The "Mortgage-free in 2025-30" club!

NorthernMonkey1

If you're paying interest on the CC balance, then you should pay this off in full first. CC debt is very expensive

Firegirl

If you know about shares then sounds good your getting them at reduced rate. Depends when you want to sell them I guess and can you delay selling them if they drop in value.

Wee update from me is that I broke the 239k mortgage bracket and have moved into the 238k lol- long road ahead but I'm still pleased with eBay sales and skipping mochas this month!

choccielover

My automatic £25 op will go out with the mortgage on the 3rd, followed by another £45 on the 25th when DH gets paid. Not sure what else I have to put towards it this month but might have a look at eBay (finally) and get rid of some of our baby clutter

Chocs

pinkteapot

As an alternative to eBay, try local Facebook selling groups (search Facebook for "[town name] for sale". We've had a lot of hassle with eBay recently and found it's getting to be more trouble than it's worth.

The Facebook groups can be a pain because you get time-wasters - people who say they're coming round for an item and don't show - but overall it's probably easier for general household type stuff.

Rare/collectible/unusual you still need eBay to reach a broader market.

bubblycrazy

Agree with ebay being more trouble than it's worth, especially with the increasing postage costs.
My CC is 9.9% interest so i've decided to pay this off first.

Firegirl

I've been the opposite- have done well with eBay but haven't sold a single thing on FB selling pages. I like doing eBay cause I clear out loads of stuff and even if I make a few pounds it's better than nothing.

choccielover

Good tip, will try fb local groups first, that's how DH got rid of phone so hopefully we will have some luck!

Brokeattheminute

Hi everyone,so 1st op for mortgage is coming out on 16th June.Had house ins to pay this wk so its put a dent in the finances.Originally it was £272 but got it down to £250 so decided to pay it straight away cos i dont want to be bogged down with too many dds if i can help it.Next thing is School uniforms as d.s is going to High school in Sep and the blazer alone is £60 EEK! Ive the next 3mnts to pay it off My other 2dds also need more pinnafores and cardigans for primary school as well.Am delivering phonebooks this wk so thatll help me raise about £150 to pay for the uniforms.We are going on holiday this August to the North Coast for a few days so thats the next thing and my cars due for mot at the end of August so need to get saving again for these.Thinking of setting some money aside for this as well as Christmas and B'days.Has anyone got an idea of the ammout of money id roughly need to set aside?

clarew

I've the high school layout to fund soon as well. Typically some aspects of uniform have changed so I can't use the hand me down uniform from my eldest-grr ( although they can keep wearing them till they need replacement) kerching!

turtlemoose

Ref Christmas and birthday fund, I suppose it depends what kind of spender you are. We put aside £30 a month for Christmas. So £360 for the year. This will be for presents for an 11 year old, 3 year old, any decorations that need replacing, extra above the ordinary budget for special food/booze that we wouldn't usually buy, and I'm hoping there'll be money left over! OH and I pay for each other's presents from personal money, £50 strict budget.

DS has only just turned 3 this last week and we spent £43 which was probably a bit much (2 x duplo sets, scooter, massive pack of playdoh, spiderman pairs cards) plus £6 for a cake. However we didn't just pay that out - one of my monthly "pots" category is DS and I allocate £30 a month to it. We buy bits throughout the year when stuff is on offer from this. Sometimes the money doesn't get spent for months at a time, then .maybe there'll be a big cost like car seat or going up a shoe size (so trainers, wellies and sandals in one go like a few weeks ago, bye bye £42). It pays for everything from clothes to swimming lessons etc.