being tight has paid off

To be honest this has a lot to do with what you deem "fun".

For me this involves hitting the town in London on occasion; going to very nice restaurants; going to the pub with mates a lot; going on holiday to the Carribean, South East Asia, Mexico, Canada, America; having weekend breaks to Europe; driving a Merc; buying nice clothes; going to the theatre; being a member of a private club; staying in nice hotels; buying nice presents for my family; going on weekend's away with friends; buying gadgets; going to dinner dances etc...

I'd be "happy" not doing that stuff, but also a bit bored. I am also definitely happier for having done it. In my view, the last thing I want to do is look back on my 20's and think - god i wish i did X, Y and Z when I was young. Being "tight," I believe, would result in that.

Sure i may have a large mortgage, but I bought a flat in central London and I'm 26 and still have a long way to go!
 
kgi said:
Sooooo,

44k mortgage, 6k redundancy and 3 months in lieu. That means something like 44k-6k-2k?

Leaves about 36k that you paid over 10 years, 3.6k a year, 300 pounds a month???

While it's excellent that you paid it off as it must have been quite a burden, 300 a month extra is not going to change much is it? If I was you I'd be looking for a better paid job, you'd probably earn more than what you have saved by overpaying all this time.
Click to expand...

Horses for courses.

But if that's the way it stacks up, it doesn't seem as impressive a victory by being "tight". More impressive is the gain you have had on a £44k house...now that is a serious WIN!
 
rossyl said:
To be honest this has a lot to do with what you deem "fun".

For me this involves hitting the town in London on occasion; going to very nice restaurants; going to the pub with mates a lot; going on holiday to the Carribean, South East Asia, Mexico, Canada, America; having weekend breaks to Europe; driving a Merc; buying nice clothes; going to the theatre; being a member of a private club; staying in nice hotels; buying nice presents for my family; going on weekend's away with friends; buying gadgets; going to dinner dances etc...

I'd be "happy" not doing that stuff, but also a bit bored. I am also definitely happier for having done it. In my view, the last thing I want to do is look back on my 20's and think - god i wish i did X, Y and Z when I was young. Being "tight," I believe, would result in that.

Sure i may have a large mortgage, but I bought a flat in central London and I'm 26 and still have a long way to go!
Click to expand...

What the hell do you do for a living?!? :eek:

I'm nearing 30 and could never dream of visiting any of those places (besides London, obviously)!
 
rossyl said:
Horses for courses.

But if that's the way it stacks up, it doesn't seem as impressive a victory by being "tight". More impressive is the gain you have had on a £44k house...now that is a serious WIN!
Click to expand...

It's artificial really. He doesn't gain anything from his house price going up simply because if he sold it he couldn't (this is just my speculation) buy anything better than what he already has anyway. So unless he sells off and retires to his holiday house then there's not much to gain.

When house prices go up they go up for the house you want to upgrade too - usually disproportionally to your disadvantage.
 
lol /fail to all those who thought he paid off a £140k mortgage, it clearly didnt say that.

L2read whats written not skim and then assume.

All credit to you, lots of people just dont understand the millstone that a mortgage is. Ok assuming you have to suffer some short term pain, you will see much better long term gain.
Why pay £10,000s in interest you dont need to for the sake of a shinier car now or wasting money on expensive coffee etc.
 
rossyl said:
To be honest this has a lot to do with what you deem "fun".

For me this involves hitting the town in London on occasion; going to very nice restaurants; going to the pub with mates a lot; going on holiday to the Carribean, South East Asia, Mexico, Canada, America; having weekend breaks to Europe; driving a Merc; buying nice clothes; going to the theatre; being a member of a private club; staying in nice hotels; buying nice presents for my family; going on weekend's away with friends; buying gadgets; going to dinner dances etc...

I'd be "happy" not doing that stuff, but also a bit bored. I am also definitely happier for having done it. In my view, the last thing I want to do is look back on my 20's and think - god i wish i did X, Y and Z when I was young. Being "tight," I believe, would result in that.

Sure i may have a large mortgage, but I bought a flat in central London and I'm 26 and still have a long way to go!
Click to expand...

How?
 
I'm happy to say I live completely debt free. Have been for 6yrs now. Been smart with my buying and selling, Especially at the start. Live in a very nice part of the world now, nice pool home, decent enough cars (Audi A4 Cabriolet and VW Gti and minivan) Wife doesn't need to work and is at home to raise our children, and I just have a non-managerial mid-income stress free job. All done on our own. No handouts.. Actually back in 98 all my missus and I had was our okish cars at the time to sell to put down on our deposit on our new flat. Had to make a few little sacrifices at the time.. Like driving around in a crap car for a few months. Always been on holiday every yr, though that 1st yr we had to go to Turkey .. Yuck.. Always been able to buy the latest gadgets and we've just been smart with our money not wasting any of it.

