No regrets. We only have debt. 4 June 2019 at 9:41AM edited 4 June 2019 at 1:16PM in Debt free diaries 89 replies 19.9K views

JayRitchie

Hi OP

When you mention remortgaging do you mean to get a larger amount to clear some of the debts?

Any chance of pay increases?

theoretica

You own a caravan and only use it for four weeks a year? Any way you could get it to pay its way for some of the other 48? Perhaps you could sort insurance so a trusted friend or colleague might occasionally hire it or borrow it for favours in kind.


I agree with making sure you finish the work on the house without spending more than you need to.

MrGorsky

Thanks for all of the observations everyone, I'll go through each one.

MrGorsky

EssexHebridean wrote: »

There are plenty of ways of being tough without being rude, and judgemental, would be my take on things.

OK - looking at the SOA - it's a bit tricky due to the way it's laid out/formatted, but let's have a go. Comments in red as usual.



I can well see why your current situation makes you nervous - it would be scaring the life out of me! I take it that you're not even thinking about doing anything more to the house until you have at least double the cost of the next bits cleared off the cards? If you are I can only urge you to rethink - at the moment if your wife's income fell for any reason it would be enough to cause you massive issues - never mind what if anything happened with your own job.

You say you have done matched betting before - could you return to that for a while?

Thanks EssexHebr... I've taken a good look through the SOA with your comments, and would like to republish mine here now:
Changes and feedback:
1) I forgot to include rental income we have
2) I agreed with my wife we'd aim for 360 for groceries
3) Internet cut down to £22 / mnth including wifes mobile on sim only deal.
4) Good deal on home insurance incl cashback @ £110 for the year.
5) Happy with Gas / Electric tariff. Money saving expert enregy club says it is most competitive
6) Water is metered. We will try to reduce, but I am not altering this value yet.
7) Hair cuts reduced to £20, I'll find somewhere cheaper.
8) I'll use council tax free months to boost overpayments
9) Clothing @ £50 isn't a lot for 4 people
10) Added Vets @ £10 per month
11) Entertainment is too much. I have reviewed that whole section, and we'll set budgets.
12) Wife pays to commute as its in the city centre, with no parking option.
13) I am putting the money away for annual bills, one of my YNAB habits.
14) £20 is more than enough to cover running costs of 2 cars. That's £240 per year. Oil and filter change will be £60, allowing £180 for any other consumables, I think it's enough.
15)One offs removed
16) Presents increased to a more reasonable level.
17) Nationwide loan now cleared.



S.O.A.

---

Income

£GBP£
Monthly Salary.........................3,541 after tax (After I pay in 6% to my pension and my employer contributes my contribution +2% ... so total pension contribution is 14% = £659)
Wife's Salary...........................1,513 after tax
Income from rental property .........220 net of tax
Child Benefit Income...............27 after tax

Total Income............................5,301

Expenditure

Home
Groceries...................................360 Incl food, cleaning products etc ... everything I can get at Asda.
Fibre Internet............................ ..22 <- First cut here. £11 cheaper. Done.
Home insurance..........................10 paid annually
Council Tax..................................178 over 10 mnths
Gas & Electric..............................80 Pure energy
Water............................................. 52
Mortgage........................................861
Mortgage Overpayment ..............0 Would love to over pay this
Mobile telephones.........................0 (Wife's is in BB package, mine is paid by work)
Life Insurance................................32
Hair cuts........................................20
TV Licence....................................13 Paid annually
Clothing .........................................50
Dentist........................................... ..7 for 6 monthly checkups
Vets ................ 10

Entertainment:
Going out......................................80
Hobbies.........................................140 All four of us have various hobbies
Caravan expenses.........................20 Paid annually
Holiday........................................... 55 £660 covers annual - 2 weeks in the summer in caravan, 1 week at easter away, and 1 week in October half term in caravan. All hols in caravan.
National Trust Membership ..........10 paid monthly DD


Transport:
Fuel.............................................. .140
Public transport.............................40 Wife's commute
Car Insurance...............................48 Paid annually
Car Tax.........................................24 Paid annually
MOT & maintenance.....................20


Debt repayment:
AA Loan 3.2% .............................325
Hitachi Loan 7.6% .......................360
Sainsburys Credit Card 0% til 09/21......280
Post Office Credit Card 0% til 06/20......100



Other:
Work Lottery Syndicates.................15 The fear of the syndicate win keeps me in
Union............................................. .. 2
Takeaways......................................20 One per month

Presents.......................................... .60



Monthly Expenses..........................3,534


Monthly Income...............................5,301
Monthly Expenses...........................3,534
Net Income ................................1867




Assets & Liabilities:

Debt: £GBP£ Balance
Mortgage Balance......................221k 26 years left
Value of house is £350k, mortgage rate 2.8% ... will look for remortgage deal in 10/19

