Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

ammonite

This is an interesting debate about spend it now or pay off the mortgage. I want to pay off the mortgage so we have more spare cash BUT by the time I've paid off the mortgage (on my MFW plan), my kids will be 10 years old and younger. So in the next 10 years I don't want to have to scrimp and save and miss out on the fun of them being kids, I want to be able to take them to nice places and go abroad with them. If that means it will take slightly longer to pay off the mortgage then so be it.

Similarly we have just opted to do some work to our house. That money could have knocked a year or more off the mortgage but for the long term benefits we will get from it, it is definitely worth paying for it now and tagging the 'extra' mortgage year onto the end.

I think my "scenic route" works well for our family so far, yes we could probably pay it off in about 5 years but I'm not willing to sacrifice treats, holidays and fun for 5 years just to pay off the mortgage. I don't know whats round the corner, I might not even be here in five years time.

My approach is save 90% of the time, splurge 10% of the time and it works well for us, I appreciate not everyone thinks like that. My friend did the five year sacrifice and has no mortgage at a very young age which is amazing but that isn't what I want to do.

I've rambled quite a bit there sorry!

newgirly

Hi, thanks for popping in ammonite, I have been thinking about this a lot the last few days (oping the mortgage is always on my mind ) I made the choice to shorten the term from over 30 years to 12 a couple of years ago.

To clear it in the term remaining, we basically have to live frugally with a couple of treats (like weekends away) built in a year. My kids are 12,12 and 15 though and we would like to move at some point in the future, as we only have 2 bedrooms and a tiny boxroom.

I feel very reluctant to extend the term back up, and daft as it sounds change my signature the wrong way, but in hindsight I should have left the term a bit longer. Yesterday I worked out that I have to make an op of about £1200 to knock just one month off which makes it feel like a bit of a long slog.

I like your idea of save 90% spend 10%, I will have to work out what that would mean for us, and we are still on IO which will have to be changed back quite soon as we have a ceiling on op's.

Our deal is up in may 2014, so I guess one idea might be to op a lot until then and then see if we can get a mortgage to move somewhere slightly bigger, by then though dd will be 17, I just feel such a failure sometimes that we got ourselves in the mess as we should have a tiny mortgage now if we had not kept borrowing.:(

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi NewGirly, I am just putting GGs hat on here, she has been a great help to me. Don't beat yourself up about the past, it's done, finished and can't be changed. Just focus on the here and now and the future.

The kids can learn such a lot from how we lead our lives and being frugal is a good thing for them to learn in my opinion. Yesterday DD asked me whether I would let her know about bargainous shopping when she leaves home :T. She has learnt so much during this last year and it really is great to see her thinking about how she can take the lessons and apply them to her own life.

These are gifts we are all giving our kids

Best wishes Tilly x

newgirly

Hi Tilly, thanks for that I think I'm just a bit fed up as its been a tough few months with dh's stress etc.

Sometimes I do feel like we are living in such a consumerist society, we are lucky that our kids are not having a spoilt upbringing, and we have changed from spending on toys etc. to days out which is better for them in the log run. However the rest of their friends are not a little more spoilt but a LOT! some mums I know have 5 yr olds with ipads :eek:

I want to get the balance right, and it must be going ok really as for xmas they have all asked for small stuff, no electronics, and ipads like their friends.

You are right, it is pointless to look back, and we are luckier than many for actually having that lightbulb moment and starting to do something about it.

LauraJo

Its something that is probably relevant to a few of us on here, and I have to say not something which factors in any of our plans, I was just a bit surprised that others are so unworried about owing loads of money.

I know what you mean.... we have friends in that boat. We unfortunately will never be in that boat (unless parents win the lottery!) so I think thats why I worry so much about it! Besides its a nice acheviement to pay it yourself!

newgirly

Hi laurajo, debt is just the norm nowadays I think - its just so easy to get hold of money and so many people live in the moment, its hard to try and teach the kids its nice sometimes to wait for something. They get fed up of my lectures about money though, I even printed dd off martins teenage cash guide, which i doubt she read. I just worry that they will be stupid with money like us, my parents are the opposite of frugal and so I never really worried about money when I should have.:o

Many of the reasons we got in so much debt stem from how we started out, we met at 19 and 22 and bought a brand new flat 4 months later with no savings and no deposit oh and no furniture!

