Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

Hi mfd’s, your two are lucky you have given them so much help,it’s hard not to sometimes isn’t it

I do want to help them with the driving lessons, but we won’t be buying them each a car, I think a twelve year old ka between them is plently

Saving for or renovations is harder as so much needs doing and is very overdue. I guess because we held off on everything over the time since I joined mse (2010) except for the loft room.

So it’s not just decor really, for example the kitchen floor tiles are broken and move, cupboards have had mould in a few of them and cant be used for food etc. stuff that we thought we would do this year after clearing the mortgage. Everything is really in need of doing properly now

It will take years to save enough to do it all properly so I’ve not done anything about it.

Not sure what the answer is really, it seems like we have gone past the point we can not spend on the house and just overpay.


This is life I guess, all the best laid plans etc. :rotfl:

I WILL make a long term decision we are both happy with and then I WILL stick to it.....

themadvix

This may not be a popular thought (sorry ) but perhaps you might need to scale back on the experience-based spending to be able to get the work done.... No one can afford it all, unless they're millionaires!

Do all your (grown-up) children want to learn to drive? I get the impression that where you live it might not actually be that necessary with the public transport links. If you were ferrying them about a lot, it would definitely be worth helping them all out with car and lessons, but perhaps if they're fairly independent on their own, maybe not so much? Could you 'buy the Ka' (I know it's a swap, but you're paying for the beetle) and ask them to contribute by paying you back for it somehow? Or are they paying for the insurance? I don't think you should have to pay for insurance, car and lessons!

daisy_1571

Ng I've been pondering your dilemma and I feel the long and short of it is......like the majority of us you dont have enough money to cover your 'wants'.

Only you can decide this but I feel it's back to the notebook/flipchart/spreadsheet and list EVERYTHING you 'want' to do. Get it all down, with realistic prices. Kitchen break into chunks maybe: floor, cabinets, walls plastering, walls painting. Kids driving lessons: x many per child per cost.

Prioritise what is better for everyone ie you all use kitchen so if public transport, as noted above, is not an issue then maybe that should be higher up the list.

Then start investigating cheaper alts that get you a similar outcome but will do for the next few years ie hire a car with dual control for driving practice (I dont know anyone who can afford to get lessons plus driving practice all thru a driving instructor and it can be cheaper hiring a dual car as the insurance to put a young person on your car insurance can be expensive), offcut of lino rather than retyling kitchen floor, etc etc.

Add that up.

Getting closer? If not then I'm afraid the things at bottom of your list have to wait. Or you can maybe do 2 cheaper things that will give more benefit than 1 dearer thing. Only you know what is better for your family.

Sorry I don't have a magic wand or a spare 50grand to send you. It's also up to you whether you take on more debt to fund some of these things. Just remember the title of your diary. You wanted rid of the mortgage.....so you can start having fun. Maybe you still want that, maybe you dont. It's all about your choices.

Hope that was helpful (in a cold bucket of water sort of way!!!) In other words I dont have the answers, you do but its boringly grown up to face that hence my pondering in case I could come up with something brilliant.

Daisy xx

Ps if I do win April's top premium bond prize I will send you some of it so you can throw your list away and do it all!!! :T:T:rotfl:)

greent

I'm lost as to where you're at nowadays - how much you owe, expiry date, rates etc. Also whether any of the children contribute to the household budget? - or at least cover their own costs, such as travel and mobiles?


Perhaps, echoing madvix, you need to cut back on some of the 'wants' spending, such as holidays/ days out/ Harry Potter stuff/ 'big' presents for your children, eating out, etc and switch it to the more necessary spending (kitchen? - sounds like that's a more practical need from which everyone will benefit) Without wishing to sound rude, you've not missed out much on fun spending - mini breaks, cruises, Harry Potter, eating out (even if cheap it is still more expensive than eating in) etc.. Maybe time to go properly hardcore for a year/ 18 months to make some inroads? (sorry - I don't mean to sound harsh - your diary is truly one of my favourites - it's like chatting with a lovely friend x)

newgirly

Hi Vix, Daisy and greent

Thanks you all for posting, I really apppreciate it even if it is like a bucket of cold water :rotfl::rotfl:

The business needing so much money and messing up our mf plans has thrown me more than I first realised. I am struggling to prioritise and also struggling with the fact that I have no control over the business finances. It’s something which is causing a bit of stress with dh and I currently, the two have always been seperate and now they are properly intertwined with me wanting to put surplus in the home mortgage and dh wanting to build a massive cushion.

As for the kids, ds1 has been told by his boss he needs to drive ASAP as they want to take him on full time but they want him to drive often so it would help a lot. Dd is not so fussed but we offered to pay for lessons for her 17th birthday which was nearly five years ago so she’s not in too mch of a hurry. Ds2 also wants to drive.

I’ve offered to pay for one hour a week each (unlikely Dd at this point) which they don’t expect to be honest, but I just want to help as I was bought a car and had lessons. Living like I currently do (er, out quite a bit ) this is more important than my social life defiantly.

The kitchen however - not sure what to say about that! If I could get a proper idea of cost it would help, but you are right in saying that I need to be prioritising repairs instead of galavanting about so much

Really thinking about it probably home repairs should be coming first over everything including ops, as they will now be way more overdue than first planned.

I’ll spend a bit of time tomorrow looking at everything, I also want to ask dh about taking a regular payment from the monthly surplus we are building up in the old company. Dd is not currently paying rent as she’s at uni and doing work placements, the boys are both paying rent though.

I will update with all expiry dates / rates etc. not sure if I’m brave enough to add income :eek: but am taking on board all advice and tough love, oh and also am willing to accept any premium bond wins :rotfl::rotfl:

Thank you x

CathT

Sounds like another financial review could be well timed. There's only so far you can stretch finances newgirly and hopefully another review will help you prioritise and set some short-medium-long term targets.

newgirly

Indeed thanks cath

gallygirl

Oh great, we all love a new [STRIKE]series of[/STRIKE] plan[STRIKE]s[/STRIKE] from NG :rotfl:.



As others have said, you need to be clear of what your priorities are, but also be realistic. We can all recall previous plans where you allowed tuppence ha'penny for holidays then booked a cruise three days later :rotfl:. You need to list EVERYTHING you can think of and then decide what is high/medium/low priority and then whether it is short, medium or long term. Let's be honest, here's no point coming up with a plan that doesn't include holidays or a decent Christmas budget, is there .

newgirly

:rotfl::rotfl: Haha yes I shan’t do a tuppence ha’penny budget for holiday season and Xmas!

Have managed to get a good quote for the ka in dhs name (no no claim so bonus discount) without the kids on for the moment as it could take them a long time to pass if they take after their mum (ahem 4 tests ) £280 is the best price so far.

Off to clubbercise from the first time in years now, will continue financial planning when I get back.

Hope you are really well GG, great to hear from you xxx

greent

Ah - I was hoping gally would come along

I only put my 2 on my insurance after they'd passed - and that was expensive enough! Both mine passed with only their lessons and no extra practice - DD even passed first time - goodness knows how!!! :rotfl:

Xx