The Scariest Thing I Have Ever Done....

So, hubby and I went for a long walk yesterday to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air with the dogs. As always should be the case when you go for long walks in the countryside, there was a pub at the halfway point and a roast dinner waiting to be cooked when we got home.

It while at said pub, that our conversation turned to money, work, and the mortgage - and how much we both wished our working lives didn't have to be dictated to by our need to earn substantial sums of money. I had actually been reading Mr Money Moustache's blog (from the start) on Friday while avoiding having to start writing a tedious presentation, and had found it extremely inspiring. So, over a pint in the sunshine, I said "What if we didn't have to do this? What if we completely commit to changing our way of living, and make our primary goal to try to get the damned mortgage paid off in the next ten years?" - I talked some more about how, about the money we spent that really we didn't have to, and that if we just made some changes then we could pay even more from the mortgage and maybe hit that goal. He looked at me a little sideways at first, thinking it was a pipe dream, and then got what can only be described as a look of absolute realisation that it could be possible. At that moment, he completely committed to what we decided wouldn't be frugal living - but a commitment to free living, with a choice over how we live.

10 years is going to be really ambitious, I know. The reality is that means a monthly OP of 3000 pounds (compared to my currently comparably measly 500 pounds), but we have already started working out how we can get there. Our official start date for working towards this is going to be January 2017, as we have some expenses coming up the next couple of months, but we're going to do our best to do it.

We're going to find fun challenges and ways to stretch and measure what we're NOT spending - gamefication of not spending, if you like - and other ways to motivate each other to stay on track and on goal. I'm so glad Mr McTaggus is so completely on board - he was on the making OP's, but to have him onboard on a journey to our mutual freedom from this never-ending stress and rat race cycle is even more important. It steps it up a gear, and gives us something to truly focus on achieving together.

No other financial updates today, however, but looking forward to updating more beyond our current OP's as we start our journey proper!

Thank you Daisy for the encouragement, your ideas, and your support! It's greatly appreciated!!! It's definitely going to be tough, but we're going to do it - and are already planning a first venture into the world of boot fairs to sell some of the stuff we have accrued during the last few years that needs a new home!

So, hubby had his first "moustachian moment" since we made our agreement to start our journey next year. I think both of our mindsets have indelibly changed and the way that we're thinking about money has already dramatically shifted - which is great! It's amazing the transformation that seems to have happened to both of us pretty much overnight - and which truly made us realise how much of our money we have been wasting....

The event? Meeting an old friend for dinner at Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester, who was on a flying visit to London from Singapore, and which had been arranged for a couple of months. Now, previously, we wouldn't have batted too much of an eyelid and just thought "Hey, it's a treat! Don't worry about it! We earned it!", but this time (after settling the bill and after said friend had departed) we both just kept staring at how much we had just paid for a f***ing dinner - and not an even remotely mind-blowing one at that. Total rip-off, and one we keep thinking about (repeatedly, since it happened) and kicking ourselves at having fallen into the "oh, let's have a bit of luxury over-priced consumerism!" trap a few months ago and didn't have the guts to back out of....

My husband, bless him, is still in shock that we used to happily pay that much money for dinner - not on a regular basis I have to add - without thinking about it too much. He's also in shock that for a number of our friends, that's the "norm" for a night out. I'll be honest, it never became the "norm" for us, but now it will become the "never, ever again are we eating anywhere so expensive, EVER".

We had also pre-booked a trip to Stockholm last weekend, using Avios so the flights were free, and spent the weekend in tiny restaurants under the joint challenge of eating out within a strict budget - which we managed! Wooohooo! Total spend for a weekend in Stockholm - 400 pounds all in, including flights, hotels, taxis and food. It's also our last trip anywhere this year, and our final indulgence of 2016 before we shift into hard-core MMM-ing to get the mortgage paid off.

Trip aside, we were both also really pleased that our experiments at being MMM over the last two weeks are starting to pay off - we both spent a grand total of 72 pounds over the last 2 weeks (excluding the Swedish excursion and nauseating Dorchester bill, which would not be normal expenditure and will cease to happen in future), which included half a tank of petrol for my car I reckon we can do this!

Thanks Try Harder! And thanks for dropping by with your kind words of encouragement! Please don't take this the wrong way, but it's reassuring to know that I'm not the only one with past foolishness to look back guiltily on after the penny drops!!!!