The more I try to help myself the worse off I'm becoming

kaom

ikkle87 wrote: »

Do you or your partner buy any of the following?
Magazines - no
Coffee in shops - no
Sandwiches/Dinners at work - no (work from home)
Takeaways - very rarely

Where do you do your food shopping? Wherever the cheapest stuff is by type. My wife is very good at this. So for most of our food we use Aldi. For baby stuff we use Asda. She checks using various websites for the stuff we need (ie essentials)

Do you buy branded items or shops own brands? Aldi only supply their own brands (which are not only cheap but on the whole very good quality). Branded would be nappies only - we've tried others and they're really not as good. plus branded usually have BOGOF somewhere most of the times making them cheaper

Do you all drive to work/school/college? Is it possible to walk/bus/train? work from home

Have you looked at if your with the best provider for gas and electric? we dont have a choice as our place comes with a pre pay meter - although, having read all the nightmares about this type of meter it hasnt been too bad. this is with EDF. our gas is with them so we do get a discount plus we pay by DD to get a further discount

Is moving a little further away to where property is cheaper but your current friends, schools etc are still accessible a possibility? yes an no. we are already looking out of where we live (no choice) but need to be in striking distance of a train to london as I have to occasionally go to the office (once a week) plus I need to be near my children from my first marriage as I see them a lot (i have a good relationship with the ex so i can pop in) - it's really helped them through what isn't a particularly nice thing (divorce)

Could you sort through all your things and see if there is anything you don't need/wear any more and have an ebay session to raise some spare money?
This is a good idea and will do this. although it is only a short term measure

thanks for the reply I've answered your questions honestly. thanks again

ikkle87

With our old house we were with EDF, the electric was pre payment, gas was monthly direct debit. I called them up and asked to have the pre payment meter changed to a normal meter, we then paid both on direct debit each month and the monthly payments actually went down.

Whilst it's not a possibility at the moment when you move in a few months I would definitely look into who your provider in the new property is and do a few checks online to compare you are with the best provider. This might save you a little bit, you could if your buying your own home also look into getting solar panels and checking the property is properly insulated to help keep bills to a minimum.

Does your wife work? Whilst I understand with a small child it's difficult but maybe she could offer an ironing service from home or something similar to earn some extra money.

Do you drive to the train station and pay parking then when you go in to the office? Also do you drive to the exes? Is it possible you could cycle at all?

pimento

300k for a three bed house? Move somewhere cheaper.

kaom

My wife always gives me a lift to train station. I get my train fare paid for by the company so I don't need to worry about that.

Cycling is not an option because either the kids are with me and/or there isn't enough time remaining in the day/evening (and I love cycling and do cycle)

kaom

pimento wrote: »

300k for a three bed house? Move somewhere cheaper.

I would love to move out of the SE of England tbh, but it;s not an option. at least not if I want to be real dad to my kids (which I do). Not a move I can make until they're at uni at the earliest - some 8 years off

pimento

I live in the south east, I earn about the same as you. My partner doesn't work and we have a child at university. OK, I don't have an ex but I pay a mortgage of about £500 a month and my train fares are £4300 a year and we're not struggling.

I'm wondering what you're doing different to me.

kaom

pimento wrote: »

I live in the south east, I earn about the same as you. My partner doesn't work and we have a child at university. OK, I don't have an ex but I pay a mortgage of about £500 a month and my train fares are £4300 a year and we're not struggling.

I'm wondering what you're doing different to me.

you pay £500 a month for your mortgage - where as I pay £1200. Plus I have the £500 payment to my ex. I don't have a train fare of £358 but on these basic calcs you have over £800 more per month than I do.

pimento

Well I pay into a pension to the tune of £250 a month and I give my son £100 a month and I don't have digital telly or a mobile phone contract. You also have 52k savings that I don't have so I think we're about equal.

Your mortgage would be less if you moved somewhere cheaper. I mean, I live in a fairly pricy area and for £300k you can buy a 4/5 bed detached house. Still only 50 mins from London.

You do what you have to do.

pimento

How much would your mortgage repayments be if you paid the £52k into that?

Without seeing a SOA it's hard to say.

kaom

mine's rent, not a mortgage. I explain the predicament in the OP. I bought my first house back in 1999, it was much easier then as house prices were much (much) lower. I had paid of my mortgage by the time I got divorced so I'm pretty good with finances but I can tell you that as of 2012 things are very very different and are much more difficult. I've brought some of this upon myself ie the divorce but the rest is out of my hands