we aim to find out how people in the UK are spending, saving and investing money to meet their costs and achieve their goals.
I grew up near Dartmoor and although my family wasn’t wealthy, we never went without. I didn’t go to university and had no idea what I wanted to do as a career. It’s taken me 20 years to figure this out. Although I try to save money, I just don’t know where it goes sometimes. I’m always dipping into my savings.
We took out a separate £10,000 mortgage for solar panels and a battery, which has an interest rate of 5.21 per cent. For the two mortgages, we pay £602 per month. We won’t be looking to move again until property prices and the costs of living come down. If we did move, we’d want a double garage and five bedrooms. We’d use one bedroom as our bedroom and the others as an office, craft room, games room and guest room. We’d want a driveway so we don’t have to worry about on-street parking. Privacy from neighbours would also be great. When we looked for a new home in 2021, prices were about £300,000. Now they are about £350,000.