Beginner's Questions-Now Shirlgirl's updates

shirlgirl2004

We live in a semi rural location and public transport isn't great but we can cycle to the nearest town in about 25 minutes and I have a trailer for the 2 LOs. It will be a pain as DD1 goes to school about 2 miles away and has to be there at 8.30am so I'll have to plan carefully for servicing etc. I'll have the car most of the time anyway as the OH gets to work in London by train from the nearest town. I think we just have average mileage so 10 or 12k should be enough.

I've just called for our actual mortgage balance and we've gone under 50k:j

evab_2

well done, fantastic motivation and good luck with all the plans.

Ev x

shirlgirl2004

This is MFW lark is very consuming for me but at least it doesn't cost anything!

I have I guess a nice dillema. Unless something radically changes we'll be MF in April 09. To achieve this we'll have to sell the cars as mentioned and use a couple of bonuses, which isn't a problem. We'll also have to carry on our standard OP of about £600 a month which is taken automatically and I don't really consider it an OP anymore. We'll also have to OP an additional £500 which is very manageable. The dilemma is (took me a while to get there:D ) should I aim to make much larger OPs or just not worry about it. The mortgage free date won't change because we (read OH) have a bonus paid in April which will clear the mortgage and I can't OP by that amount. I realise it will save some interest but don't know if it's worth releasing the reins on the finances a little. We haven't tightened the belts that much (although only eating out once a month etc) but it's only been 3 months and we have another 8 to go.

What would others do?

shirlgirl2004

At this rate OPs will grind to a halt. This coming month we have to:

Service my car (is due for service and makes sense to before selling).
Get the boiler serviced.
Pay for repair of very expensive shower screen which can't be replaced with a cheaper one.
Pay for DD1s party (£200 left to pay)
Buy expensive school uniform (the blazer alone is nearly £100)

Oh well guess the belts will tighten further. Now I know what we've always spent our money on in the past :rolleyes:

EssexHebridean

Goodness me - that's quite a month! Your DD1's party is costing more than my months food budget!! :eek:

So long as you're still keeping track of your spending and you know where the cash is going, then maybe relax a little? It doesn't sound like the interest you would save will make that much difference to your circumstances anyway.

setmefree2

Wow that is a tough month:eek: 'scuse me for being nosy but if there is £200 left to pay for the party how much is it costing in total?

shirlgirl2004

It's costing about £330. She's having a swimming pool party and the leisure centre is providing food for 30 children. She's starting school and there's 20 in the class plus friends from elsewhere. She won't be having such expensive parties every year!

shirlgirl2004

EssexHebridean wrote: »

It doesn't sound like the interest you would save will make that much difference to your circumstances anyway.

It isn't so much that we want to save interest more that we don't want to have to pay out for the mortgage each month. DD1 is starting at an independent school costing £7k a year and DD2 will start in a couple of years so to afford the payments without loss of lfestyle then we need to be mortgage free. I figure short term pain for long term gain . Don't like the pain much though

shirlgirl2004

Sold DDs old bed on Ebay so after costs will make £75 from that and have a couple of other bits on there too in a bid to clear the house of clutter and to be able to make some OP.

shirlgirl2004

Sold an unused backpack baby carrier on Ebay so after costs will have £80 for OP :j . This is really encouraging me to pull out those unused bits and sell them on. Why have I left them all in the loft