The second hurdle - Nichelette v the huge mortgage

savingholmes

Lovely photos. Very impressive.

Sorry about the car.

Good luck with the return to work. 

Nichelette

Unfortunately not the most positive post. Work is going okay and chunky seems happy at nursery though he is also happy to see us at the end of the day which is nice. Practically I am coping better which is good as it was a bit overwhelming at the start. Lunch breaks are my friend, even though I'm rarely getting time to actually eat lunch. Unfortunately chunky is still quite snotty. He also missed nursery one day last week because he had a very high temp. He ended up on antibiotics because we think he had a chest infection. He is happy in himself now at least and no more high temperatures. 

I didn't post about it but at the end of Jan husband confessed to running up a £600 CC bill. He'd quit vaping, but when chunky was born seeing my haemorrhage and being in hospital for so long triggered him to start again. It was obvious though he had tried to hide it from me. Anyway. he insisted he wanted to pay it from his allowance (we both get the same amount for 'fun' money) so I put it on a 0% card and have been paying it down by £40 a month.

Recently I discovered he's done the same but it's £800 this time. I've paid it off from the joint money so basically that's the whole mortgage OP gone this month. I could have killed him tbh, and it's not good timing with nursery fees, car situation and everything going up generally. 

In other news, I got the car back last Saturday after 3 weeks. They called me on Friday (wasn't expecting it) to say that it was fixed. I thought I had left it with the guy at the garage we'd bought it from but he never called me back. So anyway, now I'm going to have to go to the ombudsman if I'm ever going to get anything back. There is a very similar sample case here which found in favour of the consumer. Same part as failed on mine, but mine was 3 years and 15k miles so the failure was even sooner:

https://www.themotorombudsman.org/case-studies/vehicle-sales/mechatronic-unit-replacement

Angle seems to be it's not of satisfactory quality under Consumer Rights Act. My only worry is when I was asked to escalate I was passed to VW customer service and not the branch I'd bought it from (also VW) who wouldn't do anything unless they did the repair, but if this is an issue I'll go down the customer service route as I was under the impression I was escalating to the correct place, and it took them eight full days to essentially tell me they were washing their hands of it and to go to the branch it was bought from (which I know from servicing is somehow linked to the one that did the repair). Also a guy from the branch I bought from called me trying to sell a warranty/service package knowing that car was at my local branch, and when I told him I was waiting on their main customer service to get back to me said he was going to email them to chase up (surely if they should have been dealing with it he should have said at that point?).

So anyway, currently I've paid 2k to get the car fixed and back. I've taken out a 0% card so I can pay it back slowly without touching my cash fund as it's not huge anyway, and I'm concerned about touching it at the moment as it will be harder to build up again whilst paying for nursery. I'm going to pay minimum until I know the outcome from the ombudsman as I'm praying they find in my favour. 

I suppose positive is I'd managed to OP £451 before I found out about husband and the CC. I have no idea about figures for last pay month now as I became a bit despondent after finding out about it. I'll try and keep better track this month but will see. 

savingholmes

Sounds like you have a lot going on. On the car hopefully they will find in your favour but it's extremely frustrating.

On your DH - I think the primary issue is not the spend it's trying to hide it. Can he get any help to quit? Some councils / public health teams will even pay you to quit as well as giving you support. 

You manage money very well generally. I'm sure you will get back on top of things but I agree it takes teamwork. I imagine it's hard adjusting to being back at work and trying to spin all the plates too. Perhaps you could have a chat with DH and take about what you both need help with to make things work more smoothly.

Nichelette

Feels like it has been ages since I posted... Completely agree about the hiding. I knew he'd been doing it for a while, but not that he'd been vaping super expensive stuff. Anyway, positive news is that he has stopped now so fingers crossed...

Other positive news is that we have got a 6.something pay rise (we both work at the same place) with another 2.something in October (I think it was). I'll post proper figures at some point, but I don't think we can knock it in current climate when some are getting far less. One of the managers (internal) is trying to poach DH. If he went he'd be on around 75k in a few years. He's currently on nearly 40. I won't push him but the money would be very helpful and make a massive difference to mortgage affordability. 

Still waiting until I can submit ombudsman case. Would be incredibly helpful if they find in my favour..

Have decided to save money instead of making OP's for now just because I'm scared of inflation. Long story short, my sister can't have chunky for the 2 days now as she's had to go from a 7 seat car to a 5. That means he's now full time nursery. I've got into a good routine but miss him a lot as I love this age and to be honest I am slightly resentful that I spent so few waking hours with him. 

I've started a petition to try and remove the cap on tax free childcare because the costs are insane. I don't blame the nurseries as I think their running costs are probably high, but the cap hadn't increased since it was introduced 5 years ago. Nursery had a mid year price increase (it's usually only once a year) so it is now nearly 17k for a full time place which is average around here. Tax free is capped at £500 a quarter so it covers less than 3 days now. 

