I want a life without failed Direct Debits :-(

Honeysucklelou2

Sorry about the car...how far is your commute? I'm in a rural area whereby a car is essential and when they go, it's quite an impact on everyday life.

Mum.Wife.Me.

Hi Steph, I've also been around on and off for 10 years, although I opened a new account this time for a "fresh start" this time it has to work! So sorry to hear about your car, unexpected expense at this time of year is a nightmare, we had a £300 vet bill to pay last week and it knocked all my positivity right out of me! back on track now and look forward to following your progress x

enthusiasticsaver

Are you at the stage of a DMP if your budget is so tight you are unable to save towards an emergency fund or car maintenance? Would it be worth putting an soa up here for ideas. We live in Cornwall and would struggle without cars but it is just about doable as we are on a bus route. When my kids were young the school was in walking distance and I then caught the bus to work as parking in my local city was so expensive. Are you able to do without one for a few months to save up enough to buy a cheap run around?

tibawo

Hi Steph... you sound so similar to me. I had virtually controlled my debts and then changed jobs and it didn't work out so debts creeped up but least this time I know it is not the end of the world and that with the right mindset it can be done.

I also had car troubles and needed it to work. Without work no pay, viscous circle! Although not a small holding I do have an allotment that I need to sort and use productively this year!

Let's hope we don't just have a light bulb moment but we light up the world!

Igamogam

I feel your pain regarding car....rural location here too and 100 mile round trip for work:eek: I am currently in dispute with main dealer re a car a bought from them in 2017. Not new but only 3 years old. Developed a fault within warranty and they have fobbed me off ever since...offered to sell me another car but it will leave me much worse off financially, which they dont get! So I am now in discussion with the car manufacture....we will see. Hope you can get it sorted soon

StressedSteph

Thanks for all the replies.

Well...I seemed to spend this week with my head firmly in the sand!.

My best friend lent me her spare little car. I worked every hour possible last week, along with juggling kids clubs, trying to sort animals etc so somehow I got to Friday without really sorting anything out.

The car is definitley going to cost around £2500. to repair and is only worth around £3000. it has alot of other bits wrong with it so even though i feel like i am losing my security blanket I think we have to scrap it :eek:

I have so many bills that are waiting to be paid I cannot find any money for a quick cheap car. Father in law has kindly offered to lend us £1000 to get a little run around to sort us out temporarily. There is no way to cope without a car, even though my work is only about 6 miles away there is no buses.

I need to catch up with my arrears first before I can think about saving for a car.

God life is such hard work sometimes.

I have started enjoying the Every Dollar website. I kind of like the way it budgets more than YNAB at the moment, mostly because of the arrears as YNAB isnt much fun when you owe alot of mony. That might just be me being daft.

I might do an SOA over this weekend sometime although I do know that we have a decent amount of surplus cash after the bills, its tough at the moment because of the arrears I have to catch up with.

I have just become undisciplined during 2018 so have been frittering away the surplus cash and not using any savings pots.
Well that HAS to change.

StressedSteph

Is anyone in my situation because I am struggling with a litte thought in my head.

Our smallholding must be worth around £500k as we bought is for 424k 9 years ago and have totally renovated it.

Our mortgage is only 114k.

I love where we live, 6 acres of beautiful Dorset countryside, space for kids to do as they please, contact with lots of animals (even though they spend 99% of their time on their electronics )

During these financial struggles I have been considering that if we sold this place for 500k minus mortgage and debts and allowing 20k for moving costs we would have around 350k left to buy a regular house with no debts or mortgage.

It does feel like a struggle here sometimes and I cant help but wonder how different life might be if we didn't care about living here.

Is anyone else paying a high price for where they are living. I feel we have a crossroads where we COULD change our struggles and be debt free but is the price that needs to be paid too high????

Just my mullings for the day

Honeysucklelou2

Much depends on where you live...I live in a part of the country that has huge water bills and house prices are inflated by the amount of 2nd home owners or investment companies that do holiday lets. Are Dorset house prices reasonable?

How would you feel being without your land and animals? What would £350k allow you to buy? Just questions to think about rather than answer here. The prospect of being debt and mortgage free must be very tempting...but depends on your long term goals. I don't have a smallholding but have a little parcel of land about 10 mins away from home. It's value on the open market is very low as the ground can get very wet and we battle brambles all the time, but it's my haven and where I like to be, if I had more time. Do the animals and smallholding bring you joy that you would struggle to be without?

Igamogam

StressedSteph wrote: »

Is anyone else paying a high price for where they are living. I feel we have a crossroads where we COULD change our struggles and be debt free but is the price that needs to be paid too high????

Depends what you mean by "high price". OHs family think we pay a high price as we have to travel about 18 miles to a multi screen cinema, have no idea what a Nand0s is and dont have mains gas:D

The price we pay is I have a long commute to work but we decided I was the wage earner so I would travel and we would put up with being 15 mins drive to a deserted beach even in the mad tourist season, 10 mins from some of the most breathtaking mountain scenery in the country,the darkest of night skies,clean air and quiet surroundings....

If you love the small holding way of life then could you relocate to where property and land is much cheaper.....you would be amazed what you could get for your 350K here..well you wouldn't need to use it all and possibly still have what you want:D

Good luck with the mullings. Only you can make the decision

Moneywhizz

Only you will know if the price is too high. Depends how much you love your house and land and the area that you live in. It sounds simple when you say it but there's a lot to consider. Buying a house is always a bit of a risk and if you already have something that you are happy with it, you might live to regret it. In any case finding a house that you like in an area that suits you as a family at the right price would not happen overnight so would not solve your immediate situation. I have a feeling that you really can afford to pay down your debt and remain in your house but you find it hard to discipline yourself to stay within your budget. Why not post your SOA and see if we can help in any way. If it looks like you really are in trouble then you can always consider this as an option. In the meantime you need to buckle down and get the arrears paid off so that you can save the money you need to get a car. Again, posting your SOA might clarify how quickly you are able to do that.