AA Loan £13100 3.2% currently repaying £325 mnth
Hitachi Loan £11614 7.6% repaying £360 / mnth
Sainsburys Credit Card £11989 0% til 09/21.............280 /mnth
Post Office Credit Card £3874 0% til 06/20.................100 /mnth
Family loan £30k

Total Debt......................£291k

Total debt excl Mortgage ....£70k

Current Account balances:
Account for annual spends & Saving.....£649
Daily current Account.........................£864
Emergency Fund ...............................£0


Value of house: £380k (was bought in 2018 for £252k)
Value of owned car 1: £8k, Car 2: £100 Car number 2 will last a while yet. It's not the most desirable, but it'll keep going (notoriously hardy).
Value of Caravan owned £12k


I'm not sure about the matched betting? I was banned from a lot of the book makers for the behaviour on my accounts (matched betting), I don't know if a simple change of address and different email address would get around that?

I'm switching both my account and my wife's account to Natwest in an effort to get the 2 x £125 incentives. I wonder if switching our joint account there aswell would qualify?

MrGorsky

Takmon wrote: »

It's worth pointing out that when your children are older they won't be looking back and thinking how great their childhood was because they had a brand new bathroom and a newly redecorated house to live in.

They will probably have the most fond memories of the £840 you spend each year on 4 weeks holiday where they have quality time with their parents having fun.

They certainly won't be looking back fondly at their parents barely making ends meet and pushing their finances to the limit due to excessive spending and stressing over how everything will be paid off. I'm not saying you are stressed over this situation (I certainly wouldn't be happy in your financial situation) but it's definetly worth thinking about.

I don't think we're spending excessively, and we certainly don't feel stressed about it. And I'd like to think that's the best way.

I don't seem able to put photos of the house up here, but it really needed all of the work, it was rotting, and rooms were like building sites.

MrGorsky

andydownes123 wrote: »

I will add from a psychology perspective (my area) you do mention 'not regretting' three times (inc. title) in quite an assertive way, as if you know you probably do regret it, and don't want to admit it. Is it validation from us for the decisions you made you want or honest observations?

Ok, I'm happy to say neither of us regret our move and renovation. It's only mentioned as "No regrets, we only have debts", as these are lyrics from a Sleeper track about debt.

MrGorsky

determined_new_ms wrote: »

all kudos to you for taking on such a major renovation. We have renovated a house and it's hard work. But please can I caution you to reconsider the cost of your outstanding work? I believe you can get a high standard at a much lower cost. We spent £10k on renovating our house and did every room, knocked walls down. I lot of the stuff I sourced - kitchen I happened to be in a supermarket and saw a woman was selling off an ikea kitchen for £150. I then went to ikea and bought new doors/drawers. Solid oak worktops I got off of ebay I think for around £220/50 - we needed 5 meters. I got a beautiful marble fireplace and surround from ebay £80 ad paid the guy £20 to deliver it - I was super lucky with this as it was miles away! I paid a builder to knock out the wall and install and he charged me £180 for the work. We were quoted £1500 by the local fireplace business. We had woodworm in the joists and it cost a couple of hundred to have it cut out, treated and joists replaced.

The biggest cost was actually the garden and it cost £1800 to have turfed and then the other half I paid about £1k for crazy paving and a builder to lay. Got the slabs from a reclamation yard.

Bathroom was completely ripped out and tiled all walls. Prob cost in the region of £600

I am currently redecorating and expect the whole house to cost £1k. I am going to paint the floorboards in our room with a paint called Frenchic. it's fairly expensive but looks great probably costing £40 instead of a few hundred for a carpet.

There's a great page on facebook that is called DIY on a budget. I've found it inspiring enough to crack on with what needs doing!

Just a thought!

Other than that I think there are some costs that can be cut from your regular costs to bring your surplus somewhere a little more comfortable.

I'll put some effort into finishing the house as cheaply as possible. I've done most things myself already, with the exception of the services and structural stuff ... or called in favours from lads from my football team etc.
The values quoted are high I agree. We'll trim that budget, and thanks for the suggestions. For my, YouTube has been a fantastic resource in saving money on labour.

MrGorsky

JayRitchie wrote: »

Hi OP

When you mention remortgaging do you mean to get a larger amount to clear some of the debts?

Any chance of pay increases?

No, not increasing the mortgage, just to look at competitive deals.

MrGorsky

theoretica wrote: »

You own a caravan and only use it for four weeks a year? Any way you could get it to pay its way for some of the other 48? Perhaps you could sort insurance so a trusted friend or colleague might occasionally hire it or borrow it for favours in kind.


I agree with making sure you finish the work on the house without spending more than you need to.

Thanks for the suggestion, but we use the caravan quite a bit on weekends anyway, and don't feel comfortable lending it out for others to use.

Takmon

MrGorsky wrote: »

Income from rental property .........220 net of tax

So you have a rental property but haven't put it's value down on your assets or any mortgage on this property; do you own it outright?