Mr and Mrs K's New Journey to a Debt Free Life.

fc123

Yes that thread was written in more of a 'chat' stylee I guess...but the jist if her story was that they were high earners but still spent more than came in.

I am not sure what the average wage is for a couple.....is it 25k before tax per adult?

AlexLK

fc123 wrote: »

Yes that thread was written in more of a 'chat' stylee I guess...but the jist if her story was that they were high earners but still spent more than came in.

I am not sure what the average wage is for a couple.....is it 25k before tax per adult?

Yes, I see. In fact, it's rather scary from my perspective. I have been in debt before and my parents bailed me out when I became ill, at the time Mrs. K. and I were earning not far off twice our current earnings. Though now in real life nobody would guess me to be dirt poor and (personally) earning less than a minimum wage job in Tesco's, even if I choose for it to currently be that way.

It was £26,500, somebody posted up earlier but pointed out that was an individual income not as a couple.

AlexLK

Friday 11th October.
Day 40.

Dear Diary,

I am unsure why I share so many of my troubles on here. I suppose it is much easier as an anonymous person on the internet than talking to somebody who knows me in real life. This evening has not been easy, my wife dropped off both our son and the Triumph then proceeded to swan straight back out of the door explaining to me she was going into Nottingham with her brother, his wife and some friends. When I tried to interject explaining we cannot afford this really, she didn't hesitate in reminding me that really it's her money anyway.

Just to top it all off, my father rang wanting to talk for ages about their houses and his health problems, some of which really are of "too much information" type. I am all too aware he rings me as mother refuses to listen to what he has to say on such things. Anyhow, whilst he was rambling on about things I have no desire to repeat, I did manage to get an item on eBay which should fetch in the region of £850-1000, though may not be a quick sell.

Also today I saw a van advertising "free" boilers and insulation, does anybody know how one qualifies for this? Our house is not in the best state of repair in this respect and should Mrs. K. agree I can see us doing this house swap with my parents in a year or two and I'd rather they did not end up in my house in it's current state.

Summary:
You will all be pleased for it was a No Spend Day on my part.

Yours Faithfully,
Alex.

mum2one

AlexLK wrote: »

I didn't learn my lesson then, or the time after. Third time lucky, they say?


It's never too late to start learning.

I didnt learn my lesson 1st time, 2nd time, now on 3rd time, so I say 3rd time lucky, and def agree never to late to learn... I still make some mistakes along the way, I'm far from perfect, but if I can learn from that mistake all the better.

Ps - i can be motivational for everyone else, but useless for me, not useless but about 50% compared to what i give out! xx

AlexLK

mum2one wrote: »

I didnt learn my lesson 1st time, 2nd time, now on 3rd time, so I say 3rd time lucky, and def agree never to late to learn... I still make some mistakes along the way, I'm far from perfect, but if I can learn from that mistake all the better.

Ps - i can be motivational for everyone else, but useless for me, not useless but about 50% compared to what i give out! xx

mum2one: Yes, 3rd time lucky, for both of us.

Your 50% is still rather good, more motivational than I could hope to be.

kissjenn

AlexLK wrote: »

Friday 11th October.

Also today I saw a van advertising "free" boilers and insulation, does anybody know how one qualifies for this? Our house is not in the best state of repair in this respect and should Mrs. K. agree I can see us doing this house swap with my parents in a year or two and I'd rather they did not end up in my house in it's current state.

Hi, in Scotland you have to be in receipt of Working TAx Credits or income based JSA or ESA or Pension Credits.

Given Mrs K's a higher tax payer I think you're goosed tbh.

There were some green trade in schemes for boilers through British Gas where you'd get a cashback on your old boiler to put against the new but it still didn't guarantee that BG would be the cheapest.

We had to replace ours last year and it was about £2000 for just the boiler, no radiators.

Maybe someone else will know of some other scheme.

AlexLK

kissjenn wrote: »

Hi, in Scotland you have to be in receipt of Working TAx Credits or income based JSA or ESA or Pension Credits.

Given Mrs K's a higher tax payer I think you're goosed tbh.

There were some green trade in schemes for boilers through British Gas where you'd get a cashback on your old boiler to put against the new but it still didn't guarantee that BG would be the cheapest.

We had to replace ours last year and it was about £2000 for just the boiler, no radiators.

Maybe someone else will know of some other scheme.

OK thank you. It didn't say anything on the van about terms and conditions but it wouldn't, would it? :rotfl:

From what you say, I presume my parents would qualify as they are (obviously) pensioners?

ETA:
Found eligibility criteria:
*Receiving state pension credit
*Receiving income related benefits, with a child and an income of less than £15,860
*Receiving working tax credits with an income of less than £15,860

kissjenn

I doubt it very much.

Only pensioners on Pension Credit, an income based top-up are usually eligible. Anyone who has disposable income to send a grandchild to prep school sounds very unlikely to qualify. If your father is very ill then a charity related to that may help for his house. But if he qualifies and moves of his own free will then I doubt they'd pick up the bill for the second house regardless of income.

The rules are usually very easy....

• If you have nowt you'll get some sort of help
• If you have lots, you don't need that help
• If you fall in the middle and it's big middle, then you're on your own and you'll have to find a way to fund it.

To be honest Alex, you've a stack of cash sitting waiting for F&F offers. £2k of that will fix you up for the winter.

AlexLK

kissjenn wrote: »

I doubt it very much.

Only pensioners on Pension Credit, an income based top-up are usually eligible. Anyone who has disposable income to send a grandchild to prep school sounds very unlikely to qualify. If your father is very ill then a charity related to that may help for his house. But if he qualifies and moves of his own free will then I doubt they'd pick up the bill for the second house regardless of income.

The rules are usually very easy....

• If you have nowt you'll get some sort of help
• If you have lots, you don't need that help
• If you fall in the middle and it's big middle, then you're on your own and you'll have to find a way to fund it.

To be honest Alex, you've a stack of cash sitting waiting for F&F offers. £2k of that will fix you up for the winter.

I do know my parents receive something from the state as well as their company pensions. However, they only live on the income half their BTL houses make as the rest (company pensions, other half of BTLs) is straight away reinvested and mostly not particularly easy to get hold of. So, not sure if they may get the pension credits as they do not have an awful lot of easy to get hold of cash.

Father is not very ill . He has a few age related "problems" but generally, for his age his health is good. As for their house, that is all up to date and not old fashioned at all.

I am OK with living in my house as it is but would rather my parents didn't, should the house swap go ahead. If I could have got a free boiler, I would have got it sorted out now to save the hassle and money further down the line.

Rather :mad::mad: Mrs. K. is still not back yet.

snookey

Hi Alex see your feeling a tad angry with your oh and I would be too. At the very least she could have got a baby sitter and gone with you.
Try and count to ten and do something to take your mind off things. Thats assuming your still up.
I meant what I said Alex if you need to talk to pm me.