single parent with new £70,000 mort to pay off pdq!

Rebob

Well done!!! Keep it up!

gentlepurr

hi all!

just a quick update.

have finally had my council tax adjusted, reduced to £89 per month for the remainder of this year, combination of 25% single occupancy, and the overpayments i have made in the first 3 months.

also got sky for 3 months at half price, so £10.50, instead of £21.

had some excellent shops some weeks, using coupons in tesco's. one week, £26 shop cost me £6 in cash, this week a £9 shop cost me £3.28, and with the vouchers on the back of the pizza boxes that i purchased, got £4 worth of coupons towards my next shop. am saving all the extra cash in 90 day notice a/c, making good headway for a decent overpayment at the end of july.

had 2 weeks holiday, which was already booked and paid for. used my nationwide c/c, and worked out i've saved about £55 using that instead of a normal c/c while abroad. will pay off in full, partly using the spending money i didnt spend on hol.

making great use of my morgan stanley cashback c/c, again paying off in full every month, have £26 cashback to come on the anniverary of opening it next feb. so still feeling bouyant & motivated.

on the downside, had my identity stolen, on my switch card, to the tune of nearly £250, but switch are slowly sorting it out, and have refunded some items. just £138 left to be refunded now.

also on the downside, still not heard from child tax credits, so will have to start chasing them if i dont hear soon.

on the whole, surviving very well!

hope my posts help someone else!

xx

gallygirl

WELL DONE YOU!!!!:j :j :j :j :j :j :j

And all this without CTC - you'll be able to pay off a big chunk when you get the arrears!!:T :T :T

halloweenqueen_2

Good for you gentle purr!!

musey

gentlepurr wrote:

heres my SOA:

also can claim expenses for using car for work, at 0.348p per mile, i have always saved this in a seperate bs a/c, and use this to pay for petrol, car tax and insurance, as it builds up over the months. i have brought a picasso deisil, excellent mpg, low tax, low insurance, and as i need a vehicle for work, its a good option. don't have car loan as this will be paid off when new mortgage starts.

This is the only thing I can spot, and it may not be possible depending on the amount of miles you do for work but the IR mileage allowance is 40p per mile so if your employers are only paying you 34.8p you should be able to claim the tax back on the difference of 5.2p per mile at the end of the tax year. Keep a copy of your mileage claim forms as proof should it be required by the tax office. Also bear in mind you can reclaim overpaid tax back from the last 5 years so that may be worthwhile looking into also.

Contact your tax office for advice.

As we say in our house (and as they say in Tescos) "every little helps"

brranger

It makes me mad to think ctc can stop when a marriage splits up what do they think that the kids magically disappear, My x wife had no money for 3 months and then they tryed to tell here she could not claim back for that time, I'm sure she told them what for!

gentlepurr

thanks musey! had been thinking id got to sort the tax back on my milage, but my company have changed the milage rate three times over the 05/06 tax year, and by default, i have used 3 different vehicles, a 1000 cc petrol, 1400 cc petrol, and a 2000 cc diesil, which makes it a nightmare to sort out the breakdown! will give it a more determined go though.

brranger, i agree entirely!!!! however, have now had my adjustment come through, - and i feel good! its just over £100 per month!

but -

HOT OFF THE PRESSES!!!!!

ive accecpted an offer on my house! so am madly trying to find a new home! have looked at the ones i can afford without a mortgage, and they are like 4 bedrooms, but 3 of them are single rooms, and the main bedrooms are barely double bed size, so think i'm going to stick my neck out and go to up to £35,000 on a mortgage to get something that will give us that bit more space! my son, at 13, needs his privacy, and, for that matter, when i get my life back together, so might i! so am looking at 2 more properties tonight, in the knowledge that i have already been able to do so much, it has given me the confidence to embrace a new mortgage as if it were just a loan for a rather expensive car, that i know i can pay back sooner rather than later! a friend of mine commented that my hobby is in bartering and saving money, and i do admit, its what i enjoy most!

btw, bartered with the solicitor for conveyancing costs this morning, he was gobsmacked, and said nobody had ever done that before. anyway, he said he'd knock £110 off my bill for my cheek!!

xx

Fritha_2

Just read you thread gentlepurr and I'm very impressed and inspired. My and Mr Fritha are trying to pay off our mortgage as well on not a lot of money, I think you've gone about this in a very sensible way and am employing a similar technique myself!

Good Luck with the house hunting, I hope it goes well :-)

nellis10

Hi gentlepurr...

What an inspiration!!

I'm going through a separation with DH at the moment. I have a £72K interest only mortgage (half of it with mum). I have some debt to the tune of about £3K which I am hoping to pay of by July 2007 when 0% CC runs out.

I want to buy mum out of the house for £12K when I get my settlement (not sure how much but hoping for £20-30K) and then try and repay/overpay the £72K by frugality. I have a 2yr old son, so will hopefully get about £200/month in maintenace which should cover what mum was paying into the pot.

I only earn £950/month part-time with £225 in benefits on top.

Anyway jsut wanted to say that looking at your posts...it can be done and bllomin well will be done by me too!!!!!! Thank you!

gentlepurr

hi all!

-and hi nellis10. i am so glad my thread has given inspiration to so many. i have to say, if you're thinking about it, and you know you can be frugal, and do it, grab it with both hands. in the long term, its the best i8nvestment you will ever make! nellis, swift calc says you will have roughly the same as i have comming in, and you sound like you have age on your side, so can afford to have the mortgage over a longer period if necessary. just keep those overpayments rolling in, and you should do fine!

well, i have finally had an offer accepted on a property. the house is much better than i ever hoped we would find, and my son was just "WOW", and that says it all. i love it too, but my son has been through so much this year, with oh and i splitting up, and the prospect of having to move from the home he knows as his security, so to find somewhere that has given my son a lift is just the icing on the cake. i have taken on a £33,000 mortgage, over 15 years (5 year tracker at 0.29% over base) which is just over £250 per month. all things remaining constant, i have worked out i can comfortably afford to pay this off in 6 and a half years. just have to sit tight, and hope that it all goes through ok. we have a completed chain, so fingers x'd for me!

the money i was going to overpay into my current mortgage at the end of this month, i am now keeping to one side towards solicitors, stamp duty, estate agents etc. i have been amazed how quickly the money has mounted up over the last three months (-and how quickly the time has gone!!!!!) and am really looking forward to my new challenge!

xx