I’m taking control of my life, now.

Suffolk_lass · 18 February 2018 at 4:22PM

You have reduced your debt by £17k in a year. Why would you even consider extending that remaining £25k repayment to 17 years? You will have it done in two years and can then start seriously overpaying your mortgage. I wish we had done this. With over £75k on our mortgage and less than 18 months until we both stop work...

Honeybug · 18 February 2018 at 5:20PM

Mr Paws may have a good point. It sounds like he knows himself (and you?) Well.

Consolidation might be a short term fix but create a long term problem??

enthusiasticsaver · 18 February 2018 at 6:46PM

I think your OH has a point. You have a history between you of running up debts and overspending and I would hazard a guess that holidays may be your bugbear. Just think of how much you can spend on them though once the debt is gone - not on a credit card.

You are on a high interest rate on your mortgage. Was this taken out quite a while ago? When it gets a bit closer to your remortgage date and you see what rate you are offered you will know then what position you will be in.

Converting unsecured debt to secured debt though is almost always a bad idea. You take longer to pay it off. The temptation to run up debt again is there because you think you have cleared the old debt which you most definitely have not.

You are obviously struggling with this so I would ask why do you want to move the debt because as I understand it much of yours is on 0%? You reduced your debt last year so if you do the same again this year that debt may well be nearer £17 or £18k rather than £27k.

boxofpaws · 23 February 2018 at 5:33PM

redofromstart wrote: »

I always think consolidation as a last resort, but thats just me. I get your logic both ways.

In terms of timescales on the remortgage we also did ours recently, ours took 21st October to 18th December. Paper valuation, with the bank OH banks with, month for offer and then the legal bit. Hope this helps.

Thanks that is helpful, although it does mean we are a couple of weeks behind. Lets hope we dont pick a picky lender.

sashybo wrote: »

Hi paws, looking good on the re-mortgage front. :T

You could try growing sweet peas from seed, they are very easy to grow & smell lovely. You can also collect the seeds from the plants when they start releasing them to use for next year as well. :j

Lobelia is also quite easy to grow but when I grew it from seed it seemed to take ages. I also love verbena but have never tried growing it from seed, I usually buy the reduced ones from the garden centre due to laziness.

OOh yes, lobelia, that looks lovely trailling down the sides of baskets and planters. Defo good idea.

Eager_Elephant wrote: »

I am against consolidation generally - I work as a Debt Adviser and have seen no end of people consolidate on to mortgages and then run the debt up again but worst of all I have seen severe financial difficulty (job loss/divorce) when a debt has been consolidated and you cant really ask a mortgage company to accept token offers while you get back on your feet. ( I appreciate some lenders allow payment holidays for 3 months). Whereas a credit card and loan repayment can be lowered right down to £1 per month freeing up the money needed for the mortgage.

Also although the Government help cover some mortgage cost after 39 weeks they only allow for the initial mortgage and any remortgage must have been for renovation which affected heating and lighting (say if the heating system had to be replaced) so people are often in the position of not being given enough help with the mortgage. (This help is now in the form of a secured loan from April)

Thats very interesting about the government help (or lack of if you've consolidated). Yet another in the cons list for consolidating. Thank you Eager_Elephant :T

boxofpaws · 23 February 2018 at 5:37PM

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

You have reduced your debt by £17k in a year. Why would you even consider extending that remaining £25k repayment to 17 years? You will have it done in two years and can then start seriously overpaying your mortgage. I wish we had done this. With over £75k on our mortgage and less than 18 months until we both stop work...

I know I know, I am sorry for talking about it

Honeybug wrote: »

Mr Paws may have a good point. It sounds like he knows himself (and you?) Well.

Consolidation might be a short term fix but create a long term problem??

You are absolutely right, I feel like we have got to the root cause because we have managed a whole year of eliminating a deficit in our budget and paying down some debt. But we have done that before, for longer periods and then slipped back into old ways.

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I think your OH has a point. You have a history between you of running up debts and overspending and I would hazard a guess that holidays may be your bugbear. Just think of how much you can spend on them though once the debt is gone - not on a credit card.

You are on a high interest rate on your mortgage. Was this taken out quite a while ago? When it gets a bit closer to your remortgage date and you see what rate you are offered you will know then what position you will be in.

Converting unsecured debt to secured debt though is almost always a bad idea. You take longer to pay it off. The temptation to run up debt again is there because you think you have cleared the old debt which you most definitely have not.

You are obviously struggling with this so I would ask why do you want to move the debt because as I understand it much of yours is on 0%? You reduced your debt last year so if you do the same again this year that debt may well be nearer £17 or £18k rather than £27k.

