Buying a house without a mortgage

Frugaldom

Well done so far, Pavlov's!

Only one criticism... what's that £6.28 on the balance? Can't you have a tub of coins for transferring to the H.I. account and make it up to a nice round £15,610 and then aim for 15,650 and then 15,700? :rotfl:

I've revamped all my challenges in signature and have been very brave about the quit smoking fund; I'm recording it as actual amount banked without rounding it up and without including the interest. :eek: Buy it's doing my head in!! :rotfl:

pavlovs_dog

nykmedia wrote: »

Well done so far, Pavlov's!

Only one criticism... what's that £6.28 on the balance? Can't you have a tub of coins for transferring to the H.I. account and make it up to a nice round £15,610 and then aim for 15,650 and then 15,700? :rotfl:

i only count the money that is actually in the ISA, not in the HI account. not much i can do about the odd amounts im afraid. but you'll be glad to hear my new ISA pays interest monthly, so i can update more regularly

are you feeling the benefits of giving up the little white sticks of death yet? you've done a few months now, havent you?

autismmum

got married at 16, got mortgage at 16 on flat, worked hard, paid off mortgage by 30,
got small one of 10 k for 10yrs ( cheaper than loan ) paid it off in two years, all done.

get mortgage get paying it off, what a nice inheritance for your kids, good start for them when they have their own teens to help house.

Frugaldom

Not feeling any different at all without the cigs, but was never an 'addict' in the 25 years I did smoke. I had no withdrawl symptoms and no cravings. Got practically 'chucked off' the quit smoking thread, though, so I'll say it here - it's easy being a quitter.:rotfl:

My savings are split between ISAs and HI, both with monthly interest payments. I went with variable rates, though, so I am not happy at a drop in interest rates to 5% and 6.19% That's why I started my brand new Interest beater challenge to see how much tax free money I can raise. Proceeds from that will be transfering to the house fund, but I've kept a seperate note of how much I earn. It's 2008/9 tax year, so it doesn't include the £50 premium bonds win from January.

Frugaldom

autismmum wrote: »

got married at 16, got mortgage at 16 on flat, worked hard, paid off mortgage by 30,
got small one of 10 k for 10yrs ( cheaper than loan ) paid it off in two years, all done.

get mortgage get paying it off, what a nice inheritance for your kids, good start for them when they have their own teens to help house.

WELL DONE! Don't suppose you're retiring anywhere near Shapinsay? That's where I was heading in my original plan.

Some of us on here can't get mortgages and we certainly can't get houses for small sums of money, although it would be nice. Do whatever it takes to stick with your plan, because life has a strange way of changing things around completely at the drop of a hat.

GOOD LUCK!

Lunar_Eclipse

Toto wrote: »

we earn a decent living.

Reading between the lines, I suspect you are probably earning more than 'a decent living'. The average house price in the South is along the lines of 300k I believe (which doesn't buy much in nice areas). Which would mean an annual saving of £75k! Which would be fantastic, but a fair bit more than a decent living IMO.

butterfly72

nykmedia wrote: »

Cheap herb garden ideas - always, always check the supermarkets for the potted herbs as they reduce them often just to clear them off the shelves as there's nobody to water them. But these are live plants, pay a few pence (max I have paid was 75p) and then repot them at home. Instant herb garden and each time you cut some, more grows These are also OK to repot outside as soon as the chance of frost has passed. A budget of £10 should fairly fill a garden, I would think

Ok, I'm ready to roll with the herbs! I've been to the garden centre and bought everything I need. Not very money saving I know! In all I got the growing herbs, large pots, compost, gravel for £60. I'm sure once its up and running it'll pay for itself. My plan is:

pot 1 - coriander, parsley, sage, rocket
pot 2 - thyme, oregano, bay
pot 3 - mint
pot 4 - rosemary

I'm going to put them in the pots today. Do you think they will be ok outside now? I know the coriander needs to stay indoors for a few weeks yet.. but the others?

Frugaldom

butterfly72 wrote: »

pot 1 - coriander, parsley, sage, rocket
pot 2 - thyme, oregano, bay
pot 3 - mint
pot 4 - rosemary

I'm going to put them in the pots today. Do you think they will be ok outside now? I know the coriander needs to stay indoors for a few weeks yet.. but the others?

It depends where abouts you live. We are still liable to get a touch of ground frost here, so my plants are still all indoors. Once they are moved to bigger planters then I'll probably start to put them outside in May. I'm no gardening expert, I'm afraid, I just know that herbs from the supermarkets keep on growing and have ended up going outside into various gardens that have been attached to my previous rentals

Sorry it took so long to respond, I wasn't expecting gardening questions in the 'buy a house without a mortgage' challenge thread. :rotfl:

On the housebuying front - prices are dropping or else houses aren't selling, but they still aren't back within the realms of reality. Trouble is, the faster the prices fall, the faster the initial offers are being made as there will always be people looking to buy homes. Eg: 2 bed farm cottage with about 1.5 acres land at o/o £185k - went under offer within a week of coming on the market! Yet the 5 bed, 3 storey renovation project hasn't had a bite at o/o £105k All of this tells me one think - we're getting closer to it becoming a cashbuyers' market. :T

kingmonkey

Jack frost killed my jalapeños about 2 weeks ago!

butterfly72

nykmedia wrote: »

Sorry it took so long to respond, I wasn't expecting gardening questions in the 'buy a house without a mortgage' challenge thread. :rotfl:

I think it was you started on about herbs and gardening in the first place wasn't it!!! :rotfl:

but you're right... i've since posted in the gardening thread!