I’m taking control of my life, now.

Suffolk_lass

boxofpaws wrote: »

Yep, sounds like one and the same. Did he leave an empty ice cube tray in the freezer last night in your house too?

What makes you think he has the "putting an ice cube tray in the freezer" competency in his skill-set? Let alone an empty one :rotfl:

boxofpaws

Today and yesterday:-

Good things:j

• Managed to claim a kebab back through work :rotfl:- it was part of my return journey last week from NI but still pleasantly surprised it was accepted.
• The husband got an extra 2 hours OT today and yesterday (£44)
• Have called BT, and had a rant with a refund of £1.92. I might go on a spending spree with it.
• Have run down the fridge efficiently, used up all leftovers and even ate the yellow stickered hake.
• Today I am more leaning towards NOT consolidaiting. I might post more about this later to read back on.

Bad things:exclamati:exclamati

• Resisited joining our friends at the Italian for dinner last night (Valentines night)
• Credit card payment came out, leaving us overdrawn. Cannot wait until payday now.
• 2 coffees and soup from canteen today - complete disorganisation - £1.90

Saintliness = 3/10

Suffolk_lass

boxofpaws wrote: »

Today and yesterday:-

Good things:j

• Managed to claim a kebab back through work :rotfl:- it was part of my return journey last week from NI but still pleasantly surprised it was accepted.
• The husband got an extra 2 hours OT today and yesterday (£44)
• Have called BT, and had a rant with a refund of £1.92. I might go on a spending spree with it.
• Have run down the fridge efficiently, used up all leftovers and even ate the yellow stickered hake.
• Today I am more leaning towards NOT consolidaiting. I might post more about this later to read back on. twinkle twinkle:T:T

Bad things:exclamati:exclamati

• Resisited joining our friends at the Italian for dinner last night (Valentines night)
• Credit card payment came out, leaving us overdrawn. Cannot wait until payday now.
• 2 coffees and soup from canteen today - complete disorganisation - £1.90

Saintliness = 3/10

I dispute 3/10 - at least 6/10, if only for the highlighted text

boxofpaws

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I dispute 3/10 - at least 6/10, if only for the highlighted text

Ah, you're lovely! I'll take the 6!

boxofpaws

Today and yesterday:-

Good things:j

• Been to see the mortgage advisor.
• said mortgage advisor has already given me a tiny piece of advice which will save us money. He told me it double check with bank of Ireland when my deal runs out, and what they will offer. Turns out it runs out at the end of may not end of August. I wouldn't have applied until July, paying 3 month's extra high interest £600 in total
• MA says we will have no problem getting whatever mortgage we want, talked through the debt options and he had some suggestions.
• The husband got an extra 5 hours OT tomorrow (£55)
• fridge is now bare for tomorrow's shopping to arrive
• flex day on Friday - got loads of chores done. Vacced behind the couch :eek:
• the allysum seeds i planted last weekend are sprouting away! Am now thinking I will grow all bedding plants from seeds if it's this easy and rewarding, it'll save me loads of money in spring. Begonias and petunias, do you reckon?

Bad things:exclamati:exclamati

• Im delighted that the mortgage finishes soon but I don't feel the bank statements are brilliant over the last 3 months. We had my 40 th birthday in rejkavik and Christmas :eek:
• We are £40 off our overdraft limit (£500) til payday and nothing in the EF
• Had my quarterly fight with the husband. It was about remortgaging and commitment to paying debt. I might post more about this later because it was an eye opener

Spends - £10 on kitchen sink strainer things which are RUBBISH

Saintliness = 6/10

System

Paws , I am so pleased you are back posting more regularly. The MA sounds very hopeful that you will get a good deal which surely had to be good. You have paid off so much debt already and still enjoyed your holidays.

When I first saw your comment about allysum seeds I misread it as asylum seeds . My mum grows all her own bedding plants from seed , I have pots outside my door as I don't have my own garden. Things are flowering in them not sure what they are but the mother ship will know.

Look forward to hearing about DH version of paying debt .

boxofpaws

Thoughts on consolidation

• Remortgage amount £167000
• Debt approx £25k
• House value £250-270k
• Current monthly mortgage payment £1165 (4.69% fixed)

For consolidation
My initial thoughts were 'why don't we borrow 75% LTV, which will virtually pay off all debt and mortgage, then pay the new payment of ~£1050 per month to keep the same term (17 years) but then pay a regular overpayment of £1000 to pay the whole lot off in 10 years. Also, the debt, although it's at 0%, I pay 3% fees, so actually a mortgage rate is lower.'

Against consolidation
Then on Wednesday I had another thought, we have ALREADY paid the 3% fee. It's gone. I should try to use the 0% as long as I can. I checked how much it would cost us per month for £167k and it would be £950 per month max. Over £200 more to chuck at the debts than right now.

In 2005, we consolidated his £15k loan (taken it before we met to buy a motorbike) into our mortgage. I was so naive, I didn't really understand what we were really doing, that we would pay much much more back. We ran up loans and credit cards again, we just didn't really earn enough to service this debt.

I am fully committed to paying this debt down, whether it's in the mortgage or not, however the husband last night said he would be worried we'd run up credit card debt again, especially if I create a punishing overpayment plan if we consolidate.

We haven't really changed how we live, we just earn more. I want the debt gone but repayable in the most efficient way possible please

I can't believe we have to make this decision so suddenly too.

redofromstart

I always think consolidation as a last resort, but thats just me. I get your logic both ways.

In terms of timescales on the remortgage we also did ours recently, ours took 21st October to 18th December. Paper valuation, with the bank OH banks with, month for offer and then the legal bit. Hope this helps.

sashybo

Hi paws, looking good on the re-mortgage front. :T

You could try growing sweet peas from seed, they are very easy to grow & smell lovely. You can also collect the seeds from the plants when they start releasing them to use for next year as well. :j

Lobelia is also quite easy to grow but when I grew it from seed it seemed to take ages. I also love verbena but have never tried growing it from seed, I usually buy the reduced ones from the garden centre due to laziness.

Eager_Elephant

I am against consolidation generally - I work as a Debt Adviser and have seen no end of people consolidate on to mortgages and then run the debt up again but worst of all I have seen severe financial difficulty (job loss/divorce) when a debt has been consolidated and you cant really ask a mortgage company to accept token offers while you get back on your feet. ( I appreciate some lenders allow payment holidays for 3 months). Whereas a credit card and loan repayment can be lowered right down to £1 per month freeing up the money needed for the mortgage.

Also although the Government help cover some mortgage cost after 39 weeks they only allow for the initial mortgage and any remortgage must have been for renovation which affected heating and lighting (say if the heating system had to be replaced) so people are often in the position of not being given enough help with the mortgage. (This help is now in the form of a secured loan from April)