FinancialBliss: My mortgage free journey…

financialbliss · 31 December 2008 at 9:19PM

Horlicks,

What an end to 2008. Our washing machine has just died :mad:

Still fills and drains - a guess is it's the drum motor that's gone. As it's 12+ years old, seal is perishing around door etc, I think we're due a new one.

Any MSE based hints 'n' tips for a washing machine?

I guess I need to look for spin speed, energy efficiency, low water usage etc. Any recommendations would be much appreciated, as I've not a clue (yet) here as I've only ever bought 1 washing machine.

FB.

financialbliss · 1 January 2009 at 9:45AM

Start as you mean to go on...

I've this morning overpaid the mortgage by 301.97, topping our standard payment of 898.03 up to 1,200.00 for the month. I don't anticipate making any further payments this month.

I've updated the graphs on post #1 of this diary. Once the payment clears, I'll update post #1 and my signature with updated totals.

Financial Bliss.

financialbliss · 1 January 2009 at 11:46AM

Bizarre.

The washing machine is working again. It got switched off at the wall overnight. Just done a test with it empty and it's working. Now got a load in, but doesn't sound particularly healthy. Suspect we'll need to replace it this year anyway.

Perhaps the last load was too heavy to spin?

Financial Bliss.

financialbliss · 1 January 2009 at 11:53AM

financialbliss wrote: »

Suspect we'll need to replace it this year anyway.

Typical, I've just posted the above and I've just been told it gave up on the rinse cycle. Oh well, a new washing machine it is then...

FB

Little_Mama · 1 January 2009 at 12:45PM

Hi FB, we bought one that operates on coldfill only, so you don't need to use the boiler for hot water thus saving on gas. It was also AAA rated and has a 29min fast wash for urgents like school tshirts with yoghurt stains down the front etc!

Don't know if it is the most economical but it works for us. Also if you look at the likes of John Lewis they often come with free guarantees for longer than you get in other high street stores....that's one bit of advice I didn't realise at the time.

LM

financialbliss · 1 January 2009 at 6:27PM

OK, final check of what was achieved against aims for 2008...

financialbliss wrote: »

I’m expecting 2008 to be a make or break year. The whole 12/12/12 concept is based on making mortgage payments of 1,250 or more per month. I’ll probably have a good idea by the end of this year if I’m still on track for 12/12/12 or if I’ve got my sums completely wrong…

As per my earlier post, I averaged 1,100 a month to the mortgage in 2008. Not quite as much as I'd hoped for, but I think I'm still in with a chance of clearing the mortgage by 12/12/12.

financialbliss wrote: »

#1 - Mortgage. Had to be top of the list really. As of today, I’ve a balance of 68,780. I’d like a balance to start with “57” on 31/12/2008. 57,000 or less would be great. 57k dead is 40% of my mortgage paid. This would take a monthly payment of 1,348.33 which is somewhat higher than my planned 1,250. However 57,999 would still be nice – this equates to a monthly payment of 1,259.32. So in summary, mortgage of 57,000 to 57,999 by 31/12/2008.

I reviewed the year end figure to 59,500 and achieved this.

financialbliss wrote: »

#2 - Reduce expenditure / increase income. To aid with #1, I’d like to be able to review and cut out and excess spending and attempt to also increase income.

Been pretty sensible with the spending this year, so I've marked this as achieved.

financialbliss wrote: »

#3 - Statement of affairs (SOA). I attempted one of these some time ago and to be honest, I don’t think I did a very good job. It’s always a good idea to see where you money is going and I’m sure once I’ve done this properly, I’ll be able to identify a few areas where we can trim things a bit.

:mad: Sometimes, I wonder how I find time for a diary. I was genuinely expecting to complete this during December, or failing that between Christmas and New Year. This didn't happen as it's been pretty hectic here. Will explain why in due course.

financialbliss wrote: »

#4 – Mrs Bliss. We’ve a pretty open and honest relationship and while I’m not intentionally doing this diary behind her back, she still doesn’t know about it. While I’ve not a specific timescale for this, eg this week / this month, I feel I owe it to her to be honest and open about it.
Update: 13/04/2008. Broke news about diary :eek:

Achieved this.

financialbliss wrote: »

#5 – Holidays. It’s not all about all work, no play. I’d like to have at least two “holidays” this year. Holidays in quotes meaning any break / short break away from home. First is already booked for a week in June.
Update: 20/01/2008. Booked second holiday on 20th Jan, so this has been achieved.

