More Bangs for my Bucks - MF by 50??

Thriftyknickers

Happy New Year All! I've been an avid lurker for 7 months now and have been inspired by a number of diaries - particularly those of Financialbliss and StuartGMC (Thanks Guys!) and have now decided to write my own.

A bit about me. I’ll be 43 :eek: later this month, am married with twin pre-school DDs, and work 3 days a week. Our aim, but see the provisos below, is to be MF (mortgage currently just under £140K,) by the time I’m 50.

I became much more financial aware whilst on maternity leave back in 2005. I took 14 months off work so was very scared as to how this was going to leave our finances as I was just about the major earner. As well as saving money where we could, I gave myself a goal of raising £500 in ‘extra income’ so that we could still make one overpayment on our mortgage that year. I actually made £1,500 :T and now I’ve just got the bug! I’ll write about what has worked for me in future instalments. Finding time is my main problem! I hope writing this diary will further motivate me (any advice gratefully received!) and hopefully inspire some fellow MSE-ers! Please be gentle with me – I’m still getting my head around MSE etiquette, short-hand etc!

Thinking about this as I write, my attitude to money has been shaped by 3 major life-changing events:-

· I was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in 2001
· I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2005, one week before
· Discovering I was pregnant with twins at 39!

Put simply, this means that I believe my life is for living now, because actually none of us knows what’s around the corner. I don’t think I’m terribly motivated by ‘things’ (although what I wouldn’t give for a pair of well-fitting jeans right now…!) but I want to fill our lives with good, memorable experiences – not all of which cost (much) money of course! Although so far our trips to Eurodisney (which did) have been right up there! So, I want to waste (very subjective!) as little money as possible – and that includes paying any more interest on our mortgage than we have to.

I do consider myself incredibly lucky and am so grateful for all that I have. I’m currently clear of cancer - some of my friends sadly haven’t made it; my RA is currently responding really well to my medication – before my latest one I was struggling with walking and even picking up my kids and I have my beautiful girls – it was thought that my cancer treatment might leave me infertile – how wrong they were! (If you are a Sunday Mirror reader and recall a ‘Dear Kylie’ full page spread in 2006, that was us!)

So that’s how I’ve got here, I’m a bit of a walking soap opera, but hopefully that explains my diary’s title. I’ve included the question marks because 7 years is a long time and our circumstances or aspirations are bound to change along the way. Life would be boring otherwise wouldn’t it?!!

On to my financial aims for this year, which I can be more definate about - assuming we can keep our jobs in the current economic climate of course! I’ve included some in my signature to monitor.

· To reduce the capital of our mortgage to £120,000

· To overpay £6,000 off of our mortgage (last year this was £4,500)

· To reduce(?) our net worth to -£115,000

· To make £1,500 in extra earnings (last year this was just over £1,200 – Ebay, questionnaires, RPoints, Quidco, students etc. I will post more on this) Done 9/9/2009

· To rewrite our wills

· To investigate whether it would now be financially viable to get life cover for me – in the past the cost to include death by cancer has been prohibitive and so I only have my ‘death in service’ in place. Done - not required. 9/9/2009

Ooh! I've started!

Trying_to_be_good

Good luck with your targets - I look forward to hearing about your 'extra earnings' schemes and progress.

I need to sort out rewriting my will, too, as I was married last year, so this is a timely reminder, thanks!

uzubairu

You have clearly defined goals for 2009.

I look forward to reading your posts.

Good luck in your quest.

Zeddy

I look forward to future installments, especially as I'm off on maternity leave from May and am now trying to plan how I can raise extra income/ cut costs to help with the drop in income.

Good luck to you!

StuartGMC

ThriftyK
Thanks for the reference in your opening post, I am sure you'll find this diary will help you to keep progressing, although you don't seem to need any extra motivation. Fully agree on not knowing what is round the corner from incidents in my own life, so very best wishes to you and the family.

Looking forward to your diary as it continues

abouttimetoo

Hi there Thriftyknickers :hello:

Welcome to the gang and vest of luck with your plans

dimbo61

Hi tk good luck with the MF challenge, A woman on a mission !
We did eurodisney and paris a few years ago via eurocamp ( stayed in a mobile home ) and drove down to dover ( travelodge overnight ) eurotunnel next day then 4/5 hours driving straight to campsite not far from train station.
Caught the train to eurodisney one day and Paris another.
Very cheap holiday and even our teenage kids enjoyed the hol.
Having been across to france several times I like the ferry ( if weather good ! ) as time to eat breakfast before big drive.
Good luck on the money saving ( just got by car ins 1/2 price via quidco and gocompare ).

