To those who own a house,car AND horse without great paid job

Archie07 said:
Obviously it's not possible for the OP, I was surely talking about my situation as that is what she originally asked, for others experience/ situations. Thought that was pretty obvious.
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She was, but lots of people were saying yes it is possible to do it with a "not great wage" when they obviously earn a fair chunk more than her or have a partner who earns a decent wage.

To me, £800pcm is less than a not great wage, it is a low wage. Not great implies less than average but perhaps not much less. At £800pcm if that is net she's probably on £12,000 a year. I'm not sure whether she is planning to rent or buy but either way most likely over half her wage will be going on accomodation.
 
I have lived in my own house for the past 3 years - I have a good job (1300 pcm), pay for my half of the house, my cat, car horse all myself and am quite happy after all that, although I don't think I would be able to live the life I do on much lower than that - new houses means new stuff and that costs money

My boyfriend doesn't hate horses but doesn't like them, and wouldn't pay for it unless I was really desperate and begging, but I can live in the security of knowing if he really had to he could and would help out if I was desperate.

I do know how lucky I am, and I wouldn't have gone out to buy a horse the same year as I moved out - I just happened to have one before I was old enough to think about costs :)
 
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widget said:
hi, just thought id share our way of managing!
I have a fairly well paid job and my other half has a minimum wage job, I was paying a fortune for rent and horse livery etc so we trailed our local area and found an old cottage that had been empty for 50 years + which had land and outbuildings. We offered the owner to do it up if we could have very cheap rent and a long lease. We have been here for 18 months now, the house had no kitchen or bathrooms and only cold water when we moved in. We worked on the place every spare minute and its now livable! but we have literally done everything including plumbing/building/putting in double glazing/fencing/building.I now have everything I ever wanted, horses at home, lovely space for the dogs to run and I pay in total for rent less than I was paying just for livery before. I would say if you have a dream it might be achievable but with a bit of lateral thinking abd preparing to rough it a bit!!
and lastly I dont really go out or buy new clothes but have a glass of wine and relax in the house we rebuilt!
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What a great set up you have, that's pretty much (one of many) dreams I have ... lol
Only i would have to own it. I would hate spending money and time on something that could be taken away from me. Have you ever offered to buy it? How much land do you have?

I think I will have a drive now and see what deserted cottages I could find! lolx
 
Me and my OH are both university students (im training to be a social worker, hes doing teaching) We manage to somehow have a flat, horse, 2 cars (an aygo and micra)

We manage quite well actually, as we both work and I currently manage to fit in an almost full time job with disabled people around uni hours and my volunteer placement with the RDA to afford to keep horse and car.
I am nearly always knackered though and we cant go on flashy holidays like everyone else out age. I just keep telling him to wait until we are both qualified and earn proper money!
 
I am 22, just bought a house with the OH, we both have reasonable jobs (combined gross income is prob around 38-40k) and run two nice cars, own two little dogs etc but I honestly could not afford to have my own horse! I've been very lucky in the shares i've had over the past 2-3 years though, with a long term share of a wonderful cob, costing me £100pm for the first 8 or 9 months until I had to admit I could no longer afford it (the OH is not interested in horses, nor does he have 'cheap' tastes...). As the share was working so well though, the owner actually said she'd cover all the costs as long as I kept riding him and doing yard duties 3 or 4 times a week - as I said, Ive been very lucky! Unfortunately, she moved out of the area some months later so I was without a horse for a while.

My new share is also free - the owner has a youngster who she doesn't ride and she is covering all costs but has given me free reign with him.

Something has gotta give basically - and a lot of the other people here have given up little luxuries like going out/nice food or nice car/the dream house. I know my OH wouldn't stand for it if I made him give up these things in order for me to fund a horse, but I manage just fine with everything I want, it's just a matter of networking and proving yourself as reliable and good and you can get yourself a freebie horse. By the sounds of it, you'll need to do this, as well as cut back a bit on some luxury outgoings in order to run a car and pay bills/mortgage anyway.

Sorry for rambling :o
 
Its quite a few years ago now (thank god) but already had the horse who was going NOWHERE without his Mom, I bought a house - titchy and cute and didnt cost the stupid prices of today, and had a fair decent car but I was running up and down motorways so couldnt have a banger. I worked full time, 4 nights a week in a pub, taught a bit of horse riding on a mates pony and turned out 10 horses before work all so I didn't have to pay a £20/week livery bill. In other words, I nearly killed myself.
If I didn't have the horse I certainly wouldn't have bought one, he was my sanity (new girl in a new town) but was also a huge burden. My advise would be to wait - I know it's a killer when you want something, but you won't get the pleasure out of the horse if you cant afford to feed him and bank managers couldn't care less about them when your mortgage isnt paid:)
 
QR and haven't read all replies so sorry if I'm duplicating :)

I did things the wrong way round - had the horse since I was living with my parents. Then bought a car. Then got married and bought a house. We did work out how much we could afford to spend each month on the house, but really, the priorities were all wrong. If it had been possible, I would have sold/loaned my horse (but she was 25 so not an option!). We have struggled, big time. We have a joint account, so all wages go in, all bills come out. There is no money for luxuries. It's caused stress, and tension between us - my OH couldn't understand why I was saying "we can't afford it" whenever it was something he wanted, but we could afford to keep an expensive pet. It hasn't been easy. Neither of us earn great wages, I'm on below average for this area, he's on about the average. But we manage, and he's been very tolerant about it. I have no doubt that he wouldn't have been if we'd bought the horse afterwards. But because she'd been with me for years, he knew it wasn't an option to just "get rid" of her.

I suppose what my rambling post is saying, is that it might be better to do 1 thing at a time. Take over your car expenses, then get a house, then get a horse. But whatever you do, budget budget budget! And make sure your OH is 100% happy with your decision and that it won't cause problems later.

Good luck :)
 
There is no way I could have afforded it all when I was in my 20's and we were just buying our 1st house. I got my horse when I was 36, we've no children, both in secure jobs. Because of my work/home commitments I choose to go part livery, I go every evening and DIY at the weekend, and money still has to be budgeted for everything. With my livery/insurance/feed/shoes/wormers/small amount monthly for unexpected vet's bills/dentist/back person/saddle fitting and lessons I pay near to £600 per month.. It scares me when I actually think about it. I don't know how folks afford to compete...
 
It can be done!
If you don't like going out having your hair done and having new clothes etc lol. I spend about £200 a month on my boy. The only reason i get away with it is because my other half is having an affair with his xbox and thinks it's great when i'm out so he can play without me moaning. lol
 
Rana said:
my OH couldn't understand why I was saying "we can't afford it" whenever it was something he wanted, but we could afford to keep an expensive pet. QUOTE]

Mine is exactly the same!! Hence why I won't be buying until I am certain we are comfortable enough in our earnings to allow him all his luxuries as well.
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jemima_too said:
For years this was my life: I live in a very cheap "deprived area" in a wreck of a house we could only just get a mortgage on. At one point the wiring was so unsafe we had to turn the power off every time we left the house and also overnight. I drive an ancient car. I don't have holidays. I rarely buy clothes and even then they will be charity shop. We rarely eat out, we rarely even go out. I haven't had my hair cut since I was 18. I haven't ever had my hair coloured professionally nor had a manicure or my nails done. Nearly all my horses' tack is second hand. We don't have fancy TV / stereo / computers. We have the cheapest tariff mobile phones. We don't buy ready made meals but grow our own and cook from scratch. I keep my horses at home so I don't have livery fees although I did have to feed forage. My horses are unshod. If I want to drink I make beer or wine (beer was 9p per pint home made, wine even less as not from a kit. I don't smoke. If I can walk or bicycle I will, using the car as little as possible. Homemade sweets and / or a selection of homemade jams is an acceptable christmas present when you are rotten poor - anyone who doesn't appreciate it doesn't get one next year. If there's no money left in the kitty at the end of the month we eat baked potatoes, bought from the farm gate. We don't eat any meat we haven't caught or grown ourselves.

Life has changed now and tbh at my age if I had to struggle like that I wouldn't have so many (if any) horses but I did it for year after year after year when I was younger.
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And I bet you appreciated and cared properly for everything you had then - and still do now.

