2011 Make or break time

debtfreewannabe321

the_harrys wrote: »

Thanks for dropping in to say hello dfw123. What an unbelievably expensive trip - it must be hard having a DS a boarding school as I know from friends of ours there are now significant numbers of overseas pupils- children of super-rich Russian/ Chinese/ Indian etc. backgrounds with one of Daddy's credit cards for company during term time which must cause some tension with "normal" boys! How on earth do you manage school fees on a DMP, especially now scholarships are an "honour" rather than of any real value?! My friend's son was awarded a 10% boarding scholarship but the offer letter gave them the option to turn down the money associated with it to help more needy children for bursaries! (She didn't- they are making big sacrifices to send him).

My hubby is in the forces and he goes to a military school so 1) the fees never go above £10K for the yr (extras on top though i.e music lessons which he doesnt have anyway right now) and 2) we pay only 10% which works out about £120 a month, this includes school fees, housekeeping money & pocket money (this is a must not optional) and we spoke to the CCCS (who deal with our DMP) and discussed it with them, we were all ready to pull him out and they said no, the fees were not astronomical and school fees are apparantly as important as a mortgage?? :huh:!

But i sat down myself and worked out what he ate at home, after school clubs at the local comp he would have gone to, lunches, buses etc & other extras that always crop up and it seemed to work out at around the same rate for us to send him off (in fact cheaper by my reckoning), plus the best thing is he gets a decent education now as all 4 local comps are on special measures :eek:!! BUT as i said before trips are expensive and most of the other people he hangs around with have a lot more money than us (in fact ALL of them probably do right now) But he is so bright i just couldn't say no, i have however had to sit him down and say right this is OUR situation, that is theirs, we are sending you to this school so you can do something better with your life....it's just we can't afford the holidays, clothes & extras his friends get. He seems to have taken it on board, but he is only 12 ...i am reckoning when he gets a bit older he wont be happy with the clothes & stuff we have lol but maybe we will be in a better situation then :cool: lol :rotfl:anyway sorry for the life story post

the_harrys

I hope you didn't think I was being negative about your situation- education is so important- I just know how expensive boarding school can be! Your DS is lucky to have the opportunity of a good education.

It sounds like you have everything all planned out so good luck in getting debt-free

millionaire_in_training

we are so lucky in Scotland. We have excellent schools in my area and we do not have the same system as you do down south. Our kids can go to any school more or less. They are automatically allocated a place within their local area and if you want you can ask for them to attend a different school and more often than not you would get a place where you asked for it. There's only 1 level of schooling too so no competition to get kids into better schools etc. It takes a lot of pressure off of both the parents and the kids. Hardly anyone uses private education as schooling is so good. I was shocked on here when I first read that people with huge debts were paying school fees, but since getting a better understanding of the English system I can understand it better. Feel sorry for you mind you.

the_harrys

Yes- you are really lucky- at least I don't have school fees to worry about, just 3 x university fees (probably) in a few years! Even more reason to get debt free as from the news this morning they will be faced with years and years of paying it back if they end up on above average wage if we aren't in a position to help out.

It isn't the concept of having a student loan or contributing, but the fact that when they take it out they will have no idea how long or how much they will have to pay back. That sounds not only unfair, but the worst start to learning about responsible borrowing anyone could have come up with. The more I think about it the angrier I get :mad: but don't know who to complain to (I'm not usually the militant type!).
Rant over- a bit early too!

the_harrys

I'm trying to get into a bit of a weekly routine so today is my bills/ banking day. I haven't done so well filling in my spending diary this month (OH was in charge for a few days when I was away) so I will also add up all the receipts so far.
Fuel is going to be over budget- and we have a long trip this weekend which will be £100.

My target today is also to list 5 things on e-bay (it takes so long).

debtfreewannabe321

Lol my target was to list three things on ebay today...failing miserably so far! Can't find the camera....oops!

And no don't worry i didn't think you were being negative...I know how much school fees are to the more expensive boarding schools (i went to one for a while) and i am not sure how some people pay for those? I know of 2 people who have taken out personal loans to pay for school fees...they will be paying them back for years to come! I'm hoping we will have moved to a better area by the time my younger two are ready for secondary education lol not sure we could afford 2 more lots :eek: esp at the same time!

The schools in Scotland sound far more idealistic than here! Perhaps i should ask hubby to get a posting there

the_harrys

Ditto re e-bay- but saw it is free listing this wekend so I'll wait until tomorrow and get a load of things on. I've run out of the nore expensive stuff though, so it will be harder work to raise cash.

I worked out my totals for the month so far:
Food- £166 (I 'm really please with this as we've still eaten well)
Fuel £75 (but will be £100 more this weekend as have a 600 mile round trip to make unfortunately)
"Other" £123 - this was mainly DS's snowboarding stuff- £80. Also school lunch, trip, a book

so not too bad

the_harrys

I managed to list 8 things on e-bay after a hectic weekend. This weekend cost £150 for fuel and birthday presents for a family party at the other end of the country and we have another in a few weeks time. The birthdays in our extended family seem to come in 2 waves, making two really expensive times of year- we should all have planned things better

millionaire_in_training

yes you should have. I hope you had a really nice weekend though and the spends weren't too bad considering. Your spends have been fab so far this month. I am in major struggle mode but I will settle down again soon. Well done on the e-bay.

MiaowMiaow

Just popping in to say hi!
Can't believe how expensive all the school trips/ski stuff are - i find it hard enough to plan with just me and the cats.
You are doing well though so keep up the planning and spending diary and you will get there!
hope your well xx