Page 27 | To think we CAN live on the mortgage

JaneEyre40 · 2025-05-28T08:34:06+00:00

Advice please - Couple - Earn £10,500 a month Mortgage - 3,700 a month Nursery - 1,000 a month Considering all other possible outgoings, do you think we can afford this and not feel pressured each month. What am I not considering? We've done the spreadsheet but I'm still unsure. We will have about £65,000 in savings at the beginning of this venture. Thanks in advance. House of a lifetime.

Kitchenbattle · 29/05/2025 09:38

MmeChoufleur · 29/05/2025 09:25

The point is not whether or not the salary is massive; the point is that anyone can see that you could easily pay the bills on a three bed house, buy food, and any additional costs with £6k a month.

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It’s very simple…

A high income does not guarantee peace of mind.

earning more ≠ worrying less…

NebulousWhistler · 29/05/2025 09:42

LemonOwl · 29/05/2025 08:57

Me neither.

@NebulousWhistler he's sounds awful.

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You’re right. He’ll probably end up running the country. 🤯

Kitte321 · 29/05/2025 09:43

HopscotchBanana · 29/05/2025 09:24

Bless you for pointing out the obvious. My DH earns extremely well. Mine is above average for a female. And on that basis, I know what is affordable on both our salaries.

The point it more that someone with the intelligence to be taking home £5k+ a month, can use a spreadsheet.

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I’m not sure why you are directing your condescension to me?! A poster said something like “I can’t believe people earn at these levels” and you suggested they shouldn’t believe what they read 🤷‍♀️
I was pointing out that of course these salaries can/are being earned.

Original poster

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 09:54

Itsmehey6365 · 28/05/2025 22:53

You’ll deffo need to include costs to Ireland in your budget! I go home regularly and I’d be in Portugal for what I’d spend in Centra in a week 😂

Jasus! It'll be Aldi and that's it! No cost for accommodation in Ireland though so that's a plus and we'll only go on cheap flights.

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Original poster

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 09:56

Willyoujustbequiet · 29/05/2025 01:50

Compassion? Perhaps an alien concept to some.

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Oh FFS, go start a thread on COL and I'll be there with compassion. For now, this is the conversation 🙄

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Original poster

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 09:58

Riaanna · 29/05/2025 07:19

Get a will. You aren’t married. You need a will.

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Thank you, I am on it. This is our week for getting everything sorted. Just off a call with the mortgage broker, slightly better rate which is great.

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Original poster

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 09:58

noworklifebalance · 28/05/2025 22:55

I don’t see what the COL or others being worse off than OP is of any relevance.
She is not standing at the school gates talking at the top of her voice about it such that everyone is forced to listen to her financial situation.
If you open her thread and find the original post totally unrelatable then walk away.

There are plenty of threads on MN that are alien to me so I don’t both reading or just read and take in so I may have a minutiae of understanding of someone else’s situation plus learn a thing or two.

This!!

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Mostunexpected · 29/05/2025 10:01

MaryGreenhill · 28/05/2025 22:49

OP are you sure your council tax is only £230 a month ?
Only your home is obviously worth over £300,000 because that's the lump sum you put down on it . Any house worth over £300,000 would be in the council tax band of F or above . Properties in band F are usually over 3k a year all over the UK . So if that were the case you would be paying £300 a month in you paid over 12 months. Something isn't adding up .

Edited

That's definitely not correct or almost everything in London would be council tax band F.
I lived in a house worth over 1 million and it was council tax band E, which is ~£1700. Following that I lived in a house worth ~700k and that was council tax band D.
Council tax in a lot of London boroughs is pretty cheap

Willyoujustbequiet · 29/05/2025 10:01

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 09:56

Oh FFS, go start a thread on COL and I'll be there with compassion. For now, this is the conversation 🙄

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The comment wasn't in reply to you was it.

But it's a public forum not an echo chamber. You don't get to control people's opinions.

Original poster

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 10:02

So...just off the phone with the mortgage broker.

4.1% - monthly repayments 3,355 (over 35 years/ I'm 40 years old) of course we will over pay in the initial years to get this paid off much sooner. Overpayments can be as much as 10k a month so we are good on that front.

My OH had the wrong council tax band (previous property we had offered on).

CT band G - approx 3.9k a year.

THANK YOU to those who questioned me on the council tax bracket (I'm postpartum after a pretty difficult birth so my brain is definitely not on high gear).

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NewMoonToday · 29/05/2025 10:03

MidnightPatrol · 29/05/2025 09:31

@NewMoonToday they aren't in the top 1-2% of earners. To be in the top 1% of earners you need to earn £200k this year, as an individual.

On £70k and £80k, they are in about the top ~12 nationally based on individual incomes, and in London there will be an even higher number.

Asking for advice from other people in the same situation from her is completely reasonable, every decision can’t be solved with a spreadsheet.

V curious to accuse it of being fake based on the size of the numbers mentioned - shows the real discrepancy in incomes and cost of living across the country.

I didn't ever accuse it of being fake. My fake comment was to another poster about posts on Reddit.

I also said that 'as a couple' their income was in that percentage.
I particularly took the time to say 'as a couple' as I know £80K is not the top 1-2%.

There are people in my own family earning more than they are as single people, so I'm hardly out of touch with earnings.

Original poster

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 10:03

Willyoujustbequiet · 29/05/2025 10:01

The comment wasn't in reply to you was it.

But it's a public forum not an echo chamber. You don't get to control people's opinions.

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MY THREAD 😎

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Riaanna · 29/05/2025 10:04

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 10:02

So...just off the phone with the mortgage broker.

4.1% - monthly repayments 3,355 (over 35 years/ I'm 40 years old) of course we will over pay in the initial years to get this paid off much sooner. Overpayments can be as much as 10k a month so we are good on that front.

My OH had the wrong council tax band (previous property we had offered on).

CT band G - approx 3.9k a year.

THANK YOU to those who questioned me on the council tax bracket (I'm postpartum after a pretty difficult birth so my brain is definitely not on high gear).

Ok if you’re doing this for 35 years I’m shifting original answer - you can’t afford it.

NewMoonToday · 29/05/2025 10:05

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 10:03

MY THREAD 😎

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Your thread is out there on the world wide web.
You can't control opinions and posts unless they break guidelines.

Willyoujustbequiet · 29/05/2025 10:06

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 10:03

MY THREAD 😎

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Yes people can see that.

It's called AIBU. Don't post in AIBU if you don't want anyone to disagree with you. It's pretty simple.

noworklifebalance · 29/05/2025 10:07

NewMoonToday · 29/05/2025 09:23

If there are lots of these threads, does that make them right?

It's not relevant if she's asked 'at school' (assume you mean the parents not her colleagues.)
You're missing the point. The point is she appears to have lost or never had a perspective on how much most people earn.

It's that someone with her level of education, and supposed understanding of behaviour/psychology, should have foreseen how her thread would go.

She could have worded her post very differently.

Like acknowledging they as a couple in the top 1-2% of earners.
Like saying she was fortunate to be so (rather than replying 'work hard and get a better job.)

She could even have acknowledged that she knows bugger all about budgeting.

But no. None of that.

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Why should she acknowledge any of this? Or say she is fortunate etc.

It is a thread about what she needs to consider in budgeting when taking the leap from a small mortgage and flat to a large mortgage for a house. and associated bills, upkeep and risk.
She has acknowledged and thanked posters who have made points that should be considered.

What is the point of all the apologetic preamble and acknowledgment of fortune?

NewMoonToday · 29/05/2025 10:08

noworklifebalance · 29/05/2025 10:07

Why should she acknowledge any of this? Or say she is fortunate etc.

