The second hurdle - Nichelette v the huge mortgage

Nichelette

It's funny I had a quick look on marketplace before but nothing stuck out at me or was close enough to bother with. There are some free local groups so I might ask if someone has an unloved one knocking about that I can pass on after.

No nursery bill yesterday so hopefully today. Never known someone so desperate to get a bill  . Got the council tax letter recently, that is £250 a month now. Suppose it's a nice round number... 

After everything in the news about how bad Thames Water are I thought their bills would go up the most. Turns out theirs are up 31%, but Southern who we are billed by is 47%. Something to look forward to... We actually watched the programme about Thames that was on BBC2. Husband was very excited because he knew a lot of the people as it's a site he visits (biomethane related, we don't work for them). Might be silly but the depth of the hole they're in actually made me want to work for them a bit. I like a challenge! 

Nichelette

So it turned out the slide wasn't an issue after all as little legs manages it fine  . We're paid on Thursday, but this has been an expensive month. We got both cars serviced which was £750 as it included trying and failing to sort an issue on DH's car. We're going to try replace the ABS sensor, but if that doesn't work it will need to go to honda $$. It was my birthday so DH had some money for that (we pool everything), and we went out for lunch. Oh, and we managed to spend £150 in IKEA. That was mostly comprised of £50 for new bed sheets, £35 for a lamp - both needed, and £30 on a big plant. Not needed, but we do both love him and we don't have many 'treats'. 

DS1 got the school closest to us that I wanted so that's good, though I'm still worried about how we will juggle dropping and collecting him as I'm unlikely to get after school provision as it's so in demand. All the local childminders are tied up with children they have all day so that's not an option either. 

The next couple of months will be expensive too. DS2 birthday is soon though I've bought his presents already, but DH is 40 just before we're paid again so that will be a fair bit as it's a special one. 

We've got just under £1900 left on the 0% card I used for mat leave. We'll have about £500 left this month which will go on that, then then 0% ends on 4th July so we've only got one more lot of pay before then. I've got another 0% card so I'm going to shift spending to that briefly and use our cash to pay the old card. The new one should be paid off in a month or so. I could just take from our savings but I'd rather leave them if I can. Oh, and we won £125 in PB's last month so that was good. 

Mortgage is under 194k now. Feels like it secretly went below 200 without me noticing. Interest rate news is hopefully good as we can start looking at remortgaging in January. We're currently on 4.9% at the 60% LTV rate. I've got a list of bits we need to do around the house before we can sell, it's just hard to find any time. It's a shame as we got a letter from a local EA targeting 2 beds in our area as someone missed out on another place and is looking for one, but our house is too unfinished to respond to it right now. 

Anyway, onwards...

beanielou

No harm in getting the estate agent out for a chat. 

South_coast

Agreed. Your version of unfinished may be very different to someone else's!

Nichelette

Okay, I will admit for the most part you are both probably right. It's probably a me thing, but there are some things I want to be sorted first (prime example, we need to install the new hob I bought because the other one has a big crack in the front though it still works so we haven't been forced into it yet). It's usually a time issue with us. A big one is I want to finish painting first as kids have scuffed walls and they look a bit of a mess. We don't live in a dump, but I just hate it not being 'right'. 

Anyway, payday today so have been happily squirreling bits to where they should go. Fingers crossed for a good month. 

Nichelette

Saw a house on Friday that I couldn't get out of my head. Called EA and there are some viewings over the weekend. Am sure it will go but we need to get bits done on ours so I've said if no joy in 3-4 weeks let us know as have DIP and it's well within affordability so mortgage shouldn't be an issue. In the meantime we're going to plough our efforts into the bits that need doing so we're ready to go. 

Now feel like I'm about to have an anxiety attack over the stress of moving 😂 . Also a bit sad at the idea of leaving here as it's lovely albeit too small, so staying isn't an option (no space to extend either). I cried when we got the keys and I'm sure I will cry on the way out too 🙈.

Oh, forgot to add now DS is 2 nursery has reduced by £8.50/day to the bargain price of £78 😂.

ladysummerisle

£78?! £86.50?! I think I’d have an anxiety attack over that! 

Nichelette

ladysummerisle said:

£78?! £86.50?! I think I’d have an anxiety attack over that! 

That was me 3 years ago. I honestly feel like i don't know the value of money anymore because we're so used to paying hideous amounts for nursery so everything seems cheap by comparison. This month was 'only' £1800 compared to £2100 last month so there I am thinking 'ooh cheap month' 🫠

debtfreewannabe321

Nichelette said:

ladysummerisle said:

£78?! £86.50?! I think I’d have an anxiety attack over that! 

That was me 3 years ago. I honestly feel like i don't know the value of money anymore because we're so used to paying hideous amounts for nursery so everything seems cheap by comparison. This month was 'only' £1800 compared to £2100 last month so there I am thinking 'ooh cheap month' 🫠

Omgosh! I couldn't imagine handing that much money over 🤯. The possible new house sounds promising!

Nichelette

debtfreewannabe321 said:

Nichelette said:

ladysummerisle said:

£78?! £86.50?! I think I’d have an anxiety attack over that! 

That was me 3 years ago. I honestly feel like i don't know the value of money anymore because we're so used to paying hideous amounts for nursery so everything seems cheap by comparison. This month was 'only' £1800 compared to £2100 last month so there I am thinking 'ooh cheap month' 🫠

Omgosh! I couldn't imagine handing that much money over 🤯. The possible new house sounds promising!

I try to ignore it 😅. EA is going to call me tomorrow to let me know how viewings went. Think it will go quickly as it's in a popular area so not expecting much. Did have a sneaky drive past it yesterday and first impression was it looks pretty big from the outside. Space is a luxury we don't have at the moment. Tbh one of the things I really want is to be able to eat at a dining table. We always ate at the table when I was a child and I don't like that the kids can't. They have their own little kids table but it's not the same. I took kids to my mum on Saturday so I was gone for 12 hours. Husband painted hall so that's a tick off my list.