Mortgage free by 2021?!

EatingTheElephant

Well done on the 5k completion and the amazing OPs.

I used to run with our last dog but haven't tried it recently with the one we have now. There's a few people with my type of dog that do Canicross which looks good fun. I'm sure he would love it if I ever found the time

smallholdingsister

You can borrow puppylove for running.
Once she realises you don't need to be arrested she is all good!

Busy_Mee1

Hi - running with a dog sounds great. I want a dog but work too much at the moment. Well done on 5 k - have you tried Park Run ? I have recently started running and discovered Park Run - great local events on a Saturday morning in most parks in the UK. You have to register on line to get a bar code then turn up and run - they then track your time for you. There is a great friendly atmosphere and they are quite motivating.

shangaijimmy

Our little pooch would quite happily sit and watch!

hiddenshadow

Thanks all! Debating whether to do another 5k tomorrow or ease back a bit as the last few minutes were quite tough (my step tracking app counted the last 0.2mi as walking rather than running )

Busy Mee1, there's a park run every Saturday on the other side of town, which is the same route as the 5k race I'm signed up for in May. Now that I can physically do a whole 5k I'll probably try and go at least once in the next 5 weeks before the race. It would be much easier with a car, though.

Speaking of, DH has his last couple of driving lessons this week and then his test on the 19th! Really hoping he passes so we could potentially buy a car the following weekend. Still debating the funding of said car, but at the moment I'm thinking ~10k loan at 3.4%, fill up new n@tionwide account with 2.5k at 5%, switch from Clyde$dale to Ll0yds for 4-5k at 4%, and aim to find a car for <= 3k. May be doing my sums wrong (only one cup of tea so far this morning), but in theory we'd make about £250 doing that - £356.62 interest on the 10k over 2 years going out; £600 interest coming in (assuming 1 year of n@tionwide and 1 year of a 3% interest account). Sounds like a win to me.

Petal88

Oh that sounds so sensible! My OH is terrible with money - nothing like he used to be when I met him at uni but still nowhere near the level of MSE/MMM I'd like him to be. That is, when he bought a car a couple of years back he insisted on getting one that cost 5k (and has needed about 2k's worth of repairing and servicing since I think!) plus he got a loan of 7k for it which he's still paying back and god knows where the extra 2k went? Although to be fair, I think his first year of insurance was 1.2k so that was probably it. Which reminds me - don't forget to include insurance in your calcs if you're planning on using the loan for it!

Well done on the 5k, you've just reminded me that I REALLY need to get back into running.

hiddenshadow

Ouch, Petal88! DH is not particularly financially savvy (or interested) but he's happy to let me geek away and tell him what we're doing with the money. Would only use the loan for the car purchase (to avoid drawing out of our 5% savings) and add to any 4-5% savings accounts (to make money).

I hope DH's insurance isn't 1.2k :eek: Edit: Just did a quote that's coming back around £750-850, which isn't too horrible. If we skipped comprehensive coverage and just went with third party/theft, it drops to £730-775, so may as well get the extra coverage. I've been assuming we'd put £100/mo into the car insurance/repairs pot each month, so that should be ok. Can always top up from the OP pot if absolutely necessary.

Petal88

Yes I'm not sure why it was so high that first time - it's definitely nearer the 600-700 mark now. We do pay it off in one go though as from memory the monthly payments end up being quite a lot pricier in total.

Thankfully OH mostly let's me deal with all the financial stuff, but unfortunately the car was entirely his as I don't drive so he was buying it with his own money (as he worse with money than I am we still have separate accounts - with a joint account for the mortgage/bills). He was also quite adamant about having a "nice" car as that's what's expected of him in his line of work.... jeez.

hiddenshadow

Ouch. I'm glad DH isn't bothered about cars, so we're going with whatever is 1) cheap 2) fits us 3) fits the dogs. I'm eyeing a couple in the £1,500-2,500 range nearby, though I'm sure in 2-4 weeks when we're ready to buy they'll be gone.

Friends have cautioned against getting anything sub-£4k for reliability reasons, but I'm guessing we'll be pushing it if we do 5,000 miles/year, probably more like 2,000-3,000 really. Unless the car is in complete crap shape (planning to pay AA or someone to look it over pre-purchase), if we buy something older with <= 50k miles on it it should still last us quite a while.

Petal88

Ah I see your reasoning Didn't realise about the <4k rule! Maybe OH didn't do too badly after all seeing as he's done around 4,000 miles this year already