Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

income.................2300.00
child benefit..........188.60
child tax cr..............0 no longer!
total....................£2488.60

mobiles x 4...........43.50
tv licence..............12.37
elec/gas................130.00
water....................60.00
council tax............150.00
home insurance.......11.83
pension..................21.90
life ins....................15.17
sky ........................21.00
petrol.......................100.00

pocket money............60.00

grocery.......................300.00
money for me..............50.00
DH's money.................100.00

mortgage interest.........405.00
[COLOR=#saving for loft/op....850.00[/COLOR]
xmas.............................................80
holidays..........................................80









[threadbanner] box [/threadbanner][/QUOTE]

newgirly

Hi Missoptimistic, here is a hastily done update I have changed from the first page of my diary. There are no car related expenses as we pay that from a spare week as dh gets paid weekly.

I am still IO as when I sent the paperwork back to change it over they said my signature did not match, so I changed my mind yet again! As of this month we will be saving to either do the loft in the future or op it all.

It sounds like you have a good offer there to go repayment and extend the term, its changed so much from a few years ago, its not that easy to even re-mortgage any more and its a bit more security.

Best of luck, and I hope you enjoy cp's

newgirly

75p VO survey done, 10p op, 40p tcb

I have been a bit naughty today and bought a deal on groupon, £10 for a night at the dogs for 2 incl choice of takeaway meal and a drink from the bar each. Will have to take this from my petrol budget this month, but as I can't really go out and spend a lot it shouldn't matter too much. I might wait until feb or march to use the voucher though, maybe take the kids too when we have bit more money.

Had a bit of a chat with dh last night about finances (poor him )and how we need to get the most for our money spending wise, ie. days out with the kids versus spur of the moment eating out, which to be fair we don't do too often. I want to try and do lots with the family this year but on a small budget. Last year we did do quite a lot of days out at theme parks and got good value for money with annual passes.
The key to doing it cheaply is planning I think, its the spur of the moment stuff that usually costs us more.

MissOptimistic

Hi Newgirly
Thanks for so much for posting your SOA, I think you do much better with your groceries than me, which is where I need to cut back a little, Its also all the little purchases that dont fall into any category that do me, for example DH asked the window cleaner to start doing our windows again at a cost of £9 :eek: and the odd fiver I give to my boys to get a school dinner when weve run out of interesting pack up stuff, the odd bargain top I pick up from Tesco with the weekly shop, the odd trip to KFC at £17 a pop, you get my drift, it all adds up doesnt it?
Anyway, off to check onepoll now

newgirly

I have a window cleaner that I don't want anymore, but he is quite elderly and I cannot bring myself to tell him, we have see through blinds everywhere so you can't even see if they have been done or not anyway.

I had a vo survey today for 50p and op'd £5 (pinched form the night away budget as I felt like it )

Last night I got a good yellow sticker mini shop from the mr t local up the road:

tzaziki 17p
2x tomato flatbreads 17p each (now frozen, will make pizza with)
2x warburtons toastie loaves 22p each
4x apples 5p each
chicken fridge raiders 28p (no-one fancied so the dog had them!)

Will spend the day working to help dh out as he is getting a bit busier this week and doing the last of the ironing- for today anyway.

We have bought dd's prom dress , its a MASSIVE red made to order one from china via ebay. Completely the opposite of the slimline type she was going for, its a cross between my big fat gypsy wedding and gone with the wind :rotfl: She will look stunning in it I'm sure, I have reassured her that if she does not like it we will get her another one , so fingers crossed she does! We have also ordered some red long gloves, very hollywood glamour, only problem may be getting her in a normal coach seat for the journey

Anyway off to batch cook some cottage pies.

pink_poppy

Snap re. the window cleaner!! I've been wanting to tell him for months that his services are no longer required but I keep putting it off It annoys me that he still comes when the weather is a bit iffy, if I was doing the windows I wouldn't bother doing them if it looked like rain, but he turns up regardless because it's his business & he obviously doesn't want to lose out!!

Hope your DD loves her prom dress ~ we had a disaster with my eldest DD's dress ~ it was too big & the seamstress (I use that term loosely) made a complete hash of taking it in & up. Poor DD felt self-conscious all night. I've vowed to get it right this year with my youngest DD!!

Well done on the yellow stickers :T

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi NewGirly, we had exactly the same issue with our window cleaner. We had all new windows last year and can clean the upstairs ones from inside. I felt the same as you, so I gave him two months notice. That way he knew where he stood and I felt less bad about letting go. As we had used the window cleaner costs in our financial decision, to see whether it made sense, I had to stop him

Good luck with the prom dress - they didn't have these things in my day thank goodness. We had DDs last year and I know just what a nightmare it is.

Best wishes Tilly x

newgirly

10p op yesterday, £28.16 today, 25p survey today

Too busy to post yesterday, but I had a good day, £25 premium bond win :j (only have a £50 holding from when I was little) plus £1.01 yesterday and £1.93 today on tcb.

I have caved in and bought some bits in the boots 1/2 price sale from my monthly xmas budget, I know some of it might go to 75% off but the chances of getting anything are slim. Spent £36 on stocking fillers for a few people and a soap and glory set for dd.

Slim fast was 1/2 price too so I am on that now as I don't seem to be able to stop stuffing my face with xmas leftovers, I'll just do it until I use up the tin and hopefully will be more in the mood to diet after the kick start.

Did a big shop at mr t yesterday and spent £55 and still didn't seem to get much, the food budget is now very low for the rest of the month :eek: But dd was quite upset at an exam result she got so I went out and bought the kids a nice dinner and lots of chocolate to cheer her up, and accidently ended up with a trolley full.

Today I am blitzing the whole house, washing and ironing.

pink_poppy

Well done on the premium bond win :j

I should get myself to Boots to have a look at their sale, my DDs have vouchers from Christmas so now would be the time to spend them.

Good luck with slim fast ~ I did it in the dim & distant past I'm doing Slimming World now, just at home as I can't afford [STRIKE]I'm too tight[/STRIKE] to pay for a class.

I bought smartie cookies for my DD yesterday as she was stressing over an exam, it's awful the amount of pressure kids have on them these days isn't it Hope your DD is ok today.

never_too_old

You are doing so well.
My DD is also stressing over her exams,shes doing her A levels,Today its Biology so really/really hard.:)