Can I share my "financial plan" with you clever money people please?...

[Becaroooo]

....and get your views on it?

I freely admit I am not the most financially astute person in the world and its been pretty horrendous since we moved in Dec and things need sorting!!!

So.

We have;
A mortgage - on a 5 yr FR
A cc - about £4k (bought a money pit house in Dec)

We own my car and and dh has a company car.

We dont have any savings (all spent on said money pit)

So far I have:
Got us a good balance transfer interest free cc (interest free for 20 months and less apr than our current one)
Want to start overpaying 10% on the mortgage (by dd) - would really like to do 20% but not sure we can.
Want to start saving each month (by dd) and paying cc off by the end of this year.
Want to start a pension for me at some point this year.

Does that sound sensible?

I would be quite happy to move house again to a smaller one - and thereby cut the mortage we owe - but dh (and the dc) really like this house - I just see the money and stress it has cost. I am not really very sentimental re; houses tbh...its just bricks and mortar to me.

If we really try this year (no holiday etc) I think we can do the overpayments, get some savings and pay off the cc.

wwyd?

Cut them up as soon as the balance goes over.

Definitely pay the card off as quick as poss. While doing that maybe do a tiny bit of saving via premium bonds as interest is awful atm but by the time you are straight with the cards there may be some better deals and you may have won on teh P Bonds.

I couldnt win a fight noddy let alone on the premium bonds!!!

I know a lot of people who have won! Worth a go. My sister transferred her savings as she was getting no interest and has won about 250 since she did. Interest was about less than half

The virgin cc is very good. I got it 2 years ago on 0%. But I was lazy and only paid off a little each month. Those 2 years flew past!! Still had to find 1800 to pay the balance.
So I'd divide the balance into 20 and setup a DD for it, then cut it up. Even though they give you 6 months on purchases, don't be tempted.
Do a monthly budget and see how much you should have extra each month and if poss put at least the £80 on a DD to a separate account. If yo are allowed 10% overpaymen a month, you can still pay it annually. So you can decide at the end of the year what to do with the savings. It won't give much interest but will be harder to spend it. I got a Halifax 12 month account. You get a Bonus on the 12 th month if no withdrawals.

noddy wow, thats good!

tracey I think its the best balance transfer card out there atm, but as you say they want you to spend more dont they?

I like the idea of setting up a dd for it...will talk to dh about that.

Ok...So, had a chat with dh now he is back.

The plan is;

To pay of the cc.

Then to make a 10% overpayment on the mgage.

To save each month

To cut down on monthly expenses (food and petrol mostly)

Thanks for all the advice x

Sounds good, keep us up to date with how it's going