greent's mfw journey

greent

Sold £2.70 worth of bits n pieces at WI last night - so have just OP'd another £5 Took a handful of some of the unsold stuff to the charity shop next to Tesco this morning to keep the clutter down. I shall try some of it again next month or the month after and if it doesn't go then then take the rest to the charity shop - I don't want to hold onto stuff for the possible chance of (literally) a few pennies. Also sold some of DD's clothes to a friend for £5.50 last week - every little helps and all that! I'd have been reasonably happy with giving them to her, but she always sells stuff on afterwards and it was all Jasper Conran/ Red Herring/ Pineapple stuff, so it was a bargain to her at 50p/ £1 each anyway and that way if she sells it on (even for more) I won't feel as though I've been cheated.

greent

Oops.... got bored this afternoon and transferred £700 out of an old ISA (which I hadn't transferred on and was earning a paltry 1%) and made an OP of £725 to the mtge - it was only going to be a £700 op, but I needed £723.96 to knock a month off, so thought I'd stick the extra £25 on.... I really should leave it all alone now... OPs this month are 1643.57 - ytd they total £3540.71...

must stop it..... need money to live on.... OPing mtge too addictive....

greent

Just checked mortgage balances today - we're under £71K now - which means that we'll be sub 70k on 1st April! Woo hoo!! That'll be fantastic! And if rates don't rise (fingers crossed!) we'll be sub £60K come Xmas - not that I'm wishing the year away, I'm just trying to see how we can get it to reduce even quicker!!!:D

It's another FLW on ebay this weekend - will relist unsold items and have about another dozen- dozen and a half items to add to the pile to list if I get time. If I'm lucky that'll be another £20-25 for OPing at the end of the month..

greent

Just made another £25 OP from cashback claimed last night.

OH was informed by his boss that he'd get a bonus for last year (very unexpected as he was a contractor, not staff) - he was expecting about £250. I did some sums and said about £1100 should be more realistic - anyway, boss has agreed £5000!!! Woo hoo!!! Fan-bloomin'-tastic!! All eunexpected money, so DH said I can put it all on the mortgage if I want when we get it (poss May) Obv it won;t be £5k, 'cos of tax 'n stuff, but it's still a great extra lump of income! I'm torn between paying it all off mtge or using some on our int free CC debt (expires 02/13). I've got 6-8 weeks to think about it, though

Brodiebobs

wow great bonus there, i dont earn much more than that a year very kind of him to let you use it for the mortgage too... mine would probably want to spend it on cars/bikes/in pub!!

greent

I know, Brodiebobs - a huuuuge bonus at the best of times - especially as he wasn't 'proper' staff (but they love him, hence why they've taken him on the books salaried for a year after a year's contracting there)

Dh is buying into the MF lark more and more - he's not doing anything practical to help (like cutting back on spending, selling stuff etc) but the bonus money would have only been swallowed up or gone into an ISA, so an OP works better for us from a mental state (DH has had chronic depression problems and can't deal with money - doesn't open bank statements etc - all left to me. He's getting better - can see how much we've reduced mtge in last few years and sees that an end is in sight not *too* far away. Paying off the mtge would just be a big lift to him and one less thing for me to think about!)

Have 80 items on ebay - bids on 2 (total £4.00!! ) and a few wtachers on some others....

greent

4 items sold on ebay - all little things, but £15 OP made today as a result Better than nothing...!

Have another 23 items ending next week on there - bids on 1 item and watchers on another couple - hopeful of £40 being made from that little lot if I can...

greent

OOh - just checked tcb - £3.38 claimable, so I've claimed it and made an OP of £5

greent

Claimed some expenses of just over £100 today - money spent back in Jan/ Feb, so decided to OP it. Actually OPd the strange figure of £126.43 today - bringing monthly OPs for March to exactly £1815. Looking good to clear smaller mortgage by end of Summer now That should then have a knock on effect of bringing MF date on big mtge to about Sep 2016 - just a couple of months off my target of Jul 2016 (although I do have a potential new target of totally MF in Dec 2015:eek: if a new MFi3 challenge goes ahead in December! That sounds scarily close!!:eek:)

We're off to Cornwall for a week on Saturday (fuel permitting!! ) so I shan't be posting anything or OPing anything until after we're back - when I need to have a big shift around of monies, check everything's up straight and see where we are. And I'll hopefully have sold some bits on ebay whilst away, so fingers crossed for an OP from that

greent

Back home from a week in Cornwall today. Used Tesco CC vouchers for a trip to Eden (all 6 of us) and a trip to Crealy (3 of us) whilst there, and another day out at a National Trust property (free entry with our membership card) Was a s/catering holiday - took some food and also went shopping at Stresco whilst there (and the lovely local farm shop too...) but also had a takeaway, pasties, a cream tea (compulsory for the latter 2 when in Cornwall! ) and snacky bits out (lovely Cornish ice cream....) Weather was variable. Generally dry in the day, though, but a bit windy sometimes - such a change after the heatwave at the end of March!

ONly 3 went to Crealy because DS2 was ill on the Tues (vomiting) and achy and tired on the Weds. By Thurs morning he had several blister-y spots on him - and Friday was covered in chickenpox... DS1 was also ill (vomiting) the one night.... felt like Disneyland Paris (see October/ November entries ) again.....! Poor DS2 is really rough. When the big 2 had pox they had maybe a couple of dozen pox each all over their bodies and felt fine. He has more than 60 just on his face. His genitals are covered in weeping blisters. They're on the soles of his feet, the palms of his hands, in between fingers, over his scalp, around his eyes, in his ears.... and pretty much everywhere I'm just waiting for DS3 to come down with it in about a week now...

On a more positive note, our mortgage is now below £70k I shall look at our accounts later this week and see what I can pay extra from there. I also had several items on ebay whilst we were away - quite a few sold - totalling £160!!!!! (and another £21 for DS2 for some toys) There'll be fees, but that's still a good OP to come and a nice bit of decluttering. I see it's another FLW this weekend - so I'll relist unsold items and get some more on there too (as we can't go anywhere with DS2 and the pox....) Woo hoo!!!