LA's MFW diary

Leigh-Anne_60

Hiya All

Right thought i would get started on my Diary - determined im gonna crack this MFW lark...... but think will need some help and support from you guys.....

Im 34, DH 31 & we have 2 girls who are nearly 8 and nearly 2. I have a tracker with C&G, with 15 yrs & £113k o/s - currently on a craking rate of .58 above base.... Last year managed to OP £3.5K, this yr so far £800 - But not true OP's, as really only what we have saved with the drop in interest rate

I hate having such a high mortgage over me, likewise so does husband. So have him on board with my mission. When we first bought house, it was £65K motgage but we took some equity out on a couple of occasions(was £125k at highest) - To buy a property abroad & for an extension - So not completely wasted money.

We both have a reasonable salary, and having revisited my budget planner - Should have in excess of £1k per month after all bills/expenses....... but its more often than not we are just in double figures:o But if im honest, i do know the reason.... i love my holidays and over the last say 4/5 years have went on 2-3 foreign trips per year. I have justified this by paying for the actual holiday in full by tesco deals...... but unfortunately tesco dont do spending money:cool:

So we agreed that we will knock this on the head....... not completely, but limit ourselves to one trip in the summer :eek: We should save a small fortune!

Next in my action plan is mobile contracts, we have one each and hardly use the minutes - so going to move to PAYG. I phoned Orange last night and the earliest i can give notice is the 13th April, so diarised this. WIll need to find out about DH, sure he has a lot longer to go:cool:

Sky - Currently on a 1/2 price deal for 6 months @ £36 pm (with ESPN added) - Advised hubby come May when the deal finished its getting switched off

After this not sure where else i can shave off......... But guess its all a step in the right direction.......... Any other tips?

Oh one thing - i have a SO set up direct to C&G for monthly OP of £250...... From reading on here should really be directing this to an ISA as higher interest rates acheivable? Makes sense ehh?

If your still with me - well done:p But think thats enough for my 1st diary entry

LA

chirpchirp

Welcome to the board. Have a look at changing your electricty/gas supplier that may it help. Make sure you check out comparison sites and add Aviva and Direct Line when renewing car insurance and house insurance. Make sure that insurance policies aren't charging you interest if you are paying monthly. Often best to make an annual payment.

Challenge every renewal, ask for the retentions department and see if you can haggle. I knocked £39 off my AA renewal by doing this.

Also check quidco for cashback, must admit I always forget!

wantabetterlife

Hi LA and welcome to MFW land. :j
Do you have any idea what you spend a month on groceries? I have got brilliant ideas from the Old style board on saving money in the grocery dept, also we always take pack lunch to work and try and keep take aways to a minimum.
The great thing is i really dont feel we are missing out. By meal planning and batch cooking my life is actually simpler as i used to come in from work and be be searching throught the freezer for something to stick in the oven or else resort to the chip shop. Before starting the MFW journey i would estimate that we would have spent upto £300 per month on take aways and eating out :eek:.
Now when we do eat out or get a takeway we actually appreciate it- win win situation .

That is going to be hard with the holidays, but at least if you have one holiday to look forward to it will keep you motivated.
I will be watching your diary with interest, goodluck
WABL xo

Leigh-Anne_60

Hiya

Chirpchirp, thanks for your reply. I dont think i have ever renewed an insurance policy......always shop around for the best deal, and for the last few years always via quidco. Paid my Motor & Buildings as one off this yr - Only contents on monthly payments

I have accounts with CBK, Quidco & TCB - But all pretty dormant tbh (with the exception of insurances) I exhausted all the gambling/bingo 'biggies' in my first few yrs of cashbacking......... in both mine and hubbies names. Did used to keep upto date with all the freebies - but not done so for a while. WIll devote an evening to this in the next week or so

WABL, we spend about £80 pw on groceries, but with no planning whatsover:p And yes - always get to that point mid week when im scratching around wondering what to make Will have a go next week with a daily meal plan & corresponding shopping list... see how it goes.

With regard to takeaways, probably only do 2 a month. What i do a lot of is, if we are out in town with the kids etc will drop in to Mc'ds or Boots for a meal deal. Also when at work, always buy my lunch as opposed to making it at home.....Even though i make dd's packed lunch every day.... so no difference making one up for me. So probably not far off your pre MFW days figure of £300:eek: Will pay more attention to this one.... Will also check out the Old style board for ideas.

Ohh im so excited with all the possibilities... thanks for your input so far

LA

Leigh-Anne_60

Well my march overpayment isnt as much as thought:o I done £250 by standing order and the other £150 by direct payment (using the same acc no's as my SO)..... Just checked my account and the £150 has bounced back?

