Here I am again!

northerner999

Although this is obviously a wake-up call, having little or no savings after buying a first home is not that surprising. I had to take out a bank loan in order to buy carpets after buying off-plan - back in the days pre-crash when my only question was how to get as large a mortgage as possible rather than what could I afford.

I also had an expensive car bill earlier this year, a year in which emergency one-off expenses will have cost me close to three grand. I found that having an emergency fund once you are on top of finances is vital - had the events of this year come in 2013 or 2014 I have no idea how I would have coped other than adding to cards.

if you genuinely have a grand spare a month then this will be easy, and you can still afford treats (I refused to give up my gym membership, despite it being a thing most on here instantly say should go - keeps me sane, and away from other expenses). One thing I would add is once you are done, consider if you can increase your mortgage payments. If you have £933 PCm spare, a couple of hundred into savings and the same again on your mortgage per month could really set you up. just wish I thought like this before the past couple of years!

nicp60

Hi,
It sure does add up, all the fritter - I'm still struggling with it myself. Well done for recognising the problem before it becomes an emergency.
You'll totally smash this, as the previous poster said, with that much extra a month you can still have a few luxuries - as long as you treat them as such and they don't become the norm.
With such a surplus, you can be debt free and then mortgage free so quickly! Financial freedom is just around the corner!!!!:j

lee111s

Can I ask why your mortgage is so expensive on a relatively not expensive house? Have you took quite a short term?

nicp60

I forgot to add - AMAZINGLY WELL DONE on the weight loss! That's an incredible achievement and I hope you're suitably smug and proud of yourself.
Having done both (with varying degrees of success lol), you'll find the money saving journey very similar to the weight loss journey. The amount of determination it must take to lose over 6 stone will stand you in good stead for clearing the debt, building a nest egg and becoming free.

Newlywed_Saving_Ninja

northerner999 wrote: »

Although this is obviously a wake-up call, having little or no savings after buying a first home is not that surprising. I had to take out a bank loan in order to buy carpets after buying off-plan - back in the days pre-crash when my only question was how to get as large a mortgage as possible rather than what could I afford.

I also had an expensive car bill earlier this year, a year in which emergency one-off expenses will have cost me close to three grand. I found that having an emergency fund once you are on top of finances is vital - had the events of this year come in 2013 or 2014 I have no idea how I would have coped other than adding to cards.

if you genuinely have a grand spare a month then this will be easy, and you can still afford treats (I refused to give up my gym membership, despite it being a thing most on here instantly say should go - keeps me sane, and away from other expenses). One thing I would add is once you are done, consider if you can increase your mortgage payments. If you have £933 PCm spare, a couple of hundred into savings and the same again on your mortgage per month could really set you up. just wish I thought like this before the past couple of years!

Hi northerners, thanks for reading. I'm relieved we are not the only ones who wiped all of our savings out in order to buy a home. Though the house we have bought is looking tired, we can live with it as it is for a year until we have sorted the debt and my car situation.

We do genuinely have the £1000 free each month, and that will increase by £100-£200 by the end of the year. It is good to hear others feeling confidence that we can do this, it will give us a boost during those downward moods on the debt rollercoaster of emotions. We are definitely going to increase our mortgage payments once all of this is sorted. We are late to be first time buyers so have some catching up to do!!! But we definitely intend to set up a savings fund to protect us against unexpected bills, and also to start improving our new home.

Newlywed_Saving_Ninja

nicp60 wrote: »

Hi,
It sure does add up, all the fritter - I'm still struggling with it myself. Well done for recognising the problem before it becomes an emergency.
You'll totally smash this, as the previous poster said, with that much extra a month you can still have a few luxuries - as long as you treat them as such and they don't become the norm.
With such a surplus, you can be debt free and then mortgage free so quickly! Financial freedom is just around the corner!!!!:j

Resisting the lure of the fritter every day is tough, you can find yourself drifting in to it before you even realise. We are really focused on the prospect of freedom from debt, it will feel amazing, and that is what we need to keep in mind when we are finding it tough.

I think we will find it easy to resist luxuries for a few months, as we have quite a few fun things coming up,right up until April if memory serves me correctly, all are paid for so no future expense involved.

Thanks for the belief in us that we can do this. I am going to bookmark this to read when I am finding it hard

Newlywed_Saving_Ninja

nicp60 wrote: »

I forgot to add - AMAZINGLY WELL DONE on the weight loss! That's an incredible achievement and I hope you're suitably smug and proud of yourself.
Having done both (with varying degrees of success lol), you'll find the money saving journey very similar to the weight loss journey. The amount of determination it must take to lose over 6 stone will stand you in good stead for clearing the debt, building a nest egg and becoming free.

Thanks nicp. I was only thinking last night that it will take the same kind of focus as the weightloss thing if we are to do this. I do feel proud of what I have achieved, it's been so hard, but so worth it.

Newlywed_Saving_Ninja

lee111s wrote: »

Can I ask why your mortgage is so expensive on a relatively not expensive house? Have you took quite a short term?

Sure, no problem. As we have come to the house buying game late, the longest mortgage we were allowed to have was 23 years. We eventually decided on a 19 year term, as it was affordable, would get it paid up before my husband's retirement age. We could have had an even shorter term as plenty of free money as you can see in the SOA above, but we went safe with 19 years just in case our future earnings change.

Rosylee

HI there. I would really suggest you use YNAB (You need a budget). Its an amazing budgeting tool and it will help you not fritter away your £1000. They have a free trial. There are a lot of YNAB converts on here and a thread too. Its a FANTASTIC help, and even if you don't get the full licence, at least you can use the principles, with a book and pen!

Newlywed_Saving_Ninja

Thanks Rosylee, I have seen the thread on YNAB but I didn't know what it was (I haven't gone in to the thread to read). I will take a look.