Pay Off Your Mortgage In Two Years Blog Discussion

groatie_queen

Well, we in Scotland saw Sean and Anne-marie's episode last night.

Of all the episodes we've seen, the people I've warmed to most have been Sean and Anne-Marie, and the young family from Cornwall. Why? Because their path to being mortgage-free was based on hard graft in the midst of family life, not on investing money in property and waiting for the market to rise.

It's easy for outsiders to criticise someone else's efforts, but I have nothing but admiration for the way in which they were initially honest about their then situation, then applied themselves to changing their behaviour, dealing with the debt and then saving - this can take people quite a few years, to change from debt-free wannabees to being self-employed and entrepreneurial.

And to do all this during a time of personal tragedy for them BOTH, whilst also parenting their other children - not surprising if there was the occasional lapse in concentration! None of which were monumental, and as for the need for time to set up seminars demonstrated in the first programme last year - that's a lesson we all only need to learn once, and is part of the whole learning process.

But I take my hat off to you both, you learned loads, changed the way you thought about money and put it into practice. Dealt with a lot of personal tragedy under the eye of the camera, but kept the balance of having a family life whilst also working hard.

Anne-Marie, you're NOT being selfish by putting your own needs first - your recovery depends on you being as kind to yourself as you need to be, and listening to your own internal wisdom. The old aviation adage of using the oxygen mask yourself before you can help the children or anyone else comes to mind! Hugs for continuing progress on the healing front xxx.

Enjoy your holiday to Florida when it comes, and I send you both warmest wishes for your continuing success. You've shown it's possible to make huge financial inroads whilst still having a life, which after all is what MSE Martin's philosophy is.

Best wishes
Groatie Queen

caseya

Lotta_Littlies wrote:

Whether it was editing or not (and I'm sure Jamie would have had no say in what the BBC put in or took out of the programme) the fact remains that you would ensure you were organised and ready. Scripts would be with you and ready for you to use and not scattered around in different places.

This incident also reminded me of the first year when Sean held a seminar only to turn up five minutes before it began and then couldn't get the computer set up and working leaving the participants waiting for a good couple of hours or so iirc. Again a great opportunity completely wasted.

I don't disagree that you did pay off a great amount in the two years and that really is fantastic but I still feel that Sean wasted many opportunities and didn't make the most of the chances he was given.

Lotta

Ok this is my last say on the matter. It's funny you mention the seminar and the fact that he turned up 'only five minutes before' and left them waiting 'a good couple of hours'. This bit of filming made us mad when we saw it and the director got a piece of our mind because of it.

So to set the record straight - AGAIN - Sean turned up over an hour early, however because of FILMING had to do stupid shots 100 times of him walking into the hotel, walking into the room, setting up his the chairs etc etc (and most of it was left on the cutting room floor like I said before). So it was the BBC that delayed him, not himself! Secondly, the candidates were not left waiting a couple of hours, it was in fact 10 mnintes, but the angle that the camera took the shot of clock from made it look like it was 10.45, in fact it was 9.40am. The seminar was due to start at 9.30am.

Yes, you could argue he was still late, and yes is is not perfectly organised, but PLEASE PLEASE take at least some of it with a pinch of salt, it is TV after all.

comping_cat

caseya wrote:

Not to drag on with this but I feel I have to make a point here, clever editing made Sean look foolish. The fact was, he did have his paperwork, but he had left one of the 3 scripts it in the car just outside, but this wasn't a problem as he had a back up on his laptop he had with him. Jamie did that on TV to make himself look good.

I think the point about clever editing is key here - remember, we only saw what was broadcast, and everyone has made their opinions based on what we have seen - the viewing public cannot be expected to know what we havnt seen!!!
Im sure you will both agree that what we saw, did make Sean look lazy, but you know different, and even though you didnt pay your mortgage off, im sure you learned a lot from the programme, you deserve a year off (and a wonderful holiday, ive been to Florida, and it is well worth it) and now you are also armed with all you learnt from the programme, so might (if you choose to) be able to pay your mortgage off a lot quicker in the future.

Kaz2904

I think the testament to how lazy or selfish Sean and Anne-Marie were is in the fact that they managed to pay off THIRTY TWO THOUSAND POUNDS IN TWO YEARS!!!!!!!!!Anyone unmotivated, selfish or lazy couldn't have done this. I never thought Sean did look lazy but I have two small kids too and am working all hours god sends so am continually forgetting things. I think myself lucky if at tea time I am sitting down with both children having not forgotten to collect or deliver one or the other elsewhere. Now I need to work on getting their names right! Funny thing that isn't it- as parents we spend ages choosing the correct name for each child and then can't get it right 4 times out of 5 and we chose the darn name!
Anyhoo I digress 32K hats off to ya!

amyface

I applaud Anne Marie for coming on here and explaining herself as well as giving us all a wonderful update. Enjoy the fruits of the new paths which life take you. And Catowen - well said, and spot on.

