Some people just seem to have unlimited money

FBaby

JC9297 wrote: »

I think it is great to do what you are doing if you have the spare money to pay off the mortgage/save, unfortunately for a lot of people on low incomes they have to use all the MSE tips just to make ends meet in the present rather than as a means to an amazing retirement.

I know JC and I respect that, I was only comparing myself to those enjoying a luxurious lifestyle on a low salary. When I was a single mum, I certainly wasn't able to save, let alone pay off my mortgage early, but I still couldn't afford things that some of my friends on lower a lower salary seemed to enjoy.

FBaby

kettlefish wrote: »

Every situation is different, and I would give anything to live in a rented two up two down and make do with a week in a caravan in Skeggy if my DH could have his beloved parents back!

Very good point.

Ladyshopper

Quite possibly people think that about me. I'm a single parent to two children, and work part time. I live in a nice 4 bedroom house, and we go on a decent holiday most years (cruise last year to Mexico, doing same next year to the bahamas).

Its a combination of budgetting, being frugral, and being organised! I was also lucky to have had a lot of equity when I sold my last house, so my mortgage isn't horrific on this house, and even with prices going down I'd say I still have over £100k equity, and I overpay where I can.

We're not into designer stuff (daughter would like to be, but has a couple of abercrombie and fitch tops bought from ebay to satisfy that!).

I shop around, I buy when special offers are on, I buy birthday/christmas presents in sales as I see them throughout the year. I also used to make massive use of tesco clubcard vouchers which gave us some fantastic holidays (Florida x 2, Lapland, and the flights for our cruise earlier this year). Unfortunately a lot of the ways of earning tesco points easily have cut down now.

I don't have debt other than my mortgage, and I save hard for things. I would rather build memories with my children by having great holidays, days out etc, than buying them the latest computer game or gadget.

Saying that, although we have some exotic type holidays, I also bought a tent last year and we have enjoyed several camping trips which we all love, and look forward to many more in the coming year.

FatVonD

OP, did your friends both bring something financially to the relationship? Mortgages are so much smaller when both parties have previously owned somewhere.

I think it also has a lot to do with different choices made along the way, I sold my 4-bedroom house with just a 70k mortgage on it when my son was a baby so I didn't need to work when he was small. I could cry now as I'd only have about 7 years left on that mortgage now if I'd rented it out instead (and it was a repayment mortgage so the remainder would have been small enough to have been paid off with last year's redundancy payment) but I didn't. Had I not done that and had to effectively start again I'd be rolling in the stuff now. Some people have just been lucky/savvy and made the right choice or right purchase at the right time.

FBaby

Ladyshopper wrote: »

Quite possibly people think that about me. I'm a single parent to two children, and work part time. I live in a nice 4 bedroom house, and we go on a decent holiday most years (cruise last year to Mexico, doing same next year to the bahamas).

Its a combination of budgetting, being frugral, and being organised! I was also lucky to have had a lot of equity when I sold my last house, so my mortgage isn't horrific on this house, and even with prices going down I'd say I still have over £100k equity, and I overpay where I can.

We're not into designer stuff (daughter would like to be, but has a couple of abercrombie and fitch tops bought from ebay to satisfy that!).

I shop around, I buy when special offers are on, I buy birthday/christmas presents in sales as I see them throughout the year. I also used to make massive use of tesco clubcard vouchers which gave us some fantastic holidays (Florida x 2, Lapland, and the flights for our cruise earlier this year). Unfortunately a lot of the ways of earning tesco points easily have cut down now.

I don't have debt other than my mortgage, and I save hard for things. I would rather build memories with my children by having great holidays, days out etc, than buying them the latest computer game or gadget.

Saying that, although we have some exotic type holidays, I also bought a tent last year and we have enjoyed several camping trips which we all love, and look forward to many more in the coming year.

Can I ask how much maintenance and how much tax credits you receive?

FBaby

Ok, read you don't get much maintenance, so you must be quite a high earner that on part-time work (unless you consider 30 hours part-time) you are able to afford such holidays. I was very frugal when I was single too, still am in many ways, never bought the kids designer clothes, shopped in charity shops, I too buy most of everything in the sales and make do with special offers, but I certainly never had £1000 to take my kids to luxurious holidays, especially not during school holiday time.

catkins

I know one woman who owns 3 holiday homes - 1 in this country, 1 in Portugal and 1 in Egypt. She goes abroad at least 4 times a year and often for 6 weeks at a time. She lives on her own in a 4 bed detached house and owns 3 cars - 2 of them fairly new expensive ones. She buys loads of clothes and spends a lot on food as well.

What does she do for a living? Well she buys and sells mainly furniture but also clothes, books etc. She will buy from wherever is cheap - charity shops, ebay, boot sales and then sells in the local paper, ebay etc. BUT she claims she is too ill to work as she has a bad back (strange then that she can lift wardrobes onto the roof of her car!) and gets every benefit going

Norma_Desmond

It all boils down to priorities; DH and I (no children) bought our house as a virtual ruin 8 years ago with a small mortgage on only average earnings and saved and waited to do all the work gradually, without taking out a single extra loan, touching the overdraft or using credit cards.

Our car is 13 years old, we don't replace appliances or electrical 'stuff' until they literally blow up and we don't have mobile phones.

All our furniture is antique and lovely; bought from local auction houses or eBay for very little money.

The same with things like art - I'd rather buy a good old painting for £10 than a chain store canvas print for £50.

I wear vintage quality clothing including Chanel items bought from a charity shop and I've never owned or wanted a new 3 piece suite or a giant plasma TV.

We have one 'decent' holiday abroad each year and several weekend breaks etc. and dine out whenever we want to, and yet people do think we're very well off by looking at our possesions and lifestyle.

If folk looked a little more closely for example, they would see the amount of things we've still got to do to the house and spot the massive hole and crack in the 400 year old Chinese vase in the hall.......though I'd rather own something like that which I bought for £8 than a silly 'designer' vase from Debenhams costing 5 times as much.
Don't keep up with the Jonese's - drag 'em down to your level!
Priorities, priorities.........

rachbc

Pollycat wrote: »

Thanks, victory.

There are a few other things that I didn't mention, we never had kids so had more disposable income during our working lives than some people.

I think this is the real secret of your success not thritfiness - I'd be able to retire at 50 and afford uggs if I didn't shell out 100's month on childcare, a bigger house to home the blighters and endless food that makes them grow and clothes to replace the one's they then grow out of...onder if I can sell them on ebay?

Pollycat

rachbc wrote: »

I think this is the real secret of your success not thritfiness - I'd be able to retire at 50 and afford uggs if I didn't shell out 100's month on childcare, a bigger house to home the blighters and endless food that makes them grow and clothes to replace the one's they then grow out of...onder if I can sell them on ebay?

Quite possibly - but whilst I'm buying reduced mince to batch cook shepherd's pie bases, some people with kids are buying takeaways (which are vastly more expensive and less nutritious than cooking from scratch) - not because they don't have time but because they don't know what to do with an unpeeled potato, a raw onion and some mince or can't be arsed to cook.

Ladyshopper seems to be able to have a decent lifestyle even though she's a single parent.

And my house is actually big enough for quite a few kids.

Are you talking about selling the kids' outgrown clothes on ebay or the kids themselves? :rotfl: