Does it improve?

[IronNeonClasp]

My ex-h moved out of the family home coming up 4 years ago as I could afford to take on our very small home. It's a two up two down, generous front bedroom teeny box room and a bathroom upstairs. Not much to speak of in terms of accessible garden, dangerous street, no close parks or shops.

There's a lot I could do to it but at 47 I still find myself living month to month with no collateral. I just have quite a bit of debt which I'm trying to manage before doing anything radical. I pay off a big loan in a year but it's another year away.

DD is 9 in with me and DD is 11, in the box room starts high school in September. The thought of them being teens in this house - I am very grateful to have my home with relatively good mortgage but I struggle with how I'm doing them a disservice.

I've found the loss of the joint income huge. I pay off a big loan in a year but I'd like to hear stories of how you got by and how it changed or how you gave yourself less of a hard time! Also if you found any home improvement schemes, replacement boiler schemes?
Thanks

You have your own home!
Which means your girls have their own home!
That’s fabulous.
How do you think so many teens feel about moving again when their parents have to move on from a rental?

Teens often have a habit of actually taking up a smaller space for a while. A bed and headphones and you don’t actually need any more room.

I know we all want a lot for our kids, but you’re far too hard on yourself to think of a secure, consistent home as a disservice.

A year more on the loan... even if you sometimes feel 2020 was 10 years long, do you not also have those moments where you think, “has it really been a year already since we locked down?”

With a 9 and 11 year old you must have had those “only yesterday they were tiny” moments.

That’s what will happen with your big loan - one year seems a lot stretched in front of you, but in a year’s time, it will have passed quickly.

Do you need to see a debt charity about better ways to structure your repayments? It does sound like you’re on top of this though.

If you want separate rooms you could look at a room divider for the big bedroom. Honestly though, I think the single biggest issue here is you giving yourself a hard time

I have a DD and DS which is why I'd gone into the room sharing as it reads a bit odd above!

@Cocomarine thank you so much for your lovely and warm reply. I expected so much more of myself and to have achieved ! I guess I have in my own way. I really appreciate this

I agree don’t knock yourself, you own your own home and that’s great. I can totally understand why you want a bit more space. I assume remortgaging for an extension / loft extension is out of the question? Any way the bigger room could be divided with a partition wall?