MSE Pregnancy Club V

mollythewestie

tarajayne wrote: »

Right, house opinions.

It's the money that worries me, Our house was worth £445k, now I reckon £385. Our mortgage has approx £108k. We could remortgage now for £15k more and it would cost the same each month and we would just do the extension for that. Or we could borrow £20k and have the velux windows, bi-fold doors, oak floor etc and it would be an extra 20 quid a month. OH obsessed with not paying any more a month but is it something anyone else would be worried about. Should we just say !!!!!! and do it as it would add more than that to the value, I'm fed up with thinking about it.

Hi Tara,

We remortgaged our house to do some improvements (kitchen knocked through into dining room, brand new appliances, all rooms redecorated, gardens landscaped etc.) so we are now paying more mortgage per month to pay for it.

We could have skimped and used savings to do an "ok" job, but we decided in the end to have "exactly" what we wanted and buy higher quality.

In our case it was so worth it, I love my kitchen and still can't believe it is just as I imagined it would be. Before I met with DH, money was very tight and still worry about splashing out on things too, but I say go for what you want, but only if you can afford it. You have plenty of equity in the house to cover an extra £20k mortgage. HTH

tarajayne

feelinggood wrote: »

How comfortably can you afford your current repayments? I think that would be what would swing it for me, if you are managing to overpay mortgage or save, and would be able to handle a temporary reduction in income, then I'd go for it. Personally, I've never gone for the 'adding value' thing - I don't think you can really count on that, especially now. I suppose you have to work out what it is worth to you. Would the extra £5k make a big difference to your enjoyment? Is OH is stable employment? How long are you planning to stay in the house?

Your brain works like mine. Adding value we are good at, that's how we got here. Up until now we have done work on a shoestring, I haven't been happy with it but it added value so we moved on and sold. I'm tired of moving so for the 1st time I'm doing this for me. We won't move for a few years now. Last year other half saved £5-£6k which he has kept as a back up, he likes the idea of having it especially while we go down to one wage for a while. We did however spend £2.5k+ on holidays last year which is not gonna happen again for a long time. He has a good job and can work privately at £30 hr. Our mortgage is £730 month. Surely another £20 is not so bad. I'm so confused as I seem to be overthinking this.

angelfairy

ChasingButterflies wrote: »

Sorry everyone - not had a chance to catch up yet but angelfairy re the tens machine I think this one is fantastic http://www.boots.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatalogSearchResultView?storeId=10052&catalogId=11051&langId=-1&pageSize=12&beginIndex=0&sType=SimpleSearch&resultCatEntryType=2&searchTerm=maternity+tens&x=46&y=7

I hired one for dd1 that was not that good, I bought this when pg with ds1 for backache and then went on to use it in labour for both ds1 and dd2 (with a little bit of gas and air to help me along the way) It has loads of different mode so you can find one to suit you and most importantly is easy to use!!

Any questions feel free to post/pm and I can answer the other side of the school run.

thanks for that

i was actually the one i had been looking at buying but wanted to get some opinions first.

Nicki

Hi Tara

On the house, I'm naturally cautious, so would probably just do the extension now, with a view to doing the floor and windows etc in a few years time when hopefully economy has settled and you know whether you will be staying in the house for a while and what your post last child joint family income and outgoings are (you did say you intended this one to be the last of many didn't you?).

On the car, thanks for your suggestions. I'm googling them now!

Millie's_Mum

Tara, I know its only an extra £20 at the moment but mortgage rates aren't going to be this low long term, how would you cope if the mortgage rate went up to 6% (as mine was a couple of years ago) if you can still manage comfortably and have no worries about losing jobs/reductions in income then go for it, it would be lovely to have everything done the way you want it.

feelinggood_2

I don't want to wash up

tarajayne

Millie's_Mum wrote: »

Tara, I know its only an extra £20 at the moment but mortgage rates aren't going to be this low long term, how would you cope if the mortgage rate went up to 6% (as mine was a couple of years ago) if you can still manage comfortably and have no worries about losing jobs/reductions in income then go for it, it would be lovely to have everything done the way you want it.

The extra £20 is if we fix it now at a 10yr rate. We currently pay a higher rate.

I can also guarantee that if we make do OH will never change it, he will not pay out a second time so I will be stuck with it.

tarajayne

School run, back in a bit!

astonsmummy

shellsuit wrote: »

Silly question but I know you ladies will give me an honest answer!

If you were getting married next year and wanted to do it on a budget ~ had seen a dress for sale now and it was £350, but you could get it on eBay for £70 (inc postage oh and its brand new with tags in the padded bag) would you go for it? Is it too early to be looking or would you think sod it, at that price I'll get it now?
Also would it matter if it were a size too big? (ie, buy it in a 14 but you want to be a 12 for your wedding)
Would you go for it? Yay or nay??

I was told to buy the dress in your size, as then you are not fretting over loosing the weight to get inot it, afterall your OH wants to marry you so wether your a size 12 or 14 is a bit irrelevant
Saying that though, there are china ladies who can knock up a replica of virtually any dress you want for under £150.

MrsTine wrote: »

I just wrote a long reply about how I just don't get how you ladies put up with so much from your OHs... but I think it ended up as "my husband is perfect" and a little patronising which wasn't the intention...
But seriously... how on earth do you put up with that kind of behaviour??
Just makes me even happier than I found him though

My OH has been a right bastage to me in the past, he does still have his moments, but none of the aggressiveness or anything like that, but I think alot of the time it was both of us bouncing off eachother, I seem to attract/go for wronguns, but then apparently it's a cycle because of what my dad was like ho hum, we cant all have perfect lives.

astonsmummy

tiamai_d wrote: »

How'd you other pregnant ladies stay up late at night? I've been ready for bed since 8pm! Need to be in bed by 10pm or I am so tred and sickly in the morning! tygj

ggggg

DH having a wee mess about there... Bed time for me, still not done the ironing, sod it, will get DH to do it in the morning.

I was in bed falling asleep before wild at heart had even got halfway through last night, I rarely make it to 10 pm! :rotfl: