Moving onwards, the family home and making it MF. LP diary pt2

Sepa74

Wow, LilacPixie, it sounds a real Grand Design!

Your plan sounds sensible... and 7 years is probably a good time in which to be thinking, researching, planning and actually doing! Definitely not a decision to be taken lightly or on the spur of the moment, but what a fantastic house you'll have when you get it built!

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Good for you. It is good to have a focus to work towards as it makes it much more worthwhile. Our dream is different as we are older, we should be mf in 18 months, then we will do up our house, keeping the original mortgage payment going into a retirement savings pot. If we stick to that I can retire at 60 and we plan to travel around the world. It is thinking about this that keeps me on the straight and narrow. I just wish that I had been more focused in my youth, when didn't plan and just let ex oh make some terrible financial decisions!

All the best with it all,

Squirrel:j

LilacPixie

TY everyone..

I have no idea of how much is viable and how much is pie in the sky but one think is for sure I am 30, dh is 27, we are ontrack to be MF pretty much October 2020 and that is allowing for some 'treats' like holidays to disney, lapland and the like. If we totally focused on mortgage it would be closer 2016.

I do like this house and I have no doubts that we could manage to live here for 50 years but I think that we could get to 50 ish with retirement looming thining back to the memories we have of the things we did when mortgage free and thinking maybe we should of bought bigger, did the MF thing for longer and then had a larger home to have plus more room to follow our interests.

I did a fair at the weekend selling some jewellery I had made while pregnant and off work, I made a tidy sum but now my work room is DD3 bedroom so i'm being curtailed. As always money I have made doesn't count as income because once the tax year is over and i've paid my tax bill the 'profit' goes straight to mortgage There is a thought of the more i 'work' the more i make so the quicker the morgage falls.

Courgette

Hi Lilac,

I wondered if I could pick your accountant brains a moment. I've made the decision to resign my ft job due to my flexible working request being declined. I'm about to register with a supply agency (teaching) but am worried about not getting 16hours per week needed for tax credits.

I wondered whether registering as self-employed and as well as doing supply opening a shop on the internet selling knitting might be an option for me. This way the weeks I don't get any supply work and the school holidays I could knit and say that was my job. I wouldn't expect to make any money from the knitting however but I would like at this stage to be able to keep the baby at nursery. I don't know where I've heard this from but I have the feeling that we'll get more in TC if I work 16hrs but earn very little rather than if I don't work at all?

Is there a website you know of that could guide me through these decisions?

Hope your brood are doing well :A

Thanks very much,

Courgette

LilacPixie

Hey Courgette, how is the gerkin?? Getting big I guess. My brood are all fine, in scotland so oldest at school, middle at nursery (15 hours funded place) and littlest sleeping again.

Right hours for tax credits work on averages so the odd week of no supply work (or marking) wont make a difference but the idea of a small business would be enough to carry you over. Depending on income working over 16 hours may give you more tax credits but thats usually because you then become eligible for the child care element. https://www.turn2us.entitledto.co.uk/entitlementcalculator.aspx play with that using various senarios and see what is best for you

gratefulforhelp_2

Courgette, why not go to schools direct for supply and bypass the agencies?

Courgette

Thanks lilac, I'll have a look at that link this evening. There's very little (financial) point in me working if i have to pay out full childcare from my wage

Grateful - I emailed that letter and cv to over 50 schools in may remember. Only heard back from one school

gratefulforhelp_2

Did you offer supply?

Courgette

Ah, no I didn't come to think of it. Do you think it would be likely they'd go to someone direct though? I know they'd save a few quid but they'd get a lot of hassle too. The agencies will interview me and crb check me, I could be anyone as far as other schools go

LilacPixie

NP courgette, no idea on the other stuff like going direct.

Well I ave itchy feet again. I really am a nightmare, for some reason i just cannot take something at face value without having a dig around. During this digging i have stumbled accross what i think could be a viable small business and i'm torn. I really do not have the time to dedicate to another business but....... this looks to be possibly more profitable and less labour intensive than jewellery and I have no idea what to do. Oh and i'm working tomorrow, new client meeting well because big client but that its pretty much me on the road to being back full time.