new mfw

chirpchirp

Thanks for popping by and saying hi, it's always nice to know that someone is actually reading what you are writing.

As a result of your post, I decided to read through my diary too. Would be lovely to have the same income that I had when I was full time, could seriously make a dent in the mortgage if I had that income again!

chirpchirp

Well, supply work has been quite infrequent but today I got the chance for a whole weeks work and I've had to turn Friday down due to being out of the country.

I've been told it could possibly be till Christmas which feels quite a scary prospect as it's a while since I've lesson planned to this extent. Also issues with childcare as my friend and I juggle taking our kids when I work so that we don't have childcare expenses.

I'm hoping any supply work this term I can count as mortgage overpayments so it would be great if I could get enough courage to work full time again and if this job does become available.

chirpchirp

Last month I decided to try and eat out of the freezer as much as possible. My real issue is that whenever I see meat reduced in the co-op I grab a load and freeze it to save me money overtime. My other indulgence is eating out far too often.

I thought I had a reasonably good month last month but decided to go through my statement today and I've worked out that I spent £295 on food and a few visits to KFC with the kids. The KFC visits I thought were actually being cheaper than us eating out and we went for relatively cheap options each time we went.

Last month was also expensive for food as I had a visit to the Asian supermarket and started up my spice store cupboard as well as buying 12 tins of coconut milk and a further twelve tins of tomatoes.

This month I was doing reasonably well until I needed to provide 4pints of milk for school tomorrow. Ended up spending over £18 as I found some sausages reduced and picked up 12 pork steaks for about £6.00. I also grabbed 18 toilet rolls for £6. So these things are MSE over time the issue is I always seem to be buying something like this.

I was really concerned to see that last month was £295. This month is a bit of a cheat month as my ex looked after the children for a few days and fed them during this period. I was also away during this time and it doesn't seem right to count the money as party of the grocery spend so I'm not. I can't see how anyone can manage on benefits, seeing as I was buying my food as cheaply as possible and if I deduct the KFC then the bill was still about £250. I also ate out of the freezer a fair bit last month. Current total for this month is running at about £50 despite the toilet roll and pork steak spends!

chirpchirp

£140 just winged its way to the ISA with the ultimate intention of being a mortgage overpayment.

This was made up of cancellation of dog insurance £25 saving a month, £20 from changing tariff on Electricity and Gas and from giving an accurate reading and £95 from a saving on home insurance.

Last year I declined to renew with Direct Line as they wanted £522! I think I went with Swiftcover at £299. The renewal from Swiftcover was £375, which just goes to show you need to check every year! I went back to Direct Line at £284. According to Moneysupermarket I could have got cheaer but my gut feeling was to go with Direct Line, partly as I've claimed with them previously but mainly as I'd never heard of the companies which Moneysupermarket was recommending - although probably not very MSE!

Incidentally, I went to Aldi this week and found some soups by the London Soup Company (registered in Leeds!) which were 89p each. The chicken and sweetcorn and the pea and ham are both delicious.

chirpchirp

Another £100 into the ISA/mortgage overpayment pot. Making £240 + regular op of £112 = £352.

chirpchirp

New mortgage payment amount arrived today as at the end of the month amount increases to 2.99% which means I'll be paying £1092 a month.

Thankfully this now a repayment mortgage. So it's not all interest!

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Hi Chirpchirp,

I'm very similar to you - I've checked car insurance every year and bounce between Tesco and Direct Line (except once when Tesco offered the difference in vouchers so I stuck for an extra year!).

chirpchirp

Great news, thought mortgage interest was paid a month in advance, so my new increase won't happen until the end of November.

Finally updated MFin 3 take 2. Note to self that this is balance-SS ISA. Cash ISA not included as don't want to get too excited.

Pleased to note that I managed my target to reduce mortgage in 3 years despite huge changes in life. The target had been based on me staying in my old job and staying in my original house.

Income has gone down considerably since the start of the challenge as now only doing supply work instead of working full time with a London weighting. What did help was making sure I put the equity from old house into mortgage rather than stamping my mark on the new property.

chirpchirp

Well today was the first day of my son being on packed lunches. School Dinners are now about £2.20 a day and they get very little for this. My daughter is being really helpful and helping to make them. Hopefully him being on packed lunches will stop him feeling so envious of her having a chocolate bar and a packet of crisps each day and just maybe this could workout cheaper.

So far so good, he seems to realise that if the packed lunch food goes then it means he'll be back on school dinners.

chirpchirp

Sandwiches seem to be going down well with both the children and my son has only forgotten his once which is excellent news. I'm struggling with keeping bread though as freezer is very full with other things.

Shares ISA: I noticed it was riding high the other week and was 20% higher than last year so decided to cash it in and pay it off the mortgage. The difficulty with any shares is whether to cash in and lose out on a higher value or to cash in and avoid a huge crash. I think I probably went for it at the right time. I didn't adjust my term so my term is still to July 2027. However, I'm keeping my DD at the same level so that should be an initial overpayment of £257, rising by a few pounds each month.

Cash ISA: Before I started this diary I hadn't even considered having one of these. I now have enough for an emergency fund and a new car. I'm keeping the money in here though rather than paying direct off the mortgage as I think one day the interest rates on savings will outstrip my mortgage again and then I'll be able to benefit from the tax free interest. I could only find a 2.5% ISA this year compared with 3.3% last year!

Overpayments: I count all capital payments as overpayments as when I started this diary I was at £241,000 - 18 years at interest only which was from memory just over £982.00 per month. I now have 14 years and 2 months to go and the amount per month is £834. Interest is 2.99%. I am now circa £115000, not taking into account savings. My net amount has just gone below £100,000! Quite a difference in 4 years or so. Helped by the shares and by moving house and paying equity from the old house to pay towards the mortgage, whilst still buying a house more than the original amount outstanding.

Small savings on groceries are making the ISA savings possible as are haggling with the AA etc. I've just made my first Approved Foods order. Apparently introducing people gets you a discount and anyone who hasn't ordered with them may want to take a look at this link ( it links to my account for recommendation - not sure if we are allowed to post these links but if we aren't sure it will be deleted!) http://www.approvedfood.co.uk/?afid=d65dda . I continue to shop at Aldi or Lidl but have just had a big order from Asda as it's cheaper than driving out of the village and I was popping to the co-op far too often. Unfortunately this month I have a rather large excess bill on my insurance as I had a slight argument with a HGV!

I've been lurking in the background and catching up with some diaries, well done to everyone.