I’m taking control of my life, now.

boxofpaws

Bobarella wrote: »

That's very good news on your husband's job. Must be a weight off.

We won't know for sure for a while but I am less worried now. Thank you Bob :A

VelvetFreak wrote: »

The visuals of the big old cat bowling through the window crack me up every time. :rotfl:

He's a beast:D

kittykatneedscash wrote: »

Good luck Boxofpaws you sound to be doing great I've subscribed and love the way you post good things and bad things. This made me chuckle though...

'Have given in and ordered a new cat flap. £60. Could no longer cope with the big cat hurling himself onto me through the window in the early hours.'

I originally read it as bought a flat cap and thought £60 is quite a lot for a flat cap unless you really love the farmer look :rotfl:

We are quite Yorkshire and the husband did ask me recently if he should be wearing a flat cap.

Thank you for reading and posting, I really appreciate it

boxofpaws

Posting from the train, away with work again. Not many Good Things or Bad Things, in fact barely any things at all.

I did however spend a happy hour last night reviewing my spending diary, credit card payments and thinking about my imminent bonus and My Plan. Here is what I did and thought

• The contingency fund is looking quite low. This is because I'm paying for work expenses on my bank card to get cash back.
• Need to add £700 to it when I get paid/expenses back
• Sent extra payments to credit cards (apart from one) to get them to nice round numbers.
• Changed payments to multiples of £100. It's all very pleasing.
• Worked out we are spending Far Too Much. Still on the entertainment budget but a surprising amount on 'stuff for the house'. New ironing board, cat flap and paint for downstairs loo has soon added up!
• The above probably means I need to assess if we can really make the payments I was hoping I could make (£900 credit card payments + £485 loan repayments).
  

So we either

1. Try harder to cut back (we aren't really trying very hard at the minute) and pay £1385 per month. Debt next Jul approx £15k. DFD June 2019.
2. Accept that we will carry on spending like present and pay £1135 per month. Debt next July £20k. DFD December 2019. 6 months later.

Let me remind myself why we are doing this, why this whole refocus started. It's because I am afraid of losing our lovely house. Next July our mortgage deal runs out and I am scared we won't get another if they look at our spending. Also, I want a good mortgage deal, where we can pay it off fast and then save for our retirement.

I'm rambling on a bit but I need to get it all out of my head...

motivated

Hi BOP

I tend to ramble too but it really does help. Rather than it all swimming around in your head.
M

Bobarella

Just wondering if there is a way of rejigging your budget so your house pot gets more of your savings each month so there is money there for these things instead of it coming from cash flow for the month?

armchairexpert

We always fall down on the Things For The House part of the budget as well. While I'm very very grateful to be in the position of having a house to spend money on, rather than renting, I do think people don't understand how expensive houses are to maintain! Also, frankly, for-the-house purchases feels like being a responsible adult so we tend to justify it to ourselves no matter what: It's just paint! Nobody could object to some plants for the garden, surely! Buying a new washing line is the responsible thing to do! And so on.

All of that said, if your mortgage deal goes until July 2018, and your spending has been cut back to the point where you're paying over a thousand a month on debts and getting the debt levels down, I don't think you'll struggle? What the bank cares about is that your income allows you to service the mortgage and the debts comfortably, and it absolutely does. You said that you've failed at debt busting before by being too punitive, so I'd go for Option B if it will help you stick to it.

Treadingonplaymobil

Nobody can tell you the answer here. How tight is your budget now? Is that extra 250ish a month you're spending essential? Or bringing sufficient joy to your life that it's worth pushing your DFD day for? If so, then go for it.

The other thing to remember is that the bank may not like to see huge debt repayments - I was advised (and I have NO IDEA if this is true) to reduce debt payments to the minimum for the 3 months before remortgaging, so we could prove we were comfortably meeting our essential expenditures.

Could you split the difference, repayment-wise? So pay back maybe 1,200 per month, giving yourselves an extra £185 per month compared to the £1,385 you originally decided to pay?

System

Paws for what it's worth , would it help by asking advise now from your mortgage provider as to how you can make sure you are in the best financial position possible when you need to remortgage.

