My 2020 Vision

1. Take a pack lunch, breakfast and milk for tea to work every day and don't spend a thing in the canteen or vending machines done and chuffed to bits:D
2. Stick to the meal plan and do not be swayed when DH says 'I fancy......' And say no to a takeaway. Doesn't he know I have dresses to fit into! Done although did have a chippy tea on weds
3. Remember to use the £10 in vouchers and 600 points voucher I have for Mr T on thurs/fri. £19 in vouchers but shop was a bit more than planned:o
4. Have a lime and soda if go to pub after final class at college on Wednesday to keep costs down nobody went :rotfl:
5. Make a meal plan and a shopping list for next week done and posted on the OS thread
6. Post my expenses on Monday didn't get done:o
7. Make a start on listing my cupboards and freezers starting this when I get off here
8. Make some GF scones and a cake for lunches next week will do this tomorrow
9. Do not overspend when buying accessories to go with new dresses, can I use what I have got? shopping this afternoon and have decided to use one of the dresses I bought already but need something for the evening and a hat

Some money we were expecting hasn't come through so we are a bit tight until I get paid on the 21st. Good news is my boss is signing off my grade progression next week so I will be getting about £75 extra take home a month, not masses but every bit helps:D. We managed to get a babysitter for the night of the wedding so saved £95 on the hotel but will need 4 taxis and to pay her so not loads saved but I will have a better time at the evening do without worrying about DS3 and having to go to bed early with him.

My tutor graded me outstanding at the end of course on Wednesday so I celebrated with a bottle of beer and a chippy tea:D. My stomach cramps were bad after eating it as with my coeliac disease I shouldn't eat them really. This is the first time I have felt bad though. Save me some pennies if I don't eat them again. I only have the chips.

I am going to list all my cupboard and freezer contents this week as I have an embarrassing amount of food in and am still spending more than I should. As things are a bit tight and we still have quite a bit to pay out DH and I have set ourselves a target of £50 plus a £5 voucher for food/booze for the rest of the month. I only have 1 weekly shop to cover and there is masses in.

As my progress will be a bit slow between now and 22nd July I have decided to note the little steps that I have taken towards being mortgage free and also the things/spends that are holding me back. If I see it in black and white I am hoping it will spur me on and the steps back will embarrass me enough to cut them down. I won’t say cut them out as I don’t want to pull the purse strings so tight we are miserable.

Steps Forward

• No takeaway at the weekend:)
• Used our National Trust membership to take dog for a walk on Sunday and had ice cream from the freezer when we got home:)
• Our camera needs replacing and we have a family wedding on Saturday and our annual holiday in 3 weeks but we have found the perfect replacement on offer half price in one store (will look and see if I can order through TCB) Not sure if this is a step forward or a step back:cool:
• Have done some research on what value/basic products are GF and have tried the cereal which is great and will be including more of these products in my shopping from now on:)
• Have bought some mince for DH to make chilli, bolognaise and shepherds pie and will make veggie versions for myself as I cant stand mince and he doesn’t like lentil bolognaise (but it will have lentils to pad it out shhhh). Can’t believe I haven’t thought of this before.:wall:
• Bought some GF YS bakery products and froze in portions
• Spent £8 on 6 cards and stamps for 3 birthdays this week. :eek:Most I spent on a card was a £1 which is my self imposed limit and it cost £1.68 to send 2 to France in the same envelope! Will try and hand deliver 4 of the cards and keep the stamps as 2 are already late:o
• Bulk bought chicken from the butchers at £10 for 2kg:)
• Dried all my washing on the line this weekend:T
• Brought all my food and drinks to work from home and DH is getting fed on a curse and DS is getting fed at nursery:)
• Today will be a NSD:A

Steps Back

• DH bought a brand new PS3 game that cost £5 more than if he had pre ordered it from Mr T (£43):eek::mad:
• DH and I had tea out on Saturday (£25 including drinks):o
• Spent a fortune (£10) on batteries as 3 things ran out at once (including my kitchen scales):mad:
• Couldn’t sell the electrical items this weekend as can’t find the lead and one needs cleaning up. Will do this after our holiday.:o

Back from hols a week and a bit and so far we have had to get rid of a wasps nest, replace the toilet seat, the shower head and the heating element of the oven I thought things came in threes, if so I have another 2 things about to break or blow up!:eek:

Our frugal mo jo is still working it’s magic and I have only spent £58 on food in the last 8 days which is unheard of from us.:j This even includes a takeaway! We are living out of the freezer although we have discovered some old meat that has had to be binned. We did try to eat it but it was past it and tasted awful so have increased the food budget by £40 which was money saved by being under budget elsewhere. DH is still on board and has been thinking about spends and has put off some house purchases until next month like a new hose pipe connector even though ours is leaking everywhere.

DH wages were a lit bit more than expected which is good as it has covered the cost of the house repairs/purchases:T. I don’t think we will hit our target of £500 off the visa this month as we have been out for my birthday £70 (movie and dinner) but have managed £300 so far and I think I could manage another £100 if we stick to our budgets elsewhere. We are still on target to settle the visa in full next month and out our first £500 in the extension account.

The extension account stands at just over a tenner.;)

There is going to be a departmental restructure at work which is going to put both my seconded and usual job at risk towards the end of the year so I have decided to put my plans for taking a degree on hold for 12 months. I don’t want the financial commitment if I lose my job. The redundancy payout would be low as I have not been there long as I was made redundant from my last job. I hope redundancies don’t come in threes as I have been made redundant twice already!:mad:

If the worse happens the extension fund will pay off the second part of our mortgage and we could manage OK on DH wage so the more I can save in that pot the better.

Our budget is tight as a tight thing this month, self imposed by us, yet I feel we have eaten better, been able to afford a birthday treat, felt more organised and less stressed and spent more quality time with DS and each other.:A

I must feel satisfied with my lot or maybe I have changed my spending habits finally as I haven’t had any idea what I wanted when family asked what did I want for my birthday. DH bought me some flowers, only the 3rd time in 10 years (there’s that number again) and tonight I am going to buy three things out of my birthday money; a magazine (a rare treat), some pinking shears (to convert cards in to tags and to make an advent calendar for DS out of recycled paper and cards from an idea I saw on line) and a tenner’s worth of stuff for the local food bank.:)

Hello diary, long time no speak

I have been MIA and put my MFW plans on hold over the last few weeks as I have been under consultation for redundancy from my job. I found out today that I have kept my job and got some really good feedback from the head of department which is great news.

I now feel I can get on with my plans to get rid of my mortgage. Over the last couple of months we have firmly decided that we are not planning to move and want to be MF or with a very low LTV by the time we turn 50 in 2020. We also want to add a single storey extension to our kitchen to create an open plan kitchen family room which can double as a guest bedroom (we have a very small house).

We have £15k on a 2nd mortgage to clear which is our first task. We plan to have this cleared by June 2014.

Our current mortgage is IO (I am sure I have told you this before) and our second task is to ‘catch up’ with the monthly capital payments we would have been paying had it been repayment from the start so that it will be SIF in 2031. We will just then need to make the extra up to cover those other 11 years! Not much then!

We have decided to do all the jobs/decorating inside the house by summer 2014 as well as have new windows and doors fitted and start the extension in 2015. So far we have done the bathroom, DS bedroom, stairs and landing. Our next big job is new wardrobes and carpet for our room.

I have made some real progress this last couple of months which is paving the way for saving to clear the 2nd mortgage. We have slashed our food bill from £450+ to £290 month and DH has given up booze which is freeing up even more into saving. I have also started putting away £150/month into a bills account to cover annual bills and birthdays etc.

Short term goals until the end of the year are:

1. Maintain £280/month for food with a view to reducing it to £250 by Christmas ongoing
2. Clear CC balance which is stil around £800 - 30th Sept
3. Complete bathroom makeover - Sept/Oct
4. Finish DS bedroom (rug, blind, pictures, bed) - Sept/Oct
5. PIF for holiday to Cornwall with DM (going May) 31st Oct
6. Save £750 for all Christmas expenses inc. nights out & presents - Dec
7. Winter prep the house Oct
8. Continue to save £150/month for annual bills ongoing
9. Reduce fuel consumption and submit meter readings every month ongoing
10. SIF TV payments £82.17 30th Sept
11. SIF underpayment to EDF £33/mnth need to check balance 30th Sept
12. Have at least £4000 saved towards clearing 2nd mortgage by June '14 (really I would like £5k);) ongoing
13. Take lunch to work every day 0/70 ongoing
14. Look into starting a GF blog
I feel really fired up to get started on this journey again after a short stop off and have even managed a couple of tilly tidies this week

Hi MallyGirl - my Friday night tea will be a hodge podge from the freezer as I am running low on just about everything!

A huge 40p TT today. I am tidying them up to one of my on line savings accounts during the month and then will pay them over in a lump sum at the end of the month.

Lunch brought to work today but that's it for MFW plans today.

I am visiting my Mum a the weekend so will be taking my sewing machine that has never been out of the box:o and some curtains that need lining and taking up. 2 pairs. She is a dab hand at sewing so will teach me how to set the machine up so I can start using it at home.

It was freezing in our house last night. I went upstairs to put DS to bed and came down to DH putting the fire and the central heating on but sitting in his shirt and underpants!:mad: The fire went off and I handed him a fleece and told him to put some blooming clothes on. We left the heating on low though as it was really cold and I had warm layers on and a fleece over me.

One thing I forgot to add to my list was to open an ISA which is where I will keep the £4-5k I am hoping to save by the end of the year as this is going towards paying off the second mortgage next year. I cant overpay it, well I can but it is £60 a time and then they reduce the installments so I would rather save and settle it in full.

I am getting a free 2nd hand lap top at the weekend so will look into starting a blog when I have fathomed out how to use it. I will also be able to create some spreadsheets. Oh how I have missed spreadsheets only having an ipad for the last year:j