Sell up and rent - thoughts?

CarpeDave

Thank you Silvercar for sorting that out.

Yes the bank loan for the work on the house was £20k in Jan 2018, the finance on the BMW was £19.5k in Feb 2018. So two repayments of £374 going out each month.

We did the weekly food shop in our nearest Aldi (15 miles away!) on Sunday. Was somewhat amazed that it came in at £49.96, we knew it would be cheaper but were expecting it to be in the £80 region compared with the usual £120 delivery from Tesco / Ocado. Now we just have to limit the midweek top-up shops - that'll be easier when the new Aldi just up the road opens in a month or so, as we've only got a Tesco and a few corner shops where we live at the moment.

We've written down every penny spent over the last three days. This has had the immediate effect of stopping either of us picking £5 or £10 worth of unnecessary bits and bobs as we go along. We've also gathered together all the duplicate/unused household bits and bobs ready to sell on facebook and eBay - I reckon we can muster £2k that way.

There's plenty more that we can do, and we've had some good honest conversations about how to go about it. Thank you to all who have contributed guidance and advance so far, I was ready for a lot of flak but we've received so much positive information on here.

Red-Squirrel_2

Meal planning is the key to avoiding top up shops, it saves time and helps with keeping up healthy eating habits too.

It sounds like you’re making a great start, new year new financial habits!

buythedip

Good start. Why doesn’t your wife work?

enthusiasticsaver

You have fallen into the trap many lottery winners do (albeit your windfall was smaller) in that having never been used to having spare money or rather spending ev erything you earn you have gone a bit mad.

There is room for cutting back on groceries, holidays for a few years, entertainment, cable tv and mobile phones once the deals are finished. Your wife could look for work and you could get a job closer to home without the £400 fuel costs. Tackle the Sainsbury's card and Barclaycard first. Cars are the biggest money pits out there. I would not suggest you sell up the house. Firstly because house prices are mainly stagnant at the moment and Brexit uncertainty is not helping, rents are generally more expensive than a mortgage and at some point when you are retired how are you going to pay rent. Emigrating is also rather Brexit dependent so depends how Spain decide to deal with emigration from UK once we are no longer in the EU. You have been given a massive prize by your dad but you don't seem concerned about providing for your children. Presumably at some point they may want to go to Uni or buy a flat so I would suggest you look at your attitude to money and start to turn this around before you end up in an even bigger mess. That is harsh advice but honestly I think you need it.

getmore4less

Often when you start a really good thing to do on the food front is monitor everything you throw out.

That was something that did not need buying.

Ties in with meal planning and resource use of the stuff getting thrown out.

Also start to look for low price bulk buys on the non perishable things like toilet rolls tinned stuff.

List every item and a target price.

You don't have to compromise on quality some cheap stuff is too cheap.

Can you fit in reduced for quick sale shopping M&S and waitrose can be realy good.

Quite therapeutic the spending diary as you gain control.

getmore4less

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

You have fallen into the trap many lottery winners do (albeit your windfall was smaller) in that having never been used to having spare money or rather spending ev erything you earn you have gone a bit mad.

There is room for cutting back on groceries, holidays for a few years, entertainment, cable tv and mobile phones once the deals are finished. Your wife could look for work and you could get a job closer to home without the £400 fuel costs. Tackle the Sainsbury's card and Barclaycard first. Cars are the biggest money pits out there. I would not suggest you sell up the house. Firstly because house prices are mainly stagnant at the moment and Brexit uncertainty is not helping, rents are generally more expensive than a mortgage and at some point when you are retired how are you going to pay rent. Emigrating is also rather Brexit dependent so depends how Spain decide to deal with emigration from UK once we are no longer in the EU. You have been given a massive prize by your dad but you don't seem concerned about providing for your children. Presumably at some point they may want to go to Uni or buy a flat so I would suggest you look at your attitude to money and start to turn this around before you end up in an even bigger mess. That is harsh advice but honestly I think you need it.

The £400 fuel is not the commute that's about 25% £100. The rest is school runs and pottering about.

iolanthe07

don’t expect to be able to emigrate to Spain after we leave the EU.


Why? Friends of mine emigrated to Spain in the 1960's without any problems, long before we joined the then EEC. Life will go on pretty much as usual after March 29th, imho.

AdrianC

iolanthe07 wrote: »

don’t expect to be able to emigrate to Spain after we leave the EU.

Why? Friends of mine emigrated to Spain in the 1960's without any problems, long before we joined the then EEC.

Non-EU/EEA nationals need a residential visa to move to Spain.
https://www.expatica.com/es/moving/visas/visas-and-immigration-102354/#Who

There is absolutely zero reason to think that will not include the UK, once the UK is no longer an EU or EEA member.

iolanthe07

AdrianC wrote: »

Non-EU/EEA nationals need a residential visa to move to Spain.
https://www.expatica.com/es/moving/visas/visas-and-immigration-102354/#Who

There is absolutely zero reason to think that will not include the UK, once the UK is no longer an EU or EEA member.

Quite. There's no reason to think that these visas will be denied to UK citizens, though. It will be as it was before we joined the EEC.

AdrianC

iolanthe07 wrote: »

Quite. There's no reason to think that these visas will be denied to UK citizens, though. It will be as it was before we joined the EEC.

Indeed. Nor is there any reason to think that a UK national will be given preferential treatment on any visa application compared to any other non-EU national.

Here's the information given out by the Spanish consulate in San Fran for US nationals looking to retire to Spain...
http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/SANFRANCISCO/en/ConsularServices/Documents/visas/RetirementVisa.pdf
...and meeting all of that is no guarantee that the applicant will get the visa. That's just what's needed for the application to be processed. The application takes up to three months, and the visa initially only lasts for one year.
https://internationalliving.com/countries/spain/spain-visa-and-residency-information/