Upsizing from a one bed flat to a house

savvygirl1986

ProDave said:

What worries me is you have £9K in savings but you STILL have credit card debts.

WHY?

Why keep money in savings earning almost no interest while keeping borrowed money in the most expensive form, credit cards?

This does not bode well for good financial management while planning to take on more debt.

The credit card debt is 'mine' and accrued due to debts run up by my ex which I've been lumbered with. I have not spent a penny on any of the credit cards in the last two years just paying them down. 

The £4,000 is my fiancee savings £5,000 I've made a conscious decision to build as a maternity fund as advised previously I am 34 and time is ticking to start a family which is why we are planning that next year. Statutory maternity pay is not enough to live on particularly as my fiancee is not on a high wage. 

All of my credit cards are at 0% so I am paying no interest on my debt so it is negligable pretty much zero interest on savings or 0% credit cards. If I had been paying interest I would have prioritised paying off the credit cards. 

I understand that generally the advice is to pay off debt before building savings but I have my reasons as stated above.

You may not agree with this but I am very much in control of my finances and very responsible managing my credit cards and I've been paying all my cards down in stages eg. 50% then 40% then 30% down to 25% they are all under now so my utilisation is under 25% across the board. I am due a bonus next month which will completely clear one then then the rest will be cleared by December. 

Appreciate it is subjective but my credit rating is 989 and I've worked very hard in the last 2 years to be able to get to this position.

So I'm not concerned at all about affording a higher mortgage or managing my expenses I was just after some advice of the numbers I am looking at. 

GDB2222

Wow! Nearly £500 a year for a mobile phone that doesn’t work properly. A replacement battery seems to be under £50.

And £17 a month for a new phone is £200 a year. Why not buy a phone for £100 and get a £5 a month sim? Or get a new battery for the old phone?

I think I’m extremely mean about mobile phones because I had to have one for business use soon after they came out, and they were *incredibly* expensive then. I paid the equivalent of £1 a minute for calls, taking inflation into account. I have never got out of that mindset.

AdrianC

savvygirl1986 said:

AdrianC said:

savvygirl1986 said:

GDB2222 said:

By the way, I love the idea that a Moto G7 is a cheap smartphone. It’s the one I have, and it’s by far and away the most expensive phone I’ve ever owned. And, £10 a month, indeed! Ridiculously extravagant.

YMMV, of course.

Not heard of one of those before I will have a look when I upgrade my phone in January. 

How about just not upgrading your phone...?

It is an upgrade for necessity not just to get the latest phone. I don't have an iPhone as they are too expensive I have a Sony phone at the moment but my phone is on its way out its barely charging at the moment and I will be surprised if it lasts until january so a new phone is definitely required. But I've been looking at new deals ahead of time I'm currently paying far too much at £39.00 per month and this is one of the last bills that I've got to change over to a better deal. I always shop around.  I've found a few deals for £17. £10 per month would be even better. 

Don't get taken in by looking at monthly costs for ongoing contracts.
£39 x 12 = £468/year. Two year contract? £936.

Even fairly powerful-spec SIM-only unlocked phones are <£200.

savvygirl1986

GDB2222 said:

Wow! Nearly £500 a year for a mobile phone that doesn’t work properly. A replacement battery seems to be under £50.

And £17 a month for a new phone is £200 a year. Why not buy a phone for £100 and get a £5 a month sim? Or get a new battery for the old phone?

I think I’m extremely mean about mobile phones because I had to have one for business use soon after they came out, and they were *incredibly* expensive then. I paid the equivalent of £1 a minute for calls, taking inflation into account. I have never got out of that mindset.

It is not working properly as I've had to work from home since March and don't have a work phone (that will change soon) so it is a very high usage phone. I am looking at getting a cheaper contract and then in 2 years time next time I will look to go for Sim only. I also sell my phone when I get a new one to recoup some of the money I am spending on my contract and I get cashback. So I'm more than happy with a £17 or £10 (😉) outlay every month as I certainly get my money's worth. 

savvygirl1986

"Don't get taken in by looking at monthly costs for ongoing contracts.
£39 x 12 = £468/year. Two year contract? £936.

Even fairly powerful-spec SIM-only unlocked phones are <£200.. "

To be honest I hadn't looked at it like that. I'm just trying to get a cheaper deal every time I upgrade. Any savings I would use to pay off the cards. I do get 16G data for that but even so.

I'll definitely look into unlocked Sim only phones for when my contract renews then I can still sell my phone and recoup some of my money. I'm quite happy not to have the latest phones just need a decent camera and for it to be reliable. Thank you

dimbo61

You are heading in the right direction and the whole conversation about the best sim only deals and buying a phone outright.
Even the iPhones can be reasonable thinking SE model from Tesco mobile or checking out the best deals on the MSE offers ! With cashback or discount.
Can you claim for phone calls for work ?

savvygirl1986

dimbo61 said:

You are heading in the right direction and the whole conversation about the best sim only deals and buying a phone outright.
Even the iPhones can be reasonable thinking SE model from Tesco mobile or checking out the best deals on the MSE offers ! With cashback or discount.
Can you claim for phone calls for work ?

Yeah I think so. I get unlimited minutes on my contract so it doesn't cost me anything it it just using my phone for work has made it high usage. I already use it a lot myself anyway for Facebook, Netflix etc but my cousin bought me a cheap tablet and I do all that stuff on that now so it reduces the usage. 

Slithery

savvygirl1986 said:

We will do what we did last time and move everything ourselves to save on that cost. It took a few car trips but saved us some money

That worked for you as a FTB, but it's not going to work again this time. When you sell your current place and buy a new one at no point will you have access to both properties. You will need to have your current place completely empty and packed up in the van before you get the keys to your new one - no multiple trips allowed.

savvygirl1986

Slithery said:

savvygirl1986 said:

We will do what we did last time and move everything ourselves to save on that cost. It took a few car trips but saved us some money

That worked for you as a FTB, but it's not going to work again this time. When you sell your current place and buy a new one at no point will you have access to both properties. You will need to have your current place completely empty and packed up in the van before you get the keys to your new one - no multiple trips allowed.

Good point. I just begrudge paying a removal company to do it! Having said that I remember my parents hired a luton van if thsfs what it's called when they moved between houses and that was 3 bed to 3 bed and did it all themselves they got it all in one van. We don't have a lot of stuff so thinking we can do the same and still save on paying a removal company but do it with a van instead.

Thank you

Aranyani

GDB2222 said:

We never had the baby in our bedroom. I don’t know if that was a good idea, but it’s how it was in those days. Our oldest is nearly 40!

Baby needs to be in the parents room for 6 months minimum, 12 months is better.  This is proven to reduce the risk of cot death.  It also makes night feeds easier!