i will persist until i succeed - BOWSER

BOWSER

Good afternoon,

Reasonably good day so far, I am spending a little later though need some materials for a DIY weekend, about £100-£130 should cover it, have gotten most of it with trade discount or free so it's a lot better than it could of been. Supposed to be going out to the rugby the weekend, the tickets are free but the drinks aren't, still debating whether or not to go...

I've been comparing mortgage deals today and have worked out if I get accepted at the new rate and pay the fees upfront over the next two years I'll still save over £2000 so come November I'll be making a switch I think!

Not much happening other than that, I am aiming to get a load of eBay items on this weekend, hopefully this will aid the Very debt or savings!

BOWSER

Afternoon,

No updates for a couple of weeks, had some bad news about my mother after 6 months of nonsense they finally found out she has cancer :mad:, so it's been a tough time for the family and lots of money spent on car parking and hospital spends .

If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or fight like hell.

Anyway enough of that. The clutch and cylinder has gone on one our cars and is costing about £500 to repair, so there goes £500 of our savings. I have decided to stay with Lloyds for now, I have upgraded one of my accounts to a "Club Lloyds" account and kept my spends account as basic. I am going to keep my Avios credit card and buy our food and fuel on this every month and pay it off in full, this will give me a fair few airmiles for our 2016 holiday. I know it seems daft but the airmiles reward seems "more real" than cashback from the santander card which we'll most likely squander!

Payday is upon us next week so our new budget will finally be in full swing! Bring on the challenges! I decided to disregard the goals for May as it's been pretty plop! New list below, for the rest of May!

• List 100 items on eBay by the end of the month
• Get a new tyre for my car
• Take lunch to work everyday for the remainder of May
• 6 NSD's
• 10 morning cardio sessions
• 10 evening cardio sessions

It has also been 5 years since soon to Mrs BOWSER and I met at the end of this month...Which happens to be on the same day as the Aviva Premiership final and the Froch vs Groves fight, any ideas how I can incorporate both of these into our "anniversary" :rotfl:

Twoblackcats

Hello Bowser, I wanted to say that your attitude to your mum's cancer is exactly right. My husband was diagnosed 5 years ago and it is a tough journey but you need to be positive through treatment and take care of the emotional side too. Your attitude to your finances is great too and you are working towards a secure future for you and your family. This is a great site to keep you focused, just in case you need it.

BOWSER

Twoblackcats wrote: »

Hello Bowser, I wanted to say that your attitude to your mum's cancer is exactly right. My husband was diagnosed 5 years ago and it is a tough journey but you need to be positive through treatment and take care of the emotional side too. Your attitude to your finances is great too and you are working towards a secure future for you and your family. This is a great site to keep you focused, just in case you need it.

Twoblackcats, thank you for your kind words, I find it hard to express myself emotionally to others and have always been a rock for people but this really has emotionally done me in, I must admit I have had a fair few drinks over the past couple of weeks and saw myself slipping back into my old ways but I think I am back on track, the only thing I can do is keep positive.

The car has actually cost £600 not £500 so bang goes another £100, I put it on the credit card to atleast get some Avios points from a rubbish situation, obviously I'll pay this off at the end of the month. I might actually pluck up the courage to ask my boss for some more money now, payroll is being done this week so I have either today or tomorrow to ask him! I don't know why I am being such a wimp to be honest.

2nd no spend day since my last post! Went a bit overboard on the shopping budget but won't be having any takeaways this week so it kind of made up for itself!

eBay listings start tonight! Wish me luck!

BOWSER

BOWSER

Twoblackcats wrote: »

Hello Bowser, I wanted to say that your attitude to your mum's cancer is exactly right. My husband was diagnosed 5 years ago and it is a tough journey but you need to be positive through treatment and take care of the emotional side too. Your attitude to your finances is great too and you are working towards a secure future for you and your family. This is a great site to keep you focused, just in case you need it.

Well, another tormenting month, my mother; unfortunately lost her life due to complications with the chemotherapy, by far the worst experience I have ever encountered, watching someone for 3 days who is unresponsive and waiting to die is the most heartbreaking feeling and I would not wish this on my worst enemy. 47 is way way too young I just hope her spirit lives on

Obviously this news has hit our family and friends very hard, I'm trying to stay strong for my dad, he's not doing to well to be honest, therefore DD, OH and I are moving back into the family home for a year to provide support etc to my father. Which means renting out our property. I have a lot of questions regarding this so I'll post here and in another section of the forum.

• What certificates do I need?
• Do I need to inform my lender, if so what are the cost implications?
• What insurances do I need?
• What are the tax implications, should I employ and accountant?
• Private renting or agent renting?
• Is there much difference between renting fully furnished or barebones?
• Are there a list of regulation I must adhere to?

Any information would be greatly appreciated, I know I should be researching myself but at this present time my head isn't in the game.

