Want to be a mfw but worried?

katsu

Ally, glad my explanation made sense. It really is so easy that you may as well do it now and get a small benefit in the winter. The Carbon Trust website says it is worth doing but the benefits are small - luckily so is the cost The foam backed foil is better than just foil I believe. I got a roll in B&Q for £6.98 or something like that but see it is now £5 in Lidl for identical looking stuff. One roll was enough for our 2 bedroom house as we decided not to do the bathroom radiator due to the damp (we have no extractor fan so the walls get damp when we shower )

ally18

Well, a new year and new start to budgeting. Ended up spending more than I intended on xmas which was annoying but not unexpected!

Have sorted out car insurance for this year and knocked off £60 off the renewal price by shopping around. Can't put this to m2 o/p unfortunately as I need to have some savings in place to sort out heating for next winter so going to stick this somewhere safe in an emergency act.

Does anyone know how many bank/bs accounts you can have, does it affect your credit rating or anything? I seem to have a few but it works for me to separate everything out so I know where I am.:D

Going to sort out last years bills account soon, should hopefully have something left in there to pay off extra on car loan this month.

Managed to save on shopping bill last month so this has covered my extra petrol costs from driving around thankfully.

Have decided no more Mr Ts, have to really tighten shopping budget now and empty freezer and cupboards more often. Will be using calculator each week for def!

More later.

A

SmlSave

Happy New Year ally!

Well done on reducing your car insurance.

I have 6 different banks and probably 10 accounts and my credit rating is top notch I think the only thing to watch for is that when opening a new bank account they tend to do a credit check which companies can see (i.e. if you opened 5 new accounts with 5 different banks in one week it wouldn't look great as its much more than the average person)

ally18

Hi smlsave,

and to you too and thanks for that.

I think I need to be a bit more organised this year so having a couple more acts to spread things out in would be better for me than jumbling them up together.

ally18

Have managed to pay off a little more of my car loan last week, £350,this was saved from bills account over last year, which means I am closer to putting more money towards m2 this year.

Car loan now 2150/5100
M2 sav act £180

hastie

hi, it may be that an offset mortgage product could be good for you? That way you can put the money in a savings account linked to the mortgage. You do not recieve interest on the savings, but the balance is set against your mortgage debt, meaning you save in mortgage interest. These products are usually very flexible, that way you can get your money out quickly whilst effectively reducing your mortgage term.

Good luck

ally18

Had to come on here today to write a few thoughts down as feeling a little low really so sorry beforehand if you carry on reading.

I dont know about anyone else but I feel as if Im not getting anywhere, I have all these good intentions to want to pay extra money off my m2 (and m1) but all I have is the income I have and everything is budgeted to the max so I can only pay off what is there, I cant find anything else and its sooooooooooo slow seeing the mortgage get lower only once a month. I feel so frustrated and annoyed that I can't do more. Yes pathetic I know.

I cant get a part time job as I dont have the time, I am going to start voluntary work soon so hopefully that will make me feel better in a different way. Unfortunately Im not into doing these surveys and stuff either. I'm not going to take the risk and move jobs as that is too scarey at the moment.

I wonder if anyone else feels like I do, I think Ive left it way too late, Im in mid 40s, I so wish Id had the sense to think about this much much earlier but then my circumstances were different back in the good old days and you didnt think of paying the m off, it was hard enough to pay bills then. I do think all you 'youngsters' have got your heads screwed on right and I wish you all the best of luck, hope my kids think the right way.

Had a good look through my budget book again this morning, I could get rid of virgin package but thats our luxury really. Xmas savings covers all bdays for kids and family as well as xmas for whole year and cant really be reduced. I have seriously thought of removing the money I put away for a holiday now or perhaps halve it, will discuss it with kids tonight. The thing is though that I feel awful if i cant treat them to something at least once a year plus I have to admit, some kind of break is what I look forward to as well. Whats the point of scrimping and saving now just to pay the m off if my kids are not enjoying their lives as much as I want them to, after all this is the time they remember most. The trouble is you never know what to do for the best. I wish I was not a Libran, because I can never make decisions!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, moan is now over, there are so many people out there in a worse situation than me, in fact I'm not in a bad situation, I don't know what I'm talking about today so please ignore this post.

ally18

Must, must, must stop looking at mortgage calculator and working out how much I can save if I pay off such and such here or a bit more there, grr, I am becoming so impatient!!!!!!!!

Wonder if we need to eat really this month??????????

Cant wait for June, then car loan will be gone, yayyyyyyyyyyy.

SmlSave

Sending you a (hug) ally

Try and remember it's January which is the worst month IMO as its dark, damp, feels like there's nothing to look forward to and budgets never look good as all you can see is £££££ racking up.

I hereby order you not to look at any calculators!

sarahevie

I'm feeling the same way out at the mo (I don't want my kids to not have any childhood memories because everything has gone off the mortgage.)

Not sure what the answer is, wish I knew.

Last year we were adjusting to life on one income but missed a couple of big occasions, didn't have a hol to try and overpay. Think we might have been better creating some memories rather than avoiding lots of fun times just because it costs.

I'm hoping we will find a balance:rotfl: