Getting worse before it gets better...

Scottishmummy

That's a shame about the job but it shows that your interview technique is good.

Wow that is quite a drop in what was paid for the house. I take it prices just haven't recovered where you are. At least now it is almost no longer yours and that is definitely worth getting excited about.

And yay for payday. I've still to wait until next wednesday.

Claree__x

It's annoying 'cause I've had 3 interviews recently and awesome feedback from all of them but no job to show for it! It's not too awful 'cause I actually quite like my job at the moment, I'm just concious that I do need to move at some point to further my career but c'est la vie! At the very least it means I'm making contacts and giving impressions which can only be good in the industry.

In 2007 my husband and his cousin bought the house for £105k and we're selling for £74k 9 years later - it's crazy isn't it? Honestly I just want it out of my life and to know there's a figure that we have to pay down and once it's gone it's gone. We haven't sorted out how it's happening yet so we'll wait and see.

We had a chat in work yesterday about pensions with autoenrollment coming in at some point this year for us and what we want to do about it. There's only 2 of us who qualify for a pension automatically and the other doesn't know if she wants one so if she doesn't it wouldn't make sense to run a pension scheme just for me when I can run it through my own ltd company and get a better rate and even then I'm considering that I'd be better just putting money into a Lifetime ISA when they come into effect next year. I know I wouldn't get the benefit of my employer matching contributions but I'm sure I could negotiate a wage rise to the same effect if it avoids him having to run a pension scheme and I'd get the bonus as well. Something to think about anyway.

Took my gas and electric readings this morning and my bill is down on last month but still around £20 higher than it was in November/December which is irritating. I know I have to accept it's cold just now and therefore the heating will be on more often but it makes me sad! Okay, maybe I'm lying, it's around the same as it was in December - ha! Oops, I've obviously just made up what the figures were! We pay a static direct debit anyway so that it's easy to budget. I've just changed it to £50 which is about the average of the bills lately, it started at £58 when we moved in but kept reducing when our bills were less than that which annoyed me 'cause I wanted to have a credit stashed up for winter!

Going to move some money around now for bills and whatnot. I'll get paid on Tuesday so can't do everything but at least can move the house bills.

Claree__x

Seems like we all had the bank holiday weekend off - none of my subscribed diaries had updates this morning! I don't know if anyone is reading this but if you are, drop me a wee note below of your diary and I'll subscribe - love reading others' progress.

So it's been confirmed that FIL is going to lend us the money for the house. Good news is that he doesn't want it back as a monthly amount but for us to put it aside and give him a lump sum as and when he asks for it. Why good news, you may be wondering, well - if we decided on a monthly amount - say £200 - FIL would not accept any more than £200/month meaning we couldn't clear the debt any quicker. This way we can put aside what we can afford and build it up quicker - yay.

So today's task [other than work, obviously...] is to work out what we need savings for (holiday, birthdays, Christmas etc) and where other savings need to go. I have my help to buy ISA which takes £200/month which I don't want to drop down because it'll be helpful in the long run and then we've got ~£2.5k on a credit card which I'm tempted to just throw all of our money at and clear so we're on a clean slate...but I'll have a think about it.

Off to play with some spreadsheets - yay!

ChicaBonita

Hi Claree, I'm reading I'm currently saving for a place with my OH, my diary is here if you're interested!: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/70402948#Comment_70402948
It's interesting how different house/flat prices are around the country - for us to get a 2 bed flat we're looking at a MINIMUM of 250k, and that may even go up by the time we come to buy! For a house we'd be looking closer to 350k, and it's not even like you have much to show!

Scottishmummy

Claree__x wrote: »

Seems like we all had the bank holiday weekend off - none of my subscribed diaries had updates this morning! I don't know if anyone is reading this but if you are, drop me a wee note below of your diary and I'll subscribe - love reading others' progress.

So it's been confirmed that FIL is going to lend us the money for the house. Good news is that he doesn't want it back as a monthly amount but for us to put it aside and give him a lump sum as and when he asks for it. Why good news, you may be wondering, well - if we decided on a monthly amount - say £200 - FIL would not accept any more than £200/month meaning we couldn't clear the debt any quicker. This way we can put aside what we can afford and build it up quicker - yay.

So today's task [other than work, obviously...] is to work out what we need savings for (holiday, birthdays, Christmas etc) and where other savings need to go. I have my help to buy ISA which takes £200/month which I don't want to drop down because it'll be helpful in the long run and then we've got ~£2.5k on a credit card which I'm tempted to just throw all of our money at and clear so we're on a clean slate...but I'll have a think about it.

Off to play with some spreadsheets - yay!

Think you are already subscribed to mine. I haven't posted for a few days because I've been so busy at work. Our holiday isn't until next week

Are you able to open a regular ISA alongside the help to buy one? If yes then that's where to put your FIL's payments so you get the benefit of a hopefully decent interest rate. That is so kind of him though. I don't know much about ISAs. I use one for my various little savings pots but it is instant access so when I need it I can get it. I haven't needed to touch what I put into this years one and last years one still has just over £200 available but that's the thing, I don't know if I just keep opening a new one each year or if I should just be continuing to use the same one.

mummytogirls

Evening Claree,

Just came across your diary this evening. Yay to your FIL lending you the money that will be a big weight lifted won't it! I think £200 a month is a decent amount to save for him each month xx

Claree__x

Scottishmummy wrote: »

Think you are already subscribed to mine. I haven't posted for a few days because I've been so busy at work. Our holiday isn't until next week

Are you able to open a regular ISA alongside the help to buy one? If yes then that's where to put your FIL's payments so you get the benefit of a hopefully decent interest rate. That is so kind of him though. I don't know much about ISAs. I use one for my various little savings pots but it is instant access so when I need it I can get it. I haven't needed to touch what I put into this years one and last years one still has just over £200 available but that's the thing, I don't know if I just keep opening a new one each year or if I should just be continuing to use the same one.

Usually the banks only give a good interest rate for a year so you should check if the rate has dropped.
ISAs are less important going into this tax year as the first £1,000 of savings interest for everyone is now going to be tax free so unless you have a good bit of savings stashed away [I can only dream!] it won't make much difference whether it's an ISA or not!

You can only have one cash ISA though and one stocks and shares ISA which I've never actually looked into...might do that!

ChicaBonita wrote: »

Hi Claree, I'm reading I'm currently saving for a place with my OH, my diary is here if you're interested!: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/70402948#Comment_70402948
It's interesting how different house/flat prices are around the country - for us to get a 2 bed flat we're looking at a MINIMUM of 250k, and that may even go up by the time we come to buy! For a house we'd be looking closer to 350k, and it's not even like you have much to show!

It's crazy, isn't it?
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52689169.html
This is the house we sold. It's been taken off of rightmove but you can still see the pictures. Technically a flat I suppose but even so - the price difference is massive!

Subscribed to your diary

ChicaBonita

Wow!! That flat is lovely! I could only dream about prices that low down here Thanks for subscribing!