In a muddle with money - need help!

DFB35

Hi, your plan sounds very good! moving in with your mum and saving for a house
Thats what we did when we had our first child.

Just to exercise a bit of caution, would you look into to the help to buy scheme a bit further? As I was under the impression that you had to be a first time buyer (and Im not sure if you count as you had a property before?)

However, even if you do not qualify for the help to buy scheme you will be able to save on a deposit for a house.

Hope this helps a little and good luck Xx

andyfromotley

Wow, well in true moneysaving style i would definitely make sure that its closer to the £500 mark!!!!!

I have never had a home buyer report so i don't know much about them, But i would suggest that you haggle, look for estate agents that offer deals or payment on sale perhaps???

Takeaway_Addict

spending willy nilly on food and you think £300, my money would be on £500+ when you account for lunches, snacks, tea, takeaways etc.

Start a spending diary and record everything you spend.

lollipop14

I think the value of the home report is fixed depending on the size and type of house. Definitely good advice for estate agents and solicitors fees.

The help to buy is available for people who have owned a home previously, as long as the house has been sold and the new property shouldn't be more than £260k in value. I definitely need to look into it in more detail though as it seems too good to be true!

I'm going to try as best as I can to continue saving the CHB, I already have it in a savings account along with some money she was given as a gift, so will only use it for things for Emma that we can't afford. Like this month she's ready for weaning so we're using it to buy her a high chair. I might obviously reassess that as time goes on, but we have no savings to fall back on so I like the security of having that there so she doesn't go without.

X

Pepperoni

Hi Lollipop,

I could have wrote this - but not quite to your extremes. I'm constantly making budgets and not being able to stick to them. I'm also on maternity leave. I'm also going 'part-time' - but four days - mainly because we have £4,000 of debt, and there is likely to be other things that 'crop up' - if we couldn't sustain our lifestyle on my full-time salary, what chance do we have of getting debt-free and staying that way on less income PLUS another head in the house.

I personally think you should really think about whether going part-time is the best option for your family long-term at the moment?

pickle_me

Out of interest, why are you so eager to move now? A three-bed flat sounds like a good size for two adults and a baby. We only moved out of our 2-bed flat when baby no.2 came along and things were getting a bit tight! But you may have other reasons beyond simply space

If you're looking to buy a highchair I can't recommend the Ikea Antilop highly enough. It's cheap incredibly easy to clean and easy to take apart/put back together. It's a really good design. Don't get one with a fabric seat or cover as you'll spend all your time trying to clean food out of the crevices

In your SOA, where you've left a category as 0 because you've already paid for the year (home insurance for example), divide your annual payment by 12 and put the resulting figure in. Same thing with road tax - I know it's less than £3 per month but lots of little expenses like that, missed off your SOA, make it less accurate. I'd put something in for clothing too, even if it's just £20; you may not spend it every month but you are still buying clothes, especially with a growing baby, and you need to allow for that in your budget.

I think my SOA was similar to yours a few years ago in that I listed the fixed figures I knew about (car insurance, utilities) and anything else I just thought, oh, we can afford that. I also spent willy-nilly on food and it wasn't until my LBM that I actually sat down and added up a month's worth of grocery receipts to realise that we were spending close to £600 a month :eek: for two adults and two small children. Now we're living comfortably on £60-70 per week - but only because I got our grocery spending in hand and started doing some proper meal planning.

It can be done - good luck!

[Deleted User]

Don't forget, if you're on SMP, your income this tax year (and next) will be lower - investigate whether you're eligible for Tax Credits. You don't have to declare the first £100/week of SMP for Tax Credits purposes either, so you may find that even though your usual salary is respectable, that you might get something.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi. I am not sure of the best way forward for you but I strongly advise getting your finances in order now. Like you I went part time when my son was born but we just muddled along, using overdraft and credit cards occasionally and never budgeting. My second son came along 2 years later with more maternity leave and more debt.

Suddenly the kids were school age, constantly needing clothes and all the other expenses that come with a family and we were scratching our heads wondering how we were £23k in debt with nothing to show for it.

The kids are teenagers now, one of them has health problems which restricts the job I can do and we are still clearing the last of the debts. It has massively impacted on our lifestyles.

Get a budgeting app, learn to live on what you have, not what you think you have and record every penny you spend. Now is the time to plan for your future and I wish you all the best with it.

enthusiasticsaver

As I see it you have two choices. You can either sell your flat and pay off all your debt as said above, move in with your mum and save for at least a year which should give you a good deposit to start again with a help to buy. If you have a monthly income of around £3k you should be able to save at least £2k if you are living with your mum providing you could all get along for that amount of time with a small child as well. Or you can stay put and focus on getting rid of a lot of that unsecured debt and budgeting better. I do not think buying a property at this point in time is realistic which makes your original question about putting a house buyers report on a credit card moot. Buying properties involves not only house buyers reports but also mortgage arrangement fees, solicitors costs, stamp duty, searches and if you are selling a flat you are responsible for leasehold enquiries and if your management company charges that can be expensive. You need at least £3000 -£5000 normally in savings just to cover the cost of moving house so you will need to build that in to your budget.

enthusiasticsaver

I am totally confused. You do know that you do not pay for a house buyers report when selling don't you? It is only when you are buying a property.