Paying the car tax via EBay, and other shenanigans.

mfmaybe

ScattySkewbald wrote: »

Ouch - hope you're ok. Wasn't a horsey related break was it? Take it easy x

No, it was trying to progress the list. It was stupid and avoidable and oh so rage inducing!

Also annoying, got a pet insurance quote that was a 50% increase. Having spent some time shopping around today it doesn't seem we can get equal cover for much less. Going to call them tomorrow and ask if there is anything I can do to lower it.

One good thing, being housebound keeps the spending down

mfmaybe

OK I could have sworn I posted recently but apparently not.

Anyway shopping around wasn't lucrative for pet insurance. We have 3 cats, 2 of which are now 10 and 11, which reduces our options. Ended up sticking with the very good policy we have but got them to knock £50 off the renewal. Might have to start thinking about self insuring soon though.

I go back on payroll this month. Allegedly. Someone messed up and I wasn't getting paid. Luckily they are sorting out a salary advance. I am using up leave though so not back to work until August.

Have something listed on fleabay right now but I'm not hopeful as it is an out of season rug. Could do with some extra pennies though, as the car taxes are looming and haven't saved up for them like last year, due to having no income.

2 more weeks until my cast comes off. I think it's starting to rub though I am gaining a bit of strength back but not sure how much to push it. I want to try to use it as much as possible without risking further damage; which is a bit tricky without my own xray machine.

Going to see if there is anything else on The Big List I can score off.

brizzledfw

Good to hear from you. Boo to incompetent folks in Payroll and insurances deals for elderly cats.. here's to fleabay coming good

x

PurpleFairy26

great to see you back on mfmaybe hope payroll is sorted, at least you know its a sort of 'savings' account if they are late as i'll assume you get it backdated?

I have an aged cat with a gold plated hip which is no longer insurable (that joint rather than the rest of him) I've been looking on upping his insurance, just can't quite decide best option as we've been stung before with a capping element. Or do we self insure as you have, ho hum. Hope fleabay items sell.

mfmaybe

Quick hello before laptop battery dies. Cast is off my arm and I'm getting full use back, and making progress with the house. Done a bunch of stuff that hadn't made it to the list as well but can't be bothered adding it on to score it off A tiny bit of painting then inside is done bar some tidying and a couple of new lampshades etc. Garden is needing constant vigilence which I don't have much time for though.

Got paid a full pay cheque this month which was nice. Haven't seen my payslip though so don't know what the tax/bonus/salary correction elements are. I've shifted a whack into savings just in case and am trying to continue to live as frugally as possible.

Better post just now but need to remember to sort out our remortgage soon. Needs done by end of next month. Don't let me forget!

mfmaybe

Spent some time looking into mortgages last night. It's complicated for a number of reasons:

1. We are about to sell up
2. We are possibly going to relocate
3. DH will be made redundant in 3 months time
4. If we relocate I'd also need a new job
5. Because of all the above, and our particular property needs, we might have a gap between selling and buying.

Doing some research last night it looks like our best bet is to go with our existing lender, as they won't look to get a new valuation or credit checks. Not that we expect problems with that, but moving very soon might be an issue. They allow a 4 month gap for porting a mortgage. They also seem to be quite competitive. A 2 year fix is 1.94% at our current LTV, which is 61%. If we were below 60% it would be 1.74%. To get down to that figure we'd have to pay in £3,700 before we remortgage. (Or a little bit less as one regular payment plus our £300 overpayment still to go before the term ends). This brings the monthly payment down by around £40. So I guess close to a thousand by the end of the fix. On the face of it, it looks a no brainer as we have the savings. However, as we are going to move soon, it takes away some of our ready cash. I can't decide if this will matter or not. We will be extending our mortgage a bit as well as me selling my rental property; and a smaller current mortgage just means a smaller mortgage increase needed. We will still have enough for stamp duty and legal fees. The reason I'm hesitating though is what happens when we move. We could port the existing part but would they recalculate the overall LTV and re-do the rate on the total balance?

I'm going to try to look into it more. Just dwelling on it for now.

in_need_of_direction

big changes being contemplated. fingers crossed you get the right outcome for you

mfmaybe

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

big changes being contemplated. fingers crossed you get the right outcome for you

Thanks INOD. I posted on your thread but pass on my good wishes here too.

So I did some sums and it looks like our monthly payment will pay off another £1400 of capital. That will leave us £2300 to overpay. It makes sense to do this I think. However I have just read that the LTV is rounded down so 60.49% becomes 60%. Even as little as £600 plus change would take us into this bracket. However DH thinks we should just do it cleanly to below 60%. We aren't currently focussing on paying off the mortgage (my debt, IVF and maternity have all been more important) and now we are moving house; but as soon as we are moved then getting that mortgage paid off will be our focus. So it's just a slight acceleration of that.

In other news, I met my goal of having £4k left in savings by the time I went back on payroll. Well technically I was £100 short, as I had to pay the farrier the day before :rotfl:. Now that I have a bigger pay again I'm trying to still keep the spend down, and have managed to siphon off a fair bit into savings. We will of course have childcare costs to think about now though. Lalala head in sand.

I also need to remember the big car tax is coming up, plus some other vehicle expenses.

mfmaybe

Quick post. DS has his first full day at nursery today. Wibble. I've however spent nearly the entire day in the bedroom. Lazing about in bed reading and drinking tea, you say? Oh no, under the bed, in the wardrobe, head first into a cupboard. Clearing out, packing clothes into vacuum bags, even sorting out the clothes onto matching hangers. All for getting the house ready to sell. What a fun way to spend my first free day in over a year

I've also managed to get the oven cleaner applied and some paperwork cleared out, the usual load of washing sorted, some stuff out ready to go to the tip. I did refrain from going up a ladder to repair a curtain pole as last time I did that I broke my arm :eek:. I will do it once DH gets home.

In big plan news, he met someone today to discuss job prospects for a relocation and it sounds relatively positive. Must get the house sold first though. So hence prioritising this over anything fun.

Right off to get my baby and see if he missed me :A

mfmaybe

So nursery lurgy has hit already and we've had a poorly baby. I've had to sleep sitting up with him for 3 nights now. DH has him just now. We are a bit tired. :wall: However managed to do a tiny bit today. I'm so fed up of house sorting though. Desperate to get to the selling stage.

In money news the regular mortgage payment has come off but I will have to guess at the interest due until the end of the month. I think a £2k overpayment would do it. However was musing about a different tactic today. essentially borrowing the extra we'd need now, rather than when we move. This is because we'd both be in new jobs by then. It's probably daft as we don't know when we will be moving or how much a future new house would cost. But will discuss with DH.

Also need to decide what to do about the 0% card. I have enough in savings to pay it off if needs be. Current payments would leave me £2.5k by the time the 0% expires. Don't want to apply again due to needing a mortgage, but Tesco keep offering deals on my current card. I think I will up the monthly payment (£510/month would have it paid off but will go £300 I think) and try to put anything extra against it. Although maybe having it fully cleared would be better for our mortgage application. Hmm so might try £500 for the next 2 months to minimise the hit my savings would have to take in a lump. Kind of swings and roundabouts though as I will just be saving less instead.