Best way to do things

Naomim

Regarding the smoking. Have you tried champix at all? It's a course of tablets prescribed by the doctor and have worked very well for me in the past. They don't suit everyone but could be worth looking into.

adamj1984

No I haven't to be honest, got to be worth a try though, thank you I will get in contact with them.

flipflopflo

My husband had the same problem as you with regards to quitting smoking and went to the doctors who prescribed him champix and it was the thing that finally got him to stop. So it’s definitely worth seeing if they can help. 

EssexHebridean

Hi Adam - good to see you're making progress with the debts even if not the smoking! Well done also for paying for the holiday upfront - hopefully you'll have an ace time! 

One thing that stands out to me from your OP is that there is so  much you're not factoring into your expenditure - have you done a full SOA (statement of affairs) with all your spending on it already? If not then that is definitely something to turn your attention to. 

On the "when to buy a property" thing - something to think about is that right now we're at a point where interest rates are super-low - and there really IS only one way for them to go. So your "high risk borrower" 5.5% rate is going to increase. You get a fixed rate initially, but what happens when in 2 or 3 years you need to renew the deal and interest rates have increased - you do need to consider that if you're still considered an adverse risk by that stage you could end up at 10% or more, meaning far, far higher payments and a lot more going down the pan in terms of interest. You're absolutely right that it feels counter-intuitive to be "paying someone else's mortgage", but you could well end up paying similar amounts to a faceless giant corporation in interest. a compromise would be to wait until a year after you've entirely cleared that car loan and see how things look then. It will still be on your history, but it will also be further in the past, and you'll have had another couple of years to properly start the rebuild you've thought you were already doing to this point, as well of course of actually carrying less debt that any lender will also be factoring in to things. 

sourcrates

adamj1984 said:

No I haven't to be honest, got to be worth a try though, thank you I will get in contact with them.

Not wanting to apply further pressure, and apologies for going off the topic of debt, but my in laws were gone before they reached 60, both were 40 a day folk.

Had conversations about stopping with them all the time, it was always next week, or next month, in the end, the decision was taken from them, and it was heart breaking.

I also lost my dad to it 34 years ago, he was 66, I just can`t get my head around a disease that is, in a lot of ways preventable, still taking lives all these years later.

I really wish you well at quitting for good.

adamj1984

EssexHebridean said:

Hi Adam - good to see you're making progress with the debts even if not the smoking! Well done also for paying for the holiday upfront - hopefully you'll have an ace time! 

One thing that stands out to me from your OP is that there is so  much you're not factoring into your expenditure - have you done a full SOA (statement of affairs) with all your spending on it already? If not then that is definitely something to turn your attention to. 

On the "when to buy a property" thing - something to think about is that right now we're at a point where interest rates are super-low - and there really IS only one way for them to go. So your "high risk borrower" 5.5% rate is going to increase. You get a fixed rate initially, but what happens when in 2 or 3 years you need to renew the deal and interest rates have increased - you do need to consider that if you're still considered an adverse risk by that stage you could end up at 10% or more, meaning far, far higher payments and a lot more going down the pan in terms of interest. You're absolutely right that it feels counter-intuitive to be "paying someone else's mortgage", but you could well end up paying similar amounts to a faceless giant corporation in interest. a compromise would be to wait until a year after you've entirely cleared that car loan and see how things look then. It will still be on your history, but it will also be further in the past, and you'll have had another couple of years to properly start the rebuild you've thought you were already doing to this point, as well of course of actually carrying less debt that any lender will also be factoring in to things. 

Hi Essex,

Yeah thats a lot to consider, I did do an SOA, its on another post though unfortunately that post was in the wrong place lol

adamj1984

sourcrates said:

adamj1984 said:

No I haven't to be honest, got to be worth a try though, thank you I will get in contact with them.

Not wanting to apply further pressure, and apologies for going off the topic of debt, but my in laws were gone before they reached 60, both were 40 a day folk.

Had conversations about stopping with them all the time, it was always next week, or next month, in the end, the decision was taken from them, and it was heart breaking.

I also lost my dad to it 34 years ago, he was 66, I just can`t get my head around a disease that is, in a lot of ways preventable, still taking lives all these years later.

I really wish you well at quitting for good.

yeah, if I am honest Sourcrates, the stopping smoking thing, the financial aspect has very little to do with it, its from an health perspective.

I've got a call with the doctor today (won't let me go in regarding smoking due to everything else that is going on).

BlueJ94

Can I ask.. How is your car insurance so high? I'm 26 and mines £55PM..generally curious 

teaandcupcakesplease

Hi Adam i quit 9 years ago after smoking for 22 years! i used patches and then one day i forgot to put the patches on. That  day i did have a panic but that was it a short moment. i haven't looked back. My mum passed away suddenly not long after I quit and everyone thought i would start again... i  didnt .......the reason? id have to quit again and i just couldn't cope with quitting  again lol  x

EssexHebridean

jadewest94 said:

Can I ask.. How is your car insurance so high? I'm 26 and mines £55PM..generally curious 

Masses of things can affect it Jade, not just age. The area you live in, where your car is parked overnight, whether it includes business use (The OP's does) the age/type of car (again, the OP's is quite new as it needed to be to fit with him company's policy on using the car for work purposes). Even what you do for a job.

Having said that, being younger definitely doesn't help either - I'm just under 50 and now pay under £300 a year...your time will come!