Achieved this.

financialbliss wrote: »

#6 – Monthly feeders. We’ve got two of these that are being filled at 250 each per month. I’ve roughly calculated that we’re unlikely to be able to feed at 250/m for July, August and September this year. However I’d like to still be able to feed these @ 250/m until they mature after September. Some creative accounting required.
Update: 28th Jan - decided not to force finances and leave a cash buffer we can draw on if needed.

Marked this down as achieved despite dropping my monthly saver imput for a while as I opened a new Halifax monthly saver.

Totals:
Achieved

:D:D:D:D
Failed: :mad:

Result - 5 out of 6 isn't too bad at all. 2009 aims coming shortly...

Financial Bliss.

financialbliss · 1 January 2009 at 11:08PM

Little_Mama wrote: »

Hi FB, we bought one that operates on coldfill only, so you don't need to use the boiler for hot water thus saving on gas. It was also AAA rated and has a 29min fast wash for urgents like school tshirts with yoghurt stains down the front etc!

Don't know if it is the most economical but it works for us. Also if you look at the likes of John Lewis they often come with free guarantees for longer than you get in other high street stores....that's one bit of advice I didn't realise at the time.

LM

Purchased a Hotpoint WMD960P 1600 spin washing machine in white earlier today – purchased on-line from a specialist white goods retailer. I’ll not mention their name in case it’s considered advertising – PM me if you want to know where I got it from.

Why that model? Went to Currys and Dixons earlier to have a hands on look at the goods and get the sales speil from the store staff. The WMD960 is a 1600 fast / variable spin with an 8kg drum, ie pretty large. Got AAA rating for energy, wash performance and spin performance, also has a 30 minute wash. Liked the features it had for the price. LM - this also is cold fill only - it appears most were just cold fill.

Then went home and scoured the internet for the best price – got the machine at 298.98 including delivery.

Initial automated e-mail suggest delivery on Tuesday 6th January!

Thanks Little Mama for the post.:T

Financial Bliss.

financialbliss · 1 January 2009 at 11:41PM

It’s the 1st January and it’s that time of year when we tend to make up targets and aspirations for the coming year.

For 2009, I’m going to review these quarterly, ie end of March, June, September and December unless the aim is specifically monthly or I achieve it before the end of the quarter.

1. Mortgage. Four years left in my challenge. Mortgage of nearly 60k, which means I need to reduce the mortgage by about 15k each year to guarantee my goal. However, that’s a big step up from last year’s 10,153.22 reduction, so I’ve decided that I want to be within a “range” rather than give too much of a stretch target to meet.

If I repeated the 2008 payments, this should give a 2009 year end figure of about 48,884 – this is my higher end of the range.

Ideally though, I’d like to achieve 47,500 – this is half of my original 95k mortgage and gives the remaining 3 years to pay off the remaining 50% of the mortgage.

Anything lower than 47,500 and I’d really be delighted, although this is bordering on highly unrealistic. So, in summary:

Mortgage between 47,500 and 48,884 – ideally towards the lower end of the range.
Update 08/09/2009: New year end target of £48,500.

Achieved - £48,499.96

2. Monthly / daily interest. This was quite an eye opener in terms of what the overpayments were doing to the mortgage. I’m intending to repeat the interest tracking throughout 2009 and display this information monthly.

Achieved.

3. The riddler. Mortgages can be boring at the best of times, never mind a diary. I’ve devised a little teaser formula to break into this aim. You need to work out ? and subsequently guess what’s going on for this one:

Formula: ? x 2 +1 , ? x 7 + 5 , (? / 3 * 6) –1 , (? ^ 2) + ? + 5 , ? – 6 , ? + 3

Note: I’ve been working on background for this aim for a number of weeks and for reasons beyond my control, it may not be practical to start / achieve this goal. May sound a bit cryptic at the moment, but things will become clear over time…

Achieved. Kicked off MFiT-T2 challenge to spur me on in last 3 years of the mortgage.

4. Food. I haven’t yet got a final food figure for 2008, but I’m hoping to spend less on food in 2009 than in 2008. In particular, I’m intending to avoid chocolate, crisps and junk food snacking in that a) it helps towards reducing the overall food bill and b) “moves” a few pounds from my waist to my bank account.

:mad: Failed. Never fully looked at this. This is always the "next thing" on the to do list, but never seems to get properly sorted. I do very little of the food shopping, so that doesn't help with this aim either.

5. Statement of affairs (SOA). This was in the 2008 aims, but I never quite nailed this one. I've already got a rough SOA, but I'm looking on ways to improve the information on there before I go public with it. I'm determined to do this one this time around.

:mad: Failed again. MFiT-T2, diary and life in general getting in the way.

6. New registrations. Rather than just ramble on for the next 12 months, I’m hoping that I can strike a chord with five lurkers (one for each quarter, plus one for good luck) and inspire them through this diary to register for these MSE forums and say “hi” on this diary, especially if through this diary you have decided to overpay or want to be mortgage free.

