Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

ajmoney

newgirly wrote: »

Re do finances AGAIN- using cash has been surprisingly a lot more messy than expected, I have borrowed from my grocery purse for my main purse and vice versa, it's been harder to keep track of what I have spent, so I may go back to using the cc for the bulk of purchases and just having a bit of cash for the odd things.

I wanted to start using cash this year but it is not always practical. Instead I have set up a notes page on my phone of what I am spending and a running total of what I have left to spend for each category. I have found it much easier and I can see exactly where all the money is going as I am being very honest for the first time ever!

Muser1

How bad was the boxing NG??! I'm 5'2 and think I would have put more of a fight up! ha.

newgirly

dizzyblnd wrote: »

Where r u based new girly? U sound close to me. That seems a lot for a maths tutor. How old is ur son?

Hi East london/essex , I do have friends that are paying £25 ph but dd had the same tutor and she got her grades up very quickly and is liaising with his teachers etc. so I think she is well worth the extra!

Hi aj, hope you are well :)at least if you lose track on the credit card you can check the statement I guess.

Muser, we started a conversation about the huge cost of tickets at the O2 and the fight was over before we finished it :rotfl:, I agree , most of us could have done better!

AlexLK

newgirly wrote: »

Oh dear no alex! My dad is a workaholic who built up his business by working around a full time job at a large company in an unrelated industry, starting at 4 am , popping in to check on his staff at lunchtime then going in after work and weekends. When he retired he went full time at his own place, I don't think he has any intention of winding down ever to be honest, let alone handing anything over to me or my brother (both of whom are pretty clueless)

Dd is clearly not a party animal, they left the house at 11.30pm (a done thing apparently nowadays) and were home by 1.07pm I have yet to find out why, however they must be awake as dh woke the cat when he left for work and she howls like a banshee until food is in front of her.

Love chesvegas, we have bas Vegas fairly near to us , it even has its own Hollywood style sign as you drive through in white on a mound of grass :rotfl:

Sunday plans:

College applications for the boys- a total nightmare, we got no further on visiting yesterday either.

Cook a roast (m & s meal deal chicken)

Finish little bit of ironing left

Visit great aunt at mums - she has a tough life as a full time carer for my great uncle who is older and unwell, it's her birthday so need to pop out and buy flowers and make or buy a cake

Re do finances AGAIN- using cash has been surprisingly a lot more messy than expected, I have borrowed from my grocery purse for my main purse and vice versa, it's been harder to keep track of what I have spent, so I may go back to using the cc for the bulk of purchases and just having a bit of cash for the odd things.

Maths tutor has text to say she can fit ds1 in weekly already, so that £40pw now.its great but :eek:

Watch a film with dh this afternoon, he is working a lot and spends most of his down time at the cinema or watching films at home, so I guess I will join him today, even though is film taste is decidedly dodgy sometimes ie. "The fast and the furious parts one to 100"

Your father will wind down at some point, NG. I never thought either of my parents would give up working. Now they are retired and slowly handing over responsibility to me. I'm sure you and your brother are more capable than you think. Seriously, don't let your parents' / father's hard work go to the tax man.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Re. your daughter ... having lenient parents and living close to the big city are clearly lost on her. At that age I'd have given anything to have had that. Mind, there were some very dirty girls in "Ches" ... :eek: :rotfl: ... dread to think now, to be honest.

I think you're over complicating using cash. We withdraw £xxx from the bank each but it can be used for any purchase. Actually started using the debit card again this month and not gone too crazy, yet.

newgirly

I guess dd is an early mse'er , as I remember spending a fortune on drinking/smoking/cabs when I was teenager :eek: thank goodness she is not like me :rotfl:

I have to seperate petrol/food etc. or else I would definatly run out! Will be going back to cc as of 1st feb and drawing out £100 cash pm for odds and ends. That will also give 2x months where I don't allocate cash for the month to spend on living, so I am putting by £880 for ds1's maths tutor until June, keeping enough back for a new mattress and maybe bed for dd and very cheap carpet (I am not stingy but she is insisting on carpet, when she really needs heavy duty tarpaulin as a floor covering due to the mascara etc. that ends up on it!) new blinds from bq and a second hand pine dressing table we are going to up cycle as a desk.

Perhaps £400 budget the lot which is tight, but her furniture is all good and she wants white walls. I was considering stripping it all an going for new skirtings/plugs/plastering but I can't face the mess or expense at the moment, maybe we will do the whole house when the mortgage is gone.

Then if we are really careful we can op quite a bit more, at least for the next few months. The only large expense on the horizon is dds travel to uni if she goes in sept. But apparently Boris is trying to make travel for uni students free in London , I hope so

AlexLK

Sounds like you're very lucky with your daughter. Are your sons doing their GCSEs this year?

All sounds good on the OP front, too and fair enough regarding the cash. If you've tried it and it's not for you, at least you've given it a go. Personally, I know I can't be trusted with credit cards and don't think I'll ever have another, even if I do see the benefits when used correctly.

Interesting re. Boris. What course is it your daughter wants to do and at which uni?

newgirly

It's a theatre management course at a central London uni , yes the boys are doing their GCSEs and we have done the college online applications tonight which was like pulling teeth :rotfl:

All sorted now, and their predicted grade sheet seems a lot more favourable than the the mock results which is positive.

If boris does give her free travel I will take back everything I said about him

To be honest i was better in the past with cash when the kids were little, but now I'm not for sure! We must have had a lot less money, I seem to remember drawing out £70 pw for food , petrol everything else etc. I have no idea how we managed. Oh yes I do, we got into debt

newgirly

Oops, just booked a cruise

No excuses, it was a spur of the moment good deal. 5 nights just dh and I

It won't impact the mortgage payments required to finish in term but will impact the over the over payment for a couple of months worse case scenario.

I have been watching prices of mini cruises since almost a year ago, so although its a bit sudden it's not completely out of the blue, or at least that's my excuse!

Need to lose weight now or will have to buy new clothes

getmore4less

I drop in every now and then to see how things are going.

on the pension front, I think the best bet is make the business work.
you also probably should be migrating as much debt back into the businees and ring fenced away from your personal finances.

Allthough the goal is to be on target to pay the mortgage off on term, there will probably be a chance to restructure once the amount is lower which may open up other options to make the retirement plans clearer even if not it won't be long before it is out the way and that will free up loads of cash to sort out the other things.

If stuck on state pensions thats £1kpm with credits plenty manage on that so not sure where that £1.8k HL came up with, but you will have quite a large asset base to do better from just at the moment the mortgage needs to me the main focus, that will change.

Make the business work then you will also want to start looking at succession planning to make that tax efficient. If parents have dosh then some IHT/succession planning is going to be essential.

As for the kids focus on getting them educated to make their own way, plenty of places with good jobs and lower costs, when they get a bit older might be a good idea to introduce them to finance and business, critical skills going forward whatever they end up doing.

Surprised you found a cruise I have been on the lookout and nothing has been hitting my "good value" test since Oct last year when Fred olsen had a relocation trip to the Canaries.

Moneyfordreams

Sounds like you and your hubby deserve a nice holiday. You need some down time when everything is directed at finances. ��