What would (and wouldn't) you give up to be mortgage free?

Tesco_points_addict

Ops, this thread has made me realise how lax me and DH have got with our savings towards being MF!! Must get back on track.

Things that we would not do without:

• Our dog n cat-and decent food for them, darling puddy cat has 'problems' so can only eat hypoallergenic food, but he is worth it
• Decent toilet paper (hubby would have a fit if I bought anything other than 'ch, ch, ch charmin!!
• Wine:o
• Yankee candles..I know, I know, but we light them every night!
• Two cars, both bought 2nd hand (when they were about 6 months old) we NEED two for work, hubby works silly hours and my work contract says I must be a car owner driver

Not essential to us:

• A holiday abroad every year
• Going out more than once a month
• Cigarettes..neither of us smoke or every had for that matter:rotfl:(seemed like an easy one!)

Ermm, i am sure there are lots more things, I will have a think and get back to you!!

TPAx

uzubairu

RosieTiger wrote: »

I don't actually believe I could ever be that prescriptive. Life is about living, so we prefer the idea of the OP's running nicely in the background, but making sure you are able to still do the things you want to do. Certainly any ofers, Quidco etc should be used to your advantage, but, being obsessive will probably mean that you may end up MF - but having had no holidays, not being able to treat your kids, help out family and enjoy life - or even end up with a MF home that then needs a mortgage spending on it to fix the things you ignored.
Keep the balance right and enjoy your life - unless you believe in reincarnation you only get 1 shot !

I agree entirely.

We use cashback sites for most of our online purchases and we have swithched utility providers to good effect.
We've saved money on our fuel usage, but this was more due to the fact that were realised that we were being a little wasteful, so we haven't had to go from one extreme to another.
Only ever buy decent toilet paper, washing powder, detergents when they are on offer in bulk.
We store them in the garage and they usually last until the next offers come up.
The cheaper alternatives are often a let down.

We each out mostly with discount vouchers (we have a monthly budget for entertainment that covers it).

We tried the Aldi/Lidl alternatives and reduced our weekly food bill by 35%, but sadly 50% of it went in the bin, so we scrapped that idea.
We cook from scratch more often than we used to and the food is much better (also better packed lunches from the leftovers).


We budget for holidays and try to get at least 2 holidays a year.
It would such a shame for us if we didn't have our year punctuated by trips away from the hassle of the workplace, and it makes striving for mortgage freedom, feel less of a prison sentence.
Naturally we adopt MSE principles to our holiday arrangements, so that we get the best deal our money can buy.

Last year we went to Egypt in Feb '09 paid in full with Tesco Clubcard vouchers, then we went to New York in May '09 Manchester to New York return for £140 and Miami in September '09 for £200. Holiday fund covered all expenses.

We have Sky HD and multi-room, as we like our home cinema equipment (80 inch screen)
We cancelled the Movie channels because there were too many repeats and cancelled the Sports because I work weekends so I don't get to see enough football on it) and I read on another forum that if you had multi-room but didn't have Movies and Sport channels, Sky had offered some of their customers a lower tariff of £5.
I enquired and got the reduced fee when I cancelled the premium channels.
We have HD and multi- room and we pay £37, and we're happy with that.

OH has membership at the swimming baths near his place of work, so he visits whenver he wants (before, after or on his lunch break), and wouldn't even consider giving it up.
We have a decent heavy duty treadmill at home (bought several years ago with discount),and I have 2 lovely bikes (MTB and road) that I like to go out and about on so we have most bases covered.

Clothing, usually bought in sales, but we look for good quality rather than quantity. Many items still going strong several years after purchase.
OH has twice and many shoes as I do.

We are happy to maintain this balance for as long as we can, although there are changes pending with OH's job, but we won't have any major worries whatever the outcome.

I would hate to have got this far along the MFW journey without having done some of the things we have done, because you never know what is around the corner.

Balance is the key, and whatever suits your level of motivation.

greent

I agree that balance is a big thing. We can OP and still have a good standard of living, so do - ok, we could OP more if we reduced other spending, but we are happy with our balance.

We generally have a holiday abroad every year, although have not done so this year (first time in a very long time) - but that's down to OH starting a new contract when school hols began and it finishing after Oct hols I won't compromise on f/r eggs, chicken & good welfare pork and decent (usually Scottish) steak mince. We have maybe 1 takeaway a month. DS1 has a tutor 1 hour/ week. Well fitted new shoes for the 4 children (eg Clarks, startrite etc). Two cars. There are certain brands I won't downsize on too (Kelloggs cornflakes, PG tips etc)

I cashback site anything I can and ebay lots of stuff - both of which then go on the mtge.

LittleMissAspie

Our first mortgage was drawn down on Friday ready for completion on Monday (have now realised that Monday is worst day of the week to complete because we're paying 2 extra days of interest, oops) so I've barely started yet. But have been scrimping and saving to get the deposit so we'll just carry on as we are.

Happy to sacrifice:
TV (haven't had one for 8 years, don't miss it)
New clothes
Holidays to a certain extent
Alcohol (don't really like it anyway)
Eating out
New furniture and home items
Having the heating on
Brand-name anything
Expensive cars (expensive for me being anything over about 2-3k)

Not happy to compromise on:
Cat, vet bills and good quality food for her
Maintenance on house and cars
Some kind of break each year even if it's staying with family
Takeaways
Environment and animal-friendly toiletries and cleaning products
Long showers

cha97michelle

The balance thing is right. We scrimp along quite a bit to keep going with me being a Stay at Home mum, but i don't feel we do without anything really. I may have to wait longer to buy something but i would rather do that than buy a cheap rubbish alternative. Eg. my bed cover had a small hole which i patched, but is also starting to look a bit old. It is not essential i replace it as it still works. I do want to replace it, so i will wait till we have enough survey points for a voucher to do it.

I always make sure my kids have what they need, maybe not to excess like when i was working. They don't have 4 pairs of shoes though like my nephew.

I guess i am trying to say i think i am living as i would be anyway if we weren't aiming to be MF. Maybe we take a picnic if we go out rather than eating out, and the holiday is UK not abroad, but we don't feel deprived. I do always feel quite skint though.

We don't go out that much anyway, so our treats are the odd takeaway or meal out. And a couple of drinks a week in the house on a weekend. Life is too short to have nothing to look forward to.

ironman1

I realise why people make big sacrifices to pay the mortgage off early, I mean unless we get a big lump of money somewhere it looks as though we won't be mortgage free for about 14-20 years.

I think we do alright considering we live in London and are both only 23. Due to the way work is going, neither of us earn bucket loads but we still manage to pay an average of 3/400 pm in overpayments each month.

At least once a month we will go out with friends for drinks and we do like the odd takeaway or restaurant trip together.

Things we wouldn't change is eating well. We spend more or less the same every single month, mainly as we shop online. Every two weeks our shopping comes to £50 each for two of us. We buy fresh milk/bread etc from the local shops so all in all we spend about £120. I think thats fairly decent.

I always look for the best deals and cashback offers on insurances and utility bills.

As I said, we don't earn alot but in the two years since we moved in we've been on about four weekend getaways, four trips abroad, been to a few London shows, Zoo's and other days out. But we have still paid £6500 in overpayments. We have had the full Sky package since moving in aswell, although that has always had some sort of deal on it (Free HD for example or now 50% off for the next six months). I think if you are planning on staying in alot then Sky is a 'luxury' you could do with.

I think we could pay more but I wouldn't want to stop doing everything we like just to cut the mortgage free date, just being honest!

Next year we have our first baby coming so I'm sort of overpaying as much as possible but also putting extra money in a savings account to go towards the litt'lun.

Next year I doubt we'll be able to overpay, maybe we will aim to OP £100 a month or something. But I will make sure our boy or girl has the best we can possibly give them. This site has really helped with saving money. I reckon we have saved quite a few grand in the year or so since I started browsing on here. I would never have dreamed of overpaying the mortgage until I stumbled across this place.

Some things come across, to me, as a bit OTT, as if being mortgage free is the be all and end all to some people at any costs. But I don't see the point in completely putting your life on hod for a few years over it. Whose to say you will still enjoy meals out and socialising with friends for example, in ten years time? I genuinely think some people on here (and in the 'real' world) would put paying off the mortgage/saving money is above having kids etc. To me the news that my GF is pregnant has made me ten times happier than when I've managed to put an extra couple of hundred quid in the savings tin.

My advice to anyone as probably one of the younger posters on here, is live your life how you want but don't completely cut out the treats like going to the pub or going out for a posh dinner every now and again. As they say, you never know whats around the corner.

JonnyBravo

ironman1 wrote: »

My advice to anyone as probably one of the younger posters on here, is live your life how you want but don't completely cut out the treats like going to the pub or going out for a posh dinner every now and again. As they say, you never know whats around the corner.

Well there you go.
First you don't want to tell people they've got the wrong idea and your way is best and then you tell them what to do.

That's the thing with life. We're all different.

Seeing as you're keen on advice, try dropping SKY and talking that little bit more to your other half!

ironman1

Advice is what this place is about isn't it? Not to mention the original poster asking 'What would (and wouldn't) you give up to be mortgage free?'.

To me I 'wouldn't give up' small things like Sky (which includes Broadband, phone an every channel for around £6.90pw) unless I had to. The same goes for drinking once or twice a week and going out with friends.

The thing is, I have already mentioned on here that it's mainly me that does the saving and money side, my GF is sort of getting more into it but at the end of the day she's a 23 year old young woman. She enjoys watching tele if we are indoors, which we are quite alot. There is no way I would take that away from her aswell!

gallygirl

JonnyBravo wrote: »

Seeing as you're keen on advice, try dropping SKY and talking that little bit more to your other half!

Em, I think Ironman's spent quite a bit of time talking 'and stuff' with his other half recently judging by his recent news :rotfl:.

ironman1

Don't be silly Gally...
















That was during half time :beer: