The Scariest Thing I Have Ever Done....

McTaggus

You know what's funny, I don't feel any different to the majority of forumites, and it was only a few years ago that I was in the exact same position that most people are in. I started my career in my industry as a temporary receptionist covering someone on maternity leave, having realised I couldn't afford to support myself through Uni, and have spent the last 14 years trying my hardest to work my way up. It's only been the last couple of years, when I caught a very lucky break, that suddenly things have changed - and quite dramatically - on the financial front for me. I managed to finally pay off 20K of negative equity on a 100K property I had bought with (what turned out to be) a rather abusive ex and had to sell, as well as a further 20K of debt I had accrued during more difficult financial times. I finally managed to pay it all off 18 months ago - the same time my "head in the sands of spend" loss of financial sensibility took hold suddenly I had free cash. I had never had it before at any time in my life, and I had a major OMG SPLURGE spree that lasted a good 18 months.

I think perhaps, one of the differences for me is that my household is pretty much entirely dependent on my income. My husband and I keep our finances very separate for many reasons, but one of which being that he has four children from a previous marriage (he's 8 years older than me) and he pays three-quarters of his income towards supporting them. On paper our household income looks amazing, but the reality is that it's only mine that keeps our life outside of his maintenance payments financially alive - and that's pretty much on a par with a regular family that has two good incomes coming in I don't begrudge that situation for a second, my life with him is wonderful and I love our unit - his kids included - but it does mean that paying for anything outside of regular household bills falls firmly to me. If I would like a holiday, I fund it. If the kids need new clothes for when they're here, I help fund it. Want to stop renting and buy a house that can fit all six of us and two dogs? I fund it - because he simply can't.

I think for me, that's what's driven me back to sanity. Our future security, now and in 20 years from now, is down to me. I know people look at the mortgage and what my salary must be, but believe me I spend most of my time wondering when I'm going to be found out The number of times my current boss has told me I'm the youngest person at my level in the company in world has made my blood run cold many times - it's almost like a question of "why did you get this job anyway?" that makes you panic that you're going to be "found out". But, I've been here three years now, so I'm hoping that if they'd hired me by mistake and offered me such a good salary, they would have figured out by now if I'm any good at what I do :rotfl:

I know people probably think I'm in a different world, and in some ways perhaps I am today and for however long I'm lucky enough to have it last, but I haven't been here long and I haven't forgotten what it's like not to be here. I don't take it for granted for a second - but I do recognise I just need to use this opportunity better, because I can't help but think no-one gets to stay here very long even if they are lucky enough to get here in the first place

bettyboo71

I do hope you didn't think that I was having a go at you in any way, because that certainly wasn't how it was meant. As I said, whatever your circumstances, being focused and prioritising are the key to managing - whatever might happen. You do have an awfully big responsibility, and I don't envy you at all.

McTaggus

Sadly a bit of a bad month money-wise.... two new carpets to pay for, the annual car insurance payment hit for both cars, and my car then needed to go to the garage for a thousand pound service and fix up. Hohum, never mind!

Progress has therefore been slower than I would have liked on the OP front, but I'm sticking to my minimum OP - it's just there's not much left to top it up with!

So, OP's made on the mortgage so far:

June: +500
July: +500
August: +500
September: +500

Total OP for 2016 so far: +2,000

LTV = 93% - slowly inching closer to the first 90% goal........need to find some funds to top up the OP's with...

EDIT: Just realised, if I can find an extra 3K in addition to my monthly OP's (which is circa an extra 160 a month) then I'll break out of the terrifying "I owe the bank half a million" bucket...... Need to find something to cut to get to that point - will be (psychologically speaking) a huge boost! *goes to find where the hell she can scrape and extra 160 a month from......*

Tropically

A kindred spirit! I am another south-eastern home buyer - yes, we make more but things also cost a lot more. Good luck!

McTaggus

:beer: Nice to see I'm not the only one in the insanity of the South East boat

daisy_1571

Hi McTaggus :hello:
Well done on your light bulb moments, it's amazing how we all go through similar things, the spending, the decision moment to overpay, the wild reckoning of how soon, the sad realisation of how looooong, the endless recalcs and new spreadsheet columns then the going over past spends of one two five ten years and regretting (at least in part) we haven't still got that money. Lol. Been there, done it and now out the other side and you will get there too. I know you have more salary than I ever would have but you also have bigger debt than I would have got so its all relative.

Have to say my favourite moment was when you realised you can't do anything with a budget that relies on 'what's left at the end if the month', really well done for allocating proper categories to this money and getting it paid up front.

Anyway, welcome, keep at it, keep updating as it does help and good luck with it all

Daisy xxx

McTaggus

Thank you for your kind words Daisy, and also for the encouragement! You're absolutely right - just relying on what's left at the end of every month really didn't work for me, but changing my direct debit payment amount so that money goes out of my account on day 1 has really helped me stick to the OP plan. If the money is gone, I can't debate over whether to spend it on OP or on something else, and it's helped me think more clearly about my other spending categories with "what's left".

