Rock Bottom?

bettie_paige_2

At the beginning of the year, OH and I bought our first house together. I already owned a flat and am now renting it out.

We got gazumped on the house purchase and ended up paying 10k over the asking price. In hindsight we should have walked away, but I was far too emotionally invested.

The house needed some work and once we had started, we discovered that far more work needed than first thought. (New central system, competely rewired, replastered etc,.) and long story short, we had to get a loan to cover the work.

With the loan added to hefty mortgage payments, plus my credit card debt of 1.8k and overdraft, we have between the two of us about £500 disposable income and the majority of this is spent on petrol and food. I am paying off my debt at the rate of £100 a month.

We have no furniture except a couple of bits brought from the flat (most was left for the tenants). Nor carpet, or curtains.

We have the best deals available on utilities and do not spend on a cleaner. We have Sky but only pay £10 a month as got an employee friends & family discount. I have a gym membership of £58 but am locked into a contract (though actually visit the gym 2-3 times daily). We rent out our field (a horse is a long way down the list!)

We do not go out socialising, have stopped drinking even at home as alcohol is so expensive, do not have takeaways. I have not bought clothes in years, and am vast running out of work clothes as the old things are actually falling apart. Everything I don't need has gone on ebay, old mobiles on mazuma, I do polls and surveys every day (but have never received a payment from any of them!) and every online purchase including insurance and utilities is done online on quidco.

I have a decent job which I enjoy, and between the two of us, we earn a very good salary; 80k. I have no idea how people earning this much can be so strapped.

I know I have a lot to be grateful for, I have two properties and a car. But we don't have two pennies to rub together and are miserable. And I don't see a way out of my solution. Quite simply we bought a house which was too expensive and we can't do anything about it. We had the house revalued but because of it's "shell like" status it's worth less than when we bought it, so selling is not an option.

Any advice or help greatly appreciated.

Thanks

gratefulforhelp_2

Post an SOA? Link at the top of the board. Its that thing of feeling you have to go forwards with the house, you can't go back? Can you sell the flat?

RAS

Hi

Will post a series of links later, so refresh your page at intervals.

Firstly, do you use www.freegle.org.uk as this offers free stuff (also freecycle). You may get furniture, household goods, linen, paint, as well as clothes etc.

Secondly explore Eager Learner's thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2132075.

And think about visiting the Old Style forum as well http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=33.

if you have a field, you probably have a decent sized garden? In which case can you grow some of your own food? Keep a couple of chickens? see the gree forum here.

Explore freebies and offers forums as well.

Are things to difficult for a lodger to be an option?

Hannah_10

Not meaning to sound harsh about this, but that debt you have is a choice you're actively making for the sake of the possessing of the items you have at your disposal. Sit down with your partner and evaluate how worth it is the notion of possessing these items? Would not simply having the use of these items and also tens of thousands of pounds a year to do with as you wish not seem a better use of the one short life we each have? Quetions like that border on philosophy, so you want to be setting aside plenty of time to truly consider them, not just coming up with a quick answer to reply here. What are you really impoverishing yourself for?

All too often the answers are deeper than the obvious first responses, so it's worth mulling this over a while.

mostlycheerful

“I do polls and surveys every day (but have never received a payment from any of them!)”

You sound intelligent, hard working, with it, lively, keen and motivated so perhaps instead of polls and surveys which don’t pay have a go at buying in stuff to resell on ebay, amazon, qxl, loot etc and once you’ve tried out 5 or 10 or 20 things you’ll likely probably find some good repeat sellers and make a fortune. Also have a look at affiliate marketing, which, for instance, this site makes its money from, and, with your level of energy, also have a look at multi level marketing as you would probably be very good at it and whereas a lot of people dip into it and don’t follow through, you sound like you have the nervous intensity to make a go of anything in business and sales. Yeah, you could be making big money in sales. And probably in any field. And you can do it evenings and weekends and then when it kicks in and regularly makes more than your current highly paid job you may consider going full time and renting business premises and hiring staff and all the rest of it. If you do this then perhaps let us know as it could be useful and inspiring for other people.

Good luck.

bettie_paige_2

Thanks everyone for your helpful responses. Hannah, please don't think that we are materialistic in any way; this isn't a situation that we have got ourselves into for being too greedy, rather having unexpected costs which we did not anticipate (ie my season ticket alone - when the sale was agreed my season ticket was £77/month cheaper than what it currently is now as it went up an astronomical amount!

I am locked into an 18 month contract with my tenants but when this is up we shall certainly review whether it is feasible to keep it on at the expense of our current lifestyle. It was supposed to be a long term investment, and hopefully in 18 months we shall have found a way to ease the situation and so shall not be forced to sell - especially as with CGT we shall receive less for it than if we had sold in the first instance when buying the current place.

RAS, we have 4 chickens! They earn their keep and I do sell to friends for £1 a box so this helps. This afternoon I am making plum jam to hopefully take to our village hall produce sale. When the house is in a bit more of a hospitable state a lodger would certainly be an option; I used to have one in the flat when I lived there, but right now the lodger would need to bring their own furniture and I'm not sure we'd get anyone prepared to put up with a house resembling a building site...

Mostly cheerful - thanks - I shall look into this. I already work in a related field and do have the motivation to work in my own time. I don't envisage a career change because quite simply I love what I do but anything I can do to supplement this is a winner!

I do tend to go from being very positive and grateful for all that I have to feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all!

Hannah_10

I don't think of you as greedy and materialistic don't worry, just normal.

I think it's the way British culture is that we're pushed the idea of home ownership as the grand goal and that we all have to do it and must never ever sell up and rent or make a loss as to do so would make us lesser people. Over on the continent where they aren't pushed by the same conventions there is a lot less of the type of unhappy situation you outline and I wonder sometimes, if people were encouraged to question what they really get from it, would so many of them stay stuck in the unhappiness trap?

I'm not predicting your answers in this situation, just encouraging you to question it harder, with the hope you'll find the process helpful. I get a bit philosophical like that

dancingfairy

Hi - Ithink doing the SOA is a good move - 1) it might show up arrears where people think you can make a saving or 2) it might show loads left over at the end of the month which never materialises - in which case a spending diary can show you where holes are in your budget as lots of people have loads left at the end of the month on paper but little in reality.
Also with the SOA you might be able to see if you can restructure the debt - ie move it from a high interest credit card to a lower interest one etc, it'll also show you the best way to pay things off.
Are there any things on your SOA which you will have finished paying for soon - ie one credit card gone or something you've just cancelled which will start to make a difference in a few months?
How much more work can you afford on the house at the moment?
Loads of things to think about there.
df

Butti

In terms of curtains you may be able to make some or pick some up at a charity shop. They are quite a common item in charity shops and I am about to drop a pair off myself.

If you need a tip on how to make them drop me a line.
B