Third-Life Crisis

enthusiasticsaver

Goingroundincircles wrote: »

As if we needed a sign literally from above, we have water from the bathroom coming through the living room ceiling :mad:
So I guess that's the bathroom decision made for us. Husband took off the bath panel and lifted the lino to have a look. Turns out none of it was fitted properly. We're in 4.5 year old shared ownership property so just trying to find out where we stand on the repairs.

Whoops. Can you claim on housebuilders guarantee as less than 10 years old?

Goingroundincircles

The housing association said to speak to either the LABC warranty or building insurers. Apparently the warranty won't cover it as it's not structural. The insurers said they're unlikely to cover it as it's down to the way it was installed and so to put in a liability claim to the builders. The builders don't care.
We spoke to a few neighbours and it seems as though everyone has had problems, but never got them resolved and had to deal with it themselves

Goingroundincircles

Debt totals Feb 18 - May 18:

Lloyds - £2880 - £2214
Halifax - £2374 - £2296
Barclaycard 1 - £6194 - £5933
Barclaycard 2 - £9192- £9010
MBNA 1 - £6158 - £6053 (I can't work out why this has gone up from last month, the card hasn't been used since Christmas!!)
MBNA 2 - £3340 - £3223
MBNA 3 - £3932 - £4931/£4431 (this one fluctuates as it now OHs materials card - payment due next week for Apr/May's transactions. We say that £500 is 'spending' so I think I'll deduct £500 from the balance each month so see how the rest is decreasing)
MBNA 4 - £2115 - £2792
MBNA 5 - £3746 - £3534
Mum - £1695 - £1370
Tesco Loan - £9300 - £8100
Sainsburys Loan - £8398 - £7432
FIL - £2000 - £1900
TOTAL - £59,324 - £58,288

Total of £1373 debt reduction this month. So with some very crude maths, if we paid off the same amount every month it would take us 3.5 years to clear the debt. Is this right?! It sounds too good to be true.

On a less positive note, I totally got ahead of myself the other day and it's two years until both loans are paid off, not one

Very pleased to have gone another month without using credit cards. Just need to get the food/spending under control so more can go towards savings/debt. And best of all, we've now saved £1200 :j As people who have never saved anything, this genuinely makes me very happy!

Magpie100

Well done - good reduction on the debt and great about the savings. I think your crude maths is correct, but you will have to be very disciplined going forwards to make sure you don't increase your debt again.

Can you remind us what the situation will be when you go on mat leave? I know you have been saving extra for it, but it might be a good idea to do a revised SOA for when you finish work. Do you think that level of debt reduction is possible when you are on mat leave?

Re the bath - if your neighbours have also had problems can you group together and put pressure on the builders as a group? What's the situation with the bathroom at the moment? Can you get some prices/recommendations from neighbours that have already had remedial work done so you can start to work out how much it might cost you if you do have to pay for it yourselves?

VEry well done on not spending on the credit cards this month, though, and I am sure no one would begrudge you your ribena! Hope June is a good moneysaving month for you. M100.

enthusiasticsaver

Goingroundincircles wrote: »

Debt totals Feb 18 - May 18:

Lloyds - £2880 - £2214
Halifax - £2374 - £2296
Barclaycard 1 - £6194 - £5933
Barclaycard 2 - £9192- £9010
MBNA 1 - £6158 - £6053 (I can't work out why this has gone up from last month, the card hasn't been used since Christmas!!) This has decreased hasn't it?
MBNA 2 - £3340 - £3223
MBNA 3 - £3932 - £4931/£4431 (this one fluctuates as it now OHs materials card - payment due next week for Apr/May's transactions. We say that £500 is 'spending' so I think I'll deduct £500 from the balance each month so see how the rest is decreasing)Is this a 0% card?
MBNA 4 - £2115 - £2792
MBNA 5 - £3746 - £3534
Mum - £1695 - £1370
Tesco Loan - £9300 - £8100
Sainsburys Loan - £8398 - £7432
FIL - £2000 - £1900
TOTAL - £59,324 - £58,288

Total of £1373 debt reduction this month. So with some very crude maths, if we paid off the same amount every month it would take us 3.5 years to clear the debt. Is this right?! It sounds too good to be true.

On a less positive note, I totally got ahead of myself the other day and it's two years until both loans are paid off, not one

Very pleased to have gone another month without using credit cards. Just need to get the food/spending under control so more can go towards savings/debt. And best of all, we've now saved £1200 :j As people who have never saved anything, this genuinely makes me very happy!

Well done on not using credit cards and managing to start saving.

The 3.5 years DFD at the current repayment rate would only happen if there was no interest being charged on the debts. What interest rate are you paying on all those deals/cards?

You know the loans will be paid off in 2 years. FIL is presumably £100 a month for 20 months? Your mum is also interest free so you can work that one out. There is £39486 left on credit cards but I cannot remember if any or all of those are at 0%. Using the MBNA card for your OH materials is not ideal as even if the original amount borrowed on that is 0% any additional borrowing wont be so you will be paying interest on the purchases made by your OH. Working towards a better system than using credit is a good idea.

Kitten868

Hello!

