Trying to clear debt and save for a house.

Kitten868

I was too scared to get rid of the credit cards with children as there's always something they need. But I'm annoyed I didn't do it sooner as all the money I paid off was wasted but now it's just reducing
I'm also of the opinion that I'd rather apply for a mortgage with £10k in the bank and £2k on credit cards. Than £8k cash.
How is hubby? Doing any better? X

jenny+luke

Kitten868 wrote: »

I was too scared to get rid of the credit cards with children as there's always something they need. But I'm annoyed I didn't do it sooner as all the money I paid off was wasted but now it's just reducing
I'm also of the opinion that I'd rather apply for a mortgage with £10k in the bank and £2k on credit cards. Than £8k cash.
How is hubby? Doing any better? X

Yeah it's seems scary to cut them up. Its near the end of the month that I usually struggle and start spending on them. This month its not going to happen

That's great that your cc debt is not reducing, I'm almost wishing the next 4-5 months away so I'll be debt free. lol.

hubby is ok thanks, he's having some more tests done next week. Can't wait till he's better

have a good day x

triple_choc_chip

Kitten868 wrote: »

I'm also of the opinion that I'd rather apply for a mortgage with £10k in the bank and £2k on credit cards. Than £8k cash.

If you play with some of the mortgage calculators, you will find that every £1k of debt lowers the mortgage offer by £5k, so it really depends how much you will need to borrow.

kirtsypoos

Hi Jenny+luke,

I'm delurking to say not sure if you have sorted your sky out but we called to try and get it reduced and I wasn't happy with what was given so I cancelled - 2 weeks later we had half price TV for 12 months (no new contract) and free broadband so we now only pay £27 for line rental and TV. It's definitely worth calling their bluff if you can

jenny+luke

kirtsypoos wrote: »

Hi Jenny+luke,

I'm delurking to say not sure if you have sorted your sky out but we called to try and get it reduced and I wasn't happy with what was given so I cancelled - 2 weeks later we had half price TV for 12 months (no new contract) and free broadband so we now only pay £27 for line rental and TV. It's definitely worth calling their bluff if you can

Thanks. We managed to keep everything we had movies sports etc and pay £40 less per month for 9 months.

jenny+luke

Hi all,

thought I'd update this post and let you all know how I got on keeping track of our spending during Feb.

I was quite surprised by the amount of money we spent on food, even though I've been meal planning and shopping at Aldi. when my hubby goes to the shop for 1 thing, he can spend up to £25. when this is a few times a week it really adds up.

I spend over £100 on clothes, 2 children needed new school shoes, lost a school tie, son needed a new coat. this isn't a normal month.

petrol was twice as much as I thought which was a shock.

now for the positive I paid £500 on my credit card and only used £80. usually by the end of the month I use £400-£500 so I'm really pleased about that.

I cant wait till I am debt free and can use any spare money towards buying a house. realistically should be no more than 4 months. We are going on holidays for a few days next month so dont want to end up using my credit card, so being careful. I will probably pay less this month and if I have any money left over after holiday, chuck it straight at the cc.

Its been a real eye opener writing down everything that we spend. Theres lots of small expenses that I didn't even consider when doing SOA like eyebrow threading lol.

I've changed gas and electric supplier and saved around £55 per month and also changed home insurance and that's around £8 cheaper per month.

thanks again for help and suggestions. I really appreciate it. Hoping that we can put a stop to the shop trips or get him to use cash.

chelseablue

My partner used to be like that, he would 'just pop to the local shop' and spend £20.


Now he just transfers all his wages to me and I do the shopping.


Not for everyone probably but works for us

asparagus1968

well done jenny+luke, so far so good, good luck!

KirstyO

Also no car insurance...really?!