In other news today, I'm weighing up my options in relation to my remaining loan (3,500), which I'm currently paying off at 495 a month. There's 7 months of repayments left on it, and the interest was extremely low when I took it out last year. However, I do have a 10K emergency fund in my 1-2-3 account, which has been earning interest for a while, however when I look at the interest earned versus the interest I'm accruing on my mortgage every month (1,900 added to the balance :eek:), I'm wondering if I have been thinking about this wrong and not looking at the total picture of my finances.

Maybe it would be more sensible to just pay off my loan with my savings, and then redirect a part of the monthly payment I'm currently making back into my savings until I get back to my emergency fund limit, and the rest on adding to the mortgage OP - it could bring the OPs up to 750 a month.... that will get to my below 90% LTV goal before it's time to think about a potential new fix, so we can get a better deal..... (and then I can also up it again once the emergency fund is replenished)

Will get a final settlement figure today, and work out how long it would take me to build my emergency fund back up again, but it feels like it could be the right move to make. It would knock another 3 years off my mortgage term (total dropping by over 11 years), and save me 180K in interest.....!!!! :eek:

Ok, I think I may just have convinced myself this is a no-brainer, just looking at those numbers.... My 10K in a 1-2-3 account won't earn me that much! LOL

McTaggus

So, best laid plans and all that..... We made some great progress with completing two bedrooms in the newer half of the house for two of the girls, which look amazing. Our youngest knew that hers was going to be much harder to do, as its in the older half of the house, but I felt so bad when she came to stay this weekend that we decided not to wait to do her room, and started stripping 150 years of wallpaper off the walls, and lifting her carpet. So, the money I have freed up, in the short term, will now have to go to getting her room up straight over the next couple of months.... Especially replacing the partition wall that, under the wall paper, turned out to be cork board................... :eek:

So, our handy builder friend popped around today, and work commences next week. It will be good to get it done, it's just an unplanned cost (well, not unplanned, but is happening sooner than I planned for.....)

No additional OP's for now, but will stick to the current OP plan - the revised OP's will have to probably kick in after Xmas.....

Ho-hum!

Lrimas

Just popped in to say hi

That is a monster of a mortgage (ours was only £320k as first time buyers - also on 95%) but I think you might have made the right choice. Our house is starting to feel a bit small - especially the garden - and the thought of upgrading is becoming very tempting. We were desperate to move out of our rented accommodation due to a bad landlord and took the first house that we liked and could afford.

We also have a mountain of refurbishment to get through even though we've been here two years. As I'm sure you've noticed the momentum runs out after a while and these days I hardly even notice the torn out skirting, and the house just wouldn't be the same without the half torn down wallpaper

I sometimes wonder if it is really worth living in the South. The pay is nice (and if you have two good salaries like we do it makes it much easier, but one salary like your must be super tough) but I had a bit of a nosy around to see what our money could buy "up north" and I got a tiny bit jealous.

How is the smoking going? You mention in your first posts that you were going to try e-cigarettes but then it goes strangely silent on that front . I quit just over two years ago and it's one of the best things I've ever done. These days when I see someone smoking I no longer think: "I wish that was me, I miss it so much" but instead think: "I'm soooo glad I quit."

Good luck with your journey!

McTaggus

Hi! :hello: Thanks for stopping by!

We similarly had a bad landlord but were locked into a two year contract without a break clause, so made sure we started our hunt for somewhere suitable about a year into the contract so we could decide what kind of place we could afford and find the right place. We did look at some smaller places, knowing that the kids won't all be here every other weekend when they get into their later teens, but with the youngest only 8, realised that would still be quite some way away and we wanted to make sure we had space for the future. Our last place had 3 bedrooms, and the rows that used to break out between the girls were epic (over the most ridiculous of things!) we decided giving everyone their own space would give us our sanity too! Now we're here, we definitely made the right choice!

Our momentum for the renovations definitely slowed during the warmer months! The hallway has now been bereft of wall paper and carpet for a couple of months, but I actually prefer that look right now to the hideousness that was there before so don't mind so much! You're right though, I have completely stopped noticing it though!

The hallway was supposed to be the next part of our renovation of the old half of the house, but we realised there was little point getting it sorted until the bedrooms had been done - walls have been scraped getting old flooring out, mess all through the house trying to get old carpets out etc. - and we both agreed we would have been devastated had we had the hallway and stairs perfect, only to damage them in the process of sorting out upstairs! So, that got suspended and, now the weather is turning, our focus is turning back indoors. Hopefully we'll get some decent progress over the winter, before the sunshine tempts me back out to the garden again

As for the smoking, congratulations on your quitting success!!! Personally I'm loving the e-cigarette! I haven't had (or wanted) a "normal" cigarette since I stopped earlier this year, and curiously the sight of seeing people light a cigarette seems like a totally alien action to me now - whereas before it would have made me want one myself! I've also started to notice I don't like the smell that hangs around smokers, so all good! I'm definitely with you in the "I'm soooooo glad I quit" - it's partly what's helping me to fund my OP's! I certainly would have found it much harder to attribute that money to the monthly OP's if I was still spending hundreds of pounds a months on cigarettes - I was a 30-40 day smoker, which is a terrifying amount spent on cigarettes when you aggregate that up on a weekly or monthly basis! :T:T:T