New MFW Journey/Hello

taka

Well done wabbits!! :j

PS Having fun in life is essential! :dance: :beer: Trying to pay off the mortgage early isn't some form of torture! Having a balance helps me stick to my long term plans. I have a budget for going out/ entertainment and if I spend it I refuse to feel guilty about it... not sure about the guiness though... _pale_

wabbits

I have a budget for going out/ entertainment and if I spend it I refuse to feel guilty about it...

You are quite right......we have a monthly budget too for this. Although we have delayed our snowboarding holiday from March to Nov 09, to ensure we have enough money for a good location.

Trying to pay off the mortgage early isn't some form of torture

........I am finding that it is the complete opposite...I have started to get a real buzz paying chunks off the mtg...even at this early stage of our MF journey.

Cheers

Chris

uzubairu

taka wrote: »

PS Having fun in life is essential! :dance: :beer: Trying to pay off the mortgage early isn't some form of torture! Having a balance helps me stick to my long term plans. I have a budget for going out/ entertainment and if I spend it I refuse to feel guilty about it

Well said. :T
That's our philosophy too.

setmefree2

well done on your progress so far:T:T

wabbits

Well, some good news from Nationwide....they did have a floor limit on their tracker mortgages of 2.75%. This has now been waived.

Our mortgage now drops to 2.18%.:j :j

-December hasn't been too stressfull so far, taking into account that we are competing with Santa for how many presents we are producing.

-Our budgeting is much improved, as this time last year the credit cards were getting a hammering!!!

-Now have full online banking...Mtg/Credit Card/Account info at the touch of a button...its wonderful and really keeps us in touch.

-My wife won £150 on the premium bonds and will be using that to OP.

Looking forward to an aggressive attack on the mortgage next year, especially with the help of the 2009 MF thread.

I wish you all a Merry Xmas and happy times.

Chris

setmefree2

Very cool rate. Good Luck:D

wabbits

So ending 2008 mtg payments...

Total OP = £3062

Aiming for 2009 OP of £6000

Mtg as at Dec 2008 = £83846

Bring on 2009!!!!!:j

Happy xmas all

StuartGMC

A steep target, so very best wishes for 2009 achievements.

setmefree2

wabbits wrote: »

So ending 2008 mtg payments...

Total OP = £3062

wabbits

HAPPY NEW YEAR all.

Well I have OP'd already for Jan £1000 which is a great start......£500 more than I had planned for.....that is the good news....

.....the not so good news is the voluntary pay cut that I have taken of 10%......
VOLUNTARY you cry? Well I work for the small family business. My father has taken a larger cut than that.

We have 10 people working for us but do not wish to lose any of them as we have a great team. Unfortunately a couple of those people have taken a 5% cut. I am confident that we will not have to lose anybody and am keeping all informed on a weekly basis.

I have read on other threads that some employees are screaming at the bosses for not taking any cuts themselves.....I agree this is disgusting. We will not ask any employee to do anything we are not prepared to do ourselves. I think this is why we have not had a change of employee for years!! 2009 will be a fight alright.......we are heading into it with eyes wide open.

Next course of action is to closely examine the impact of my new salary on our MF quest. My wife is fully supportive and it will come good!

To lighten my thread, please see some pictures below of our bunnies.

Good luck all. Have a good 2009.

Chris