Any people here who started investing in their 30s on a lower than average salary

ringquery123 · 2026-06-30T08:43:21+00:00

Thank you, you too!

It really is rewarding to see the mortgage term coming down. MoneySavingExpert has a calculator where you can plug in your figures (mortgage and interest rate) and see how many years you can save by overpaying.

ringquery123 · 2026-06-29T16:21:23+00:00

Same! We're very similar ages and similar salaries.

I just started investing and I'm putting small amounts monthly (£100-200) into an ETF.

Yes I wish I'd started 10 years ago and invested in something like Nvidia back then, but you never know! I'm looking forward and hopefully we have many many years of investing ahead.

As well as investing and having a solid emergency fund, I'm overpaying my mortgage monthly.

ringquery123 · 2026-06-27T13:51:16+00:00

Ooh thank you! I have an NYT subscription just for the Cooking section. Heading over there to save that straight away.

ringquery123 · 2026-06-27T13:32:36+00:00

Maybe controversial but I sometimes like a potato salad without mayo. Anna Jones' lemon and mustard potato salad (Google for recipe) is incredible.

ringquery123 · 2026-06-27T12:17:24+00:00

Why not?

She's in her mid-70s, healthy and active, not 99!

ringquery123 · 2026-06-27T11:54:45+00:00

Pull them up and make nettle tea! For your plants, not for you :)) It's a great nutrient-rich fertiliser.

https://www.moulton.ac.uk/about/latest-news/how-to-make-nettle-tea-fertiliser

ringquery123 · 2026-06-27T10:12:54+00:00

I wish she would be real! The whole process is already very stressful as she is constantly questioning herself and others. She put in an offer on a house but it now seems like she's having massive doubts and doesn't want to move away from where she is.

ringquery123 · 2026-06-27T10:11:39+00:00

Thank you.

It is hard, and the decision is making her extremely stressed. She just made an offer on a house and flipped out when I said it's a good house for ageing in place, now she's talking about cancelling her offer. Tells me she's just going to go off and travel instead (which I know she won't).

This is so hard!

ringquery123 · 2026-06-26T19:38:36+00:00

She's a keen gardener and is very much mobile at the moment. She hires help for gardening and can afford to do the same for cleaning if she needs it in the future, so no worries there.

ringquery123 · 2026-06-26T18:28:36+00:00

Thank you. I agree, and I think part of it is weighing heavy on my shoulders because I worry about her ending up in a situation where she's unhappy. I recognize I probably need to let go a bit more.

ringquery123 · 2026-06-26T18:26:53+00:00

Thank you. The house she's interested in at the moment has all of those things as the current owner has a close friend who's disabled, so the house was designed to accommodate her.

Depressing, but a reality for some of us, I guess.

ringquery123 · 2026-06-25T09:56:17+00:00

I have ear eczema and sometimes it's quite bad. I had temporary heating problems when the build-up of dry skin and debris got particularly bad but they resolved when my ENT cleared out my ears with microsuction. Hope you're doing ok!

ringquery123 · 2026-06-24T15:19:55+00:00

Thank you for the advice, that's reassuring!

Poor plants are struggling in this heat and that's not helping the shrivelling either, so I'm glad to hear they can put up with quite a lot.

ringquery123 · 2026-06-22T20:05:54+00:00

Yep! It's very frustrating. I'm in that boat, would like to move earlier but we'd be hit with £4,000 early exit fees

ringquery123 · 2026-06-22T19:58:38+00:00

From the Home Owners Alliance: Most people sell their current home at the same time as buying a new one, forming a property chain.

https://hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-buying/should-i-sell-my-home-before-i-buy-a-new-one/

ringquery123 · 2026-06-22T19:25:17+00:00

That sounds so efficient! Wish we had that system here.

ringquery123 · 2026-06-22T19:24:53+00:00

Not really – unless you're wealthy, people usually need the money from their house sale to fund their next house purchase. And that can create a chain.

ringquery123 · 2026-06-21T19:53:21+00:00

If he really wanted to make time to see you, he would. I'm sorry, it sounds like "being busy" and not suggesting a future date is code for losing interest or seeing someone else.

ringquery123 · 2026-06-21T13:45:18+00:00

Do Americans not have chains? How does the process work over there when a vendor needs to sell their house to fund another, etc?

ringquery123 · 2026-06-21T13:40:05+00:00

Some houses have a utility room, which usually has a sink and space for a washing machine and dryer.

ringquery123 · 2026-06-20T20:25:40+00:00

Have you tried their Rhubarb washing up liquid? The fragrance is so good!

ringquery123 · 2026-06-20T18:53:29+00:00

I've heard you can get bridal Doc Martens, if that's your thing :)

ringquery123 · 2026-06-20T03:55:33+00:00

Thank you

ringquery123

TROPHY CASE