Can be done folks.
 
Last edited:
I decided that I want to enjoy my like a little, I could probably have a 150k smaller mortgage then I do if I had been tight since my teens but I would have not had the cool cars, toys trips and probably a lot less sex :)

I am still young and have no kids yet so I have time to enjoy myself, when I am older I think I will be on a better income then I am now so I will worry clearing the mortgage when I make it to consultant level.

Worst case scenario when we move house next time I will just buy a cheaper places and be completely mortgage free
 
Last edited:
Wizzfizz said:
Good for you.

But personally I would never sacrifice my family's lifestyle just to pay off my mortgage any quicker. You never know how long you have with your family and thus I'd want to live it to max but within my means. Not be tight fisted.
Click to expand...

they will have an extra £500+ free per month now?
 
PMKeates said:
How?! The family income is under £20k yet you've paid probably over £100k off in 9.5 years? That leaves less than £10k a year for the "family" to live on, and you have a holiday home!?
Click to expand...

We've had him make similar silly claims before. He seems very proud of the fact his entire family combined earns less than £20k AND he's putting a child through University AND he has a holiday home AND he's buying another in Europe AND he's paid off his mortgage in 9.5 years. And he drives the length of the country all the time to his holiday home. Given he can't have a particularly high end job if his household income is under £20k quite why he doesnt simply move to Cornwall I've no idea.

All on £20k?

It doesnt add up.
 
Last edited:
Pestilence said:
What the hell do you do for a living?!? :eek:

I'm nearing 30 and could never dream of visiting any of those places (besides London, obviously)!
Click to expand...

Part of those places I went to on my gap year. The rest has just been saving whilst working, or blowing a lot and paying it off gradually! I'm a lawyer.

kgi said:
It's artificial really. He doesn't gain anything from his house price going up simply because if he sold it he couldn't (this is just my speculation) buy anything better than what he already has anyway. S.
Click to expand...
That is very true.
G-MAN2004 said:
How?
Click to expand...
how, what?
 
my friend pays off as much of his mortgage as he can P/A but he never gets to go out, treat himself or anything when he's at an age where he should be doing this. i fail to see the point in this. if you get a mortgage you can afford to pay off over a period and have some of lifes luxuries, why sacrifice this? it's not all about the money, life's for living
 
Even though I'm mortgage free, I still need to be a tight wad due to having to save a load of money by the end of next year :(

Have 15k sitting in an account to buy a new car (been meaning to ask in Motors but still plugging up the courage :p) and need to save thrice that amount to take a year off in 2012 to focus on a career change.

It's strange that me and the missus are quite enjoying this money saving expedition. It can be rather addictive.
 
Pestilence said:
That was my thought, LOL. However, the house was purchased 10 years ago = CHEAP if it's worth 140k now, so a small mortgage. Also explains the holiday home.

The wife and I have an income of over twice the OPs, but we can't afford to take a proper holiday for a few days let alone a couple of months in the year. Making mortgage overpayments to us is cloud cuckoo land.
Click to expand...

You can afford it you just don't want to lower your life style and save up for it.
 
[TW]Fox;17476985 said:
We've had him make similar silly claims before. He seems very proud of the fact his entire family combined earns less than £20k AND he's putting a child through University AND he has a holiday home AND he's buying another in Europe AND he's paid off his mortgage in 9.5 years. And he drives the length of the country all the time to his holiday home. Given he can't have a particularly high end job if his household income is under £20k quite why he doesnt simply move to Cornwall I've no idea.

All on £20k?

It doesnt add up.
Click to expand...

He paid off 44k in 9.5 years which equates to something like £360 a month of the course of that time. If he earns around 19k a year that's over a grand take home with around 600-700 disposable income after sinking money into the mortgage. Take a £300 away for living costs and you're left with thousands over the course of years.

When I was a student I lived on £780 a month which excluded rent (£300 a month). I ran a car, had two European holidays a year, went out at least once a week, bought toys galore and still managed to save up around 9k in three years.

It easily adds up if you watch your money very carefully.
 
But this is a family income.

Do you know how much extra it takes when there are 2 or even 3 people in a household ? There is 4 people (so 2 kids) in the OPs family.....Do you know how much it takes to bring a kid up normally these days.....


And - They still only have £300 a month - £75 a week for food/clothes/presents/having fun & any extras.....

Last week I had to buy 2 pairs of trainers for my son - which cost me £50. If I hadn't - his feet would have been squashed into shoes that were too tight. And yes - I do know that you can get 2nd hand ones, or ones from cheap shops at £4/£5 a pair - but seriously - do you think they are suitable......Just one example


To me - cutting costs like that is madness at his age, and with a family. He isn't a student - and I fail to see how his kids could understand or agree with his ideas.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom