Aiming to be mortgage free before I am 62!

mark55man

As of a decade ago the best way of doing provisional insurance was not to add to your main policy, but to get a separate provisional insurance (separately for each of the twins).  Typically you can do this for short periods after an initial month or so. Just google provisional insurance - I think one provider was marmalade but we used another collingwood who were (10 years ago) better value

We used to do Sunday to Saturday then skip Monday to Friday so could get a 2 good drives in at the weekend and then some manoeuvring practice in the evenings.  This optimised the discount vs coverage days to fit in with out lives, sometimes we skipped whole weeks - as despite the kids enthusiasm there are definite safety advantages is them not learning too quickly

I never did with twins so maybe different/ 

Tiredbutdetermined

Thank you so much @mark55man, I have had a look at Collingwood. That is slightly cheaper for an annual policy but has the big bonus of them starting to build their own no claims. The short term insurance sounds even better but I think I will have to wait until they actually turn 17 to be able to get a proper idea of cost.

I am going to go into school tomorrow so at least I won't feel like I keep putting reality off.  I have done some school work but just started lots of bits and finished nothing!

mark55man

No problem. My experiences - 3 children
DD1 - Really keen - Blend of instructor and me accompanying.  Ended up booking monthly periods
DS1 - Really keen - Blend of instructor and me accompanying.  Ended up booking 7 days/fortnight as above
DD2 - decided to get a 6 month policy as above but she hated it so much she stopped after 1 month!!

I'm pretty sure Provisional insurance didn't add to your NCB so be careful not to get a whole year until you are sure the twins are keen and be sure you are clear what that gets for them.

Also - DD1/DS1 instructor (was really good) was keen to stress the sooner after 17 you take your test the more likely you are to crash in year 1 + Insurance is extortionate - so I know your kids will be keen to drive and you will be keen to stop driving them - but a little delay in the process is not a bad result - unless you are super rural and the car is essential

Tiredbutdetermined

I have had a very expensive few days
Some good expenses with the twins GCSE results. My son got 2 x grade 6, 6 x grade 5 and 2 x grade 4 - very relieved as he wasn't on track to pass most so delighted for him to end up passing everything by a decent amount!
My daughter's art did not go well but she got 1 x grade 9, 2 x grade 8, 3 x grade 7, 3 x grade 6, 1 x grade 5 and 1 grade 2!
My daughter is off to do A levels so will be costing me £750 a year for the coach but that is going on a direct debit just in case. My son is gong to do professional cookery so he has cost me £280 in chef clothing and knives!
I have got my son all his top up school uniform ready for Y10.

It was lovely transferring them a scary amount of money for their reward/bribe and watching them spend like crazy. My daughter wanted to go an hour up the road to a shopping centre, which was fine until my car broke down on the way home.  It is now stuck in the garage and they are busy so not sure when it will be fixed but my car has an expensive clutch system, which now needs replacing but they haven't yet got it up onto the ramps to see what else needs replacing but it is going to be likely over £1500 - grrrarr!
I hate not having an idea of cost yet but am also terrified it won't be fixed this week and I have no idea how to get myself to work next week if it isn't sorted.
I also need to start the side hustle back up. I did a few hours on sunday so I have more cash for the car repair but for a friend who picked me up and dropped me home.  Hoping I hear something more concrete tomorrow.
I have chased up some more marking money I am owed but that may take a while apparently! I have also emailed finance at work about some expenses I am owed but no reply from them either - ahhhh!

Tiredbutdetermined

Need to update my signatures.
It has been a busy few months but I am still plodding away.
Work is crazy and I am struggling with the tutoring alongside.
I now have the added fun of braces to pay for plus driving lessons for twin 2. Still waiting to hear back from the DVLA about whether twin 1 can drive or not

I did the 3year mortgage challenge on here with the goal of getting my mortgage from its start value of £175,400 to £150,000 by the time the challenges finishes at the end of this year. I am pleased I have hit my target early but gutted I made awesome progress to start with but that has tailed off as the challenge wore on.

I use a little shading in picture on my budget planner for my goal of paying off the car finance. I banned myself from obsessing over settlement figures until the 2 page plan made it on to the same page with the savings going up and the balance owed coming down. I have finally made it onto the same page so I have my settlement figure, which allows me to think about an estimated early pay off date.  I would love to have an optimistic goal of January/February and a realistic goal of March but one of my savings accounts doesn't pay annual interest until mid February so I think make my final payment on 1st February and then pay it off when the savings mature.  I am really excited about paying it off early and owning my own car plus releasing the £325 a month payment to boost the savings and pay down the dreaded mortgage 

Tiredbutdetermined

Grarrrr!
Typed that out then checked my email to find a message telling me the savings account interest I am waiting to mature is dropping from 5.25% to 5%.
I might just start praying even harder to the premium bonds gods

Tiredbutdetermined

I need to get a bit better at keeping my head in the game so I am going to make sure I am on here more regularly.
I just don't always have masses to update.
I am plodding away with a mindless game on swagbucks. I still have another 22 days to get further and complete more levels on that. I like mindless games that earn me tiny bits whilst mindless TV is on!

I am terrible at keeping up with diaries too. I try to read from the beginning and get my head around people's full journeys but I am terrible at reading at a reasonable rate frequently enough and am still years behind on most. I don't know if I just need to pick one diary and target that one!

mark55man

Awesome progress - I agree checking in everyday isn't always necessary but I do try and post at least twice a month as a minimum but once a week is better.  Its your diary and your experience though.  Plus,  it is a special sort of nice to see a diary pop up out of the blue with positive news

Interest rates are coming down even though the longer term loans like mortgages aren't coming down as much, so I would say now is a good time to be debt free - even though I am going a bit in the other direction for a short term reason. 

Tiredbutdetermined

Aww, thank you @mark55man, I think i just pop up with average or non-negative news! That sounds very moany but I am quite proud that nothing massive to report is actually a positive for me!

I am quite chuffed that the eldest said she wanted a calculator for Christmas but, at £105, she didn't think it was fair to ask for that.  I don't think she would get much street cred posting to social media on Christmas Day buzzing about such a geeky gift so I loved being able to whip the money out of the EF and get her the calculator just because.

My son has started a part-time job alongside college so he is paying 10% of his salary as board so he gets used to some deductions from his salary.  He thinks I use it for my chocolate addiction but I have it in an account for him further down the line, hopefully for a house deposit many years and payments down the line

Sarahwithlove

That's such a good idea getting your son to pay some of his salary towards board. It helps him learn to budget and understand that you don't get to keep it all for fun. Is he a natural saver or does he spend it? I did a mixture of both and was able to pay for my own driving lessons, car and insurance as a result. Hopefully he will save some as well.