*sigh* this may take a while

in_need_of_direction

l left the driving lessons to the professionals.  I could not have coped with anything additional to fight over during the terrible teens.  I would block pay as birthday/ Christmas presents and they added to it with the spoils of part time jobs or stuff around the house e.g. painting 

Drawingaline

ohshithowdidthathappen said:

Drawingaline said:

My parents paid for us all to learn to drive. My kids have 1k in their child trust funds, I have told them I will pay for them to learn at 17, but I will need some contribution from the CTF money when they get it at 18. It's just too expensive otherwise, esp with the big two only having a 16mth age gap. I won't be buying any of them a car either. I learnt to drive at 18, had my first car at 24. 

My husband never passed his test and tbh seeing how awkward it can be with a non driving adult, I think they will be motivated to pass asap. Esp the boy if he wants to become a plumber!

CTF is a good idea, my oldest 3 have them - I never contributed, so it's just what's grown from the original government contribution.  Entitled teen's is worth £1200 at the mo.... she could use some of that for her share of driving lessons.
I can't imagine not being able to drive, must be limiting!

Yes, with only about 1k in there it's not like mine can use it for anything huge, and I think learning to drive is a good life skill. I won't be letting them loose in my car though, we only have one and it's a big 7 seater so a bit different to what they might learn in.

My first car was a 2cv, given to me by a relative. That was a steep learning curve, but I always claim after driving that I can pretty much drive anything!!! 

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Thanks all, lots to ponder over the coming months.... think I'll err on the cautious side to start with and not overcommit.  Sounds like an expensive  exercise all round.
I remember thinking that babies were expensive and people laughing and saying 'wait until the teenage years.... now I know what they meant 

savingholmes

Sounds like a plan. TBF - my DS's uni costs from us were pretty much the same per month as his nursery costs had been if that's a guide for you.

mark55man

one more thing (sorry).  I think there will be a bit of a glut on 2nd hand cars post lockdown, so the prices may be good over next  months, except a lot of the cars won't have moved or been used a lot if at all.  this can be very bad.

Also, although its more expensive I wouldn't be going to far down the banger-nomics route when/if you do pull the trigger.  something smallish and 3-5 years old could only be a £2-3k rather than £995 of something you don't trust.  A small contribution here could make a big difference and you will then leverage that through the other kids.  If your DD is going to uni she won't need a car there (despite what she may say)  so the extra you put into the car will trickle down to the others

ohdearhowdidthathappen

savingholmes said:

Sounds like a plan. TBF - my DS's uni costs from us were pretty much the same per month as his nursery costs had been if that's a guide for you.

Uni costs... that's a whole new level of pain.  I'm in denial at the moment, although I've read the MSE guidelines and the fact the government means test the loans!  We're only intending to contribute towards food at the moment (£100pm) and expect her to get loans and a job to pay the rest.  I think that may be naivety (denial  ) on our part though

ohdearhowdidthathappen

mark88man said:

one more thing (sorry).  I think there will be a bit of a glut on 2nd hand cars post lockdown, so the prices may be good over next  months, except a lot of the cars won't have moved or been used a lot if at all.  this can be very bad.

Also, although its more expensive I wouldn't be going to far down the banger-nomics route when/if you do pull the trigger.  something smallish and 3-5 years old could only be a £2-3k rather than £995 of something you don't trust.  A small contribution here could make a big difference and you will then leverage that through the other kids.  If your DD is going to uni she won't need a car there (despite what she may say)  so the extra you put into the car will trickle down to the others

Yes, 2-3 year old cars def seem the happy medium.
When our car finance and lease cars finish, we need to move to these ourselves.  Our current lease is £240pm (7seater) and car finance for other small car is £210pm.  Such a financial drain 

ohdearhowdidthathappen

We get paid tomorrow so I've just transferred the £4K we owe to FIL, making us debt free finally 
We still have car finance, but I don't count that as the car is worth more than the finance and it's interest free (probably cheating, but hey).
Feels nice to have it cleared, especially as we've still been spending on house renovations while paying down the debt.  Still need to sort a proper plan on where and what to save moving forward and how much to overpay mortgage.
I also want to revisit whether to continue with my weekend job now we've cleared the debt, I only work 5.5 hours every weekend, but it earns £250pm and I get a lot of nice perks from my side hustle employer, so I constantly dither about dropping it.  Won't rush to decide either way.... if I keep it, I want to do something specific with the wage ie holiday fund or extra mortgage overpayment.
I work 22.5 hours at the hospital, so could do with my weekends free.  Dilemma 

DancingInTheRain

Wonderful news! Many congratulations 🎉

XSpender

Congratulations on becoming debt free