Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

Moneyfordreams

you will do it NG
I don't think anyone knows how long a piece string is... it's one of those phenomenons that life throws at us when we want things more quickly

newgirly

No time to do a plan yet, builders are going for it in dds room which may mean moving them both back in before the cruise next Saturday- in theory fine but in reality time off work for dh on the Friday when he’s really busy assembling furniture etc. I can’t do it alone and wouldn’t want the kids attempting it (it cost money!). Plus I’m at the hairdressers which of course takes priority :rotfl:

Payday today finally, about time too.

themadvix

Thanks for sharing about your attitude adjustment Daisy. I think I need some of that too, although I do consider the neighbours' smoke to be more anti-social than noise!

Ouch to the kitchen cost NG, but you'll sort it, I'm sure.

:rotfl: at hairdresser's taking priority!

newgirly

I’ve been awake since five am (thanks dh ) again and it’s so warm here already!

Spending this weekend so far £13.10 on an Indian takeaway for me as i fancied it and it was a celebration for losing three pounds this week - not a wise celebration perhaps :rotfl:

Ive been playing around with figures for the building work which is tricky with no quote except the kitchen and appliances. Still unsure of what route to take.


Home mortgage £72,580 remaining term 2 years and 11 months:eek:

Factory mortgage £76,000 4years 4 months ish?!

Current (home) mortgage payments £144 interest plus £801.15 payment

plus £400 pm being overpaid from the kids driving lesson and car saving allocation - they are not interested currently

Plus £361 rent From short term letting a little storage space

£45 pw each from both boys in rent


Put into perspective this leaves £450 groceries , £100 petrol and £250 fun and misc. so basically everything is allocated.


We will have an outstanding balance at the the end of term , later I shall update what that could be when I’ve decided on a plan of action

Priorities are :

Pay for building work now they have started

Get mortgage end balance to a figure we can any off by taking out just a loan

Holidays yes I know I know but I feel like the clock is ticking a bit louder and I'm itching to start seeing the world and having some fun.
I was chatting with my great aunt who is a carer for my much older uncle this week, he has dementia and is in wheelchair and they are on the 17th floor :eek: they have no children and have managed to have had the most amazing times together, going on safari and seeing the world.

My first thought personally is to be always worrying about the future and will I like where I live etc. But they have gone out and as the kids now say “lived their best life”.

Likewise dhs best friend who was also his boss planned to retire at 55 and see the world with his wife, they had no family and wanted an adventure, he died at 53 of a brain tumour. This Is always a worry in the back of my mind as an obsessive planner and also hypochondriac

I’m not sure what I’m trying to say really except I’m not sure if I should be easing off a bit to do more or getting my head down and being a super frugal mse to the end?

Busy_Mee1

Hi New Girly.

Your post really resonated with me....we have always struggled to balance wanting to travel and see the world whilst we were still young enough to achieve it and being able to retire early. It helped me to think about what my priorities for my money are (a la Frugelwoods advice).

Mine were:

1. My Family and home - ensuring the kids and our elderly parents are well supported. This includes spending money on making great memories.

2. Travel. We never got to travel when we were young and I don't want to leave it too late. I would rather carry on working than not see the world.

3. Early retirement ...so we can spend more time on 1 and 2

This really helped me to get things straight in my mind and make choices about where we spend our money. We try and live as frugally as we can, on the things we don't care about, to enable us to spend money on the things we do care about.

newgirly

Thanks Busy Mee, great post

Everyone will have different priorities I guess and I’m not sure what mine are at the moment. Do you mind me asking if you have a set plan of budgeting for travel and early retirement or is it variable depending on how you feel at the time?

Watching my in-laws has been a lesson in how not to do it as well, they spent years wanting to go on a cruise, finally went about four years ago and liked it, now say they can’t afford to go again and are too old (mil is 80 next year) yet they upsized about fifteen years ago to a big detached house and have always spent all their money making it look nice. They have also had to get a lodger in to help with money. I find it a little sad, they have kind of missed their chance.

Busy_Mee1

We do have a budget in mind to spend on travel after retirement based on what we have been spending a year at the moment. It is just difficult to judge whether we will want to spend more, because we have the time, or less because we won't be desperate for a break because we are not working.

At the moment we tend to do 2 long weekends a year (sometimes in the UK, sometimes abroad), 2 x 10-14 day long haul trips and maybe a week in Europe (generally somewhere off the beaten track) if we can manage it ( leave and financial). As with everything else we are constantly looking for the best deals for the travel and aim to pay less than £100 a night pp for our trips including flights, accommodation and sometimes even food and drink. We shop around comparing packages versus booking yourself, and have done a variety of trips, cruises, independent travel and guided tours, depending on best value. We save money where we can......no expensive airport food, we take our own. We cut down on baggage, where you have to pay extra for bags. I have travelling light down to a fine art !

We also have learned from our elders. None of our parents aged between 77 and 91 are fit enough to travel and basically can't spend their income now. You definitely need to travel when you are young enough to do so, which is why we are trying to front load our funds for the early years of our retirement, rather than the later years.

Maybe trying to think through your priorities will help you feel a bit less conflicted, but to be honest it took me a while to work out what mine really were. I spent ages thinking it was to pay the mortgage off and retire early, but then ended up feeling guilty and conflicted spending money on family stuff and holidays.

Anyhoo sorry to ramble on but hope it helps.

newgirly

You are not rambling at all, that’s a really helpful insight thank you.
Sometimes the planning is as much fun as the trip itself and it sounds like you are quite savvy finding the best deals.

I’m with you on the packing light, it feels like you have so much more freedom if you are able to actually carry your bags around easily yourself. As for travelling when getting older, my parents didn't travel much when younger and now have plenty of money so could go. Dad wants to go but mum doesn’t really like holidays, perhaps if they went when younger she would feel more comfortable. I don’t want to end up in front of the TV all day when I’m older

I think you have hit on the nail on the head about feeling guilty spending money, either guilty for not spending enough on the family or for wasting it on stuff we don’t “need” for the family when it could go towards the mortgage. I guess you can’t win :rotfl:

newgirly

Right, estimated cost of work (my estimate!) £18,068

Shortage £6969

After ok-ing with dh , we are going to :

Just pay interest from May to the end of August on the mortgage to cover the cost, plus the boys’ rent aka holiday saving fund - Boo!

We also have some possible weekend work on the horizon for dh and I, so have decided to save that up towards dds moving out/wedding pot. (Not favouritism, but we probably have many more years of the boys at home :rotfl:) therefore it won’t come from rent so the holiday/fun pot will be growing to a whopping £360 pm :T

This is a LOT of money for us to budget for this sort of thing, but it seems like a good idea right now. With these changes we will still not be too far off our end balance which is looking like it will be just over £20K at the end in April 2022. Of course we could not go away and get that down by another 12k or so, but then we will miss out on three years of fun and be three years older

newgirly

Off to work soon but not feeling too great, I took dd and mum and aunt for afternoon tea with some Xmas vouchers I had, felt very hot and dizzy while there and had to go home, have been in bed since but do feel much better now. Dh thinks it’s because I’m stressed over going away with my parents for a week on Saturday :rotfl: I think he’s joking

The bank has moved the date the statement is created further forward (again) for no reason to the 5th to the 7th, that’s if it is still not a few days late after that, it’s so irritating as it mucks up my budget. A few extra days makes a big difference.