Please people, take things you see on television with a pinch of salt and a side salad of cyniscism. Oh and a splash of Reggae Reggae Sauce.

amyface

PS - Anyone know why Jasmine Birtles didnt get the gig in the end?

(Just nosey; not wanting to kick off a pro v anti Rene debate!)

temba

I watched your program on Thursday, and I just wanted to say thank you, for being brave enough to face us cynical lot after it was on! It is also really good to hear your responses to the program. I think you have reminded me and plenty of others on here that you are normal people who use this site, and just happened to be on TV. I think TV raises everyone's expectations. Editing is a very clever thing, and can be used to direct people's line of thinking very precisely.

Well done to the Caseys for paying off so much, and good luck for the future.

aussielle

groatie_queen wrote:

Well, we in Scotland saw Sean and Anne-marie's episode last night.

Of all the episodes we've seen, the people I've warmed to most have been Sean and Anne-Marie, and the young family from Cornwall. Why? Because their path to being mortgage-free was based on hard graft in the midst of family life, not on investing money in property and waiting for the market to rise.

It's easy for outsiders to criticise someone else's efforts, but I have nothing but admiration for the way in which they were initially honest about their then situation, then applied themselves to changing their behaviour, dealing with the debt and then saving - this can take people quite a few years, to change from debt-free wannabees to being self-employed and entrepreneurial.

And to do all this during a time of personal tragedy for them BOTH, whilst also parenting their other children - not surprising if there was the occasional lapse in concentration! None of which were monumental, and as for the need for time to set up seminars demonstrated in the first programme last year - that's a lesson we all only need to learn once, and is part of the whole learning process.

But I take my hat off to you both, you learned loads, changed the way you thought about money and put it into practice. Dealt with a lot of personal tragedy under the eye of the camera, but kept the balance of having a family life whilst also working hard.

Anne-Marie, you're NOT being selfish by putting your own needs first - your recovery depends on you being as kind to yourself as you need to be, and listening to your own internal wisdom. The old aviation adage of using the oxygen mask yourself before you can help the children or anyone else comes to mind! Hugs for continuing progress on the healing front xxx.

Enjoy your holiday to Florida when it comes, and I send you both warmest wishes for your continuing success. You've shown it's possible to make huge financial inroads whilst still having a life, which after all is what MSE Martin's philosophy is.

Best wishes
Groatie Queen

What an excellent post!

andrew_lloyd

The phrase clever editing keeps cropping up. I have come to realise that producing a programme is like any art form, and producers seem to have their own style. It is interesting that from the outset, Dan and Lucy were "that lovely family from Cornwell" and rightly so. Equally I believe that Heather & Chloe also came across in the same light. The two families had the same producer. Now as a contributor to the series myself, when I saw my episode last year (the chocolate shop guy and Cliff tribute selling his beautiful home for a run down place) I was gutted. I couldn't say that it wasn't an honest depiction of my life that year, however I would it was the balance of good and bad times that I wasn't thrilled with. Sean and Anne Marie and my family had the same producer. Now I am definately not knocking him because he is very professional and competent producer, but I am saying he has his own style. When I read the comments about Sean and I see that he replies, I know where he is coming from. TV keeps it simple. The truth is that what the 8 families were trying to do wasn't. Incidentally whilst we are talking about how a programme is put together, like the presenter of this programme, Jeannie and I also replaced a family that were dropped. Renes first day of filming was also ours. That was in May 05 and by Aug 06 we had done albeit with a small catch up piece in November. Lets see how we look on Feb 22. If any of you do decide to comment, try to be nice! Andy

Lotta_Littlies

The problem is we are only able to base our opinions on what we've been shown and this has to be taken into account too.

If I say something that could be taken as me not being nice such as my comments on failing to grab the opportunities they were given for example, I would hope I could be forgiven if the fact of the matter is entirely incorrect and different as the only way I've come to that opinion is from what I've seen. I have stated a few times that I do not mean to offend or upset anyone at all. Please remember Sean's earlier post asking for our comments and it has to be accepted that not every comment is going to be something positive. You can't just pick and choose what you'd like to read when you've asked for opinions on your programme but you must remember it's not a personal attack at all as we don't know the full story.

It's great that Anne Marie and Sean and yourself are here to set the record straight but personally I can only comment on what I've seen and not on something that's happened behind the scenes that I've no knowledge of happening at all. Without people like you and the Casey-Pooles posting on the forum telling us about any discrepencies or setting us straight on things we wouldn't otherwise know about we'd be none the wiser as viewers.

Lotta