What a journey you've been on already. Nearly been a year since your first light bulb and initially I was thinking oh poo but you've really turned it around! In the time your debt has gone down not up so that's definitely fantastic. You need to acknowledge all the positives. I know it's really hard when you feel like you're going nowhere but you are little by little getting there. It's not gone up and on that point you beat me. Congratulations on new baby! Nearly there now! In my experience babies don't cost much at all. They are pretty much covered by their income. The expensive thing is looking after them.
I normally recommend mum's to live on SMP before time so they get used to living on the money. You won't have to live on SMP so it doesn't work. I now earn less than smp! You didn't say car seat but is that in your travel system?
Weird thought but will you need a car while you're on smp? No car for 9 months will save you alot. We did that. Then you can reassess your options towards the end?
Keep on debt slaying.. oh and go to the cinema. The last time I went was the night before my induction... 5 years ago. Xxx

enthusiasticsaver

I would second Kittens recommendation to live off what you will be earning whilst on maternity leave and save the rest so you know you will be able to manage while you are at home.

Re the cinema, another good suggestion. My DD and her husband currently have a 2.8 year old toddler and a 6 week old baby and cinema visits are a thing of the past now. Even meals out as they say they are too tired to enjoy them in the evening. If we offer to babysit they say they only want to sleep.:rotfl::rotfl:

Not that we are trying to scare you. You may get a really good sleeper.

Goingroundincircles

Hi everyone, thanks for your comments. As long as we keep managing to save at least £300pm from now until my 6 months of full maternity pay stops (Jan 19), then there will be no reduction in our monthly income as the savings will cover the 3 months on SMP and the 3 months with no pay. This is my motivation to keep saving as dipping into it now means going back to work sooner! So hopefully we'll be able to continue with the same amount of debt reduction too.

Re the bath - if your neighbours have also had problems can you group together and put pressure on the builders as a group? What's the situation with the bathroom at the moment? Can you get some prices/recommendations from neighbours that have already had remedial work done so you can start to work out how much it might cost you if you do have to pay for it yourselves?

Currently the contents of the bathroom is spread around the hallway, the floor is up and there are holes in the floorboards! We have ordered the bits we need to do the work, which will be arriving tomorrow. The plan is OH will do the work himself, in his spare time. The insurers have asked us to put in a quote for the work so we hope to get that done asap. In the meantime we've had to crack on with it, as suggested by the insurers, to make sure it is all safe and ready before baby arrives! If they decide not to pay, we'll have to look at using the maternity/emergency pot or asking a family member to help. Not ideal. OH has earnt significantly more since taking on the new contract though so hopefully we could repay it pretty quickly.

The 3.5 years DFD at the current repayment rate would only happen if there was no interest being charged on the debts. What interest rate are you paying on all those deals/cards?

You know the loans will be paid off in 2 years. FIL is presumably £100 a month for 20 months? Your mum is also interest free so you can work that one out. There is £39486 left on credit cards but I cannot remember if any or all of those are at 0%. Using the MBNA card for your OH materials is not ideal as even if the original amount borrowed on that is 0% any additional borrowing wont be so you will be paying interest on the purchases made by your OH. Working towards a better system than using credit is a good idea.

Those repayment figures take into account the interest, so we actually paid much more than that, probably closer to £1900!! But you're right, we have very little at 0% now. 3 at around 25%, 4 with some of the balance at 0% and 2 all at 0%. I'm hoping that with a period of not spending on the cards or taking on new debt we'll be offered some new deals in the not too distant future. I've just noticed one of the MBNAs has over £1000 available on it and a 0% until Oct 19, 3.5% transfer fee offer. I will investigate that this week.
What would you suggest for materials? We're a way off getting another pot of money together for materials. We pay back the materials money as soon as it comes in but it isn't always by the end of the month.

Weird thought but will you need a car while you're on smp? No car for 9 months will save you alot. We did that. Then you can reassess your options towards the end?
Keep on debt slaying.. oh and go to the cinema. The last time I went was the night before my induction... 5 years ago. Xxx

Unfortunately I will if I want to get anywhere! Even the GP surgery would be a 45 minute walk. I also looked into the car situation a month or two ago and I'm stuck with it at the moment as it is a hire purchase. But thank you. I might hold off on the cinema for a few weeks then, I'm not ready for the baby just yet :rotfl:

Not that we are trying to scare you. You may get a really good sleeper.

I really hope so because I'm not getting any sleep now :eek:

Goingroundincircles

MBNA 1 - £6158 - £6053 (I can't work out why this has gone up from last month, the card hasn't been used since Christmas!!) This has decreased hasn't it?

Baby brain!!! I honestly feel like my brain just doesn't work right anymore Thanks ES!

enthusiasticsaver

Goingroundincircles wrote: »

Those repayment figures take into account the interest, so we actually paid much more than that, probably closer to £1900!! But you're right, we have very little at 0% now. 3 at around 25%, 4 with some of the balance at 0% and 2 all at 0%. I'm hoping that with a period of not spending on the cards or taking on new debt we'll be offered some new deals in the not too distant future. I've just noticed one of the MBNAs has over £1000 available on it and a 0% until Oct 19, 3.5% transfer fee offer. I will investigate that this week.
What would you suggest for materials? We're a way off getting another pot of money together for materials. We pay back the materials money as soon as it comes in but it isn't always by the end of the month.

Ideally materials and other self employment costs would come out of a separate business account/trade card or whatever. Your OH should also be saving tax money in a separate account. How does he work all those costs?does he have an accountant? Ideally an amount would be saved to build up a buffer for all the self employment costs. Alternatively an empty credit card with no balance on it so at least he has the six weeks or so interest free.

Shame about the unexpected costs for the bathroom. Presumably the suite can be reused though if the house is newish and just the materials for new floor if your OH is reinstalling it himself?