Pension Dilemma!

Hello!

 Mrs M was having a job dilemma yesterday, today I'm having a pension one!

My pension costs me a small fortune each month, it was 11% of my income, has increased by 1% and will go up by another 2 % within 2 years.

We are undergoing huge pension reforms as are many State sector workers, all the while employer contributions are decreasing and retirement age is getting further and further away.

My dilemma is this: Do I stay in the pension scheme I signed up for, knowing I don't want to do my full term in the job ( I'm hoping to  foster) and knowing that I won't be able to claim it until I'm 67 anyway.

 Or do I come out of it  and over pay my mortgage?

Overpaying would save you
£46,994 in interest alone,
and mean you pay it off in full
8 years and 7 months earlier.

My pension is vastly reduced due to paying lower payments whilst I was part-time working and is never going to be  a "full" pension like my husbands. I do worry it will leave me pensionless should anything happen between us, it isn't likely to but it  doesn't pay to be complacent.

Over-paying my pension payments and debt free amounts would lead to Mortgage freedom quicker and we could then plough cash into high interest savings which I know aren't as good as a pension but would be in our  control as opposed to our employers?

Does anyone have any suggestions/advice?

I've been waiting to use  this for ages!!!

Guilt about Spending!

Hello,

I hope you're all loving the Olympics as much as I am? I know they're not everyone's cup of tea and I've read a few blogs where people appear perplexed about the money spent on them. I appreciate a different point of view however my view is that it has been about something positive, yes a lot of money has been spent but they have been a real shot in the  arm for us a nation, replacing apathy with pride and enthusiasm. Let's not forget the terrible scenes of  last August when there was rioting on the streets of London.

Well, I've spent a bit of money this week and unusually I feel guilty about it! I'm loving my money snowball and  have been avidly adding my spends : -( and payments : -) however  needed to buy a new iron ( mine began spurting like an old geyser!)  I shopped around and managed to find an interest free deal and with some saved points took £21 off the price. ( It was fairly expensive but it's a horrid job so anything to make it easier!)

So far so good! But then I started planning for my milestone birthday in a few weeks....  I'll have to change my "about me" put it that way! Mr M and I have a few days planned away and we are going to Somerset, we really want to go here

It's called Stourhead and is a  National Trust Property. The house is amazing and the grounds to die for!
As you walk around the grounds  there are  temples and follies to look at as well as amazing landscaping and views!
I was looking at paces to stay, as you can imagine Somerset/Dorset isn't the cheapest area to holiday in. 
I found some gorgeous B&B's, with lovely rooms and  delicious looking breakfasts but with not so delicious prices. It was averaging £230 for 3 nights B&B which seemed a lot to me! I spoke to Mr M and we both decided that it was too much and that we'd rather stay somewhere cheaper and have more cash to spend
 ( on new notebooks!!) Cue an email received from these people:

A bit of research later and we have 3 nights at a nearby Premier Inn for £127! We've stayed in Premier Inns many times before and have always found them perfectly acceptable and if you can get them at a bargain price even better!  ( I'm not sponsored  by them!) Money saved that can go towards the petrol for the journey.

But that's not all! A friend mentioned they were going to Buckingham Palace whilst it's open for the summer. It's something I've always wanted to do and it turns out so has Mr M and our son! I went on to the website and fortuitously it will still be open on my birthday in early October so £57 later the 3 of us will be off to the Palace to see the State Rooms and the Jubilee Exhibition, yay!!  

Part of me feels bad for spending this money but then I think becoming debt free is a journey and a bit like a diet. You can go cold turkey and stop spending completely but just like cutting out certain foods pretty soon you start craving them! I've reasoned with myself that my big birthday is a once in a decade occurrence and it would be nice to look back and think I had a great week with my family. And by working hard at paying off what we owe so far, has freed up some "fun money" so why the  guilty feeling?!!

My Long Term Dream

Hello,

I've reached double figures with my blogging  friends, welcome Anglesey Allsorts! 


 We all have a dream/aspiration/reason for living frugally/becoming debt/mortgage free.


My long term dream is to foster.

I turn 40 this year! 
My job is in the public sector and we are all under constant pressure to work harder, for less whilst contributing more to our pension. I'm certain that I don't want to continue until I'm 60 in the same job and I want to pursue my dream to foster, luckily Mr M is supportive as otherwise it would be a non-starter!!

So, here's the plan!

We  have been blessed with one son, he's bright, funny, charming, inquisitive and loving, I couldn't be any prouder. He wants to go university ( like his father) and has his sights on Cambridge,he's only 9 !!
It goes without saying we will fully support him to university and beyond,I wouldn't want to do anything prior to university ( or after)  that might jeopardise his future, he is the priority.