Thriftyknickers

So here's how I earned my 'extra income' last year - I thought the breakdown might help show what's worth pursuing and what's not. Unfortunately I can't figure out how to import an Excel spreadsheet which would have made this easier! All the figures are 'net', so pure profit - I've taken out any associated expenses (if there are any).

• Ebay - £487.94 (I mainly sell my kids cast-off clothes and toys plus anything else I can sort out. I buy the vast majority of my kids clothes twice a year in the Next sale (4am start!) for the following year. If you can keep them in good condition - obviously not always possible, they resell really well. I always mention that we're a non-smoking household and that everything has only ever been washed in Persil Non Bio.) I've also sold my kids' Clarks shoes - which seems a bid odd seeing as you're supposed to get their feet properly measured and checked etc., but they do sell).
• Foreign Students - £166 (I do this in the summer for a company called OISE. So far I've had 3 students/year and they each normally stay for 2 weeks. I think you're paid £14/night and you need to provide breakfast, a packed lunch and an evening meal. They have a bus pass and attend college or go on trips every day apart from on a Sunday which is 'family day' unless they want to meet up with their new found friends. All of ours have been under 16 and I've really enjoyed it and keep in touch with some of them - we recently met up with one student and her family in France. You could make much more than this but I do end up taking them out etc...)
• TNS Mystery Shopping - £26.40 (I no longer do this as you now have to be self-employed and I don't want the hassle of sorting out tax etc. Its a real pity as I really enjoyed it - in my maternity leave year I made £336.28)
• Focus group at work - £35
• RPoints - £114.15 (This was the first cashback site I joined. However I joined Quidco last July and tend to use that in preference as it tends to pay more (but does have an annual fee). I think the forum on Rpoints is superior though, I find it easier to use plus its free! Also, you can get promoter bonuses which have added up quite nicely for me. (If you're the first person to submit an online voucher code for one of the RPoints retailers, you get a % of the commission if someone then uses it through RPoints.) I doubt if it will ever make you rich but I've added on voucher codes I've been sent or found in magazine etc for Boots, Boden and Avon and they're all now paying me cash. OK its only £1.50 since 18th November...) If anyone's tempted to join after reading this, it would be really great if you could PM me so I can send you a referral link!)
• Quidco - £56.19 (but only joined in July - I should do much better this year)
• Valued Opinions - £40
• Lightspeed - £19 (I joined in May. I started well but often don't seem to qualify now).
• IPSOS - £50
• Home of Research - £22.50
• Global Market Questionnaires - £78.02 (my current favourite!)
• Mymoviestream - £14 (2 free cinema tickets for a 2 week trial)
• American Express reward - £10 (If you have an Amex card, keep an eye on the membership benefits pages on their website. In December they were rewarding (n) people who made a £70 spend in Sainsburys on the Amex card and returned the receipt to them. They did this for other retailers too (Woolworths sprang to mind...) plus they often have various deals and vouchers - we got 30% off in GAP earlier in the year. l don't know why they don't advertise it better)
• Cashback from Nationwide Visa card - £30.64
• TNS Shop&Scan - £10 (I joined just before Christmas and have already earned another voucher - they were paying £3/week over the Christmas period instead of the usual £1. Its not a lot but easy money and fun - my girls like finding and beeping the barcodes with me!
• Appearing as an extra in a video at work - £50
• Award at work - £25

I also do questionnaires at Onepoll and Pureprofile but haven't hit the payout limit yet. Plus another TNS one but I get 'paid' in Nectar points.

I've given Ciao up as a bad job - it used to pay reasonably well but has gone downhill. When I was on maternity leave I also did some pet sitting and featured in some newspaper and magazine articles. The latter paid really well - £840 in total, 2/3 of which went in to my kids CTF accounts seeing as the articles were largely about them, plus you get some great photos. But of course you need a story.

Hope this helps somebody. If you can think of anything obvious I could be doing to help, then please let me know!

uzubairu

Your last post was very informative and I think I might take up some of your suggestions.

I mainly eBay unwanted stuff around the house and I do collect Tesco Clubcard points (instore and via credit card).

I received £980 from Quidco since joining in November 2006.

setmefree2

and

luxor4t

Music Magpie buys cds: not a huge amount paid per cd but very easy http://www.musicmagpie.co.uk/

Greenmetropolis buys books http://www.greenmetropolis.com/

HTH