Boarding the Bus of Positivity (for 24 months of travels!)

debtfreesomeday

It would've been a NSD for us today, but we needed petrol so that was about £50 gone.
We had a tough morning as Ds hasn't been particularly well, and DH left for work early, so I threw our things in the car, drove to a free parking spot in town we often use, put ds in the pushchair and then just walked! I walked us along the lovely Coastal path all the way to meet my MIL in the next village; had a cuppa with her and then walked back. 12 miles later and lots of blisters, I was soooo glad to get back to the car!

Ds is now in bed, I just hope he sleeps well tonight so I can catch up on some sleep. I'm feeling exhausted.

Chocforever

Blimey, you should both sleep soundly tonight! You must be shattered.

Pleased to hear the rain cover was back in stock so you could get it without spending any cash.

I can see myself getting addicted to running. Regarding SB, this is another thing I could get addicted to and is less good for me! If you are regularly filling in surveys, think about giving SB a go instead. The site is not perfect, but it is more generous with survey rewards and there is a greater variety of surveys. There is also other stuff on there which can consume much time for a small reward. It depends on whether you have much spare time.

debtfreesomeday

Thanks for the info chocs, will check out SB's today methinks.

I've been naughty and bought a Boots meal deal for lunch today. Couldn't face HM soup again after having it for lunch all weekend and on hardly any sleep again last night. Needed some solid food I could munch on! Going to see if I can replicate their chicken & cous cous salad bowl at home as it's gorgeous.

I also picked up a less-than-half-price gift for my MIL - a gift box of little perfumes which she loves and I always find them difficult to find at reasonable prices - reduced from £30+ to £9.95. Have duly noted these spends in the spending diary I started at the weekend.

debtfreesomeday

Forgot to mention, I found 2 x £1 coins in my bag today - shame that doesn't happen every day!

Chocforever

Some good results today. The salad sounds lovely and I know what you mean about getting tired of HM soup. I tend to make a batch, really enjoy it at the beginning and then end up wasting it because I feel like eating something else.

I think you have more common sense than me, but if you do get addicted to reaching the target on SB, please don't blame me

The DVD I listed on Amazon sold within a few hours and I discovered I had enough credit in my Post Office account to pay for the postage which was good. Netted me £7. Shame I don't have any more things I can pop on Amazon.

About a quarter of one of my back teeth cracked and fell off today . It seems to have come off, even below the gum line. I'm not sure why it isn't hurting that much given the gap or whether this is a good or bad sign. I can't get in to see a dentist until later in the week so hope it doesn't get any worse. I can see this being expensive to sort out .

debtfreesomeday

Took a look at the SB site Chocs, but the website gave me a bit of a headache to be honest! I think I'll have to take another look when I have more time/am feeling like more of a challenge!

Fab result on the DVD sale. It amazes me how quickly things can sell on Amazon sometimes.

to the tooth issue. I hope you get it sorted soon and it doesn't cost a fortune. You've reminded me, I need to book dental appointments for all three of us, not looking forward to DS's first trip to the dentist, I think it'll be tricky getting him to sit still, let alone open his mouth!

debtfreesomeday

Now, I'm after a bit of advice from anyone reading TBH.

Our initial long term plan was to move back to the area I'm from, to be closer to my family, but unfortunately, due to the job situation there and the price of houses, it's extremely unlikely to happen unless we win the lottery, so I've accepted a while ago, we need to make the most of our life wherever we are.

We have a nice, modern 3 bed house which we are so lucky to live in, thanks to the generosity of my parents, whom we pay back £350 a month, yet we are officially the sole owners of a mortgage-free house on paper (all done legally, through a solictor). We are eternally grateful to my parents for helping us so much.

However, I am quite unhappy in this house. It doesn't feel like home or a place to feel at ease, mainly because it is quite overlooked and the position of the house means that our back garden is to the front of the house on the road leading into the cul-de-sac. I feel like we don't have any privacy and I don't particularly like spending time in the house. Plus, we need more space. Downstairs, we have ample space, but we ideally would like another bedroom for family to come and stay as mine live so far away. IF, and that's a BIG if, we ever had another little one, we would have to utilise the spare room, which means we would have nowhere for my parents to come and stay, which would not be an option. Also, DS's room is a tiny box room in which we can't fit much furniture for storage in. The bedrooms are very small, we have 1 cupboard upstairs which doubles as our wardrobe. There is no storage in the house and despite clearing/decluttering every room, we have nowhere to put anything! You get the picture.

We have found a lovely house a few miles away which would be ideal for us. 4 beds, new, but with large rooms and in a nice quiet area with a large garden and plenty of privacy.

The only thing is, it would require us to get a mortgage, of about £60-£65K, depending on how much our house would sell for. Over 20 years (although I'd prefer it over 15), it would equate to about £320 a month, which is over £200 less than we're paying on debt at the moment, so with no debt, it would be affordable.

My questions to anyone in the know, are:

1. can we consolidate our loan/cc debt into a mortgage and 'add it on' so to speak?

2. Would we be crazy to get a mortgage, when we are mortgage free? Should we wait 7-10 years to be able to afford to move by saving money instead?

My parents never had a mortgage, and we have never either, so I am a bit frightened of them to be honest. I know my parents would be concerned about us getting one, as they are very anti-debt (they don't know about our debts) and they would probably think we were mad to do so. I just don't want them feeling like we're not grateful for what they have done for us already.

Some thoughts and advice would be so very welcome.

Thank in advance
X

debtfreesomeday

Just sold 'item 1' locally for £50

Chocforever

A quick reply as I've just got in from work :eek:

Go for it. Don't be afraid of the mortgage sounding like a lot of money. I would spread the payments over 25 years to reduce the monthly commitment but get a mortgage where you can overpay when you can. You may find you can clear it in 10 years, but it just gives you that flexibility if, for whatever reason, you unexpectedly find yourselves short of cash for a period.

You will be putting a huge amount of equity in the house so the lender will be taking no risk. There is nothing saying you have to put all the proceeds of your current house into the new place, so you could just say you have £10k less to contribute to the new house, if you see what I mean, and use it to pay off your debt.

Another good reason to move now is that there are great mortgage rates at the moment for those with at least 30% equity. There is no sign of house prices changing much, so why wait to move house at a later date?

wantabetterlife

My take on it would be that if you are 100% certain that you can live far away from your family for the forseable future then go for it.
If you think that you will always be yearning to live closer to your mum and dad then i would hold off. I personally dont think you are ever going to truly settle where you are now...the bond you have with your parents is too strong and you are always so torn about wanting to live close to them. If you change houses you are going to have the extra debt which will more or less replace the debt repayments that you make now and if you have another child you will have increased child care and probably be working less hours. All those things are going to make the possibility of ever moving so much harder.
I know i sound really negative and a few years ago i really wanted to change to a bigger house too, now i am of the mindset that a house is just a house and it does not make you happy...the people in your life make you happy. We live in a three bed semi and are expecting our forth child and we have no itention of moving anywhere.
My priority is to be able to work part time and pay the bills in a house we can afford and where we are not stressed out counting every penny...happy parents make happy children.
It really is a tough decision for you DFSD and one only you and your OH can make...whatever you decide me and chocs will be here to support you