However once he has gone then I can look to  Foster!  : - )

Ideally I would like us to be mortgage free, fostering can be erratic and being mortgage free would mean we wouldn't have to worry if we had a few months without anyone. I went on a mortgage calculator (thank you Martin Lewis) and it told me this:

 Overpaying would save you

£61,296 in interest alone,
and mean you pay it off in full
11 years and 1 month earlier.  

To be mortgage free in 10 years  I would need to find another £700 a month! My first thought was that it couldn't be done so that would be that! However, following advice on other blogs I've snowballed my debts. I started looking at the numbers and I realised that once I have cleared the debt that would be the extra £700 and this could actually happen.
At the start of June my snowball predictor thingy said I would clear the debt in 73 months, I've followed Mrs SFT's advice and started to see it as a game that I'm going to WIN! By making extra this month through eBay sales and overtime I have managed to take 3 months off that time and I fully intend to do more next month.I'm saving in a sealed pot as well as my £2 coins.

So at the moment it will still take me 6 years to pay off the debts before I can start on the mortgage.
 I'm determined to get this down, the sooner it's down the sooner I can pay off the millstone around our neck and look to my new career.
I'm conscious of still living in the moment and budgeting for treats including a cheeky little girls trip to Dublin in October ; - ) and not forgetting the lovely Betty ( who will also help my losing weight/fitness regime!)

Right now I'm going  back to my snowball spreadsheet to see how much more I would need to make to bring it down quicker ( obsessive? Moi?!)

What are your hopes and dreams for your future? x

Snowballing in June

Hello!

I hope you have had a wonderful Jubilee weekend wherever you are.
Did you relax and watch the festivities or like us have a project to get done? 

The art of skip arranging being passed down through the generations!

Our garage started like this!

The roof has been leaking for years and we haven't been able to repair it, whatever was in there  became soaked and then went rotten.

But was soon looking like this 

2 Hours later, thanks to my wonderful 9 year old son,  Dad in Law and husband!


The plan is that this will become my workroom for my furniture renovations. We just need the sun to start shining now to dry it all out ready for damp-proofing and painting.

Anyway, this has nothing to do with the title ! I follow Frugal Queen avidly and she recently wrote a great post about how to get out of the  cycle of debt and that "snowballing" is a great way to start this off ! I found a snowballing calculator and after an hour of locating paperwork and inputting the figures I found out that I have the "average" amount of un-secured debt ( for that read thousands!) and it's going to take me 73 months to pay it off if I carry on paying the amounts I am at the moment.

WOW! What a wake up !

This has made me realise that I've kind of being playing at the whole debt reduction thing and that if I don't change my attitude to spending/wanting/needing then I will forever be caught in this cycle. For me it's not just about being debt free but also wanting to give something back, not necessarily financially it might be volunteering or something else,  I haven't figured it out yet but owing less will certainly enable me to do something.

I'm off to read up on money saving tips and to sell my entire  wardrobe on eBay!!

Any suggestions on what I could do gratefully received.
Thanks for reading x

Mortgage Shock!

Having read so many great blogs and seeing that the move to mortgage  freedom is the way forward, I contacted my mortgage provider to see what the oustanding balance on our account is.

Well, it was a shock, we still owe £180,861.32!!!

We moved into our home 6 years ago. Whilst probably not to everyone's  taste, I fell in love with the large 1970's windows, the  driveway, the knocked through lounge, the cul de sac location  and the lovely pensioners in their  bungalows across the way (although at the time we weren't aware of their penchant for cutting their lawns early on Sunday mornings!)
I gave Mr M a list of reasons why we should move and he agreed (admittedly I had plied him with a nice meal and plenty of wine prior to presenting him with the pros and cons, heavily weighted to the pros!) And 6 years on we're still here working our  way through the place making improvements when we can afford them.
 We really over-stretched ourselves to buy the house and whilst we don't regret it it has taken us until now to nearly clear the loans  and credit cards we took out to finance the move. We had many months were we were living off credit cards, using one to pay for food and another for nursery fees, I look back and wonder how I slept at night! But we're nearly there now, only 2 credit cards and 2 loans. One loan finishes in August and then we can concentrate on the credit cards and then the mortgage.

I 've been so inspired by the blogs I've read, they've really given me the push and ideas to try and get rid of the ball and chain that is our mortgage as quickly as possible. Thank you x 

Introducing Mabel & Maisy

In the future, when we've cleared some debts...
These will be my  Mabel and Maisy x