Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

SmlSave

Great news with the sky box newgirly What a nice surprise for your DH tomorrow.

newgirly

Argh! wrote a log post then forums went offline.

I have had ds2 and dd home sick today so have been wrapping xmas presents again, I have nearly finished.I have done a great xmas eve hamper for the kids after seeing ideas on the oldstyle forums. Thats about the only MSE thing i've done lately though, no surveys as the laptop is still not fixed and I'm borrowing Dh's as and when i can.

I am running very low on money for this month already, i can't use the cc until about the 11th dec, and have £70 ish left, so need to put more effort into cooking.

Am really missing being able to go online and catch up with everyones diaries, hope everyone is doing ok.

newgirly

I definatly have a gremlin living in this laptop, 2 long posts now vanished ! maybe someones tryin to tell me to stop waffling on.

Anyway, I have decided to use the last of my money put by for Op's to pay a chunk of the 0%CC, I have set aside £150 to pay the remainder of DD's school trip and DS1+2's basketball lessons. I will pay dec's Op of £274 and the remaining £500 has just been paid off the CC.

I have worked out that if I Op by £77 per month it will knock £1000 per month off the remaining balance (as well as the normal payments and interest).

Doing this would knock a total of 10 months off the life of the mortgage.

If I Op by £90 pm it would knock off 12 months
£100 .......................13 months
£110 ........................14 months
£120 ........................15 months
£130 ........................16 months

paying off £130 would be the ideal as the mortage would finish in dec 2020, as it started in may 2010, in my mind thats kind of like 10 years!

next year is going to be a tight one as Dh won't get his share dividends, so we will be £1000's out of pocket, so I don't want the Op's to be too unrealistic.If I can Op by £90 ish pm I will be happy.

My way of paying this Op will be :

£10 per month halifax reward acct
£50 left in acct pm (no savings for school trip anymore, and £27 reduction as of Jan from the gas and electric bill)
£40 to squeeze from the food budget and survey/topcashback earnings.

Sorry for the long post everyone.

Oops almost forgot, for my own records, new CC balance is now £7495,= mortgage £154,251, total £161,746.

mrso2b

Hi newgirly,

Our mortgages are a very similar amount, plus I took mine out this year too (January) so would love to pay this in 10 years like you are aiming for.

Some good ideas there about where to squeeze money from... has made me think.

I'm currently overpaying £25 a month as I'm getting married in April so trying to save as much as possible for that.

It's never ending isn’t it?!

cha97michelle

Sounds like you are budgetting close to the bone like myself, and you might as well be realistic and do the sensible thing with the money rather than struggle later.

all we can do is our best, and what you have set out seems do-able.

And all this frugal practice will stand you in good stead for when life gets less tough.

newgirly

I have been trying to do as many surveys over the last few days, I seem to keep getting screened out a lot though. I managed to get to £10 on vo so I've requseted a tesco voucher, the plan is to reduce the food budget by £10 use the voucher and Op the mortgage by £10.

I have been very naughty and spent £45 on clothes in primark yesterday, I really didn't have the money, bit DH and I are going away for the weekend (£10 per night each;)!) but I only have 1 old pair of jeans that fit and a couple of pairs of leggings.
So I've treated myself to a satin blouse , skinny jeans and some black trousers.
To be honest I had not worked out how I would pay for it, but my dh rang up and asked what vouchers I would like for xmas, as work hands out £50 worth at xmas to all the staff, We usually have M&S and spend it on food, so I thought I'd be really naughty and have tesco vouchers, then i can allocate £50 less for the food budget next month, so shortfall should be covered.
I don't think we will need any extra for xmas food as we are out both days and we always get a hamper from the inlaws the week before, plus I have enough chocs to sink a battle ship for the kids stockings.
So all is going OK at the moment, I only have £5 in my purse until 1st dec when I get £40 cash for the month, and i can use the CC from about the 12th I think. So hopefully I can stretch it out.
I'm hoping DH had money to take away with us as I don't, he has been warned a few times that he is taking the spending money!

I better go and start packing , as the kids are going to my mum and dads for the weekend, I've got all their stuff too. I think its more like a months worth of stuff they want to take with them though.

Oh and fingers crossed for no snow until I've gone away please

[Deleted User]

enjoy your weekend away newgirly!!! where are you going? and £10 p/night is fantastic!! I want to get us a weekend away but struggling to find anything anywhere near that! perhaps am not looking in the right places! will be great to see how you are budgeting for your 10 yr plan as thats about my aim too!

newgirly

Hi tyo, we are going to suffolk which is not too far from us, I did want to go to bath as I've never been and there is an xmas market, but did'nt fancy the long drive on a friday night in rush hour.
It was the news of the world hotels from £5 offer, where you had to collect tokens, I found out about it on the grabbit boards, hopefully it should be ok. If its not we don't have too far to come home

I am really pleased today as I ordered some stephen king books (grabbit again!) for DD for xmas, and they turned up today. There are 19 of them and they are all hardback, I was expecting paper backs, and they only cost £15 for the lot with free delivery, I really can't believe it, I normally pay that for one!

pammyj74

i watch the grabbit board as well but usually too late lol, got a few books and things from it, ordered some thorntons chocs today and now have to choose who to give them too! (might keep one!)
hope you had a nice break, i want some skinny jeans and new boots so hoping for money at xmas

newgirly

We had a good weekend away, but it was much more expensive than expected. We ended up having to pay for breakfast as well which was another £40, plus we had lots of meals out. luckily DH was paying, but he is now broke for xmas, so i've asked him not to get me any presents other than token gifts from the kids.

I need to update the mortgage figures as the dd has come out now. The months seem to be going a bit quicker now Im getting in the swing of oping. Shame the cash is now all dried up!

I need to do a big shop soon but I can't use the cc until the 12th, i may have to borrow from the current Acct and spend less on the cc in dec to pay it back in jan. Its going to be very tight this xmas, it will be the first time that I have not spent the run up to xmas spending in a big way.

Need to get on now and check emails and surveys, Hope evryone is having a good weekend.