There's been a few of these in 2008, one of which - canne springs to mind as she was from Australia: "I found your diary about a month ago and spent quite a few days reading it from the beginning." - this aim is one that you can take part in.

Passed. Had a few newbies pop in and say "hi", logged the count at the time, but appear to have misplaced the list. Will update should I come across the list.

Achieved:

:D:D:D
Failed: :mad::mad:

Four out of six - not so good this year.

Financial Bliss.

JonnyBravo · 2 January 2009 at 11:43AM

financialbliss wrote: »

1. Mortgage. Four years left in my challenge. Mortgage of nearly 60k, which means I need to reduce the mortgage by about 15k each year to guarantee my goal. However, that’s a big step up from last year’s 10,153.22 reduction, so I’ve decided that I want to be within a “range” rather than give too much of a stretch target to meet.

If I repeated the 2008 payments, this should give a 2009 year end figure of about 48,884 – this is my higher end of the range.

Ideally though, I’d like to achieve 47,500 – this is half of my original 95k mortgage and gives the remaining 3 years to pay off the remaining 50% of the mortgage.

Anything lower than 47,500 and I’d really be delighted, although this is bordering on highly unrealistic. So, in summary:

Mortgage between 47,500 and 48,884 – ideally towards the lower end of the range.

Good idea with the range.
Yep the minimum is fair enough, ie same as last year but with increasing attention to "efficiencies" and of course a pay rise/rise in child benefit etc etc the lower end of the range is still within reach IMO.

financialbliss wrote: »

3. The riddler. Mortgages can be boring at the best of times, never mind a diary. I’ve devised a little teaser formula to break into this aim. You need to work out ? and subsequently guess what’s going on for this one:

Formula: ? x 2 +1 , ? x 7 + 5 , (? / 3 * 6) –1 , (? ^ 2) + (? * 2) + 1 , ? – 6 , ? + 3

Note: I’ve been working on background for this aim for a number of weeks and for reasons beyond my control, it may not be practical to start / achieve this goal. May sound a bit cryptic at the moment, but things will become clear over time…

Bit cryptic?? Bit? :rotfl: I love a (relatively simple) cryptic crossword but this is a level up.
Well I'm all up for challenges but this has me baffled at the moment. I'll think on it.
The only clue that strikes a chord with me is your comment that it's beyond your control...... is it something to do with Mrs Bliss returning to work? (It's long been the obvious step to a virtual guarantee of hitting that 12/12/12 deadline IMO..... admittedly without any knowledge of her earning potential and childcare costs this may be way off.....)

financialbliss wrote: »

4. Food. I haven’t yet got a final food figure for 2008, but I’m hoping to spend less on food in 2009 than in 2008. In particular, I’m intending to avoid chocolate, crisps and junk food snacking in that a) it helps towards reducing the overall food bill and b) “moves” a few pounds from my waist to my bank account.

Yep, junk food is bad for more than just your bank balance but sometimes you've earnt it. Do you have room to grow any veg, it's something I started 3 years ago and having started off with some easy stuff have slowly expanded as I've become more "accomplished".

financialbliss wrote: »

5. Statement of affairs (SOA). This was in the 2008 aims, but I never quite nailed this one. I've already got a rough SOA, but I'm looking on ways to improve the information on there before I go public with it. I'm determined to do this one this time around.

:rotfl:

Forgive me..... I won't be holding my breath. One year behind schedule gets an "E" for this part of your yearly appraisal.

financialbliss wrote: »

6. New registrations. Rather than just ramble on for the next 12 months, I’m hoping that I can strike a chord with five lurkers (one for each quarter, plus one for good luck) and inspire them through this diary to register for these MSE forums and say “hi” on this diary, especially if through this diary you have decided to overpay or want to be mortgage free.

There's been a few of these in 2008, one of which - canne springs to mind as he was from Australia: "I found your diary about a month ago and spent quite a few days reading it from the beginning." - this aim is one that you can take part in.

Financial Bliss.

:T

financialbliss · 2 January 2009 at 2:32PM

JonnyBravo wrote: »

Forgive me..... I won't be holding my breath. One year behind schedule gets an "E" for this part of your yearly appraisal.

Ha,
You said the wrong thing there. Will make a determined effort to complete this now.

Also, I've forgot one of my aims - I'll add in once I get back home (am at work). I drafted some in a bit more detail and made a quick note for others. The remaining one got missed off somehow.

By the way - #3 is not related to Mrs Bliss.

FB.

FinancialBliss: My mortgage free journey…

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