MF by age 40! Then I am buying a Mercedes SLK

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

I agree about the schools. I am another teacher, and many of my students in comprehensive schools end up with ten or more A star grades at GCSE, and you can't get better than that, no matter how much you pay.

And as someone else said, there are an awful lot more extra expenses at private school, it isn't just the fees. It must be hard for children on average incomes to be seeing all their friends with bigger houses, more stuff, more expensive clothes, etc. all worth thinking about.

PrincessLou

I don't disagree what everyone is saying about private schooling but surely there is nothing she can do about it now? Diamonds will have missed the state school selection process and has stated that the schools near her aren't any good anyway. Regardless of our opinions, she is essentially stuck with her choice.

ourcornercottage

I'm sure pre-prep isn't too late as its below school age.

I can only reiterate all other comments we live in a relatively affluent village and miniOCC goes to local state school. It can be bad enough in state school it's hard to get in the car park with the soft tops and range rovers. I park up my berlingo van next to a new Porsche and have a little giggle to myself! Saying that we are lucky that whilst there are some people who are totally loaded they are all very nice and don't make it awkward. I think we are fairly lucky on that front and know of some parents who have had terrible experiences. Don't forget humans can be cruel :-(

We moved to get him into a good village school with a playing field in the June before he started school. They were the important things to us. We went from being almost MF to having one adding an extra £120k but it's so worth it. In case you think we are totally mad we did upsize too at the same time!

At 11 we are going to rethink check out how the local state school is doing first but you have to consider £12-15k a year or even more at private high school. Only 1 for us but the best part of £30k for 2 kids plus extras for uniforms, extra lessons, trips and so on and so forth.

diamondsonly

Thanks all for the input. By doing the prep route which will be around 7k including the extras etc we hope that our small people can get into the local grammer schools or get a scholarship for private and if they don't get in then hopefully the foundations will be good for state education. Its something we thought long and hard about and it was a conscious decision we made. As my earnings have gone up since we got our house in 2010 we could essentially borrow double if we bought a new place now but have decided to stay put and do the prep route. This way if one of us looses our jobs we could manage for longer on 1 salary as the mortgage is small. If we opted for dream house our mortgage would be 350k and I'd never sleep again,

Private education isn't going to make my children smarter but they will look great in their expensive uniforms lol
I am going to list some old baby bits for sale tomorrow so hope I get some cash for them for OP pot.

diamondsonly

Forgot to mention local Private secondaries start at £19k a year for one child so £38 a year for both will not be feasible for us.

bexster1975

Hi diamonds

Seriously consider private tutors for areas of weakness then. I honestly don't think private primary then state secondary is the way to go. Someone has said it's too late to change, but they can start in September. You normally need to give a terms notice but even if they had to stay a year then move its not the same as whole of primary. The culture shock moving back to state at secondary will be huge. If you have a good local grammar, find a local tutor for 11+ if you think you need one by then. Otherwise, if there is a good state school locally, get a private tutor in key subjects if they are finding it difficult. I do appreciate parents want to do the best by their children, and wish you luck with what you decide, but it's a whole different lifestyle.

More controversially, many private schools are terribly conformist - not ideal if you want your children to be free thinkers.

Bexster

diamondsonly

So having done some number crunching I will be due to pay off my student loan April 2016 if my sums are correct!!

Woo hoo which means £390 for OP each month from Apr 16!! I am so relieved when this gets paid off. I know its such a low interest rate etc so shouldn't be the focus but I guess to me debt is debt.

I have been trying to open some saving accounts but most seem to perform credit checks and as we plan to apply for our new mortgage soon I am reluctant to open them.

Sending £100 worth of my clothes order back tonight so will add that to the OP pot instead.

Still £147,700 to go but feeling determined.

diamondsonly

So today DH wil be paying £800 into our current account so I will be using this to OP this evening. The cash comes from about a decade worth of birthday money I have been saving to buy myself a piece of jewellery. Definitely want to be MF than own more jewellery so it will be going into the OP pot for this month.

I will be listing a cross-trainer we haven't used in years online for sale and see if I can get some more cash for this month.

I sometimes try and escape to starbucks on a sunday (library closed on Sunday) so I can do coursework but have decided to try and make Saturday a study day at the library. This should save me about £10 a trip.
DH still not fully on board with the MF idea. Hoping he sees the mortgage amount going down and begins to see the benefits of doing this..lets see

diamondsonly

Balance on 1st July 2015 £157469.64
Today (16 July 2015) it's £147,102.64
I will OP £2.64 to get a nice round figure tomorrow
Target remaining for 2015 is £5000 but I would love to get below £140k

diamondsonly

Me again. Haven't OP the £800 yet. Must try tomorrow