Is there a low spend May thread yet?

[IncessantNameChanger]

Are we doing a no spend / minimal spend May thread?

I have been trying to remortgage after a fixed 5 year deal ended in October and this remortgage has been ongoing since January! We are utterly screwed financially.

The broker ( a massive company) have assured us that they have everything they need now. But it's been 4 months now and waiting to see if they will honour the quoted rate. If they won't we might need to rethink what to do next.

Anyway I'm going to write down every single penny I spend this month and try to work out from scratch how much we are shortt each month until this goes through. So fed up. Had a survey and hard credit search weeks ago.

Not even sure this product will work for us if the rate has gone up.

Plus I was offered a job in March that the employer hasn't even asked for references for yet! Argh!

That sounds stressful @IncessantNameChanger I'm sorry that things are so tough right now.
I'm doing a low spend may so happy to cheer you along!
Could you ask the company that has offered you the job if they have a timescale in mind?

Thanks. It's a job working with children and they have only just done my DBS and asked for my last reference of working in a school which was 26 years ago. Absolutely nothing will happen until I try to track down a reference from a quarter of a century ago. I'm not confident I will be able to locate a reference that old. So nope, no start date and I doubt it would even be sorted in May.

I have been a SAHM / carer for my disabled son for the last 11 years since he started special school. This job would be ideal to see if working is feasible. But at this rate I might have to try go back to my former career in IT. Not sure I'd even be wanted back programing now.

I have done a super swish xls today so I can see every penny in and out. To see what I can cut..going to eat everything in my freezer too. It's not looking great.

Have you thought about applying to your current mortgage lender directly and bypassing the broker? That way you avoid the charges and they don't make you jump through hoops to re-mortgage as they already know you and your financial background. Won't hurt to ask for a quote anyway.

That sounds really stressful, I hope you get that all sorted soon.

I will join. We are on a mission to clear our second mortgage within two years so we can have a monthly buffer when our main mortgage comes up for renewal in 6 years. And the rate we have and the way the market is going will definitely have an increase. We are planning for a two year push rather than chipping away for 6 years, hopefully we can then put some extra into the main mortgage monthly but also allow us to live again.

Tomorrow starts the low spend challenge!

I also have a spreadsheet to log every spend.

Unfortunately we can't apply to our current lender. They don't do a suitable product

Me and dh are really set on bring hard core frugal. But it's day 3! Ask me again on day 30 when I'm defrosting unknown freezer burnt leftovers!

Pay day today. £15 on two gift for birthday parties ds is going to this month and £10 on my lunch and kids snacks in asda. The lunch was a little treat to myself knowing it will be stuff from home for ages now!

We've been adjusting our spending since Aug last year and I'm hoping we've got it right this time 😂.

Our remortgage was refused. So far it's only halfway through the month and we have spent more than we have coming in.

I still have no start date for my new job either.

Once I get the job and paid we will look to remortgage again..things should improve but right now things look dire. Dh wet belt went on his car costing us thousands to replace a few months ago. I said he was insane to fix it. Now it's failed the mot too due to a related issue. That could be over a thousand to fix or a cheap flush, we don't know yet.

I have done a detailed xls of all our ins and outs and I think I can cut out so much next month. But I have no idea how to cope until the mortgage is sorted. 3 months to tell us it wasn't going ahead with a hard search on our credit file too.

Crazy.

I'm going to go back to weekly online Tesco deliveries I think for a start. Then I can avoid the shops and budget £50 pw for food whilst freezer diving. Using up things from.the freezer always saves lots.

I might also just draw out cash for everything else for the week.