I want to be a MFW........ LP's Diary

LilacPixie

I spend a scary fortune but this month I have been quite disciplined but I have bought a few early Christmas pressies in the Argos toy sale. And a few of the £7.50 body shop vanity cases.

Anyway some news. I was mis-sold PPI by my former bank in 2005. I complained to them and the response was basically tough so I put it to the FOS where it has languished for a year or so. Anyway this morning I receive a letter from the FOS saying after their invention the company concerned is offering a full refund off PPI paid plus interest as it was front loaded plus 8% interest from each payment date and £200 compensation for inconvenience and distress.

I have not a clue what final figure will be as the letter only details the formula not specifics, Apparently the lender will follow this up. So now I have a problem. My mortgage only allows OP's of 10% of the outstanding per year penalty free. Outstanding is around 53k so I can overpay £5300 a year. I will need to dig out the old loan document today to try work some things out but I am thinking we should use the settlement for bathroom on the same cheap budget previously mentioned and keep the rest in my savings account for house move/emergency.

Does anyone have any imputt??

StuartGMC

LP
I do hope that you'll be able to back-off the hours in the future? Pleased to hear the spreadsheet is assisting you too.

Regarding the new monies, certainly use them for the bathroom as this is something you need now and you are planning it, but the windfall just means you can do so earlier. With the remainder, add to your emergency & savings then if you continue to accumulate you can start the next year on the mortgage with some money ready for the OP in that year too.

You seem to be doing very well, do enjoy time with the children too as well as that spreadsheet!

LilacPixie

I always do. I am a bir of an insomniac and usually working at silly o'clock when my kids are in bed.

I will probably do a few hours tonight and 4-5 hours tomorrowduring the day when they are visiting with their grandparents

LilacPixie

I did something silly at the weekend..... I went to have a look around some houses they are building not that far from me. They are lovely but at 200k it would mean a 160k mortgage for us :eek::eek::eek: Plans to be building well into 2011 apparently so I will keep an eye on it

I do like them and they are nice, It is a 4 bed detatched with garage witht he more american style larger rooms. I think I could be happy there but I refuse to have a 160k liability around my neck so we need to cut back, save, pay down existing mortgage. I am focused now.

LilacPixie

Right part of my focusing is. 4-5 years ago we were not as disaplined with money as now and as a result got some bank charges. I have made a list of them and will be watching the outcome of this test case with interest.

I obviously had a small victory with reclaiming PPI so I have dug out some old loan documants only to see that PPI was also included there without my knowledge so will be writting to complain about that today as well.

LilacPixie

Right PPI letter sent. The company concerned has actually been fined for this so hopefully we should have a favorable outcome.

My mind has now turned to income and expenditure. Obviously our expenditure needs to reduce which is quite straight forward and is in hand. We could really do with an increase in income as well. OH is a driver so his overtime is restricted by the amount of hours he can work and well my work is chaotic as it is andis straight salary with time back. I also run a small jewellery business from home which does make a profit but not alot.

I have been having a search around the boards, I already do quidco for cashback and shop and scan for vouchers. I also mystery shop but not alot at the moment with other commitments. I think matched betting is looking interesting but not sure if it is worth the effort? Does anyone do this and is it worth the effort?? Surveys seem straight forward but I keep getting screened out of them so possibly not. What about DooYoo?? Anyone use this??

I have also noticed Halifax have released a new regular saver account. Thinking of sending OH in to open one for himself as he has a spare £50 per month that could be contributed to it.

I

Floxxie

Hi LP,

I do MBing as do several others on the MFW board and yes it is worth the effort and will make you more money than any of the other things you mentioned. However you might want to wait until the main football season starts as the bookies offers and being able to get through them, will be made easier. Also use referrers and cashback sites when signing up to bookies to get extra money.

It can take a bit of time to get your head around it and it will depend on how much of a free bet you want to get, to how long it will take you overall.

I haven't done much recently, partly because of the lack off football, but also because I have found that I have to devote time to it rather than having it as another thing that I am doing. Others probably cope much better than me at multitasking

LilacPixie

Thanks for that Floxxie. I actually bought a book in a charity shop today, winning on betfair for dummies. It was only 50p so I thought it was worth a try.

LilacPixie

Right I have had busy few days. Lots of stuff going on i'm afraid. I have managed to overpay another £40 to the mortgage, won £40 in tesco vouchers in an office raffle so have used £40 of my grocery budget to overpay. I have also been decluttering some of this place with a view to putting on the market next spring. I feel an ebay listing splurge coming on.

LilacPixie

Well its payday today. I spent it doing a bit of paid overtime.

Well I have sorted out a large moutain of unworn clothes that I will be listing on ebay. I also dug out the reusable nappies i bought when pregnant with my second baby that we never used because baby number 1 decided she was ready to potty train just before number 2 arrived. I have 8-10 still in their packets :eek:

Plan for the weekend is try photograph and list some items, Look at matched betting, do more work on our budget and try make some goals for the short to medium term.

We know realistically we need to increase our mortgage liability when we upsize but we would obviously like the increase to be as small as possible.