Diary of a Confused MFW

keld

Only got one response so far - no:(, hopefully one will come up yes. Spoke to the bank to find out if they had online banking - no, but I can send them one off electronic payments, which won't affect my existing DD (which already includes some OP). I'll have to phone back, as I forgot to ask if there was a minimun payment and what the maximum is. I think its 10%, so still room for more OPs.:D

StuartGMC

keld wrote: »

StuartGMC - I saw on another thread that you have a budgeting spreadsheet, could I be cheeky and ask for a copy please?

Keld - no problem, I'll send you my e-mail address by PM (personal message) which you'll find under the "User CP" area just like your signature etc.

keld

Just made Novembers payment and rang to check balance (this has become a monthly call as S&S aren't online). Hurray down below £55,500:j , and an added bonus, when I put the actual figure in my (FB's) mortgage calculator and checked my MFD it was two months sooner:j , now it's the end of March 2017.:D

I haven't had any positive responses regarding selling my endowment policy, so I think I will cash it in before the end of December. I will have to check the amounts I've overpaid as I am in a fixed deal til the end of Sept 09 and can only overpay 25% of mortgage during that period. Until recently I haven't kept a track of how much I've overpaid as it wasn't going to be anywhere near 25%, but I have been overpaying every month for a while now and it all adds up.:D

I have to say that this forum is great for keeping me motivated. I now have spreadsheets for my mortgage (thanks FB:T ), spending (thanks GMC:T ) and am keeping a track of my electricity and gas weekly - although so far no savings/reductions.:o

I'm currently trying to encourage my DH to agree to set up DD's to our ISA's which are looking very unhealthy, as there is never anything left at the end of the month to pay into them, and if it went by DD at the beginning I know it wouldn't get spent.:o

StuartGMC

Keld
I have to agree with the idea of saving at the start of the month. I recall well (despite it being 1987 ) after graduating how it seemed strange that I wasn't rolling in cash after a few months at work. I was putting savings away from what was left at the end of the month and a quick graph later (paper and pencil back then!!!) I resolved to save as soon as I was paid based upon anticipated spend ahead.

Result; my amount saved each month increased by about 20%

You may want to similarly add up your savings over the last 12months, then start to monitor with your new DD plus the extras you can drop in, and see the improvement?

EssexHebridean

Hi Keld - I can't see anywhere that you've mentioned ISA's - I take it that you & OH have both already filled your years Cash ISA entitlement? If not, then consider stashing some of the endowment money in there, as that will pay higher interest than you are currently paying on your mortgage.... Apologies if this has already been covered and I've missed it though...I'm skim reading a bit!

setmefree2

keld wrote: »

Just made Novembers payment and rang to check balance (this has become a monthly call as S&S aren't online). Hurray down below £55,500:j , and an added bonus, when I put the actual figure in my (FB's) mortgage calculator and checked my MFD it was two months sooner:j , now it's the end of March 2017.:D

Well Done

keld

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Hi Keld - I can't see anywhere that you've mentioned ISA's - I take it that you & OH have both already filled your years Cash ISA entitlement? If not, then consider stashing some of the endowment money in there, as that will pay higher interest than you are currently paying on your mortgage.... Apologies if this has already been covered and I've missed it though...I'm skim reading a bit!

Thanks I'll check the rates. :T

I'm waiting for S&S to come back to me with how much more I can repay before the end of my deal next Sept, because i've been making steady OPs but until I started this thread I haven't kept track:o . I should search out my mortgage statements and see when I started. It's been a bit of a slow start on the MFW route, as originally I had an interest only mortgage:o . However live and learn, no point dwelling too much on past mistakes.

Thanks for reading setmefree2.:D

StuartGMC

keld wrote: »

It's been a bit of a slow start on the MFW route, as originally I had an interest only mortgage:o . However live and learn, no point dwelling too much on past mistakes.

Keld, as you say, no use regretting things as long as you can now apply lessons learned for the future, and use this to help you achieve your new goals.

You are probably right to gather some baseline data as it will help you to see improvements from here-on. When we moved mortgages in 2006 we ditched the paperwork from 1994-2006 with the previous lender, so we don't have detailed information to reflect upon, just the most recent.

I've only been on here since May but keeping a diary has really focused my attention on a wide range of aspects related to our spending, saving, mortgage and planning which I think has significantly improved things for us. Actually OH and DD claim I'm obsessed, but I don't think I am, I'm just chatting to you all here because they are sick of hearing me
:rotfl::o:rotfl:

setmefree2

keld wrote: »

Thanks for reading setmefree2.:D

Pleasure - I love the MSW diaries:D

keld

Well as you can see I'm not that good at keeping a diary:o .

I've updated my signature and as of 1st Jan 09 we owe £55,263, which is a bit more than I'd estimated with FD's calculator, but the more information the more accurate it will be.

I really need to find my statements to see what we've done in the past, but I've just found a note saying our balance was £65,191 as of 1st Jan 07, so we've reduced the mortgage by £9,928.85, in two years. Not spectacular, but a step in the right direction.

Really enjoy reading everyones diaries. Ta ta for now.