Excitingly I had an email from change.org who are going to try and contact the media about it as they think it has a good shot at being successful. I'm nearly at 900 signatures now, but if anyone would like to sign it I'd really appreciate it, as even if it doesn't affect you it is likely to affect someone you know: https://chng.it/CXbhCWZyYD

savingholmes

That sounds like you have a lot on. Disappointing about your sister. Potentially good opportunity for your DH. Great news on payrises. They all help.

Parkyp

Petition signed. Good Luck 🤞 

girlie1412

Petition signed - good luck 😉 

Nichelette

Thanks to those who have signed, really appreciate it! 

Meal planned and got bits we needed to fill the gaps today, plus some off list bits. Was £21 in Lidl so happy with that. They sent me a voucher for a free block of cheese yesterday so got that too. They know how to win my heart lol. The London to Brighton bike ride was today so we've basically been stuck in because it's just not even worth trying to use the roads around here. Lidl was the only place we would really get to without getting stuck!

Actual pay deal is 6.2% backdated to 1st April (will get that in this months pay), then another 2% from 1st October. April 23 & 24 are predicted to be 5.9 & 3.1% but it depends how inflation goes. Like I said before, can't really knock it when many are getting far less. 

Have suspended adding to Vanguard for us now in favour of savings (if there is anything left). Still adding for chunky as he has years ahead of him for it to recover where we might need the money to move etc. 

Nichelette

Quick update. Am going to try do a new SOA shortly too to see where we are. 

Can submit ombudsman case now so I'm just waiting on them to reopen it so I can submit info. They close it automatically after a while but I had to wait 8 weeks for VW to ignore me which it was on Wednesday. 

Got 1.2kg of chicken breast yesterday for £1.10 and a whole chicken for 52p so I've gone slow cooker mental today. DH will be having chicken for the foreseeable as I don't eat meat  . Joking aside, I will be able to get lots of meals out of it. Often our local Mccolls has super bargains in the evening. There was loads there so plenty for others still. It's only a village so footfall not massive and I really hate meat waste because then animal has literally died for nothing, so at least what I got won't go to waste. 

Am still loving this age with the boy. Got him a little tool set yesterday for £3 in a charity shop and the way his face lights up is adorable. Have also become obsessed with buying Frugi dungarees on vinted which I need to halt now as he has enough! I don't see the point in buying nice clothes because everything gets destroyed at nursery so he has got lots of used stuff from there that I don't mind getting dirty. Although they are cheap the dungas are lovely so I've reserved them for weekend use only for now  . He's in 2-3 years now which is ridiculous. He's only 14 months, but seeing him compared to some of the kids in the next room up which starts at 20 months is mad because he's already bigger than them! Neither dad nor I are very big so no idea where he gets it from!

Was going to say something else but I've blanked and I need to hang washing out so never mind! 

Nichelette

Okay, so this is new SOA.  Sorry for ugly formatting... It does make me feel a bit better as all I've been doing lately is worrying about what we're spending on nursery. I grew up in a house where we were fed, but we never had anything spare and always had cheap clothes etc. Parents fought about money a lot. DH was the same but he doesn't seem to have been affected by it where as I'm constantly worried about being broke. He thinks I panic too much and everything is fine, but he's very laid back and thinks everything will work out where I'm a planner. Think it's just our different personalities showing...

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet:

Household Information

Number of adults in household........... 2

Number of children in household......... 1

Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 2040

Partners monthly income after tax....... 2346

Benefits................................ 87.2

Other income............................ 0

Total monthly income.................... 4473.2

Monthly Expense Details

Mortgage................................ 920

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 20

Council tax............................. 182

Electricity............................. 78

Gas..................................... 78

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 46

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 20

TV Licence.............................. 13.37

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20

Internet Services....................... 28.5

Groceries etc. ......................... 200

Clothing................................ 20

Petrol/diesel........................... 200

Road tax................................ 17

Car Insurance........................... 33

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15

Car parking............................. 0

Other travel............................ 0

Childcare/nursery....................... 1222

Other child related expenses............ 100

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 30

Buildings insurance..................... 5

Contents insurance...................... 5

Life assurance ......................... 0

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50

Haircuts................................ 0

Entertainment........................... 0

Holiday................................. 0

Emergency fund.......................... 0

Total monthly expenses.................. 3317.87

Assets

Cash.................................... 1050

House value (Gross)..................... 147595

Shares and bonds........................ 2200

Car(s).................................. 18000

Other assets............................ 0

Total Assets............................ 168845

Secured & HP Debts

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 233405...(920)......1.71%

Total secured & HP debts...... 233405....-.........-   

Unsecured Debts

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

CC.............................2000......25........0

Total unsecured debts..........2000......25........-

Monthly Budget Summary

Total monthly income.................... 4,473.2

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,317.87

Available for debt repayments........... 1,155.33

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 25

Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,130.33

Personal Balance Sheet Summary

Total assets (things you own)........... 168,845

Total HP & Secured debt................. -233,405

Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,000[b]

Net Assets.............................. -66,560

Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com. 

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.