10 years, 10 whole years.

joe stodge · 12-05-2014 09:02PM #1

I was just talking to my neighbour today and he was telling me about a couple who work with his wife.

They are Lithuanian and moved here in 2003. They were already married with no kids, they set themselves up with jobs in a nursing home and rented a box room in a house from one of the nurses who worked there.

They worked every hour under the sun and For 10 years they saved, they spent nothing.

Not for food, they ate in breakfast, lunch and dinner in the nursing home for free, walked to work instead of paying for the bus. no holidays, no luxuries, spending only on the essentials.

10 years of no social life, 10 years of work all to buy a house cash up front.

They bought a house a few months ago with cash, credit where credit is due. Fair play to them.

I couldn't do it, could any of you put yourselves through that for 10 years just to be mortgage free??

antodeco · 12-05-2014 09:04PM

im mortgage free anyway, but have to live with my wife as a consequence! :pac:

Pinch Flat · 12-05-2014 09:04PM

joe stodge wrote: »

I was just talking to my neighbour today and he was telling me about a couple who work with his wife.

They are Lithuanian and moved here in 2003. They were already married with no kids, they set themselves up with jobs in a nursing home and rented a box room in a house from one of the nurses who worked there.

They worked every hour under the sun and For 10 years they saved, they spent nothing.

Not for food, they ate in breakfast, lunch and dinner in the nursing home for free, walked to work instead of paying for the bus. no holidays, no luxuries, spending only on the essentials.

10 years of no social life, 10 years of work all to buy a house cash up front.

They bought a house a few months ago with cash, credit where credit is due. Fair play to them.

I couldn't do it, could any of you put yourselves through that for 10 years just to be mortgage free??

Be a bummer if you dropped dead 9 odd years into it.

Spring Onion · 12-05-2014 09:05PM

No, you wont get those 10 years back. I would rather work hard when I am middle aged and the kids have grown up.
But you have to hand it to Eastern Europeans, they are hard workers and they are often treated badly by Irish employers.

Spring Onion · 12-05-2014 09:05PM

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Be a bummer if you dropped dead 9 odd years into it.

Or 10 years + 1 day

Chucken · 12-05-2014 09:09PM

Now they can relax and enjoy themselves however they choose to.
They wont ever have to worry about someone taking their home.
Fair play to them for having a plan and sticking to it.

Chucken · 12-05-2014 09:11PM

Spring Onion wrote: »

No, you wont get those 10 years back. I would rather work hard when I am middle aged and the kids have grown up.
But you have to hand it to Eastern Europeans, they are hard workers and they are often treated badly by Irish employers.

That's presuming you have a job when you're middle aged

deseil · 12-05-2014 09:12PM

I wish I had of done it 10 years ago....but im not starting now.

super_furry · 12-05-2014 09:12PM

A decade of existing rather than living? No thanks.

ElleEm · 12-05-2014 09:13PM

I don't know that I would ever be able to think that far ahead to the future.

Phoebas · 12-05-2014 09:14PM

joe stodge wrote: »

They bought a house a few months ago with cash, credit where credit is due.

:pac:

131spanner · 12-05-2014 09:14PM

I wouldn't have the perseverance to save money for 10 years without spending a single cent to be honest. I'd have to be spending some little bit on my interests to keep me trundling along

Sir Osis of Liver. · 12-05-2014 09:17PM

Bet the property tax wiped the smile off their smug foreign faces.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 12-05-2014 09:23PM

I was mortgage free in 17 years and could live reasonably normally in my own home during the time.

The One Doctor · 12-05-2014 09:23PM

Fair play, they had a single vision and they stuck to it. In 18 months I've only managed to save €10k, so €200k (or whatever) would be some way down the road.

Mr McBoatface · 12-05-2014 09:26PM

I've done something similar, my wife and I worked very hard, we wanted to be mortgage free by end of this year. The plan was to then spend as much time with our kids, take them on super family holidays, do nice things knowing we had our home secure.

She died in February, when I came home from the funeral the annual mortgage statement had arrived in the post. We had 7 thousand more in savings than owed on the mortgage. All that effort and hard work .......it was all meaningless, memories and moments that would be treasured today where never made.

Chucken · 12-05-2014 09:28PM

jobyrne30 wrote: »

I've done something similar, my wife and I worked very hard, we wanted to be mortgage free by end of this year. The plan was to then spend as much time with our kids, take them on super family holidays, do nice things knowing we had our home secure.

She died in February, when I came home from the funeral the annual mortgage statement had arrived in the post. We had 7 thousand more in savings than owed on the mortgage. All that effort and hard work .......it was all meaningless, memories and moments that would be treasured today where never made.

Aw Jesus, I'm so sorry to hear that

I hope you're doing ok.

Push Pop · 12-05-2014 09:29PM

No, fluck that, live your life now. Enjoy money when you are young if you are lucky enough. Owning a property isn't as amazing as you'd think.

wow sierra · 12-05-2014 09:31PM

joe stodge wrote: »

I was just talking to my neighbour today and he was telling me about a couple who work with his wife.

