MFW - laying the groundwork on a single income!

Hi All.

I've been lurking on here for about a year after deciding to buy my first house last December at the ripe age of 24.
After less than smooth sailing I completed (on a completely different property) in August and was all set to try and start repaying as much as possible, but have had a string of serious bad luck with cars meaning all of my savings have been wiped out and I'm only now getting back on track.

I live with my long-term GF, but she's not on the mortgage due to a sizeable loan from my parents being instrumental in the house purchase, and them not wanting to take the risk on her without us being married (Understandable if you're giving away £40k of your pension!:eek:).

This isn't going to be a 'traditional' MFW for the following reasons:

- This probably won't be our 'forever' home as it is lacking in space and some crucial features that we had to compromise on due to budget.
- Myself and the GF keep separate finances, and we both pay a flat amount into our 'house' account to cover the mortgage, bills, and a bit of emergency saving/DIY supplies.
- She earns around £12k and is trying to start her own business so has no interest in overpaying the mortgage, plus of course if we split she wouldn't necessarily benefit from OP.
- I am currently working in a job that is highly dependent on commission and overtime to make up the numbers. I can afford to pay the mortgage even if I don't make any commission or overtime (I made sure of that) but wouldn't be able to save or OP a huge amount in a month that I didn't.

Having said all that, I wanted to start a diary to encourage myself and hopefully gain enough equity that in 5 years when the fix on the mortgage is up, GF is earning more (fingers crossed) and maybe we are married, we can both go in on our 'forever' home and then work towards MFW, so the same principles apply!

Maybe I'm delusional but hey ho. Below are the figures:

LTV: 78%
Mortgage: -£163441.32
APR: 2.2% 5Y

Basic income after tax: £1586.77
Income from GF: £500

Mortgage: £565.38
Council Tax: £147
Dual Fuel: £40 in summer, £80 in winter (est.)
Virgin (TV and BB): £32
Water: £34
Bank Fee: £12 (covers all manner of thinks like breakdown cover, travel insurance, phone insurance etc)
House insurance: £9.97
TOTAL: £880.35

Personal Expenses (Myself and GF split the groceries 50/50 and most other socialising, but I usually pay for a couple more drinks or a taxi due to my increased cashflow )
Contribution to house account: £500
Groceries: £100
Petrol: £80
Car insurance (paid annually but saved monthly): £50
Car tax (same): £20
Phone: £40 (have to have a decent one for work)
Contact Lenses: £10
'Slush fund' for beer, bought lunches on Fridays, clothes, dentists etc. £300
Total: £1100

Now I realise the 'slush fund' seems excessive, but I usually save whatever of this I have left over at the end of the month which is anywhere between £50-£200 depending on the month, and it allows the flexibility to enjoy myself without feeling the guilt of not contributing towards my debt repayment.

What I will normally do is save everything I earn over £1100 in a month. Then transfer £500 to the house account, leaving me £600 in my personal account for the month. At the end of the month I will 'tidy' my remaining balance down to zero on payday.

My targets are as follows:

- Increase emergency fund to £10k (commission payments mean this should be done by March).

- Begin overpaying 50% of all money I am currently saving

- Overpay £6000 in 2018

- Go on a holiday for the first time in 3 years

Any help or encouragement is much appreciated, if you managed to read this far! Feedback on how I could manage things better is appreciated too, as I'm fairly good at working these convoluted situations out in my head but am sure I may be missing something simple.