House repairs etc are all needed , maybe don't do any more decorating until after the new mortgage is secure or after your DFD.

I am sure you will work it out with a little help from your MSE friends

EssexHebridean

What about a 50% compromise? Increase your "for the house" budget a bit, and review after 6 months to see if there is anything "spare" in there you can shift to debts? But at the same time clamp down a wee bit on other stuff maybe. That could potentially leave you in the position of debt next July being £17,500?

Alternatively, cut back hard all round but pay that extra top the mortgage if you're allowed OP's, thus changing your LTV for the better? Have you looked to see where your LTV figure will be when the mortgage deal runs out? If you're nearing a threshold then that might be a route worth considering.

boxofpaws

motivated wrote: »

Hi BOP

I tend to ramble too but it really does help. Rather than it all swimming around in your head.
M

Thank you

Bobarella wrote: »

Just wondering if there is a way of rejigging your budget so your house pot gets more of your savings each month so there is money there for these things instead of it coming from cash flow for the month?

I guess that's my problem. I don't have a budget as such. We just spend what we like and then I type it in into my spreadsheet. I am not sure I know how to budget. I guess everything I buy is stuff I need apart from the entertainment budget and stuff for the house. And right now I'm not really trying to cut those back.

armchairexpert wrote: »

We always fall down on the Things For The House part of the budget as well. While I'm very very grateful to be in the position of having a house to spend money on, rather than renting, I do think people don't understand how expensive houses are to maintain! Also, frankly, for-the-house purchases feels like being a responsible adult so we tend to justify it to ourselves no matter what: It's just paint! Nobody could object to some plants for the garden, surely! Buying a new washing line is the responsible thing to do! And so on.

All of that said, if your mortgage deal goes until July 2018, and your spending has been cut back to the point where you're paying over a thousand a month on debts and getting the debt levels down, I don't think you'll struggle? What the bank cares about is that your income allows you to service the mortgage and the debts comfortably, and it absolutely does. You said that you've failed at debt busting before by being too punitive, so I'd go for Option B if it will help you stick to it.

Thank you! The husband and I said to each other at the start of year when I looked at our debt 'well we have everything now, and the house is how we want it (ish), all we need to do now is pay for it' but stuff keeps coming up!

boxofpaws

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

Nobody can tell you the answer here. How tight is your budget now? Is that extra 250ish a month you're spending essential? Or bringing sufficient joy to your life that it's worth pushing your DFD day for? If so, then go for it.

The other thing to remember is that the bank may not like to see huge debt repayments - I was advised (and I have NO IDEA if this is true) to reduce debt payments to the minimum for the 3 months before remortgaging, so we could prove we were comfortably meeting our essential expenditures.

Could you split the difference, repayment-wise? So pay back maybe 1,200 per month, giving yourselves an extra £185 per month compared to the £1,385 you originally decided to pay?

I thought paying minimum payments impacted your credit score. If minimum payments are recommended, we REALLY need to knuckle down from now until Christmas. Thank you for this, I will look into it.:A

Cumbria_lass wrote: »

Paws for what it's worth , would it help by asking advise now from your mortgage provider as to how you can make sure you are in the best financial position possible when you need to remortgage.

House repairs etc are all needed , maybe don't do any more decorating until after the new mortgage is secure or after your DFD.

I am sure you will work it out with a little help from your MSE friends

It's not a bad shout. I might check with a mortgage advisor. Just worried they would talk me into a new mortgage and right now the redemption fee would be too much.:eek:

EssexHebridean wrote: »

What about a 50% compromise? Increase your "for the house" budget a bit, and review after 6 months to see if there is anything "spare" in there you can shift to debts? But at the same time clamp down a wee bit on other stuff maybe. That could potentially leave you in the position of debt next July being £17,500?

Alternatively, cut back hard all round but pay that extra top the mortgage if you're allowed OP's, thus changing your LTV for the better? Have you looked to see where your LTV figure will be when the mortgage deal runs out? If you're nearing a threshold then that might be a route worth considering.

The overpayments rule on the mortgage is really odd on our mortgage. We can only overpay once a year I think. Needless to say, any extra money we've ever had, we've just spent wildly so it's never mattered before.

I will be back soon on my thoughts on LTV