They are Lithuanian and moved here in 2003. They were already married with no kids, they set themselves up with jobs in a nursing home and rented a box room in a house from one of the nurses who worked there.

They worked every hour under the sun and For 10 years they saved, they spent nothing.

Not for food, they ate in breakfast, lunch and dinner in the nursing home for free, walked to work instead of paying for the bus. no holidays, no luxuries, spending only on the essentials.

10 years of no social life, 10 years of work all to buy a house cash up front.

They bought a house a few months ago with cash, credit where credit is due. Fair play to them.

I couldn't do it, could any of you put yourselves through that for 10 years just to be mortgage free??

Fair play to them. This thread is just one more sign of how we are still thinking in our Celtic Tiger attitudes. Walking to work and taking advantage of free food rather than paying for something a bit nicer?? Not exactly drastic to me.
Mind you if they haven't spent the money to visit their family and friends at home in Lithuania even once in ten years that is a bit drastic. Maybe spend a bit more and get a mortgage for part of the purchase price.

Banjo String · 12-05-2014 09:32PM

The One Doctor wrote: »

Fair play, they had a single vision and they stuck to it. In 18 months I've only managed to save €10k ", so €200k (or whatever) would be some way down the road.

"ONLY"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOlbOZ9w84I

Mr McBoatface · 12-05-2014 09:32PM

Chucken wrote: »

Aw Jesus, I'm so sorry to hear that
I hope you're doing ok.

Doing Ok, it ain't easy but doing ok.

Push Pop wrote: »

No, fluck that, live your life now. Enjoy money when you are young if you are lucky enough. Owning a property isn't as amazing as you'd think.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is now my plan

jubella · 12-05-2014 09:35PM

I could live like those people for a year at a push. But there's no way I could spend a decade of my life scrimping and saving every cent just to own a house. There are far more important things in life, it just wouldn't be worth it to me. And it's not about not working hard enough or anything like that, it's about living!!

jobyrne30 wrote: »

I've done something similar, my wife and I worked very hard, we wanted to be mortgage free by end of this year. The plan was to then spend as much time with our kids, take them on super family holidays, do nice things knowing we had our home secure.

She died in February, when I came home from the funeral the annual mortgage statement had arrived in the post. We had 7 thousand more in savings than owed on the mortgage. All that effort and hard work .......it was all meaningless, memories and moments that would be treasured today where never made.

So sorry to hear that

12-05-2014 09:38PM

Of all the things to save for, I have zero interest in buying a house

yosser hughes · 12-05-2014 09:40PM

Where's the house? You could buy a house for cash in some parts of the country for €50k.
I wouldn't want to live there though.

joe stodge · 12-05-2014 09:47PM

yosser hughes wrote: »

Where's the house? You could buy a house for cash in some parts of the country for €50k.
I wouldn't want to live there though.

It's an apartment in north Dublin.

professore · 12-05-2014 09:49PM

jobyrne30 wrote: »

I've done something similar, my wife and I worked very hard, we wanted to be mortgage free by end of this year. The plan was to then spend as much time with our kids, take them on super family holidays, do nice things knowing we had our home secure.

She died in February, when I came home from the funeral the annual mortgage statement had arrived in the post. We had 7 thousand more in savings than owed on the mortgage. All that effort and hard work .......it was all meaningless, memories and moments that would be treasured today where never made.

This. My son died of a brain tumour in 2010 9 months after coming back from a 3 week holiday in France. Those 9 months we spent a lot of money to do everything we could with him and got ourselves in significant debt as a result.

Do I regret the 3 week holiday or the debt? No way.

Cona · 12-05-2014 09:52PM

Not sure why someone wouldnt just do it for 5 years and get a mortgage for half the house price. You can still lead a good life even paying a mortgage

Right Turn Clyde · 12-05-2014 09:57PM

Sir Osis of Liver. wrote: »

Bet the property tax wiped the smile off their smug foreign faces.

As opposed to their smug faces.

Boombastic · 12-05-2014 10:13PM

10 years, that's almost a decade! no way, not for me

cabledude · 12-05-2014 10:15PM

This seems like a sensible plan.

But........

They started saving in 2003. From 1997 right up until 2008 there was exponential growth in the price of houses. Now, put yourselves in their shoes. By 2008 they had been saving for 5 years. In this time the amount they were saving was decreasing in terms of the average price of a house. In other words, the goalposts were constantly moving away from them.They must have thought that their mission was never going to be a success. No matter how much they saved, they were never going to be able to get to the level of being able to buy a house for cash.

But.......

We all know that the bottom fell out of the market. They were lucky. Had the prices stayed going the way they had been up to 2008, they never would have made the top of the mountain.

Fair play to them. They got a rub of the green.

LeinsterDub · 12-05-2014 10:23PM

Why not just get a mortgage and pay it off early?

10 years, 10 whole years.

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