The impossible dream

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  • Good luck and best wishes for your success. :beer:
  • Tahlullah
    Tahlullah Posts: 1,086 Forumite
    Bad week for money saving. The suspension broke on my car, so had to pay for that. Along with my dental appointment, my wage came in and my disposable income was immediately swallowed by my overdraft. Hopefully, next month this will balance as I have lots of travel expenses to claim and it will put me back in the black. Luckily my bank gives me a £500 free overdraft facility.

    Plus, I went out with a very old friend last night and ended spending a load of money. I only see him once very 2 months or so, so am happy to do this, but just not the best of times financially, with my cunning plan and all.

    Started looking for part time jobs to see of there is anything I can do in my down time that would pay me money. Found one that I am going to apply for. Will keep you posted as to my job hunting exploits. Haven't done this for a while, so it should be an experience. Lets see of I even want to complete the application form when it arrives shall we?

    This week, had 3 no spend days but the others have more than compensated for whatever progress I may have made towards my Mortgage Free dream.

    Time to move to cunning plan number 2...
    Still striving to be mortgage free before I get to a point I can't enjoy it.

    Owed at the end of -
    02/19 - £78,400. 04/19 - £85,000. 05/19 - £83,300. 06/19 - £78,900.
    07/19 - £77,500. 08/19 - £76,000.
  • Tahlullah
    Tahlullah Posts: 1,086 Forumite
    Already, today has been a good day and a bad day for my MF dream. This is why I haven't achieved!


    So far, I have made another £200 overpayment. So that will be it for the month, no more lump sums into the mortgage until this time in September. The great news is that I could do it because I had just been paid and so with a bit of sweep and a Tilly Tidy, I have now located and squirreled this away.


    The bad news is that I won’t be able to do anything else again this month (I think). And to make matters worse, I went on a spending spree! Well, as I said, I don’t want to stop living, so I booked tickets to the Fright Night at Thorpe Park in London for Halloween! Got my ticket at a reduced price for booking early. I managed to book a hotel for £28 (Travellog***) so I have somewhere to sleep that night as well. Total £60 for the night. Will have to buy food, petrol etc., but will save for that!


    Went to the York Maise Hallow Scream last year and it was absolutely fantastic, so thought would give this one a go. They are basing it on horror films!


    Although I know this money really should have been put into the Mortgage pot, I feel positive that this once a year event has been purchased as economically as possible, so not deviating too much from the cunning plan.


    Stared at my spread sheet again this morning, happy that I am due to be MF in October 2017, but still aiming for August 2016, just before I become 51. I really need to work on Cunning Plan No 2. Need an idea first!
    Still striving to be mortgage free before I get to a point I can't enjoy it.

    Owed at the end of -
    02/19 - £78,400. 04/19 - £85,000. 05/19 - £83,300. 06/19 - £78,900.
    07/19 - £77,500. 08/19 - £76,000.
  • Tahlullah
    Tahlullah Posts: 1,086 Forumite
    Had a positive day today. Volunteers came in and cooked lunch, fabulous food! Plus there was lots of fresh veg left over so was able to have a no spend day, plus lots of veg for the rest of the week. Just need to decide what to put with it all from my freezer. Hopefully won't need anything else except milk for the rest of the week.

    Lunch covered for rest of week also. Went toTescx and bought a few (ok, 8!) pot noodle thingys for 23p each. Those along with the pot porridges for 50p each, lunch will not be expensive for the rest of the month.

    The cunning plan is getting nowhere, so will have to accept that I cannot afford to overpay more than whatever my sweep and Tilly Tidy allows at the end of the month. But, I had an aim, which was to overpay £500 by the end of the year and I have already done £400 so I shouldn't beat myself up over this.

    Still haven't listed anything on ebuy but have big plans. Hopefully, when I do get around to it, I will be able to have overpaid £1000 by the end of the year. Not promising anything because I am very aware that I have not bought any Christmas presents yet (but I have got cards and stamps!)
    Still striving to be mortgage free before I get to a point I can't enjoy it.

    Owed at the end of -
    02/19 - £78,400. 04/19 - £85,000. 05/19 - £83,300. 06/19 - £78,900.
    07/19 - £77,500. 08/19 - £76,000.
  • gallygirl
    gallygirl Posts: 17,228
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Mortgage-free Glee!
    Forumite
    Tahlullah wrote: »


    Tried staring at the spreadsheet today to see if it would make a difference. I am convinced that the power of my xray vision will make a difference to the numbers and I will magically lose a couple of thousand off the total owed.

    Save your energy. Been trying it for years. Doesn't work :(. Even when you creep up on it unawares :rotfl:.

    OK, if you like spreadsheets........ Oct 17 is the current MF date. How much to bring it down to Sept 17? That can be your next challenge :D.

    Survey sites? Tons around, every little helps, even if it's only vouchers it helps towards pressies.

