Gallygirl's 95 month challenge - now 'only' 92 months

whiteflag_3

gallygirl wrote: »

:santa2: Morning all.
Quick update to see where I am with things.....
Saved £28 this week by not going in to work yesterday & tomorrow due to snow (had already agreed to work from home today). V lucky Monday - I left just in time to miss the really bad roads (although 1st 10 miles were :eek:) - took me 1/2 hr longer than usual but took colleague 5 1/2 hrs to go about 40 miles & another 3 hrs to do 15 miles
(to savings, not their journeys!)
3 pressies still to buy. Oops, how did that happen
DD & DS home
They keep washing clothes & using electricity & eating food
OH up today
Ditto to above (not washing clothes obv :rolleyes:)
Need the weather to improve as off to Spain early Tues am.My heart goes out to the poor folks who've not been able to get anywhere because of Eurostar/flight chaos. Hopefully most will get there in the end, although I know a fair few have been cancelled. 5 more sleeps, then a night next to airport before 6am :eek: flight.:)
Weather has been out there but forecast for Sunday is good so here's hoping for
Also booked Crowne Plaza & parking for night before Gambia. £79 & hotel is on airport so v quick, free transfer. A lot of the others you have to park offsite then get courtesy bus so this was best option & actually cheapest for a decent hotel.
Just checked quidco & it's tracked. Also saw £22 has been received so will get that Jan
DD & I doing casino MS Boxing Night - her job, so I get a free night out & she has to do the writing up
On the money front, have had a few MS payments so they've gone to mortgage account
More than offset by mortgage payments for BTL's I've just transferred out
Will drop below 138k on 1st Jan (well, 4th when mortgages are paid) so can colour in another square when I get back
Overspent on Xmas :rolleyes: but hopefully will be ok by end of Jan & all normal overpayments will still be made
Have been venturing onto savings board. Oooohhh, they're a miserable lot over there, lots of squabbling :rolleyes:. We came in for some criticism for never having any fun, spending 4k a year by sitting in all day watching Sky & not paying any extra off mortgages till challenge starts 9 months later :rotfl:. Made me appreciate what a lovely, friendly board this is so thanks peeps

Need to sum up year & see how have fared overall, also set goals for next year. Hmmm, not sure when will find time but want to before I go away.

Merry Christmas everyone :rudolf:

yeah merry christmas!

gallygirl

Time for end of year round up as I’m off to Spain Mon PM for 6am Tues flight and banks not open before then so I won’t be able to account for any more transactions till 2010.
So, 2009 targets:

Mortgage
* Reduce by 15k
ACHIEVED GOLD £16,290.95 paid off

Mystery Shopping Income
* £1000
ACHIEVED GOLD £1,790.02

Income from competitions, sale/use of pigsback vouchers etc.
* £1500
* £1000
* £500
Failed miserably, £263.55. Had actually set March as end date for this but can’t see me making it. In my defence, I used to enter a lot of comps at weekends & I have been doing MS instead, so if you add the two together I would have a gold & silver medal. That’s my excuse.

Weight
* Reduce by 1/2 stone
ACHIEVED BRONZE.

So, 2 golds and a bronze, plus a debatable silver. Not bad. OK, 2010 coming up.......

gallygirl

2010 TARGETS


Mortgage
* Reduce by 25k :eek:
* Reduce by 20k
* Reduce by 15k
Rationale: 15k was target on 2009 challenge, based only on 1 mortgage. MFiTT2 target is 68.5k so need to stretch ourselves to o/pay as much as possible in 2010 before low interest rates (and 1 of our mortgage deals) come to an end.

Mystery Shopping/Comps/Other Extra Income
* £3000
* £2500
* £2000
Rationale: I have added comps & MS together as more time on one means less time for other stuff. I achieved over 2k in 2009 but didn’t really do too much MS till March, so 2k is the minimum I should achieve. Have around £70 of Joules clothing from their sale I should at least double my money on

Weight
* Reduce by 2 stone
* Reduce by 1 stone
* Reduce by 1/2 stone
Rationale: Same as last year. At least have ended year a little lower than last year :rolleyes:

Other areas:

Pensions: keep a close eye. One is with FP through work – just increased payment to £250 a month, plus work pay around £135 a month. Limited choice of funds but doing v well this year. Other is in process of being converted to SIPP with HL – pot of around 10k I think & I’m not contributing so not major & therefore I can take high risk on it. Will need to decide what to do with it – thinking of Japan for part of it. Maybe renewable energy/research & oil exploration.

Other financial stuff: more emphasis on meal planning (freezer is full so no excuse), lunches to work (this has slipped recently). More shopping in Lidl, less in Morrisons, without a list. Continue with checking best deals for power (with npower, every time I’ve checked I’ve had best tariff).

Planned spends:
New mattress. Researched this already, looks like I can get a good one from an independent company for £300. Don’t want memory foam, just bog standard. Have narrowed it down but can’t order till back from Gambia. Will be doing late Jan.
Lounge & new sofas. Not spending more than £1200 on sofas. Will do when paint lounge so probably May Day holiday. Say £50 for paint, £100 for curtains (only 1 window, 54” drop). May well do nothing – don’t want leather & only fabric ones I’ve liked so far are around 3k.
So, total of less than 2k, will come from offset so that 25k is actually 27k _pale_

Plus usual stuff – exercise more (wiifit plus 50m pool in town, although only open as 50m twice a week), drink less (TPA – looking to you for inspiration here), eat less, see friends more, take part in more out of work activities (costs money but usually stay with friend so save petrol money). Avoid Alexon & M&S sales (not my fault - was left alone on Xmas Day with a PC & CC, £270 on M&S :rolleyes: - just my luck it will probably all fit :rotfl:)
If I'm not about again, thanks for all the support & fun in 2009, see you next year :beer:

Tesco_points_addict

Enjoy your holiday GG, I will help you with the drinking, I will drink your share too!!!!
Good luck with all your challenges for 2010.
TPAx

gallygirl

Tesco_points_addict wrote: »

I will help you with the drinking, I will drink your share too!!!!
TPAx

Oh. I was going to volunteer to help you with yours :rotfl:

TallGirl

gallygirl wrote: »

Oh. I was going to volunteer to help you with yours :rotfl:

Ditto here can I join in the drink less challenge I fail every week I try. Have a good holiday enjoy the sunshine

Tesco_points_addict

TallGirl wrote: »

Ditto here can I join in the drink less challenge I fail every week I try. Have a good holiday enjoy the sunshine

Of course you can, I will be starting again on 1st January, I have to warn you, i'm not a very good role model!!

Will be part of my new 2010 MFW challenge thread.

TPAx

MoneyQueen

Hi Gallygirl,

Good luck with the 2010 targets. Hope you had a good Christmas.

And GOOD LUCK with the Drink Less Challenge!!

MQ

setmefree2

canne_2

Happy New Year Gallygirl. I've read quite a bit of your diary and I'm just posting so I can subscribe to any updates to this thread.:D

Cheers

canne