My SOA: the start of a long, long road......

regularsaver1

so if you have stopped paying into the isa's to eventually repay the mortgage (which i appreciate you no longer can do) how's the mortgage going to be repaid later

you have £12k - doing what at this time - as its not going to grow to £290k - so would it be worthwhile using it somewhere else in the mean time to help you out?

I think the £800 for all the other stuff and extras could be possibly cut down?

Good luck

Rallya

lifebegins wrote:

Income 4772

You earn in a month what I earn in a year :rotfl:

regularsaver1

when i read it before Rallya i thought that was annual

but looking at the SOA of the OP the outgoings are comparitive with house price ect - but could be cut in some areas

cleanyspringy

I just want to congratulate you on having the lightbulb momment! It can feel like the best and the worst thing all at the same time. So here is my suggestions to help!

hey there - just a little sumint - Hair cuts- I told my hairdresser that I just couldnt afford £90 to have my hair done. So now she come to mey house once every 3 months and I pay her £25/??? Do you think that would help.

Window Cleaner - Get rid - that can become a family activity! you only spend most of your time looking out the chosen few anyway!

Xmas/Birthdays Etc - the sales are on now. Make a list of people that you will be buying for over the next 6 months. Set a budge of £5 each for bdays - oyu will be amazd at what you can find!

Ebay - this wa a great help for me when i needed sum money - It may seem like hard work to begin with but it really helps. Start puttint the kids items on there. You will be amazed what sells.

Going Out - How many times do you go out. You mentioned that you were going 2 get your cook books out. entertaining at home is great too!

Summer Holidays - Start looking on the freebies site now for things to do with the kids. There is some great stuff on here as well.

Holidays - Have you got one booked this year??

Boots - Have you got an advantage card - register yourself for all there items on line. They have some great bonus points on here and maybe that can help with your toiltires. Or little treats for the kids or even xmas presents

Tesco - get you card at the ready. If you do your shopping here and fill you car - they will reward you in the long run.

My final question - how much is your house worth. How do you feel about remortaging to clear some of your debts?

Pobby

Hmmmmm,I have my doubts about IO mortgages.It takes a great discipline to save into a repayment vehicle and imo opinion will bite many people in the rear end at the end of the term.In effect you are renting from the bank and I have seen properties that are cheaper to rent than the cost of an IO mortgage.

Do you have much equity in the house.?If it`s more than your debt I would feel inclined to sell and perhaps consider renting.With your income it would be easy to save hard with no debt repayment.I feel that we could be looking at a market correction over the next few years which would be a good time to buy again.

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Just to forewarn you, with regards to AMEX 4.9% balance transfers, these are being refused at the moment, they do say that existing customers can do them, but a lot of people are being refused as "not meeting the criteria". The oddity here is that you are allowed to spend on the card, but not allowed the balance transfer. Hop across the to Credit Card section and follow the thread on AMEX there!!

Good luck

AMD

Josie64

our house insurance - buildings and contents with pearl for approx 18 month and that includes accidental/subsidence as well!

lifebegins

Thanks for the great ideas/advice and I'm so impressed at how positive you've all been!
The hairdresser tip is great, I'll ask mine next time I go, and I've suggested buying clippers and doing OH and DS myself, although that didn't seem to go down with them too well.
I've cut the Summer holiday budget from 2500 last year to 400 this (I've just arranged 2 weeks camping/ visiting relatives who live near the sea) so that's a big improvement.
Drove an extra 4 miles to go to Asda (instead of Sainsbury's ) and spent 68 pounds for a week's shopping with menu's worked out already- unheard of for me, and I usually spend over 100. But must do better.
Have dug out a load of stuff for e-bay, but yet to work out how to list them- next job.
The house question is horrible for me. We are very lucky to have a large amount of equity in the house (our mortgage is less than half it's value but don't forget we're both crumblies in our early 40's so bought our 1st house 15 years ago) so could re-mortgage again if we want a mortgage over 300K (aaagh!!) and if they'd give it to us, but evrything I read says don't do it unless it's the last last last resort. I'm totally committed to reducing our outgoings/ max'g income and will review later in year on my OH's deadline for the selling decision.
If we'd known then (before moving) what was going to happen re. job, of course we wouldn't have taken on such a big mortgage and if our situation doesn't improve I think we'll just have to sell. But we love the house, area, neighbours, the kids have friends down the road etc. and it'll cost 30K to move!!
I know we're luckier than some people on this forum because we seem to have a good income, but like most of you guys our situation is pretty similar: the sums seemed to work out fine until circumstances changed (OH lost job), things got worse and I finally got that sick feeling of realisation that I might lose my home unless BIG changes are made quickly.
AMILLIONDOLLARS: I got accepted for the 4,9% LOB transfer card in April but haven't done the transfer yet, I called yesterday and they confirmed have until Oct to do the transfer so looks like I was just in time. It sounds very dodgy if they are just refusing the cheap balance transfer part of applications , what difference does it make where the debt comes from (spending/ bt's) surely they should just look at whether you can afford repayments?
Off for a cheap night in!!

bonnie_2

2500 on summer holiday budget down to £400, you can't afford it. Do your shopping at tescos and get a clubcard for free days out.
I refuse to spend a penny in school holidays, we do the free activities run by the council, visit freinds etc.
We are a family of four and can live very well on £2622 a month.
My shopping comes to £70 a week plus £10 amonth for cleaning stuff.

lifebegins

You're right bonnie, I've just got to change my mindset: 400 is good in comparison to last year but way too much in comparison to our debt!

The camping part will only cost 95 pounds, and the stay with rellies is free apart from helping out with food costs and getting them a gift. I'm sure we can do better than 400. What does anyone else spend on an "away from home" holiday?