Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

Hi too too thanks for popping in .

I have just made the most amazing receipe discovery I made veg and onion bhajis from "a girl called jack"s blog, with sweet potato,carrot and onion. I stumbled across it as there were a lot of dodgy looking carrots at the bottom of the fridge, and they were so good I had some for breakfast, I shall freeze them and use them to liven up cheap homemade currys , even dd ate some and she does not usually eat anything :T

yukkibear

They sound lush, I'll seek out that recipe later. Had a nosy at that blog a few weeks ago and bookmarked it for reference.

I feel you on the clearing, we have to declutter majorly before we get the carpets laid, as the rooms will never be clear. Have been trying to start but not nearly as much done as I would like.

newgirly

Good luck with the de cluttering yukkibear, I find it seems to re appear within a few weeks though , where does it all come from :rotfl:

As I've become a bit of a slacker lately I am re starting the to do lists to try and get my backside in gear and get on top of stuff. So this weeks list :

1). Send off child benefit paperwork as dd is starting college
2). Do surveys every day
3). Do all washing and ironing EVERY day
4). Make money in purse last another week and feed us (about £30 ish I think)
5). Look after dd who has lots of exams this week
6). De clutter one drawer a day minimum
7). Start fly ladying properly again
8). Make kids birthday plans and budget for them
9). Clear out airing cupboard
10). Sort out a fab cheap idea for Father's Day for dh

That's it for this week

newgirly

Still full of cold today but determined to achieve things this week

Mondays list:

1). Do all washing.........DONE
2). Ditto ironing.............DONE
3). Find and send paperwork for child benefit............DONE
4). Surveys ..........DONE (lots!)
5). Today's fly ladying- clean kitchen and fridge
6). Buy paper and wrap dd's presents for next month ( its early but I don't want her poking about finding them!)
7).make op's for last few days.... 10p a day.............DONE
8). 2 hrs work for dh.......,.Done
9). Batch cook some meaty meals for dh if I can find mince in freezer...........DONE
10). Collect prescription............DONE


Have a great Monday

newgirly

Most of the list done just the kitchen and present wrapping left to do, I did squeeze in a small shop, a long dog walk and drive dd for a course she is doing in the next town. Shattered now

Food money down to about £21 until the 10th ish but still loads of stuff in every cupboard and freezer to use , although an empty fridge.

Off to bed to read some diaries and blogs.

newgirly

Today's list is going to be a lot shorter

1). Flyldying, kitchen ( not done yesterday) and living room /diningarea/conservatory

2). Surveys
3). Washing and ironing up to date

Other than that I am visiting friends and going for a swim.

Not much mortgage op'd lately except the usual 10p as I never seem to have any money at the moment

newgirly

A boring day yesterday doing loads of work for dh from home, today will be more of the same plus hopefully some housework as the fly ladying has been the only thing I have not got on top of this week.:o

This morning I have ordered a couple of free or*nge sims , as we cancelled sky movies after Xmas we no longer get the free tickets. As the kids are getting older and can be left in the evenings occasionally I thought its about time me and dh started going to the cinema a lot more often, we like completely different films but if its cheap and cheerful we can both see what we want

Ops made today and yesterday 10p a day, food budget about £6 until Monday , which hopefully should be ok.:T

newgirly

Dh has taken the boys to work with him today, not sure they were keen but I was :rotfl:

This years finances is planned already (in a spent kind of way!) so I have been thinking about next year and what big expenses we will have. We booked disneyland Paris which is quite a big one, I am going to try and pay some off the balance each month from my grocery/living budget, perhaps £100 if we can continue to be frugal with food.

The other expense is dd learning to drive, lessons are dear but I have been looking at insurance :eek: I knew it was dear but we are talking about £4k for a policy in my name with her named as a driver for a 1.0 L tiny runaround :eek: you can get that down to about £2,800 with a recordable box that monitors your driving and restricts times you can drive. So my plans to put a bit by each month for a year or so are clearly not going to get us anywhere close to this at all, we were really hoping that driving would make college commuting a lot easier, as its pain to get to.

Anyway, this weekend should be a quiet one, we are going to BBQ tomorrow and the only stuff I have to do is some work for dh and trying to organise food so we don't run out. I had thought I could use the cc Monday to stock up, but the statement date is later for some reason so now I can't shop until weds.

newgirly

Its been an expensive morning, considering I have not been out yet. First the car tax, £200 and not saved for since we started the loft saving, plus I thought it was due in oct for some reason. Then forms for dd's college bus fare, which depending which bus (college special bus once a day or normal buses x3) will be around £500 up front or £47.50 pm. I've said she can decide which is easier for her, so we might need to find £500 in the next few weeks

I am seriously thinking of trying start a savings pot, I know eveyrone has one except me I thought oping the 0%cc and loan should come first , but have been re-thinking as they are unsecured loans and we have no cushion to fall back on, we have always relied on being IO that if something came up we would just not op that month.

newgirly

Right, a total change of tack

I've rung the bs and requested to change back to repayment as of next month, that is free but I need to up the term from 8 yrs (I wish!) to 24 which costs £40.

new monthly payment will be £733 ish, instead of £405 IO

Next I have found the best rate regular saver and opened an acct, you can save £1 - £250 pm, and make one free withdrawal per year with no lost interest.

I plan to save £100 pm

I have tried to contact the nationwide re the loan oping, and although they are shut I found out you can op anytime online but they don't reflect this when working out your interest so no gain. But if you inform them by phone or post in advance they reduce the balance and do adjust the interest paid. Cheek eh?! They really don't make it easy do they.

Plan is to try and op £130 pm which would reduce the 7 yr term to 5 years.

If possible I would like to save the remainder that's left after the living costs (around £50 hopefully) into an normal easy access saver.

The draw backs with this plan are :

1). no money towards loft available, so will put bathroom and carpet on 0% cc
2). will not clear 0% cc this year as hoped but will keep switching to 0% and gradually get rid. That part is not ideal, but the fee switching cost per year on a 0% cc is a lot less than the loan interest.