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Mortgage free vs lifestyle for kids???
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md_14uk wrote:Do it! You won't miss £20 a month and it'll make a bigger difference than you might think! It could drop as much as 9 months off you're mortgage term and (depending on your interest rate, and if I've calculated it correctly!). It all adds up and I reckon this is a good start... :rotfl:
Good Luck :T
Edit: Just saw you're last post, which I'd read all the way to the end, how daft do I look now!!!! :embarasse
Hi md_14uk! You don't look daft...thanks for your encouragement...I'm always jumping about the threads and then missing the crux of the matter! Hopefully might be able to jump up another £25.00 per month soon ..there is always something you can cut back on...our food bill isn't the best compared to a lot of the guys on the DFW board. We are at £300.00 per month for four of us - which I know isn't brilliant, but better than the £450.00 we were paying - I do miss the strawberries, blueberries and raspberries every week though! And living with a chef, it isn't easy to cut back on the good food!0 -
looneyleo wrote:Hi md_14uk! You don't look daft...thanks for your encouragement...I'm always jumping about the threads and then missing the crux of the matter! Hopefully might be able to jump up another £25.00 per month soon ..there is always something you can cut back on...our food bill isn't the best compared to a lot of the guys on the DFW board. We are at £300.00 per month for four of us - which I know isn't brilliant, but better than the £450.00 we were paying - I do miss the strawberries, blueberries and raspberries every week though! And living with a chef, it isn't easy to cut back on the good food!
I would look on the OS board, loads of excellent recipes and ideas on how to cut back on your shopping bills!!!!0 -
I Know...I know!
Have looked at all the tips...and as I've said, I think I've done well to shave off £150.00 per month...it's just getting it below the £300.00 mark that we're struggling with...MUST TRY HARDER! We don't waste food though like we used to. i get extremely mad with myself if I have to throw food away...0 -
looneyleo wrote:Well, I thought I might as well ask you all for an opinion on my endowment.
My OH took it out whilst in the navy advised by finance officer of the NAAFI. He didn't actually have a house at the time but was advised to have one to start the saving going. (October 1994).
When we bought our first house in 1996 we had a classic interest only mortgage and used the endowment with it to cover a £40,000 mortgage. When all the hysteria went off about endowments, we changed provider and went for a repayment mortgage...but was advised by an IFA to keep the endowment going as a savings plan... We still have a repayment mortgage for £150,000 but said we would pay the £40,000 off the mortgage when the endowment matures in 2019 - or whatever amount it makes in the end
Well 10 years further down the line...the £69.40 is still being paid per month. On Friday I sent the standard complaints letter from the Endowmentaction site to see if we can get any compensation for mis-selling (if successful it will go on the mortage) - I couldn't stand Martin's nagging any longer!
But do you think I should continue with this policy or pay the £70.00 off the mortgage directly per month? NB the policy was with Scottish Amicable - now Prudential. If I do get rid of the policy...how do I do this? If the policies are so bad...why do other companies by them??? Interested in your views...
Can anyone advise me with this please???0 -
GO!!! and do it as cheaply as possibly.
Time never comes back again...once spent you can never retrieve it
I'm all for spending money on life experiences rather than items.
I'd much prefer to be sitting in my rocking chair at 90 (hopefully anyway lol) in a one bed roomed flat thinking about all the things that I've experienced over the years than sit in a fancy house with antiques and a flash car on the drive.. Obviously it is all a matter of an opinion and everyone has to decide themselves which they would want.
I have lost two close friends over the last 10 years (one was 30 years old and the other 42 and left 8 children between them). You never know what life is going to spring on you...so enjoy it nowMy attitudes have certainly changed dramatically since losing them both.
I have four children and we have never brought them alot...second hand bikes, no gifts or toys expect birthdays and xmas, charity clothes etc.. I have been fortunate to have managed to be a SAHM for the last 19 years and doing all sorts of part time work in the evenings to make up some money, so I can spend time with them.
We have used the money we have had on "experiences"........holidays/day trips etc. (cheap camping on basic sites...having the simple pleasures of crab fishing, kite flying, rounders, painting pebbles, story time around a camp fire etc. etc.....up to bathing elephants in a river, visiting historical sites throughout the world, swimming with dolphins, releasing turtles in the sea in the middle of the night, walking through a waterfall, making friends in different cultures all over the world, etc. )
In my lounge the three piece suite is 20 years old, the carpet 18 years old, curtains 15 years old...but its clean and comfortable. I'd love to change it all obviously but would much prefer to be able to spend the money on something that we will remember.
Like the saying..............."Life is not a rehersal".........so do it now!0 -
How is your endowment performing? Are there penalties for redeeming it? How long was it for originally? I think you can make endowments 'paid up' and not pay anymore in to them and then just leave them to run their term. Also I have heard of a trade in 2nd hand endowments, but I believe it depends on the type of endowment.MFIT No. 810
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Decadent_Fool wrote:Sorry I'm a bit late to this thread, but just wanted to say that we (me, g/f + 2 kids 13 and 6) had a great weekend in Worthing this year, in addition to South Africa last year.
Both rocked, and made me remember about quality time can come very cheaply...hence my sig
Good luck !
Great time in Worthing - presumably you mean the one in Norfolk not the horrible place on the South Coast! Worthing - rocked??????:rotfl:0 -
Redbedhead wrote:How is your endowment performing? Are there penalties for redeeming it? How long was it for originally? I think you can make endowments 'paid up' and not pay anymore in to them and then just leave them to run their term. Also I have heard of a trade in 2nd hand endowments, but I believe it depends on the type of endowment.
hi Redbedhead, the honest answer is I don't know! I will look into it tonight and get back to you. The honest truth is I'm not very good at reading the statements so really have no idea right now. not very MSE I know!
Thanks0
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