What a difference a year makes, but now I have a mortgage and 24 little years of debt

Jimjimmini

2018 was quite a year, I mean, brexit, brexit and well...brexit... for me however, 2018 was full of surprises and a complete change in lifestyle and money management!

At the end of 2017, I started going out with a fine, beautiful and hilarious young lady. In May 2018, we adopted a kitten, an adorable black and white cat (yes, just like the one in postman pat). It was very lucky for us that we did this when we did, as only 1 week later we found out that we were going to be parents to a not so furry baby (admittedly and unashamably this was a complete accident)- if I thought it was fun before, it had only just begun

Both my partner and I lived in tiny 1 bedroom houses, neither of which would have been suitable for a newborn, as how can you fit a Moses basket next to a bed when you can barely squeeze into bed yourself?! So when we discovered that we had a wee one on the way :eek: we knew we had to move. But hey, why rent when we can pay off a mortgage?? And as quickly as that, an unspoken agreement had been made that'd we'd be moving in together! Fortunately, pre-anything remotely baby related, I had very little desire to spend my hard earned cash, most of my spending was on hobbies like 5 a side footy and rock climbing (and of course food and rent), and therefore I had a healthy savings account which could be used as a deposit...more on this below...

Next, my trusted friend, my car failed it's MOT. It was a 2001 Ford Fiesta, a proper little rust bucket that my dad bought new before I was even a teenager and had given to me when I passed my driving test at 25!! Unfortunately, it was the rust that had finally spread to important structural parts of the car and the welding costs were ridiculous, so new car it was. After surveying finance options, most reputable 2nd hand dealers (and with the knowledge that I need as much savings as possible for the upcoming mortgage application) I found a 2nd hand car dealership which was, let's say, local. I purchased a 2007 car that had been with 4 previous owners complete with severely scratched hub caps from at least one previous owner probably which probably should have been a warning sign...nevertheless as I write this in Sept 2019, I have spent an additional £1100 in garage repairs for a car that I originally spent £2000 for...Not the best investment I have ever made, but the car works now and I hope to use it for many more years to come!

Anyway, alas, at the beginning of September after failing to succeed in offers for three other properties, we finally had an offer accepted for a property, time to get a mortgage. We were interested in 5 year fixed rates, as with the B-word uncertainty, we just wanted something set in stone. In my own search of the market I found a fix at 2.14% with an application fee of £1500 and valuation fee of £200. With this in mind, and from looking at advice from MSE I then opted to get a second opinion with a broker. After much deliberation I went with Which? Mortgage brokers. They charge a fee, but boy was it worth it. They found an alternative deal, also 2.14% but for no application fees. So with the Which? upfront fees, I have saved £1000. Which were also amazing for getting the mortgage application sorted, we had our offer accepted and we moved in 6 weeks later!!...for anyone wondering how it only took 6 weeks, I live in Scotland, the Scottish system works.

The mortgage application was an eye opener for several reasons, the main one being finding out my partner had a few £'000 of credit card debts. So alongside mortgage, we also have credit card repayments (and very shortly nursery fee) to keep on top of. With this in mind, and for the benefit if my mind, I thought I'd start documenting goals and milestones in a thread. I especially would always welcome advice on how to achieve certain goals

Jimjimmini

Near the beginning of 2019, I found out finances were getting a bit out of control, this was mostly because we weren't paying much attention to our spending as our boy was born in Jan. So in May I spent the best part of a Sunday afternoon/evening going through all my finances from the entire year and documenting them in an excel document. To not much shock, as we already knew, we found out our expenditure exceeded our income. This wasn't much of a shock as we has to delve into our remaining savings a couple of times to make ends meet. There were 3 problems that amalgamated to get us to this position, the first was the credit card interest rates. The second was my partners maternity pay, although it was 100% pay, it obviously didn't include the overtime pay my partner regularly did (We should have factored this in, but with so many other things going on it was an oversight). Third was quite simply, we were excited about the new baby and we weren't paying attention to spending. The excel document fixed this third part, as we were made aware just how much we were spending unnecessarily.

For the first part, we moved a bulk part of the debt to a 0% interest card. The remainder that could not be transferred to that card, we paid off with the now dwindling savings from my prior lifetime of saving. However, this should save us from paying ridiculous interest rates that were eating into said savings anyway! For the second, there's not much to be done really.

Anyhoo, we finally got our finances in order and just in time as our boy starts nursery next week as my partner goes back to work, this could get interesting...

MovingForwards

Congrats on the furbaby and baby.
Sounds like you are getting your plans together and will get yourself sorted

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary

Jimjimmini

Eek our baby was being held by my partner and in his desire to be able to see what's going on around him swung his head from right to left, headbutting my partner causing one of her teeth to come loose �� (this was a tooth that had previously been knocked out from a hockey accident when a teenager). Will need to have a new implant built, have no idea how much this will end up costing. I think it's safe to say we're going to have to start really tightening the spending!!

longway2go

Welcome and good luck. You should get lots of inspiration on here.

Enjoy your baby boy.

Jimjimmini

Dental work cannot be covered by NHS, having to pay for it privately. The damage involves 3 front teeth, it has to be done at the very least for the mental well being of my partner.

Put down a £3000 deposit, that all the emergency fund savings gone and now have £7000 finance to pay off over 24 months. This with deposit, nursery fees and all other bills are really putting a squeeze on us for the next couple of years. No more overpaying on mortgage anymore

Bored

Is that £10,000 just for the dental work? :eek:

I'm shocked that something so extensive and necessary isn't covered by the NHS. :mad:

Jimjimmini

@bored

Yep, there are two choices: a bridge (which can be provided by NHS) or implants (which NHS won't provide). Problem is, because this is an injury that stretches back just over a decade the bone has deteriorated, meaning the adjacent two teeth will also encounter problems in the near future, which could be next week or in another 10 years, who knows? A bridge however requires the strength from adjacent teeth which clearly isn't there so NHS basically will only provide a temporary fix which is likely to lead to further problems down the line.

What is needed is a bone graft to restore bone density and then dental implants fused into said new bone.