It is a thread about what she needs to consider in budgeting when taking the leap from a small mortgage and flat to a large mortgage for a house. and associated bills, upkeep and risk.
She has acknowledged and thanked posters who have made points that should be considered.

What is the point of all the apologetic preamble and acknowledgment of fortune?

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If you can't see it, why should I waste time explaining it to you?

Original poster

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 10:08

lifeonmars100 · 28/05/2025 21:27

. Council tax is 230 monthly. Well fuck me sideways, I live alone in a tiny two up two down Band A inner city terrace on a filthy littered and fly tipped street and I pay £135 a month! I also live on just over double your monthly take home wage for the WHOLE YEAR! Where did I go wrong, I am thick, lazy, untalented, a bad person? who knows but sometimes I reas stuff on here and feel like an utter failure who is inadequate in every way and then I think that maybe the OP is making things up to get a rise out of people

Sorry I effed up on the council tax, see most recent post. I was wondering why it was so low.

I used to live on a horribly filthy street and I keep calling the council about it, it had just been ignored, suddenly it started getting cleaned weekly.

I started on very low wages and worked my way up, unintentionally really, I do like what I do. Do you like your job?

I just stopped feeling like an utter failure (initially postpartum) it's a horrible feeling. I'm sure it's not true in your case.

Edited for spelling error

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noworklifebalance · 29/05/2025 10:12

NewMoonToday · 29/05/2025 10:08

If you can't see it, why should I waste time explaining it to you?

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She doesn’t have to apologise to anyone. If you find it unrelatable than don’t read it. If she was talking to friend and asking for advice that would be different.

Should everyone who asks about a holiday, recommendations for cars, where to buy a new kitchen etc on MN preface their posts with - I know I am lucky in COL crisis to be even considering buying …?
Or perhaps 11+ thread should all begin with - I know I am lucky to have a child who is in a position to consider sitting the 11+?

Perhaps you can write a spiel that the rest of can copy and paste at the top of such threads so we can ask advice without offending someone who may be in a worse position in some way?

Original poster

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 10:13

noworklifebalance · 29/05/2025 10:07

Why should she acknowledge any of this? Or say she is fortunate etc.

It is a thread about what she needs to consider in budgeting when taking the leap from a small mortgage and flat to a large mortgage for a house. and associated bills, upkeep and risk.
She has acknowledged and thanked posters who have made points that should be considered.

What is the point of all the apologetic preamble and acknowledgment of fortune?

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Yes, there is a blame culture I have noticed in recent years. Someone in a shit situation lashing out at others for said situation instead of doing something about it. Of course this is not the case for all of the irrelevant comments received on this thread, but is definitely the case for some.

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Original poster

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 10:15

Willyoujustbequiet · 29/05/2025 10:06

Yes people can see that.

It's called AIBU. Don't post in AIBU if you don't want anyone to disagree with you. It's pretty simple.

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I WELCOME the disagreement that's WHY I asked the question. The irrelevant comments however about why I'm not more THANKFUL (fuck that) are just getting in the way.

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Original poster

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 10:16

Riaanna · 29/05/2025 10:04

Ok if you’re doing this for 35 years I’m shifting original answer - you can’t afford it.

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That's the thing, we are but we are going to over pay ASAP...I know, should we just lower the term...🥴

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Original poster

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 10:17

Any other comments on the new numbers greatly appreciated 👍🏼

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Riaanna · 29/05/2025 10:20

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 10:16

That's the thing, we are but we are going to over pay ASAP...I know, should we just lower the term...🥴

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Which brings us back to getting proper advice. A 35 year mortgage is not sensible at your age. If you cannot afford the shorter term you cannot afford the mortgage.

Original poster

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 10:20

JaneEyre40 · 29/05/2025 10:16

That's the thing, we are but we are going to over pay ASAP...I know, should we just lower the term...🥴

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Also, definitely going to downsize when we hit retirement

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