Eating the elephant

Seanymph

My first weekend since we came back, and time to ponder again. Somehow I lose my focus when I'm busy.

We have no money left this month. None. Spent the bloomin lot on holiday.

I have been paid from my littlest job, that got banked yesterday - and will fill the car at least - and get paid next Wednesday my main salary. OH has to wait until the end of the month.

I am literaly counting payday to payday.

I tried to call the mortgage company in the week to see what the penalty would be for repaying if we sold the house, but their computers were down, so I hope to get hold of them today.

I am impatient, and keen to get it moved on, but it may be prudent to NOT sell it because we are tied into some repayment penalty.

I belong on facebook to a motorhome group (I'm aspiring, but read a lot and post only a little) - and I keep seeing everyone's photo's from all around the place, it's torture.

However our holiday showed me just how much money we can get through doing 'touristy things' - we were never away from the cashpoint.

Still, another month working banked. Our six and a half years has, in my head, been reduced to five and a half - although I don't know quite how we'll hit it.

I guess the next step is to actually start working out proper figures and budgets.

Seanymph

Well, outstanding today is:

51,477.94
16,432.25 totalling £67,910.19

a £2,076.38 drop in three months - I'm very pleased!

And actually it's better than that slightly, because they have credited at least the last two payments across both accounts, not account two with the higher interest rate, so they are going to recredit and recalculate, it'll be pennies though I know.

But - the purpose of the call was for penalties if we sell.

Mortgage 1 penalty currently 3% - £1,543.73 until 31.1.18 dropping by 1% a year until then.
Mortgage 2 penalty currently £491.99 but that ceases on the 31.12.15 - because the mortgage is over a shorter period

So, two thousand pounds to sell the house! I'm pleased I checked that out.

Seanymph

I am terribly guilty of not walking the walk.

I just found myself telling Mr Bloater that I could do a lot more. And I could.

I know there is a balance between being comfortable and building a comfy future. But I have to confess I don't look too hard at the shopping amounts, or at all in fact. My birthday is shortly, so Mr Sea and i have already booked a hotel and meal. On second thoughts that's non negotiable.

Slimming World has not helped - for anyone who hasn't done it the basic premis is that fruit, veggies and lean meat are 'free' to eat as much as you like. So we are. But three chicken breasts each 'because we can' is not cheap! Nor are the endless punnets of roadside strawberries I keep chomping through.

Still, I guess I am saving on sugar.

On holiday though I spent around £700 just on food for the week - and I think, If I'm honest, I do around £250 - 300 a week just at home at the moment.

So, thank you Mr B - having dished it out I could do with starting to be more circumspect myself - and then I'll have more left to flow down into the pots. Currently I have

The roof fund. We have about 2000 euros in our account in France earmarked for that - and around £2,500 here. We need around 10,000 Euros.

Our travel/retirement fund - I opened a Charles Stanley Direct S & S Isa last year - not going great guns, but I have just under £1,500 in there. I make sure only to put money I am not going to want back in this.

The mortgage overpayment - and I have paid off £2,000 in the last three months.

They are my focus. I know eldest DD wants to go travelling, and will be looking for a contribution, and having paid littley some for her Canada trip it seems fair - and littley will be making me a lot of tea and talking about a new horse, trailer and 4 x 4 when she gets back.

We sold all the horses when they went to do A Levels - none of the kids wanted to keep them. And having swapped from Biomedical Science to Equine Rehabilitation and something or other she's done one year and now it's all about the neddies again. So she wants something she can compete on (not something she had a jot of interest in before when we had them, they just used to tolerate weekly lessons and career along the beach and stubble fields clearing bales at all other times!)

So having sold the damned 4 x 4, trailer, and practically given away everything else with the horses (including a small mortgage worth of tack and rugs) she now wants to start again.

I am going to try and hold fairly firm - but I know it's going to cost me money.

Anyway, thanks to Mr Bloater I am going to look at my money slightly longer before handing it to Mr T or one of the other, less expensive alternatives.

The lower cost supermarkets are a drive for me, (rural Norfolk rocks!) and on the way home I have a Mr T - so it tends to be where I shop for all the 'top up' (read £40 for a loaf of bread?) shops.

I shall try and plan a bit better, and shop in one go - I used to be better before SW, presumably if I learn some more menus and things I can do it again. It's just about investing some time.

ahem_47

Hello Sea Nymph - I have written your soggie that way because glancing through MFW board I had expected you to be a bloke .....
Sean something:eek:

You are doing really well with the mortgage reduction but, in truth, one thing has bugged me throughout: what are your "kids" contributing? Public forum so probably do not want to go into it - but if I am reading it right you don't half seem to be carrying the weight and they appear to be doing very well from your generosity.

