Lois_E begins a long MFW journey

originalmiscellany

Well done on getting to the next landmark (almost) of 75% equity. So many inspiring people here and I'm confident you will continue to chip away at your challenges

Peonie

It's a good idea; I think they would appreciate receiving the money sooner than later. You could always mention you MF dreams and they might be happy for you to keep the money until you have paid off the mortgage.

Lois_E

Thanks for the comments, fishfins, OM and Peonie. I always like it when people comment on my thread. (As long as they're nice, of course, but MFW is such a nice supportive forum. )

Peonie wrote: »

It's a good idea; I think they would appreciate receiving the money sooner than later. You could always mention you MF dreams and they might be happy for you to keep the money until you have paid off the mortgage.

They do know about my MF dreams, and they would be happy for me to keep it as long as I want to. They have stacks of money and what I do won't make much difference to their overall finances, but I've decided that the right thing for me to do is to respond to their generosity by paying the money back faster than they are asking for it. Borrowing from family is different in every situation, isn't it? The right arrangement for one relationship might not be right for another one.

This has been an expensive month, though (6 Feb - 5 Mar). The balance of fees for DS's year 6 residential came due, and the after school club fees for the first half of term, and DD's piano lessons for the whole term. Hoping to be able to pay a bit more off those loans before the end of March, though, and put whatever savings I've got in my emergency fund into an ISA before the end of the tax year.

Think today would be a good day to sort through the receipts in my wallet and get my spending diary (and the rest of my master spreadsheet) up to date.

pammyj74

Tell me about the cost of kids trips and clubs, etc. Id be able to shed another year off if I didnt have to fork out for those lol.
Kids have two big trips this year, one is £130 and the other is £260. Worked out yesterday that the holiday clubs for the year that I will need will be £550. Then they have other day trips and drama group trips which will come to about £120 as well. (thats the ones I know about at the moment!)

I hate owing people money, even small amounts lol, my mate loaned me £2 and i was fretting about still owing it a week later. how daft is that! My mum wanted to give me her old phone but I have this thing that I get annoyed when my siblings take advantage of my mum and take her money so I would feel like a hypocrite to take it and I didnt have the money to buy it off her (plus it wasnt my type of phone anyway and in the end my sister had it off her which annoyed me even more lol)

Sepa74

The other thing about borrowing from family is that if you pay it off in dribs and drabs, they can end up putting it into general revenue and spending it and then having lower overall wealth. You might find some of your relatives would appreciate it if you were to pay it back as a lump sum - so maybe pay it into a separate bank account that is earmarked for them. It's a pity you don't have an offset mortgage account as they are perfect for that sort of thing.

But as you say, it really depends on the people involved and the relationship itself.

Lois_E

Sepa74 wrote: »

The other thing about borrowing from family is that if you pay it off in dribs and drabs, they can end up putting it into general revenue and spending it and then having lower overall wealth. You might find some of your relatives would appreciate it if you were to pay it back as a lump sum - so maybe pay it into a separate bank account that is earmarked for them. It's a pity you don't have an offset mortgage account as they are perfect for that sort of thing.

But as you say, it really depends on the people involved and the relationship itself.

Thanks Sepa. I don't think it will make any difference to them how it's paid back, actually, so it's better for me just to get on with it.

Anyway, I'm determined to get to 75% equity with only one more mortgage payment. So I've just made payments to both FL1 and FL2 that bring them to nice round numbers, and also bring the total down a bit so that when the mortgage payment goes out on 26th March, I'll reach the magic 75% number.

Lois_E

Today my kids begged for macaroni cheese for supper. This is miraculous, partly because they were begging for something cheap, and partly because they were both begging for the same thing. So the pork mince stayed in the freezer and can be used another day.

pink_poppy

Meatballs!!

For the pork mince

Having my two eat the same is a rare occurence as well ~ my youngest is getting ridiculously fussy lately ~ says no to pasta & asks for steak instead!! :eek:

I'm going to suggest another 'Pancake Tuesday' tomorrow ~ something they both love plus it's cheap & filling.

Lois_E

I made too much of the macaroni cheese, too, so I was able to put it away in the fridge and microwave it up again last night, so that's another cheap meal. It microwaved up OK, once I'd removed the bits where it had gone a bit dry at the edges. I was pleasantly surprised that the cheese topping stayed crispy - I thought it might go soggy but it didn't.

I want to open an ISA before the tax year ends. Must get act in gear and go and look at some tables of best ISAs etc!

teapot2

Mmmm drools - macaroni cheese, my fave. Want some now :drool: