Difference between affording to buy & affording to RUN the house?

Memory_Girl

................ and you will have time to save before the children arrive to smooth the costs too.

BTW - it CAN be done. I am running a five bedroom, two children and on my own as a self-employed "bit of everythinger".

Our family income is about £800 PCM and I still in a position to overpay a mortgage.

Pop over to MSE Old Style and learn a few skills that will carry you through brilliantly ............. and well done for thinking about all of this before you jump in.

Good luck finding the perfect new home.

MG

AndyPK

I would think house insurance should be at least £200/year if not more.
Food maybe low.

I would find a cheaper gym.

AndyPK

Don't forget furniture and contence. 10-15k.

pcgtron

Memory_Girl wrote: »

................ and you will have time to save before the children arrive to smooth the costs too.

BTW - it CAN be done. I am running a five bedroom, two children and on my own as a self-employed "bit of everythinger".

Our family income is about £800 PCM and I still in a position to overpay a mortgage.

Pop over to MSE Old Style and learn a few skills that will carry you through brilliantly ............. and well done for thinking about all of this before you jump in.

Good luck finding the perfect new home.

MG

How the hell do you run a 5 bedroom house on 800 a month, Your mortgage must be nearly non existent.
Our total bills in our household come to approx £1500 a month, including food. We have a 7 month old baby and whilst money is tight, you do manage. My mortgage alone is £750 of that

SG27

pcgtron wrote: »

How the hell do you run a 5 bedroom house on 800 a month, Your mortgage must be nearly non existent.
Our total bills in our household come to approx £1500 a month, including food. We have a 7 month old baby and whilst money is tight, you do manage. My mortgage alone is £750 of that

Probably bought years ago when prices were much lower so has a tiny mortgage by today's standards! I have friends who bought recently with mortgages alone much more than that and only 2/3 bed houses!

moneyshoe

I know you don't want to hear that you 'just manage' but you do. Before we had No1 we thought we couldn't manage on just My mat pay and hubbie's salary. We managed so well that I saved most of my mat pay, husband gave up work to be a stay at home dad and when we eventually have no. 3 I still expect to be able to take 9 months off....

Yes you can still get washable nappies- you can get them cheap on ebay or free on free cycle (often unused too). If your wife feeds the baby herself too then there is no spend on milk, bottles, etc. you will be given more clothes than the baby can wear and if not ebay and free cycle are your friends. I doubt either of you will have time for the gym for the first 6 months - year. What about trying running instead? I run 20-30 miles a week and you could do free parkrun events for a bit of excitement. Maybe exchange your sky package for a freesat one + an online lovefilm (£5/ month). Maybe you could cut back on a car if your wife isn't working- I walked/ bussed everywhere during mat leave (it also makes up for not going to the gym). I'm pretty sure you will manage. Good luck

amnblog

You have made no provision for life insurance premiums when you take on this major new debt.

Also, you will probably find that B&Q will start eating into your income.

Remember, when the roof leaks or the boiler blows you won't have a landlord to pay for it.

theoretica

How do those expenses compare with what you have now renting? If they are similar and you should have £600 left over now, do you really have this money going into savings (or holidays etc) and know where it has gone?

When you first move you will be tempted by a lot of one off expenses. May I sing the praises of starting out with charity shop -or freecycled- furniture. And especially of not buying stuff on pay later deals. A few months down the line when things have settled you can look again and see if you can afford, and want, to change for stuff you like better.

Similarly with the TV/Broadband/phone - if you start with the free or cheapest then you can always upgrade and this is easier than trying to downgrade on a contract.

SG27

amnblog wrote: »

You have made no provision for life insurance premiums when you take on this major new debt.

Also, you will probably find that B&Q will start eating into your income.

Remember, when the roof leaks or the boiler blows you won't have a landlord to pay for it.

Life insurance £6 pm

B&q probably £250-£300 for the first 3 months! And there's still little bits we want to get done!

JustAnotherSaver

Well we went to view the house yesterday & we both agreed that we don't see it as being worth the money. It is probably about the right valuation based on the area & what it is, but when we got in there & had a look around, we just weren't 'wowed'.

This was our first ever property viewing & i must say - do people not care about their house once they decide to sell? The walls were a state with stains all over them. The landing bannister looked like it had had dogs chewing at it as the spindles were half gone.

We'd probably value it at £20k less than it's listed, but it's already been dropped £5k. According to Zoopla it was bought by the current owners in 2008 for an extra £20k on what they're selling it at now. We're not even going to bother going in £20k lower as no way would anyone take that.

AndyPK wrote: »

I would think house insurance should be at least £200/year if not more.

Why? I did a quote for the house & that's what it returned.

Food maybe low.

We're having a re-think & budget about £200/month now.

I would find a cheaper gym.

There really isn't one (for me). £30/month is very cheap here. There are SOME cheaper ones, but really not by much. I've tried them out but they're so tiny, so lacking in equipment that it's almost a waste of time.
Add to this that my gym is one of the very few (possibly only) gyms in the area that you're not restricted on machines. All the others i've been a member of, once you've been on a machine for 10 minutes, if someone else comes along you're supposed to give it up.

But i thought of something on the lines of this....

Sorry if i was being offensive the other day. I was just disappointed that we may not be able to afford what we want & thought we would get. However, i read that you don't "need" this & you don't "need" that. I understand what is being said (we'll likely drop the lotto altogether & on the back of the realisation here we're dropping to £1 per draw (so £2 per week) from this moment on.

Despite this ... at what point do you stop? If we keep talking about only what a person needs, then we'll all be living on bread & water & living in a 1 room building that acts as bathroom, kitchen & bedroom in one. We will be miserable as sin (some may like this existence but i wouldn't). We would just be doing enough to exist - to simply breathe. That would be an incredibly miserable existence. I personally would like some enjoyment in life. So while i may not 'need' something, i might actually want it. It may mean i'll have to go without something else that i want, but then i'd prioritise & just do without that other thing so i could have this thing. What is the point in living if you can't have a little enjoyment for the short time that we're here??

That isn't directed at AndyPK, or anyone in general. It's just my view on suggestions of only purchasing & doing what you 'need'.

moneyshoe wrote: »

I know you don't want to hear that you 'just manage' but you do.

Don't take offence, but to explain why i don't want to hear it ....

It is because let's say we jump into a situation - we buy a house costing XYZ & our bills are ABC. We then are unable to 'just manage'.

So we come back to all the people who told us 'you just manage' & ask them - how can we manage? £xxx can not be stretched into £xxxX. It is what it is. How do we 'just manage'.

And those people wont have any response - because you either can or can't manage, you don't 'just manage' by default. There is a level below that - which is not managing.

I'm not trying to put anyones nose out of joint here. I'm just explaining why i don't like that phrase. It's like when we get told at work "ahh you'll pick it up, it's just common sense". This is translated as - "i can't be bothered to show you, so i'll tell you you'll get it to make you feel better & stop you bothering me".

Before we had No1 we thought we couldn't manage on just My mat pay and hubbie's salary. We managed so well that I saved most of my mat pay, husband gave up work to be a stay at home dad and when we eventually have no. 3 I still expect to be able to take 9 months off....

Hats off to you (that wasn't sarcasm btw). Would love to be fortunate enough to be in that situation.

Yes you can still get washable nappies- you can get them cheap on ebay or free on free cycle (often unused too).

Good tips, thanks.

If your wife feeds the baby herself too then there is no spend on milk, bottles, etc.

We've had this discussion - she says she'll do it for a bit, but not for that long as her mum did that (for a bit, but not that long). My view is it should be done for as long as possible, but it's her body, her decision. I can't make her.

I doubt either of you will have time for the gym for the first 6 months - year.

If/when we have a kid then you'll probably be right

What about trying running instead?

My wife can, but unfortunately due to an operation i had, my surgeon pretty much banned me from any impact as it'll destroy my knee. I could cycle, but my god i find that so mind numbingly boring. If it was the only thing though then i'd have to do it.

Maybe exchange your sky package for a freesat one

We're looking into that at the moment.

Thanks for your response.

amnblog wrote: »

You have made no provision for life insurance premiums when you take on this major new debt.

Also, you will probably find that B&Q will start eating into your income.

Remember, when the roof leaks or the boiler blows you won't have a landlord to pay for it.

Very true. I must've done a life insurance quote after i posted that. Think it came back about £10pm.

As for B&Q - i'm posting because i'm concerned about left over money. B&Q will be my enemy, not my friend :rotfl:They're bloody expensive imo.

I should've probably declared early on in this thread that i'm a self confessed tightwad We very rarely go out, so a lot of your 'typical' spends - going out, cinema, pub, drinking, smoking etc etc absolutely none of that applies to us (in that list the only thing would be cinema which we'd probably do no more than 5 times per year).

theoretica wrote: »

How do those expenses compare with what you have now renting? If they are similar and you should have £600 left over now, do you really have this money going into savings (or holidays etc) and know where it has gone?

We currently live with my mum who is very generous in charging us only £37-£38 per week board money. After that it's car costs which we both need to do to get to work, and after that it's all luxuries - broadband, gym etc.

Similarly with the TV/Broadband/phone - if you start with the free or cheapest then you can always upgrade and this is easier than trying to downgrade on a contract.

Indeed. If we move into the city then we'll be eligible for Sky's £7.50pm (or £10 if we don't take a TV package) broadband which is pretty cheap & also seemingly very good. If we stay where we are then we're on your typical 8mb/s deals which are around £20.