Thanks

BOWSER

Mara_uk7

Oh My what you have been through .. I quite understand, Lost my dad the same way, during treatment. Give yourself time to grieve, Be kind to yourself as well as trying to support everyone else.
Cant help you with the practicalities Im afraid, But just take your time, dont be pushing yourself too hard just now. Take care of you x

mfmaybe

Hi Bowser

I'm so very sorry about the loss of your Mum, especially so soon after diagnosis. It sounds like your Dad will be very grateful for your support and company, but make sure to take care of your own emotions too. Grief is not simple and not linear.

I can offer some practical advice on your house, although I'm in Scotland so certain things may be different.

-How many bedrooms does your home have? You need to check it won't be classed as an HMO (House in Multiple occupancy if I recall)
-Gas appliances need an annual check by a gas safe register if you are renting out. You should do this before your first tenant moves in

-Ovbviously you will need a lease. I do mine privately, my solicitor manages it for each new tenant, I pay about £100/time but that may be cheap. It's a short assured tenancy (again not sure if that's Scottish only) so for 6 months initially then on a rolling 2 month notice. I have stipulated certain things like no pets, but most of it is pretty standard.
-I have to be a registered landlord with my council. It's pretty cheap.
-In Scotland, again not sure where else, I now need to put the deposit in a formal scheme. My solicitor used to keep it but that's not allowed any more.
I do have BtL mortgage now, but that's because I needed a new mortgage for my home. It's not entirely clear what the right protocol is here
Insurance, I have a specific landlord policy, currently with Direct Line, which covers me for liability, as well as the property (building cover only). Mine is pretty cheap. I don't insure contents, that is the tenants responsibility. Endsleigh were also very competitive.
I pay the factor fee and mortgage (it's a flat), tenant pays council tax, phone, sky, gas and electric.
Tax - I'm an accountant so perhaps have a different view, but no you don't need an accountant! Just keep good records of what you spend and what comes in. Then it's generally quite simple to fill a tax return in online, but do get set up sooner than later. I will happily advise on some pointers nearer the time, but broadly you pay tax on the rental income less expenses such as mortgage, insurance, advertising, cleaning, repairs etc. Note that you can't claim the capital part of any mortgage payment, only the interest, so if you have a repayment mortgage you'd need to split that. And you can either claim a Wear and Tear allowance which is 10% of the rental income, or genuine costs of replacing furniture etc. If you are only renting for one year I'd suggest you do the wear and tear. I'd suggest you put a bit of the rental income away each month as a tax provision, and if you are going to make a loss, know that you can't offset that against normal salary income.

Other than that, practical things I can advise are choose your tenants carefully (I advertise on gumtree then filter judiciously!). Take out anything precious but accept some normal wear and tear will happen.

Good luck - mine usually is hassle free, and earns its keep well.

Twoblackcats

Bowser
I'm so sorry about the loss of your mum.

BOWSER

Good afternoon,

Thank you for you kind words regarding my mother, the funeral was last week and I returned to work this week but I am off again to Spain this Saturday, a welcomed break considering the past few months.

Hopefully I can get back on track with this diary, as previously mentioned I am moving back in with the "old man" for a year and will be renting our house out for a year, obviously the intention of this is to help and support my dad through this time, but also comes with the monetary advantage of being able to save.

The plan is to save enough money to make our house a home. We have to get the damp proofing re-done on the house anyway so the plan is to:

• Gut the downstairs
• Get the damp done
• Replaster throughout
• Make new opening for french doors
• Decorate throughout
• New kitchen
• New furniture (sofas, dining table, breakfast bar, etc.)
• New lighting
• New floors, skirting, coving, doors, etc.
• New front wall and gates
• New "lean to" structure over the passageway on the side of the house.
• Bar/BBQ pit at the bottom of the garden
• And finally the spare bedroom converted into an office / nursery for when we decide to have child no.2

Lots of work that is going to cost a lot of money but I think it's achievable in the year we have. I will do another SOA to reflect our financial situation shortly...The other thing about the work is that the "old man" and I can do the majority of the work and we have family and friends in all the other needed trades so build costs can be kept relatively low. My budget will be approximately £25,000 with a 20% contingency budget that the old man has promised should things be a little more than expected! I have created a spreadsheet that I can update as the year goes by with more firm prices which will give me a more realistic budget...

And know for the hard bit! saving the £25,000! As previously mentioned I will put up a SOA of our finances as if we were renting to see if you guys can spot any ways of saving some extra pennies! But at first glance we are looking to save 1800 a month over a 12 month period which will give us ~ £21,500, and I have a £5000 cash injection coming in the next month from a short side venture, so that will boost us up to ~ £26,500 which if not all used will go into our emergency fund. I also have a £3000 bonus coming in March, but I am righting that money off as it will be used for Car Tax, M.O.T's, Birthdays, Christmas and Holiday spends.

If you can see any monumental flaws in my plans, please do voice them as I don't want this venture o fall flat on its face!

Thanks

BOWSER!