So we bought carpets/beds etc. on finance whilst we were both in low paid jobs. My Dad very generously bought me a brand new car with money he had been left, however as he worked at the car company he got a discount on new cars and it had always been the done thing to upgrade a new car every 9 months, which is what we continued to do.Sometimes we exchanged the older car for a new one for the same cost , some years we had to pay thousands to re-new it. Bonkers when you look back.:o

We then with no savings sold the flat and bought a cottage that needed work, the value went up but we re-mortgaged a few times and spent the money.

We then finally bought the house we are in now as it was literally the cheapest house in the whole town:rotfl: No savings yet again and this time so in debt we had to borrow to pay the mortgage for the first whole year which is when things really started to ramp up debt wise :eek:

We hung on and continued to re-mortgage every time we could , spending on cars (1 galaxy and 2x sports cars at one time , plus ahem 2x hot tubs :o)

Then after lots of sleepless nights and pay cuts and panic, I stumbled across mse :beer::money: which as you can imagine has changed our whole lives.

We got down from 3 cars to one, and stopped the daily drip of overspending, takeaways, too many clothes and toys for the kids etc.

Steadily it has got better, but we now have a mortgage double the size we should have in a house we had only bought to get dd in a good school as it was all we could afford, we are still here 11 years later, but we will get there in the end!

Blimey, just realised how long and rambly that post was- sorry

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi NewGirly, I think there are many of us with similar stories. All behind us and we can look forwards. Hopefully all our kids have learnt. I hear my son talking about his friends iPhones, iPads etc, but he will not be getting anything like that. The need to work hard, spend wisely has sunk in.

Thanks for sharing your story, it's been a big help to me today

Tilly x x

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

I think I'm living proof that upbringing learning not to covert 'the in' gadgets, not to throw money away when you can get it cheaper with a bit more effort and to live within my means serves you in good stead. If kids are showing signs of sharing your ideals that you've broken the cycle, made a real difference for all of your futures and should be proud of the changes you've made and kept in place.

Chin up and keep at it!

newgirly

Thanks mortage reduction novice , Tilly I hope you are ok

Yesterday I went shopping and spent money I don't have £63. I went to primarni and bought me dd and ds2 their lovely squidgey pj's and dd a couple of cardis and dressing gown for xmas.:o

I think I am going to have to re-think the holding this months op in the current acct, so I never go od. I just don't have the will power not to spend it at the moment. I had a look and I'm getting charged £1.50 in interest a month, which I can live with.

So I'm going to take out what I've spent and op the rest

I felt so bad when I got home I did some of batch cooking:

• 3x chicken casserole
• 4x low cal aubergine pasta for me

I need to do this more often as I cook various meals at night as the kids are a nightmare, so I tend to cook on the night for them and its easier for us to have ready home meals as I am veggie and dh likes meat.

Gr33ng1ng3r

I find reading your stories really helpful although I "lurk". However, I felt I had to respond to the topic of children and spending. Don't be discouraged by your children's reaction to taking care of money and money advice for teenagers. For years I felt I was talking to a brick wall and then one day I overheard DD2, now at university, explaining to her boyfriend how to budget. A proud parental moment! She is now queen of charity shop bargain spotting, saves her Tesco points for train fares and Boots points for Christmas presents. She has no overdraft and is money savvy. Don't get me wrong, there is more she could do but she is getting there. Clearly some things get through!

I would also have a look at a Mother's Union report and publication on managing the commercialisation of Christmas. You don't have to subscribe to the Christian message to be horrified by the statistics on debt parents get themselves into at Christmas or to appreciate the advice on talking to and teaching children about sensible spending. (Sorry - not surehow to post the link.)