Freedom At 50!

southerndave

Thanks, appreciated. Offset mortage, for us, worked perfectly in the main becuase I was self-employed for a long time and with the variables in my income and payment dates, it allowed us ultimate flexiility. We have managed to re-build our home, maintain our lifestyle and manage our earnings during periods of low income and high over the last 10 years or so. That said, personally, I would prefer the comfort of a normal repayment mortgage and knowing I was paying pack the debt, but we are so far into this mortgage now, I will stick it out. It is nice to know there is a fall-back there if we need to borrow from ourselves as well, but yes, maintaining finances is hard as a certain amount of 'letting go' is involved as sticking to a strict budget is hard with variable income and outgoings.

Overall they can be useful products, but I think it is very dependent on your own mindset and circumstances as to whether they are better or worse than a 'normal' mortgage. They are slightly more expensive as I understand it, but we were/are happy with that as a pay off to the flexibility.

southerndave

Quick update. Managed to bank £500 so far this month with some fortunate sales of a few bits from our ongoing minimalist/de-cluttering programme. I sold my guitar and a collection of books after being honest with myself that I am never going to learn one or read the other. This has counteracted the bigger bills this month, so hopefully should see some more headway into reducing our mortgage with the bulk of November still to go.

edinburgher

I sold my guitar and a collection of books after being honest with myself that I am never going to learn one or read the other

Well done southerndave - I think we've all got a few bits and bobs like that kicking around. My personal weakness is for weighty cookery tomes that I've asked for as gifts and then opened maybe 2-3 times if I'm lucky

southerndave

Could have been another £100 in the pot this week but we spent it on Christmas bits, food, drink and some gifts. Only a very small amount of yuletide stuff to get now, mainly fresh food things near the day, so almost done and under our budget. Hope to add some more into the pot next week as sales are going well on eBay at the moment.

southerndave

End of the month and looking good. I have changed my signature to make it easier to see what we have done as having a One Account means the actual figures bounce up and down all over the place daily, but looking back you get a better picture and really, what is owed IS the bottom line.

We have managed to earn a little extra this month which has helped as we have also had some bills to pay too, and of course, seasonal expenses. I have also been accepted into my company pension scheme, which is contributory so my take home pay has reduced slightly but worth it in the long run I guess.

Hopefully we can keep on making this kind of progress but I am not sure we can keep this momentum up as stuff to sell is only a one time income obviously, and that is reducing all the time. We'll see how the new year pans out as I am already planning a NO SPEND period from January 1st to half term in February.....!

sweetdaisy

southerndave wrote: »

I am already planning a NO SPEND period from January 1st to half term in February.....!

This sounds interesting, please tell us how you are going to do this .

HelenDaveKids

Im currently of the opinion that stuff I don't sell I relist whilst having lots of others places to look for items to sell. I have stuff from kids rooms to sell now but have lots of "ideas" for my January ebay list. So although I agree, i do think ive got better at looking...

I think the mantra is "every little helps"

Sounds like your doing really well.

southerndave

sweetdaisy wrote: »

This sounds interesting, please tell us how you are going to do this .

With difficulty! We worked out our budget and when I say no spend, I am not including Direct Debits or our budgeted spending, so its essentially 'no spend outside our agreed budget' which isn't so much of a snappy title!;)

We have our budget for weekly shop, fuel etc which I want to reduce for this experiment. We have another budget which covers our monthly outgoings, mainly Direct Debits, the mortgage etc. This are fixed and static, so the idea is to get from January 1st to half term without spending a single penny outside the budget and still aiming to spend under if possible and pay the extra in as we do now.

If successful, then will try a second period from half term to Easter and see how that goes too. The idea is to see if we can go without and live entirely within budgeted limits for an extended period. It'll be tough!

We have allowed a fixed limit amount for two days out in the half-term hols as I am off and promised we would do something interesting, so probably a trip to London.

Will keep posting to see how we go!

sweetdaisy

southerndave wrote: »

With difficulty! We worked out our budget and when I say no spend, I am not including Direct Debits or our budgeted spending, so its essentially 'no spend outside our agreed budget' which isn't so much of a snappy title!;)

I budget for all Direct Debits/Bills and live off a fixed weekly spend. My weekly spend includes money for: food shop (£80), fuel (£65 for 2 cars) and 'spending money' (£60) which is usually used for children's activities/occasional meals out, household items, clothing etc.

When I underspend on my weekly food shop 50% is put into savings and 50% is made as a mortgage overpayment. I sometimes do well and underspend on my weekly spending amount, but it is not always possible especially when DS1 is invited to Birthday parties, has school activities/football and when the children have a growth spurt and need more clothes etc. So when I do manage to underspend the money stays in the account and is rolled over to the next week. It is not always easy to do, but this means that I am less likely to dip into savings and only use savings for big purchases.

southerndave

This is pretty similar to what we have set up too SD. ALl our bills and major payments come out of the bank DD and my wages generally cover this. My wife is paid weekly and we live off her money which covers food, fuel, and we have a £10 each for 'spend' on things like I take a paper three times a week, odd cans of pop at work etc. Surplus money saved from shopping goes over to the next week until the end of the month, when it gets paid in or used to get replacement clothes, and odd things like that.

What we want to do is make sure that we spend nothing else other than the necessary, so doing the above with no ifs or buts and making sure that we buy nothing else outside of this allowance.