We started with nothing but thanks to a very hardworking OH we are very comfortable. We never bought anything we couldn't afford there and then, didn't go out or on holiday, smoke or drink and our cars were heaps. We still aren't flash, but we could be if we wanted. Instead, we have savings!
 
Unless you are going to live in a shed, running a car, mortgage, food, bills, horse and you on 810pm IMO IS NOT POSSIBLE
 
hi heidirusso, would have loved to have bought this place but funds just wouldnt allow and its part of an estate so they never sell-seems they would rather let places become derelict! we have twelve acres here and it feeds two horses, 4 sheeps, three geese and many chickens!! at the end of the day we pay a pittance to live in a house that we couldnt normally afford to rent let alone buy so its a win win situation : )

so get driving around looking for tumbledown cottages!!
 
widget said:
hi heidirusso, would have loved to have bought this place but funds just wouldnt allow and its part of an estate so they never sell-seems they would rather let places become derelict! we have twelve acres here and it feeds two horses, 4 sheeps, three geese and many chickens!! at the end of the day we pay a pittance to live in a house that we couldnt normally afford to rent let alone buy so its a win win situation : )
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Ah, I see. Well that's not bad though actually. As if it's on an estate it's not like the owner is going to do anything with it personally like sell it off or something or move in, Infact I doubt you will ever have to move. That sounds like the best deal ever.. lol

If your rent is low, you could always in future buy something cheap to rent out to have a house anyway, i.e a little flat in a town to fall back.


12 Acres is amazing, gosh. Have a glass wine whilst watching the horses graze for me will you?


widget said:
so get driving around looking for tumbledown cottages!!
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Hell yeah...! Already on it.XX
 
its not easy!! i have just turned 18, i do full time college and part time work, pay for my own car, my own horse and house rent and i just manage to scrape by with working very very hard and putting in all the extra hours i can, any money i win from comps goes straight back into the horse etc. good luck, hope you manage it all ok!!;)
 
I am on average money, and have been for a couple of years and am 32. 'Wasted' many years 'working with bloody horses' (my parents words not mine!!) which means I am only now in the position of beig able to buy a house with OH.

Had to move back in with parents when I got a 'proper' job in oder to save and would have been able to afford a place of my own/decent car much sooner if I hadn't had at least two horses to keep.

I now have two on livery, a mortgage about to start next month and a car. The car cost me £750 three years ago and I hope to keep it for at least another year!! This is one of my main savings I have to say, all my friends have car loan or HP of between £150 and £200 per month. That is my livery! )£25 per week per horse so actually pay 200 -250)

When I was younger I freelance groomed and had a part time job at a competition yard and live in at a show yard where I kept my ponies. I got up crack of dawn and chucked all home lkept ponies out. Went to p/t job, then on to freelance afternoons or home to do home and my own ponies. I got free livery and hay. I bought bedding ans shoes etc for mine and was also given transport to shows. I was very poor. And very busy. The result of this was I enjoyed myself immensely and was super model thin!! Not any more though. I was also singel and hardly ever went out, no time or energy. So I now have a proper job with proper wages and sick pay and holidays and weekends off.

I also pay my own way but couldn't have done it without supprtive parents (letting me come back and live here for a few years to save....) and OH.

When I get my house next month I will be moving horses neaer to where I will be livign and having them atmuch cheaper livery. One has shoes off now and I won't be competing.
 
Ah. If you are on £800 pcm then its going to be mega hard and nigh on impossible. That is a very low wage. I earn less than the national average but still bring home almost twice what you do! My OH is on much less than me (about £1000 bring home) and our mortgage will be £800pcm for a two bed house and £15,000 deposit.

Then there is the council tax - £1200 per year
Oil c/h £100 per month
Water
electric
Home insurance
Life insurance
car insurance, tax, mot
Livery.....
food
petrol

If you can find somewhere very cheap/free to keep your horse then maybe - you could offer to help out look after someone elses horse in return for free grazing?
 
This is all great advice, but I have the strongest suspicion that OP will not be listening! There is absolutely no substitute for being financially secure. There is absolutely nothing funny about running completely out of money with bills to pay and payday a way off. Use the basic spreadsheet to see what your costs are and then work out how much you spend now. Its hard enough being in a relationship with someone who doesn't like your horses/time spent with it, let alone having to rely on him paying for it! what would happen if OP split up with her OH? When I first started working, I had to make my salary pay for rent, all living expenses, travel to the city for work, car and horse. Horse was on DIY. Car took basic to a whole new world and I had 2 part time jobs to keep all together. Should not have done it with the horse. Ran myself into the ground trying to do it all. I would have done better to have cleared the decks of all debts, then gone for the horse..
 
I think we all manage by cutting back on personal extravagances.

I am 23. I own my house on my own (no shared mortgage or anything). I bought it when i was 19. I have a 55 reg 206 gti so not exactly an economical car....but just about to change that for an estate car (boring i know....but i need a car thats a bit bigger) but still looking at cars around the 06 reg mark. I have a horse on part livery.

I dont earn much money. But....i do work six full days a week and its not 9 - 5 either. It can be anything up to 8pm at night in the summer. I run an airfield and flying school so its the leisure industry...therefore people want to be having fun after work which means i work later! But it means i can work 60 + hour weeks in the summer.

I dont really buy clothes. I dont go out alot now. My OH who lives with me pays a small rent but that goes into my savings account (for when we move and buy a place together). He is very very supportive. He doesnt ever get funny about me working long hours or the time i spend with my horse. He also is very very good at treating us. I.e takeaways, meals out etc. He had never been near a horse and is really allergic to them but is nothing but supportive of my hobby.
We have an understanding that when i leave the yard i come home in non horsey clothes and i carry babywipes inthe car so that i can make sure i give my hands, face and arms a wipe so that i am not too horsey when i get home. He even picked me up some baby wipes for the horse from thescos the other day, i went to give him the money and he said "no they are my contribution to the horse". He doesnt pay anything towards the horse, but little things like that mean a lot even if it is like £1! He still knows that i dont have much money etc and that even things for a £1 are a help.

If your OH is not supportive now....i would be very carefull. They take up a lot of time, money and as my OH pointed out the other day....they take up a lot of time in our heads. Im always thinking about my horse (mainly because he is a nappy little b*gger and im always trying to think of new strategys etc to get him going nicely!)
If he is not supportive it really could cause fall outs.
That said ..... you cant always put your hobby on hold.... but you have to weigh up what is more important.

Also.....really really sit down and work out all of the costs. Can you afford that? Then double it....can you still afford it??? because the doubled amount is definately the more realistic amount!!!!!!!!!!
 
I think you can do it as your OH is paying the mortgage and half you car costs.

So your income will be for food and bills plus half of car and horse. Say car costs £200 a month and bills and food £300 that would leave £300 for the horse but is it fair for your boyfriend to pay for the mortgage and sacrifice treats and holidays (if you are paying for food and bills to keep the cost down you will need to eat cheap food and not put the heating on too much etc) so that you can have a horse.

If he is contributing more than you towards household things and you are spending a lot of time doing horse stuff then after a while he may get fed up.

I would not be getting a horse if you can't afford to pay for it without your boyfriend subsidising the mortgage.
 
I got myself into a horrid amount of debt being student, having a nice car, a house and two horses. One day I got up and thought this cant go on, so house sold, horses out on loan, car gone.

My lovely horse is back at christmas time and I will be waiting for him with transport and everything paid off with money in the bank. Its been rubbish but totally worth it. I have a fair salary and I have started to think about costs for next year very seriously, I will never have a bloody credit card again!
 
Crikey. Keeping my horse for a month costs more than you'll be bringing home in salary for a month. Not too sure how you'll manage! Though I have been particularly unlucky with vets' bills - £5k+ in 12 months isn't the sort of thing you tend to budget for when the horse is insured, but please please make sure you have plenty of "contingency" money aside, in case of disaster. Accidents happen and a simple vets bill with call-out is £80. That can escalate rapidly.

Do yourself a budget. I had to do my purchases piecemeal - first a car, then a house, then a couple of years later, a horse. Everything budgeted for to the extreme. But it has worked out smoothly so far, touch wood!

Good luck, but don't be in a rush to achieve everything all at once. Do it step by step and then you've always got something to look forward to and you can enjoy it rather than worrying about where your next meal is coming from. Believe me, money worries can ruin your enjoyment totally.
 
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