Slight negative equity - jump ship or sit tight?

lostinrates

str is sell/sold to rent.

PasturesNew

lostinrates wrote: »

PN, I realised you were str but not the drastic action behind it! I really admire your resolve! I wish we could agree on the stuff to ditch. as it is a whole load of stuff is in storage, most of which isn't my taste, or even his if he's honest, but has sentimental value. I think I've resigned myself that our junk is going to continue to cost until we buy at which pint we'll have to have a garage sale or something.

Yes, totally drastic.

6-bed house at the seaside full of "stuff". But no regular employmnet and no life.

I decided a house price crash was coming, so put it on the market and sold.

Gave away/chucked nearly everything I owned (no time to sell it in an orderly fashion in the end, couldn't sell stuff before I knew the house was sold, only got 2 days between exchange/completion so no time to sell things - and didn't want to clear the house and have another buyer pull out).

Picked a town at random based on transport, potential access to jobs, access to goods and services.

Jumped in the car, booked into a hotel and started looking for somewhere to rent. Been here a year now.

From 6-bed house to studio flatlet.
From country/seaside to city.
Left everything behind.

Sometimes small changes done over years haven't given you any of the outcomes you expected or needed. Sometimes you have to change everything and do stuff that scares you.

tryinhardtosavethepennies

Oh my life! That is so drastic!!

How did you cope downsizing? Do you miss anything about the "old life"?

Also, do you find you are happier now?

I can't get over how incredibly brave that was!

mlz1413

lostinrates wrote: »

. I wish we could agree on the stuff to ditch. as it is a whole load of stuff is in storage, most of which isn't my taste, or even his if he's honest, but has sentimental value. I think I've resigned myself that our junk is going to continue to cost until we buy at which pint we'll have to have a garage sale or something.

I remember watching a program years ago where a guy who hoarded 'useful' stuff was taken to his bedroom and told to close his eyes and name everything in there - he named the big stuff but everything he couldn't remember he was made to take out (instantly), it was amazing how much room he gained.

He was made to do this all round the house over a number of days and he did admit afterwards that as he couldn't remember any of the 'useful' stuff he had he could never have made use of it.

I realise a lot of your stuff may have sentimental value, but if you don't have the stuff on show is it really worth keeping? would the memories be enough?

My Mum has recently emigrated and seeing the stuff she threw away/recycled/donated and then seeing the stuff that was important enough to ship overseas made me realise most 'things' are only important because of the memory. But memories are always with you.

PasturesNew

tryinhardtosavethepennies wrote: »

Oh my life! That is so drastic!!

How did you cope downsizing? Do you miss anything about the "old life"?

Also, do you find you are happier now?

I can't get over how incredibly brave that was!

Downsizing was great. I only ever used/lived in one room, even though I had another 11 rooms lurking about. I only used to go in them every couple of months or so to check they hadn't dropped off/away.

I don't miss anything that I can think of.

I am happier.

Brave is only brave when it works out, otherwise it's called stupid.

I was lucky. OK I made a decision based on what I saw were the facts and my situation, but I could have been wrong couldn't I.

I figured if I was wrong I'd just buy something where I was going to.
If I was right I had 3-5 years to decide what to do next.

One year on, I've watched a LOT of daytime TV

Some mornings I look out the window and I can see people rushing to catch buses, I can see cars stood still in traffic jams that I know are 2 miles long... and those moments are my golden moments.

When you work every day just to exist you're leaving home before 8am and often not home until gone 6pm, then you've got to turn round and prepare/cook/eat/wash up an evening meal. All day you're under great pressure all day to do this/that/the other, new demands being put on you every day. Hardly any days off, and you have to book/beg them. A real slave. After 30 years of daily toil and struggle I'd had enough.

I am glad I don't do that any more.

tryinhardtosavethepennies

Man, that sounds great!

If you don't mind me asking, what do/did you do for a living?

PasturesNew

tryinhardtosavethepennies wrote: »

Man, that sounds great!

If you don't mind me asking, what do/did you do for a living?

Now there's the longest answer requirement in the history of CVs....

I am an IT Project Manager. But I am not working at the moment. I have had an interest in internet marketing and all things internet for ages, I worked in internet marketing advising others/running their campaigns, so with the house sale looming, I took some time out to throw together a few sites using free tools/etc to test a couple of theories ... and suddenly all this money started coming in. So I dabble with the internet now. About an hour a week. I make at least 50% more than I did working full-time in my last paid employment (allbeit poor wages). So I'm happy enough doing that. I also managed to have some home typing thrust upon me along the way. So I do that too as it's only about 7 hours/week.

The rest of my time is spent watching daytime TV, surfing the net, posting here and eating wine gums.



But if I were to answer a job advert and go for a "proper job", it'd be the Project Management, in either IT or Web Development.

pinkshoes

PasturesNew, I think you "live" a very unique lifestyle, but it certainly wouldn't be for everyone.

I use the word "live" in inverted commas, as to me that sort of lifestyle would make me suicidal!! I personally would consider it more existing rather than living, but each to their own.

PasturesNew

pinkshoes wrote: »

PasturesNew, I think you "live" a very unique lifestyle, but it certainly wouldn't be for everyone.

I use the word "live" in inverted commas, as to me that sort of lifestyle would make me suicidal!! I personally would consider it more existing rather than living, but each to their own.

I've just always tried to get on. To do what I can with what's around me. Things haven't generally worked to plan, so I've kept trying to do things all the time. Just never quite got to where everybody else seemed to be.

But I never stopped trying. I just got different results.

pinkshoes

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've just always tried to get on. To do what I can with what's around me. Things haven't generally worked to plan, so I've kept trying to do things all the time. Just never quite got to where everybody else seemed to be.

But I never stopped trying. I just got different results.

That's fair enough.

My two best female mates at uni, one was a complete extrovert, hated her own company, and even preferred sitting on the floor in my room to study rather than sit at her own desk on her own!! The only time she was on her own was when she was asleep or peeing! The other was rather introverted, was happy having just a couple of friends, loved her own company and being on her own. I was somewhere in the middle, probably a bit more on the extroverted side, but between the 3 of us it's always worked very well, and 9 years on we're still best friends.

I can't wait to own a huge home one day, with lots of roaming space!!