In fact, if we carried on at a similar rate, and took on a 2 year fixed mortgage deal, we should be just about dent free at the same time as we would need to remortgage. The effect is the same as consolidating apart from lower insterest and more flexibilty.

boxofpaws · 23 February 2018 at 5:58PM

Since I last posted a list

Good things:j

BT from Barclays has gone through to Lloyds. Still £1205 to pay off LLoyds and the 0% runs out in a few days but should be able to pay some of that off.
Cash transfer from new balrclaycard has come through. I have paid off the overdraf and the 'spends' credit card. The rest is sitting in the bank, ready to pay off the loan.
Loan settlement details are on the way to us.
If there is anything left from the cash transfer, I will put it towards LLoyds but I dont want to leave us too short like last month.
No bought lunches at work.
Massive cutdown on coffees at work (I think 4 for the week - £2.40)
Did a longer car trip for work, making me about £55 in profit in expenses.
Have done one weights workout - full workout
Have done week 1, run 1 of c25k
Have eaten better all week.
Have bought much fancer moisturser than normal. I usually buy the £1 boots essentials stuff but turning 40 makes me think that doesnt cut it any more. So have been lusting after some super facialist retinol stuff for a while. And when I went to buy it, it was reduced from £20 to £14. I bought the day and night cream and its FAB
Big car passed its MOT
Big car is also all tarted up after having a paint job as a treat (£200)
Have fully decided against consolidating. I know its the right decison because I feel relieved.

Bad things:exclamati:exclamati

Husband has had NO overtime this week. Bad times
A man crashed into the back of my car yesterday. After he initiially apologised he then proceeded to tell me there was no damage (which I could clearly see because I have eyes). To which I told him I was taking his insurance details, to which he told me to eff off and then drove into me (I was standing by his window) and drove off. Not happy. Luckily I wasnt hurt. Also, my car is really only scratched, so if he had given me the chance to calm down, I would have probably told him to forget about it. As it is, I called the police. What a gentleman.
After I came home feeling all cross about the above, the small cat did a massive cr*p on the kitchen floor.

Spends.
Boots - £31.53 - moisturiser* and naproxen £31.53
Asda - cat food and other stuff £22.24
Sainsbury - big shop - £96.41

Saintliness = 8/10- on account of thrifty spends and expense profit. And my saintly decision not to consolidate. Thanks dudes

redofromstart · 23 February 2018 at 6:22PM

What a delightful man! Glad you are ok though.

Our remortgage was really quick once they had stop quibbling about my income - wasn't borrowing against mine but proving I am not dependent was the challenge, the offer went through in days after that.

savingholmes · 23 February 2018 at 6:50PM

Sounds like you are doing really well having repaid £17K in a year.

Glad you are safe despite the bad driver yesterday.

Good luck on your journey

sashybo · 23 February 2018 at 8:19PM

What a horrible man! What is it about driving that turns some people into horrors?

Glad your fancy face moisturiser is good & great timing for the discount. :j I do think it's worth finding a moisturiser that works for you, even if it is a bit more expensive. I use the Nivea q10 day & night creams & find it suits my skin quite well and you can buy it in Savers for half the price of Boots & Superdrug. :j

Another brand that I've heard a lot about is The Ordinary. Their stuff is meant to very good & is reasonably priced. I'm using one of their vitamin C suspensions to try & reduce dark areas on my forehead (I suspect it's melasma as gets worse in the sun) and it seems pretty good for £4.90. I think I'll probably try some of their other stuff as the prices are so reasonable.

boxofpaws · 2 March 2018 at 10:08AM

redofromstart wrote: »

What a delightful man! Glad you are ok though.

Our remortgage was really quick once they had stop quibbling about my income - wasn't borrowing against mine but proving I am not dependent was the challenge, the offer went through in days after that.

That's reassuring. I hope we'll be straight forward, both in full time paid employment which they don't seem to get confused by unlike SE. you'd think with so many self employed people, it wouldn't seem to cause our banks so much surprise when applying for mortgages etc

savingholmes wrote: »

Sounds like you are doing really well having repaid £17K in a year.

Glad you are safe despite the bad driver yesterday.

Good luck on your journey

Not quite £17k, I wish it were. But we're getting there. Thank you

sashybo wrote: »

What a horrible man! What is it about driving that turns some people into horrors?

Glad your fancy face moisturiser is good & great timing for the discount. :j I do think it's worth finding a moisturiser that works for you, even if it is a bit more expensive. I use the Nivea q10 day & night creams & find it suits my skin quite well and you can buy it in Savers for half the price of Boots & Superdrug. :j

Another brand that I've heard a lot about is The Ordinary. Their stuff is meant to very good & is reasonably priced. I'm using one of their vitamin C suspensions to try & reduce dark areas on my forehead (I suspect it's melasma as gets worse in the sun) and it seems pretty good for £4.90. I think I'll probably try some of their other stuff as the prices are so reasonable.

I'll try that one when I have finished this one. TBH, 10 days in and I am underwhelmed by the new moisturiser after all. After initially thinking it was good, I'm not sure it's made much difference. Might go back to my £1 one!

I’m taking control of my life, now.

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