First post...

Snaggles

MissEyre wrote: »

I'm quite tidy, but find it quite hard work keeping on top of the really boring hoovering/ironing/scrubbing the floor stuff as am usually out of the house 14-15 hours a day, and it's just nice knowing that someone else will come in and fix it every now and then. Sorry, I know that sounds really feeble when there are people here who have families and three jobs, I just think I would miss the support if I cancelled the cleaner.

Lol, it doesn't sound feeble - I find it hard to keep on top of the housework even though I'm at home all day!

Of course, the blame for that partly lies with my addiction to MSE though... :rotfl:

Tustastic

MissEyre wrote: »

I can't make overpayments to the loan, so I will have a look at a final settlement figure tomorrow, just to see roughly what that looks like. I can overpay my mortgage without any penalties, so am due a payrise in February and thought I would allocate half of the 'new' money to mortgage overpayments and the other half to savings. What do you think?
The cleaner is £12 an hour-I wanted to get someone who was properly insured and registered for tax and NI, and she is great-I trust her to be in my home and have a spare key, and she picks up parcels, makes sure I have basic groceries in the house and waits in if the plumber is coming round!

The cleaner sounds like a good support for a single householder who works long hours.:)
Great idea about using some of the payrise money to overpay on the mortgage.
Martin's article on problem debts points out that debts cost more than you can earn in interest on savings. However, you could start saving towards a full and final on the loan if that is an option on your particular loan.
Just remembered, Martin is scathing about mortgage insurance too. Have you reviewed whether yours is worth keeping, or whether you could get just as good a policy for less? Plus cashback of course.

MissEyre

I did originally have the mortgage insurance they sold with the mortgage-rookie mistake :mad: as it cost me about seventy pounds a month :eek: but thanks to this site have manaed to get better cover elsewhere for £12.50...as am by myself and don't have much saved at the moment, I feel much better knowing that I have that as a fallback in case I need it (same goes for the boiler insurance-it is not the cheapest one, but it has the most comprehensive cover, annual servicing included and they guarantee a same day response if something does go wrong)
I love the idea of saving towards full and final payment of the loan-good to have an aim, as well as trying to get used to living within my means!

free4440273

Welcome to DFW MissE:hello: Good to see another person dealing with their debts. Don't let the bast**** get you down; they are WEAK, you are STRONG

MissEyre

Wow, have just phoned HSBC and my final settlement figure for the loan (currently £15540.66) if I could afford to pay it off today would be...13345.82! That's a huge difference, I think I need to get saving!

Mupeteer

This is going to sound bonkers but I find that when I'm out shopping I keep an imaginary Martin with me. If I'm considering buying something that I really don't need I just tell myself "Martin says NO!":rotfl:

It's okay, the men in white coats are on the way.:D

MissEyre

Genius idea, Mupeteer-must give it a try! Have taken to muttering 'If I haven't earned it, I can't spend it' to myself when shopping-ah, the challenge of learning to live without credit :rolleyes:

bathgatebuyer

It's a pity you don't live near me, as I'd happily do your cleaning for £12 an hour and my own SOA would look much better for it!!!

I know it can be a luxury having a cleaner (says I with my ASDA own brand cleaning stuff and elbow grease!) but it does seem to be the only thing I can see on your SOA that could be reduced somewhat. If she's only needed 2 hours a fortnight, is that really not something you could manage on your own as it works out as only 8 and a half minutes a day of cleaning.

Still, everyone has a vice of some sort or another - mine is a gym that costs £50 a month eek(but I go every night) - so if you really can't do without a cleaner, then that's your choice, but other than that, I can't really see much option for your making any other reductions in your outgoings.

Welcome aboard!!!

MissEyre

Quite scary actually-before I found this site a few months ago, I was also running a car and had my own pricey gym membership (£55 a month! But I did go a fair bit) and now I realise I have less than £70 left at the end of each month-no wonder I was spending on credit cards...Don't know where my bad habits come from, my parents are excellent with money, so I haven't told them about the loan-don't want to let them down
Will have a think about the cleaner-I know it is a luxury, but I do think she is worth the money at the moment. Next step should be to earn more money-AQA looks good, also have stuff I'm sure I could ebay!

madmich666

Hiya, not sure if you have already done this but have you thought about phoning the council as your a single person living in the house you could get your council tax reduced. I know my father in law cant wait til me and my hubby move to our flat because he will pay less council tax.