The Mission 1 November 2017 at 8:44PM edited 13 December 2019 at 5:33PM in Mortgage-free wannabe 4 replies 841 views

smdabs

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Scrimps

I don't know about the 3 options on what to do with you place, I'm rather dull in that I just buy a place and plan to stay there. I hate the disruption of moving and the hassle of renting out to people though we have had a couple of lodgers.

Re your outgoings, have you given any thought as to where you might cut back?
£70 phone bill seems a lot?
Vets bills also seems expensive. Do you have to buy medications? I have to buy a few for long term conditions and get the prescription from the vet and then buy online. The price we pay is actually what the vets themselves pay. They do try and discourage us/negotiate a deal but they can't match the price and if it wasn't for this cheaper medication, when I was on less money im not sure I could have afforded it to keep the cat alive or we certainly would have struggled more!
Do you have a spare room to let out now the house works are done? Is this something you would want to do?

smdabs

Thanks for the reply!


I have been looking into reducing the phone bill however my phone company seem to only want to let me change if I sign up to another 2 year contract with them for my current phone which is less than ideal as I could find cheaper elsewhere along with a new phone (and I would have paid off the handset balance way before the new contract would end). I may give them a call to see what they can do or how expensive my early exit fee would be.


The vet bills/pet section includes dog training (£40pm) as she is a rescue with some aggressive tendencies which we're trying to work on and dog walking (£140) for while I am at work (as I work 2 hours away from home each way so cant pop in on my lunches), Thankfully at the moment we've had no real vet bills bar check ups however I do have spaying and vaccinations coming up which is going to be an extra whack!


I do have a spare room and have very much considered letting it out as I would be able to get between £450 - £550 pcm for it. My only concern being that I am not too keen on living with someone else, especially friends as I have learnt from experience it has a habit of going wrong! I am still very much undecided but its definitely something I will have a think about for the new year as it's a lot of money to sacrifice just because I would prefer to live alone.


My car should hopefully sell over the next month for around £7500/£8000 which means I can pay that straight off of my credit card (although they're both on 0% rates for quite a bit longer!) but it would mean by debt would half!


I have just increased my monthly mortgage payment to £700 so I can overpay comfortably.


I just cant wait for the house to be finally finished as all of these 'little' bits and bobs soon add up so getting rid of those will give me so much more disposable income!

VDOT47

If I was 27 again, and single, with that much disposable cash each month I would live in the house and enjoy life in what sounds like a vibrant area for a couple of years at least whilst still being able to put money aside to move somewhere else in the future.

Happier_Me

I think the option you go for is very much down to personal preference. But there is information missing in your OP that is key to that decision too. For instance, once renovated what could you sell your house for? Does this give you the equity you need to buy your next house, less selling/buying fees? Would renting be worthwhile considering the amount of tax you will pay? I think you need to do some number crunching to see what option stacks up financially.


Some other thoughts:

• Cash - you don't appear to have any cash savings. I would suggest building an emergency fund to cover at least 6 months outgoings.
• Pension - you have a high income so presumably paying higher rate tax? Are you paying into a pension? And could you up this to remove yourself, or at least reduce, your exposure to 40% tax?

I want to be mortgage free, was there once in my early 30's and have just a couple of years to go before I get there again! But I want to be financially independent more ....so I can retire early if I want to. My focus can't just be on my mortgage, I have to have a balance between longer term savings too. It's worth thinking about now...