And down we went to the Abbey, while my mother put her life savings into the building society.
I don't quite know how she did it but I do know it required a lot of sacrifice. Forget the posh coffees - I never had breakfast growing up - not til I went to university.
I don't remember mum buying any clothes for herself. The two of us did all our own DIY, including laying carpets. We rented a TV from Radio Rentals.
When people talk about 'saving, saving, saving' and then buying a house for themselves with either help from their parents, or the benefit of living rent-free in their parents' homes, they might be heroes for the tabloids, but they aren't getting any applause from me.
Mum had no external help, and yet managed to buy a property as prices declined to a national average of about £50,000 while mortgage rates were at their highest.
The house had no hot running water, no central heating, no insulation and a hole in the roof exactly the size of a damn wood pigeon. The windows had been left to rot since 1944 and it smelled of damp.
But it was hers.
As base rates dropped, and mortgage rates followed suit, so, too, house prices rose.
True, it took nearly 20 years for the both of us to get the house up to the standard that today's Gen Z generation seem to expect from a property.
But of more value than the estimate today on her two-bed terraced home is the lessons I learned about saving and borrowing from my mother.
- Buy things that are good value when the prices are low, and be patient.
- Save as much as you can, as often as you can.
- Give 10 per cent of all you have to people in need.
- Let interest rates work for you, rather than inflation working against you, when it comes to cash savings.
- Don't get into a mortgage or big loan you can't afford.
- Be prepared for some hard graft. The best things in life often require the most work.
And that's the story of how, at 12 years old, I learned about interest rates.
Maybe every 12 year old should learn a similar lesson - but preferably in the school curriculum, not the way I had to learn it.
Simoney Kyriakou is senior editor of FTAdviser