You have a goal - and you need to be able to fund your dream in retirement. I think you are having your LBM in spending - you have to know where your money is going - and I feel there may be a few more LBMs needed.

Sorry for such a first post and apologies if I have misjudged your children's contributions.

getmore4less

Only fair I drop by.

We are part time norfolk having had parents that lived there, still some family left.

Dad was a horse person so know how expensive and time consuming that is.

When you mentioned the van I immediately though of a blog that someone did from another forum I frequent, they sold up and went touring, now I have just spent 1/2 hour trying to find it, will keep looking.

They had some great ideas and it gives a good idea of the sort of budget you can work on.

Last time I looked I think they had done 90% of europe popping back to the UK for the odd family thing.


Setting goals and working back to today to see what you need to do is good stratagy, goals give purpose to the harder choices.

Is selling up everything the best option, depending where it is a place in france may be a good base, much closer to the rest of Europe than Norfolk.

Having the kids holding the UK base may be quite IHT efficient if the asset base start to get close to £650k for bothe of you.

right of to look for this travel blog.....

getmore4less

get the search terms right and you find things a lot quicker.

Here it is
http://www.theworldisourlobster.com/The_World_Is_Our_Lobster/HOME.html

Wow it was awhile back I was reading that

I guess you have read a few blogs as part ofthe research hopefully this one inspires if not been seen before.

Seanymph

Thank you both so much.

I know we do too much for the kids - kids! But two were at Uni until this year, one earns just above minimum wage doing NVQ's...... and then it's hard to push for more.

We will however be gently offering less as time goes on. Hopefully if SS buys the house that will be a good start.

I have read blogs - although not that one yet! And look at pictures and dream. I know the house in France could be a good base. The problem is then we'd have to ex pat there, and I don't speak the language and understand the rules well enough to be comfortable.

I would like, I think, to have a house in England to come back to, more than a house in France.

Although OH would like both!

See, what you want and what you can afford may not be the same thing...

getmore4less

The big problem with property is how do you make it work for you not against you when you don't live in it a lot.

Seanymph

The French house came along (and caused the wretched mortgage) when Mr Sea wouldn't consider any type of retirement planning at all.

I figured this way in 15 years I'd have a paid for house, which was one house more than I would have had when we started.

Now he's much more on board with the whole ambition of banking enough to drive about seeing the world indefinitely it's not so hard to motivate him to puggle it away with me....

So, it's serving the purpose, in that it is gradually being paid for - (bit faster than anticipated but not fast enough of course) - but now he's on board I could be sticking the money in other places and he'd be equally supportive.

He enjoys it though - and gets a couple of months every year out there give or take. He's renovating it (I help a bit, but don't go as much as him) so it gives him a hobby tracking down the necessary 'stuff' - but he loves it, so that makes it worth the money.

Seanymph

Well awesome news today - we have had an unexpected sum arrive, and the roof is sorted.

So one less on the list for now - I also bumped into Mr Next Door but two who owns the field at the back of the houses and he has said we can have it for grazing for free. It needs some work, and is too damp for the winter (he doesn't think so!) but Littley also has free grazing six houses the other way with someone she rides for - so that's two sections, and a local friend of hers whose Dad's farms the other end of the village says they have some grazing near the house she can have.

I used to pay £25 per week per horse, so she has a very good result with three lots of grazing for nothing.

So, roof sorted, grazing sorted, and I got paid yesterday.

The bad news is I forgot the car was going in for repair today, so that's a bill I hadn't accounted for - but on balance today is brilliant.

I have also, twice this week, been complying with the speed limit when I've spotted a policeman with a camera - very smug. I'm just waiting for the third now.

I have a work colleagues dog for a week, it's only 7 months, and I have to take that in with me today - no one will mind, but it's distracting and I am busy at the moment. So that isn't too excellent.

Still, only two things to make payments to this month - and I couldn't be happier.

I am determined that I will hit all targets by Autumn 2020. I am not good at budgets and spreadsheets though. I see people in their diaries here working out how much interest they are saving and how long things will take - and I still can't work it out!

All I know is that I have to really knuckle down to hit it - with nearly £70k owing over 5 years that's £14,000 a year with no interest! And that's without the travel fund money being saved.

Best I buy another lottery ticket.