Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

getmore4less

newgirly wrote: »

Get more for less, i did state above £120 for clothes food, school bits and meals out etc. With limited money sometimes it means not spending on other stuff to accommodate unplanned things, ie. Meal out -raid the freezer and spend less on food that month.

This will be the main ongoing problem too many things unplanned.
Using a catch all just does not work and is not budgeting properly.

Your catch all is too small for things it needs to cover.


I've rung the mortgage company again today and asked for an appointment after they sent me yet more stuff today saying I should be paying off my mortgage, would I like to extend the term or go repayment :cool: yet another advisor has said we may take your wages into account , I very much doubt it but its worth the 45min phone call on weds, you never know.
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The crisis looming is because you believed you could go repayment or extend term at any time, this was never a given even before the more recent mortgage review.

Anyway I think an extended term to make the min payment for a repayment schedule much more realistic is the way forward, I would resist the temptation to go repayment unless they are willing to extend a significant amount.

Do a proper budget and work out what would be a more comfortable payment and an easy one, then work out what terms they need to be, that will give 3 options the current 7 years a two more manageble.

That way you can go into any discussions armed with the result you want rather than a guess and hope for the best.

getmore4less

Don't sell the rings.

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Morning NewGirly, you seem to be experiencing a maelstrom of noise but it is all meant to help and support you.

Re the rings - with the family history I would be very loathe to sell them. Those are memories for your girls for the future too.

You've had some good advice - definitely work out what you need each month to live and my advice would be OP as much of the rest as possible.

7 years is no time at all and will fly by. Plan a big family holiday for year 8 when you're all dine.

Best wishes, Tilly x x x

edinburgher

Even if you don't sell the rings, start an emergency fund. Behave like a DFW and start small. Try and get to £500, then £1,000 and so on. Don't tell yourself 'that won't even pay for x' as an excuse to avoid getting started, something is always better than nothing!

Goldiegirl

OMG, I seem to have started an open season on newgirly:o


But at least it's started an open and honest dialogue, and lots of ideas have been put forward.


Probably the best thing to do now is to prepare for the meeting about the mortgage on Wednesday.


Best case scenario - they allow you to amend the terms of your mortgage, to allow you to stabilise and normalise the situation. Then you'll have the opportunity to save an emergency fund and then think about clearing your unsecured debts and start to over pay on the mortgage.


Worst case scenario - they don't allow any change. Then you'd probably need to pull in your belt and throw everything at the mortgage to try and clear it within the 7 years. By reducing the mortgage, even if you don't clear it in full, all is not lost - you would be much more likely to meet their lending criteria, and you'd more than likely be able to renegotiate at the end of 7 years (or sooner).


Regarding the rings - Only sell if there is no other option, and we're nowhere near that point yet.


We're all on your side

newgirly

Thanks everyone I very much doubt if the mortgage will be altered in anyway, and it will end up being chuck it all at the mortgage. I already had in the back of my mind that we may end up owing a loan sized balance at the end of seven years, we have no problems getting credit still. Obviously this is very much to be avoided though, with no guarantee of being possible.

Next on today's hit list is the holiday, its all paid for up front and my parents owe us for their chunk , which is to be our spending money. I've had a chat with dh and we are altering our plans, we will not be eating out at the carvery as planned £17 per head not incl drinks :eek: and I'm budgeting £20 per person for pre booked activities for the whole week, as apposed to the £30 per person type activies we had hoped to do. I will take all food and drink and just take some money for a few drinks whilst out. Petrol fill up using g the Mr t discount voucher I've saved for 18p off per litre.

Goldie girl, many thanks for the support and everyone else , it means an awful lot for people to take the time to try and help, especially when it can be quite frustrating.

Off on yet another tangent, i could use the ring as an emergency fund?.

Polly_Wolly_Doodle

Please don't sell the rings. For all you'd get for them it's not worth it, especially when you've just said how sentimental you are about things.


However I don't think Eric is worth it, you're not using him, you stated your reasons to keep the Zafira, so sell Eric and buy another later when it is a planned researched purchase!


Can I ask what ages you and DH will be in 6 years and 10 months? Also do you have retirement ages / destinations in mind? Just wondering how long you will stay in your house for, probably a silly question given all the family you have around you.


And FWIW we were all given the option whether to celebrate our 18ths or our 21sts and we weren't hard up, so just another thing to add to your thoughts, you are not obliged to fund everything xx

newgirly

Hi Polly wolly doodle, we will be 47 and 49 when it ends. We always planned on moving a bit further out when the kids have gone , but where we are is really OK, for when we are older, everything is very close to hand and the travel links are fantastic. We could only really downsize to a flat ,but that would be still not far off our price anyway so probably pointless.

We both have small pensions mines tiny though, retirement planning will be after the mortgage is gone, partly funded by renting out then factory hopefully. At the moment it would provide about £25 k a year. - needs paying off though first.

newgirly

Right, money left from the renovation budget, instead of oping it all I've balanced this months budget , so I don't get unbalanced due to the meal out, I've set the budget for food etc.so will stick to it. The surplus has gone to paying for DDS school bus which was also going to be squeezed from the monthly budget. Its more realistic, and its the last year I will pay for the bus,the boys are likely to go locally to college.

I can't do that any more,the budget has to just pay for what its intended to.

The holiday budget is £50 food to take, £50 petrol, £99.25 just spent on pre booked activities, £240 cash - £60 per night budget for everything else ,extra activities, drinks etc.

Grocery spends at £24.70 petrol at £30 since last Thursday.

Alchemilla

I am for keeping the rings.
I am also for saying to the people you are trying to keep up with "We can't switch our mortgage to repayment because of the new affordability rules and so we have to save to pay that off in seven years."
There is zero shame in that.