Intrigued - how much do you feel you're giving up

Tesco_points_addict

I like many others on here don't actually feel like I/we are missing out on anything.

I do all our insurances etc. through cash back sites and have saved £100's doing this over the last two years.

A lot of things (well most things!) we used to buy we didn't actual need...we just wanted and why???? For the high you get when buying something?? I get that feeling now when I realise how much we have saved.

I ensure that all our money is saved in the best possible places for interest. The interest earned is far more than the 1.09% our mortgage currently costs us. We work hard for the money so make it work hard in return.

Hubby changed his car last year..because it needed to be changed not because he just fancied a new car. The old one was 10+ years old and was playing up, the garage quoted us £1,800 to repair it..more than it was worth. The mechanic actually advised us to get rid. Hubby bought a 6 month old vehicle that cost less than half of the retail price new.

We don't have any children and earn fairly good wages, however friends say to us 'you're so lucky with money'...erm..no, we are careful with it. Just because you earn x doesn't mean you have to spend that x every month!

In fact none of our friends/family know about or MFW quest. They would propably just think we were mad (well we are a little;)).

I do mystery shopping which enables us to have free meals out at least once a week if not twice:D

I have also just gone back to ebaying. On mans/womans junk is anothers treasure:rotfl:.

When we first started I did find it difficult to motivate my husband completely although once he made the spread sheet up of our savings he was hooked.

I will be so proud when we finally make it, we didn't buy our first house until I was 30 so we are pretty late starters really!

and breathhhhhhhhhhhheeeeee

TPAx

TheMoneySpider

splatt30 wrote: »

So my question is....What are you missing out on to overpay so much?
Is it holidays, meals out, clothes etc etc. And do you think it's worth it? Do you feel your missing out?

Not really, perhaps I don't bother with things like a huge plasma telly or a new mobile phone every 3 months. If I wasn't over-paying I think I'd just spend it on transient things like gadgets or eating out every night.

setmefree2

If we "really" want something we tend to buy it. We try to never let the kids miss out on anything (they have music lessons, sport coaching, school trips, plenty of clothes, computers, i pods, etc) but we are quite frugal with ourselves ( we are so busy making money we don't have much time anyway LOL.) We have had lots of nice holidays abroad with the kids but most of the flights have been free;) with BAmiles and we've perfected the art of spending as little as possible whilst staying in posh hotels.

We have missed out on the "flash" lifestyle our peers have had over the last decade. We don't have a flash car but a much loved family x reg scenic. We have a nice house in a nice area with good state schools but our house is not flash. We have definitely missed out on being swanky:cool: We don't own a plasma TV. It's probably fun to be swanky but hey ho you can't have it all...

What have we got for our troubles? Peace of mind. The SMF2s sleep well at night. I can't wait to be MF:D

splatt30

"we've perfected the art of spending as little as possible whilst staying in posh hotels."

setmefree2
Do expand!!!!!
We used to be quite happy with fairly basic hotels, but since a luxury honeymoon and a 5 star 5 days in Malaysia (flights paid for by Dad's company while he was working out there) our expectations have grown.

So how do you spend little and have nice hotels?

homeaway

We stayed in a fab hotel but we found a local supermarket and bought water and snacks for the kids to eat during the day while we were out on the beach/sightseeing. In the evening we would try and eat out and find lots of cheap places to eat well, but i suppose we could have had a picnic in the room to save even more. Breakfast was included in the price so we made sure that everybody ate enough. Hotels make a lot of money on their drinks. I do know that some people take portable kettles and make pot noodles in the bedroom but that is not for me... I am sure others have some great ideas.

co123456

Top thread.

A by product of not frittering away cash left right and centre which I find rewarding is the challenge to find new things to do with time that doesn't cost a great deal.

So - you leave the expensive stuff to one side whilst MF'ing - but you learn to appreciate other ways to fill your time.

d-seven

I manage it by staying single and not having any kids!!
Also I only buy what I need, I dont go out drinking regularly any more, shop and cook cheaply and only buy clothes when i need to.
I've always lived below my means and had a respect for money. I dont feel like I'm missing out on anything, as the thought of paying the mortgage of is quite liberating.

SparkleBlack

Reading previous posts, I think I'm in a minority by feeling a bit like I have given things up. Before getting a mortgage, I lived with my parents and even though I was saving loads, I still had the freedom to splash out if I wanted to. Not that I ever really did, but I _could_ if I wanted to!

So I guess that's what I feel I'm missing out on - the freedom to spend if I want to. Seeing as I very rarely did splurge, it seems like a silly thing to be missing! Maybe it's because I'm only 18 months into my MF journey. I've had the "I can save _how_ much by overpaying" high and now I'm right at the beginning of a long road, so I'm yearning for what I could do previously. Anyone else felt like this or am I a minority of 1 on this thread?!

SB

StuartGMC

SB
Perhaps I can strike a bit of a balance here. We were prevented from buying due to the economy of the late 80s and unable to get jobs less than 90miles apart. So getting a mortgage (at 29 in 1994) meant we then took chance to have weekday nights out etc, but we overpaid from the start but it dropped down when OH went part-time with DD born. I think it was the impact of having a child which did more to affect our way of life than OP.

That said, I guess we could have repaid faster so instead of the expected 10yr saving on the mortgage if we are MF this October, maybe we could have saved 15yrs.... however, see my thread on why we have still treated ourselves along the way when you consider what life can throw at you. As SMF2 says, with children I think it is important to get them exposed to the world, different cultures etc from an early stage for their growth and development.

So I'd recommend you sit down and list the things which you think are causing this feeling of "missing" out, jot them down over say three months then look back at them overall. Then you can decide if some are important to your well-being and include in your budget. In our case, we try always to have a foreign holiday each year, and I have an S-Type Jag; not MSE but important to my well-being and having a "nice" car alongside the 4-bed house was a vision I had at 16yrs old when thinking what would I get from education and a career.

This is a very long journey and you must have a life and enjoyment along the way, in combination with sensible approaches to pension, savings, mortgage, career and enjoyment (which need not be expensive).

uzubairu

Since becoming a MFW, I have scrutinised a lot of our spending and have found ways to make the money go further.

We don't have any kids, so that does save us some money.

I use cashback sites (Quidco - £1200 in 2 years), use loyalty schemes (3 free holidays in 3 years with Tesco Clubcard points), 2-for-1 vouchers when eating out etc, and have changed utilities suppliers and the way we use gas and electricity and that has released a lot of income that has gone into paying the mortgage.

For our sins (AV enthusiasts) we do have 3 TVs in the house (one being an 80" front projection system) and a stunning audio visual set-up in the lounge (and Sky+ HD), but some of the equipment has been acquired very cheaply (2005-2007), some of it bought 2nd hand from careful owners.
We have all the creature comforts we want and have no urge to upgrade or change to the latest bit of technology.
So we can enjoy ourselves at home more often, as it is just the way we like it.

Once a month some of my girlfriends stay overnight (hubby banished) and we have a great, cheap night in.

When we had our first mortgage on our first home we were earning less and although we weren't frivilous with our spending we didn't spend wisely and we bought stuff which often held our interest for a limited time. We didn't look for the best price and just paid ticket prices, ate out often and didn't really think too much about it.

When we moved to a new house and our mortgage tripled, we knew we had to have more discipline and structure, BUT we were not prepared to go without treats or a holiday. Balance is the key.

I think we have become more creative in acquiring treats cheaply, so even though more effort is required the results are worth it.
Payrises have gone into the mortgage and not on junk.
The junk and impulse buys that came from our old house filled the garage of our new home have generated nearly £2000 on eBay over the last 6 months :beer:.

Treat yourself now and again, because the journey to becoming mortgage free as a MFW is shorter than the average, but unless you win the lottery or get an inheritance you're probably looking at 5-15 years.
That length of time living a very basic life with no treats would be a nightmare for us.