunity now the price has dropped so much.

doodledo_2

Would definately be sad not to take advantage of the massive price drop. In hindsight its a good thing you didn't buy last year.

With your surplus you have huge potential to clear those debts and get another £10k saved

lunar

Ive been looking at mortgages for the last hour, it looks like we will need £30000 in the bank to get a good interest rate! six months saving without overtime will take us up to 19k ish so my OH needs to find £11000 worth of overtime so thats about 11 extra weekends. he is more than happy to work them to get the house we want so much, its just a matter of the work being available. he has sent his CV to 6 locum agencies this weekend so we will have to wait and see. He will give them all a ring later this week. And by working an extra weekend its a 48 hour duty, which will mean he is away from home, it can be anywhere in the country. I just have to think of the benifits i guess.

lunar

Looking at money again last night, i have decided to only make the minimum payments to the credit cards, and save the rest for the house deposit. I wont be debt free this year but once we finish saving for the house it will only take 5 months to clear the credit cards and they are all on 0% for the rest of the year.

I had a no spend day yesterday and OH only spent money on his bus ticket. Today should be the same. Ive got tea cooking in the slow cooker.

Im slowly starting to loose a little weight, im loving the wii fit, and have been using you tube to do a few fitness videos. I wont really loose much while im breast feeding i guess, but as they say 'every little helps'.

doodledo_2

Morning Lunar, sounds like a brilliant plan. To have £30k saved up will be a fantastic achievement and to get the house you want I don't blame you for paying the minimum for now.

Well done on the weight loss too, don't you overdo it with the dieting and exercising whilst you're breast feeding. As that takes so much out of you doesn't it.