Any ideas? Im with C&G if it makes any difference?

pammyj74

Hi LA60 are you a fellow ptser? I recognise that name??
Welcome to the mfw board
I know what you mean about the tesco hols, now that points are harder to come by its even worse to get tesco free hols, we are on our last one this year to turkey, cant wait.
Definitely look at your grocery budget, this is where I save most of my money and using my SC and cooking a few meals at once and freezing some.

Look at the other challenges on here like the no spend days, sealed pot and virtual pot challenges, you'll be amazed how it mounts up.

Look at the thrifty threads here for making extra money, these have been a god send to me. Are you on dooyoo and bingoport?

craftingmad

Hi LA and welcome to MFW. I know from experience that you will certainly get support and helpful advice as I get it all the time.

Remember every amount helps no matter how small so keep telling yourself this and if you are like me just to see the mortgage amount coming down makes everything allo worth while.

I agree with everyone elses advice already - see if you can cut your grocy bill, take a packed lunch, quidco etc etc.

Also have you got anything you can get rid of using Ebay, Amazon etc? I know that I have hunted around and got loads of stuff to list on Ebay and also a big box of stuff ready for a car boot after just one day of looking. I have now set myself a target of finding at least one thing in every room of our house that can be sold every day of this week so hopefully by the end of the week I will have enough to do a car boot sale and have loads to sell on Ebay (fingers crossed). The majority of it belongs to our kids and they have outgrown it or never play with it etc so as a fellow mummy I'm sure that your house must be similar?

Good luck - I'll be following with interest.

getmore4less

Leigh-Anne_60 wrote: »

We both have a reasonable salary, and having revisited my budget planner - Should have in excess of £1k per month after all bills/expenses....... but its more often than not we are just in double figures:o But if im honest, i do know the reason.... i love my holidays and over the last say 4/5 years have went on 2-3 foreign trips per year. I have justified this by paying for the actual holiday in full by tesco deals...... but unfortunately tesco dont do spending money:cool:

Do a budget for a full year at least and allocate some money for the medium term stuff(next 5 years) to smooth out the peaks/trough in the spends.

This will give a clearer picture of where your spends are and make it easier to prioritise. It might be that once the detail is there you can move things around and still get more than one holidays if they are where you get you value.( we swapped most planned takeaways/eating out for another holiday).

Once you have a clear idea of the holiday budget for the year then the trick is to streatch it to as many holidays as possible.


One problem with budgeting is the scales when you convert them all to yearly you get a better sense of the relative cost and can see the trade offs better.

Lunch at work dailiy
Shopping weekly
Bills monthly
Holidays annual.

Another trick is like for like, so if it costs £80 for a weeks shopping and £80 for a meal out that equivilent.

Another option is to decide your top prioirty and measure using this.

So if your 2week holidays cost £2000 thats £36 pppd so anything that costs around that amout is a days holiday for one of you they all add up.

Leigh-Anne_60

Thanks all for all your tips

Havent done my 'planned' shop yet - using cupboard/freezer stuff up, so hopefully saved a few quid this week by doing this.

Managed to win £50 on a bingo site - So will OP this, if i could work out how do OP by online banking................Anyone else with C&G that can do one off/bill payment payments?

Pammy - Yes i am/was a PTSer, but very rarely on there these days - remember your name also -you must have been there from the early days too?

Really want to get into the NSD - I cant seem to go through a day without wasting at least £10!!

LA

pammyj74

definitely get into the NSDs, this saves all the silly little spends if you are tough on yourself lol
well done on your bingo win.

I havent been on PTS for a while until the cds points bonanza! I was there in the early days when points were good and often!

Leigh-Anne_60

Hiya

Just a quick update from me, things are going well in my quest to be mortgage free, juggling various bits n bobs to sort out our monthly outgoings

• Was going to end my £30 pm Orange contract, phoned them up to sort, but got swayed into another contract:o But at £7.50 pm for 200m & 200 t, think i got a good deal - I worked out that i would have probably topped up £10 pm anyway!
• Hubbies contract still have another yr to run. But dropped down to £20pm, can phone again next month and drop to £15
• Called Sky & gave my months notice - So will finish on 30th May. Hubby is not too sad, as should see him through to the end of the footie season:p

So £64.50 in total shaved off my monthly outgoings:j

Have also decided to take a different direction in our MF quest, upto now all op's have went directly into the mortgage account, but with our rate at 0.58 above base, doesnt make sense atm. So from this month we are going to pay £400 pm in to a new A&L cash ISA @3.2% - This doesnt feel like op'ing though:o...... Need to get it into my head that it is ... Does that make sense?

Also had a few NSD - felt really good!! Also managed to do packed lunches for me and hubby for 3 days out of 5 for the last 2 weeks.... So not quite there 100%, but a step in the right direction!

Thaink thats about it for now!!

Cheers

LA