    PS How is Rufus :D.
    A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort
    :) Mortgage Balance = £0 :)
    "Do what others won't early in life so you can do what others can't later in life"
  • Tahlullah
    Tahlullah Posts: 1,086 Forumite
    Ooh, ooh, a challenge! Thank you gallygirl! I peered purposefully at my spread sheet, typed in some numbers and hey presto! If I pay in the £1000 that I set myself by the end of the year, I will get to September 2017! Actually, it said I needed to make 3 more payments of £200 and I would be there. But taking Christmas into account (I know, I keep mentioning it!) this is doable. So, my new challenge is to both pay £1k by the end of the year and bring my MFW date 1 month closer! Once the festive season is over, I will set another target.


    I do YouGov surveys and have in the past collected £150 from them, but a bit off from my next milestone. Tried some of the other sites in the past, but was forever being told I wasn’t the right sort of person to be surveyed, so gave up. I will try again, as you ‘say every little helps’.
    I am an avid Tescz clubcard points collector and usually use them to buy my RAC cover, and have been collecting Nector points forever and will perhaps have enough to but a bottle of wine by my next birthday! But it’s getting better since I linked my eboy account and British Gas to it, so taking these points seriously!
    Didn’t apply for the job in the end. The advert said it was an evening job, but it started at 3.00pm. For some strange reason, I do not class ‘teatime’ as evening, so that went no-where. Still looking…
    Rufus is fine, thanks for asking. He has recently taken up playing Houdini, the great escapologist. He is healthy and fun to be around and I could not ask for more from a cat – except perhaps if he had a rich uncle?
    Still striving to be mortgage free before I get to a point I can't enjoy it.

    Owed at the end of -
    02/19 - £78,400. 04/19 - £85,000. 05/19 - £83,300. 06/19 - £78,900.
    07/19 - £77,500. 08/19 - £76,000.
  • newgirly
    newgirly Posts: 8,894
    First Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic First Post
    Forumite
    Hi talhulla just spotted your diary and wanted to say hi and best of luck :)
    2022 MFW 67 - 33 month challenge to clear mortgage, month 17 completed and and extra 2 knocked off 🙂MFI3 No.12
  • kirstypark
    kirstypark Posts: 771
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Hi Tahlulla, have you tried nectar adpoints? you get points for sitting watching adverts - bit boring, but usually manage an extra 100 points a week.
    mortgage 1 33,000. paid nov 2012 :D. mortgage 2 87,000 due 51,686.76 at july 2013, but then:new home and remortgage ... £101065.43:eek: now 74k
  • Tahlullah
    Tahlullah Posts: 1,086 Forumite
    Not been very MFW of late. I have been saving coppers here and there, but it's difficult when I have so many no spend days.

    Just paid £113 for a return train ticket to Birmingham! How can anyone afford to travel by rail? Luckily, work will refund the cost but I am shocked at the price. I can honestly say I would never willingly choose to travel this way, purely because of the price.

    Anyway, I spent £5 today on cat litter for Rufus' s bum! Absolute bargain from Home B*rgains. A 10 litre bag of clumping litter by Bom Martin for .99p! So cheap, it was rude not to buy all that were on the shelf. Usually pay £2.50 for an 8 litre bag from Teskos. Now all I have to concern myself with is where to store them.

    On holiday for a week on Friday. Spending money already allocated into my Metrobank account, as they allow free foreign transactions. Looking forward to not having to worry about anything for a week and just spending my money sensibly without too much thought to how much. Luckily, being careful with money is so much a part of me, there is no risk of me spending frivolously.

    Still no further overpayments made, but this is on target. Will make another deposit at the end of the month.

    Looked at my old 'one pole' account. Still receiving surveys, but got rejected again almost immediately, so definately giving it up as a bad job.

    Will be back after my holiday, and report on my excessive spends and more importantly, what I saved that can be recycled towards my next holiday.
    Still striving to be mortgage free before I get to a point I can't enjoy it.

    Owed at the end of -
    02/19 - £78,400. 04/19 - £85,000. 05/19 - £83,300. 06/19 - £78,900.
    07/19 - £77,500. 08/19 - £76,000.
  • TallGirl
    TallGirl Posts: 5,512
    Photogenic Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    Hi Tallulah thought I would pop in as you did on my diary seems we hav few things in common incl being cat slaves. One of mine is currently sprawled out on the bed lazy as anything.

    Good luck with the MF journey your doing great and don't get upset tht it sometimes takes longer it all worth it in the end. I completed mine 9 years early that was three years ago definitely worth it.
    Save £12k in 24 No 50
    PB Win 21 £225, 22 £275, 23 £900, Balance Feb 24 £41,650 (Wins, Jan £200 Feb £150) 
    Plan to move to Denmark for FIRE by 2028 “May your decisions reflect your hopes not your fears”
    New diary aiming for fire https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6414795/mortgage-free-now-aiming-for-fire#latest

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