Mortgage Free ASAP

weezl74

Aww thanks QB

I really agree with your thoughts about the £70 moisturiser.

DH and I did two road trips in the USA and Canada which cost combined £11000 :eek:

when I think about that now I feel a bit sick :rotfl:

Queen-Bee_2

Great news... This month's [earlier] payment has now cleared, which means my current balance is... £51,150... This means that after 2nd February, when I make my next one, the balance will have a 4 in the front of it, which will be tremendously exciting!

On the downside, I am waiting for a payment to hit my Abbey account so I can pay my bills. I know that it has been credited, but Abbey 'doesn't do' faster payments, so it isn't yet showing and means I'm stuck when it comes to servicing other financial commitments. Just one of the reasons I am ditching them in favour of HSBC!

I will write my summary at the month end as usual. OK, enough procrastination - I've another MA assignment to get down to (they keep on coming!!)
QB

ajmoney

I hope your MA work is going ok and you are not feeling too demoralised by it. I have just had quite a big deadline with my MA this week. All I have standing between me and the qualification now is 12,000-15,000 words!!! Maybe we should keep each other going, how frequent are your deadlines?

Queen-Bee_2

Hi AJ, they seem to be coming thick and fast at the moment! I'm only in my first year though, just a newbie in comparison with you! I take it you're now on the dissertation part..? I have to write a 2k word research proposal by next Friday - didn't sound too tough until I sat down to do it! Very happy to provide encouragement and have a buddy!
QB

ajmoney

I only have to do 500 words. Problem is I have already emailed ideas and asked some questions, I now need to try to put it into an essay. The topic I have picked is quite difficult to research out of books because there is not much out there, I need to go visiting companies and write from what I see. Trying to do the essay plan this week anyway.
Keep posting how you get on and then we can encourage you, I did that on my thread last year and it was so much easier.

Queen-Bee_2

When starting out on my MF journey, I had no idea about the savings which could be achieved using cashback sites, what can be negotiated following poor service, or how much can be earned by attending focus groups.

Last year, gave me an insight into what could be achieved with a little effort and this year appears to have gotten off to a flying start. So far in January for instance, I have secured £251 as follows:
- £70 cashback by changing to a cheaper gas/electricity supplier (plus of course, the savings I will make using this supplier)
- £50 from HSBC when I switch my direct debits from Abbey to my new account (I should have a further £30 opening incentive, but it didn’t track and is currently in Topcashback’s query pipeline)
- £20 cashback from Vodafone from ordering 2x mobile broadbands
- £20 credit from Vodafone as a goodwill gesture following very poor service from them regarding the delivery of the mobile broadbands
- £26 credit from Argos to say sorry for cancelling my freezer order three times before Christmas
- £65 for attending a Focus group later this week.

Since opening three Halifax Reward accounts and circulating the same £1,000 through each of them in turn each month, I’ve also accumulated a further £75.

It’s all helpful and all goes straight into the money saving pot!
QB

MoneyQueen

Hi Queen-Bee,

I have also opened 3 halifax reward current accounts recently. Wasn't sure about circulating the same money through each of them, so I have thinking of circulating the money with Lloyds Vantage Accounts to avoid any issues in the future

MQ

Queen-Bee_2

MoneyQueen wrote: »

I have also opened 3 halifax reward current accounts recently. Wasn't sure about circulating the same money through each of them, so I have thinking of circulating the money with Lloyds Vantage Accounts to avoid any issues in the future

Thanks MQ... I've had no problems so far with the Reward accounts, but I don't want any either, so maybe I ought to circulate via one of my other ones. Does a Lloyds Vantage account offer financial incentives as well?
QB

MoneyQueen

Vantage account pays 4% interest if you have a balance between £5000 and £7000. Better than the best instant access accounts atm and I can move to a better account if rates rise. Same requirements as Halifax. You need to pay in £1000 per month

HTH

MQ

Queen-Bee_2

Hi again MQ - thanks for that. It might be worth my transferring some of my money to there from one of my other accounts for that rate. Alliance & Leicester's Premier Direct Current account pays 6% AER (fixed for one year) on balances up to £2,500... I imagine you've probably got one of these though!!
QB