Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

katsu

Hi newgirly,

New Year greetings from a fellow Nielssen scanner. My DH gets cross about the beep so I have to scan in the kitchen I've also got a glass of baileys on the go.

CathT

How good/profitable is the Nielsson scanner? Newgirly, how long is 'a while' on giving up the wine?

newgirly

Hi Cath, I don't know much about the rewards, but I get 75pts each week I do it plus a bonus 100pts per month, there is a list with what you can exchange the points for but I can't find it at the moment, but gifts start at some thing like 1200 ish points I think for something worth a few pounds.
I'm not sure how long I'm giving up wine for, does 2 days count as a while?

mummalove

Happy New Year Newgirly!

I have spent the day reading this thread with much interest and am very inspired by your diary. Totally honest one, as we all know how tough it is sticking to budgets and the 'extras' that keep on cropping up all the time. You are doing a fab job and I wish you well with your saving for the loft conversion - which I think by the way is definitely your best option. Not increasing 'debt' and actually will make money in the long run. Not sure I would want to be the one who decides who get the new room though!!!

ps. I share your love of Baileys too!!

newgirly

Hi mummalove, thanks for spending the time to plough through some of my wafflings!
It has been a hard year in many ways , but I feel in much more in control since joining this site and the mfw's. There are so many like minded people, and lots of them are not exactly well off but through a lot of extra effort and determination will achieve their aims.
It helps having the support as in everyday life it's quite challenging sometimes, most of my friends are quite well off, and would be shocked at what I spend on food for example, my monthly budget seems to be the same as most of my friends weekly budget.

newgirly

I stayed up late last night and did an online mr a order to be delivered when I can use the cc again on the 11th, I spent £108 which is in theory for 4 weeks meal plans but I'm short a few bits plus I'll be spending a lot more on fresh fruit and veg as well so am going to allocate £92 as well and see if that will last a month.
I am doing a couple of reciepes from weezls thread, but only for me and dh as the kids are so bloomin akward and prefer plain chicken / veg type dinners so thats what I tend to do more often.

We are going to our big local shopping centre today as DD wants to spend the vouchers she got for xmas, I have no money though so won't be buying, although I do have 3 pairs of pj's that dd bought me from xmas that need to go back as she bought a size 20-22 and I'm a 12-14 need to find the receipt first.
I have one due back at school tomorrow and 2 on weds, Dh is back tomorrow too, much as I love him we are getting on each others nerves a bit. I love the run up to xmas but always feel a bit down afterwards, being stuck in the house a lot has not helped really.
I'll look at some surveys today as well, but they are not coming through a lot at the moment, although I have been paid out for a few of the tcb ones i have done.

mummalove

Hi again, love the fact your DD got your the wrong size!!! Aw bless they mean well....!! I can't wait for my son to go back to school on Wednesday, the decs went down today, just be glad to get back to the normal routine again...know what you mean, love having them around but be nice knowing what day of the week it is

Have been trying to share my excitement of money saving with hubs - why is it they just raise their eyebrows and shake their heads? Is it their lack of belief we will actually do it or just their usual ability to glaze over when we are talking Well I know I am doing well, it is just a case of changing your view on things.

We did have a mortgage of £140K a couple of years ago, but we inherited £60K and paid this off our mortgage - we reduced the term from 20 years to 10 years and this kept the payments the same. We now have 8 years left and about £68K outstanding. Just want to get rid of the mortgage. We don't live in a huge house but are more than happy to stay put. I just prefer to have the security of fully owning our home, not so much financial pressure. We are not able to OP just yet, but that is why I am seriously trying to reduce our outgoings and then review what we have left each month.

I get so inspired with this site - I am a total addict, and love being able to share tips, advice and savings thrills and excitement with others who understand!!! :rotfl:

I am starting on the surveys like you with a view to keeping anything I earn / vouchers / topcashback / quidco, etc all for Xmas.

Back to work tomorrow...boo hoo!

newgirly

Mummalove, are you going to do a mfw diary ? You seem to have made a good start already by reducing your term.
I think it helps me to focus more if I have to keep checking in to my diary.

newgirly

I am suffering from lack of sleep again as one of the neighbours keeps having their radio/tv on at 3am ish, it woke dd up last night as well. It sounds funny but I don't know which side the noise is coming from, dd thinks its the wall next to her and i think its coming from the house the other side. Its not mega loud just annoying.

The neighbours on one side rent off our old neighbour who said they are nice but he has a temper if you upset him. The other side is a middle aged guy on his own who we had issues with in the summer as he complained about the noise of the hottub, which we bent overbackwards to sort out, to the point when sometimes I would make the kids get out and go inside if they made too much noise,I
am really aware of the fact that we have kids and try to make sure we are as quiet as possible.

I know other people have much bigger problems than this I'm just a bit fed up as we had finally decided to stay and save to get the loft done. As I don't really want to borrow any more money, whatever we do in the future, move or extend, it will have to be from savings so I guess we have plenty of time to decide if we are definatly going to to stay. I suppose there are not many of us who have perfect neighbours.

Another decision is should we get the bathroom done before starting the savings, as it has been leaking now and again, I don't want to spend any money but I am thinking it may be a false economy to leave it too long. I might have a look on bq website to try and get an idea of cost.

Maybe I'm just fed up at the moment, sometimes things seem worse than they are, apologies for my moaning

mummalove

Hi again, no I am not going to do a diary...YET! I am not actively making any overpayments, although I really hope to begin to do so at some point this year (most likely August onwards). We just have a couple of other smallish credits to pay and a loan that finishes in July. The loan payments alone are £178, so considering we have been paying that for 2 years, I am sure we could keep OP this amount to our mortgage from then on. To be reviewed! Then the overpayments can start hopefully.

Hope you don't mind me crashing on your thread and keeping up with you in the meantime?

One of our neighbours is currently having their bathroom done at the moment, and when we hear drilling you cannot work out which side it is coming from either. Weird! But at least we know where it really is coming from. you could try 'bumping' into a neighbour and asking them if it is their TV. Do they work shifts maybe, hence the TV being on a un unusual time? My elderly neighbour often has her TV on in her bedroom, and it seems so loud :mad: But what can you do...she is a lovely lady and she probably can't even hear it!!

It constantly seems that there is always another job that needs doing about the house that stops us saving the pennies. That's life unfortunately. But when we are trying to cut back, it just feels unfair having to pay out again. But we have to remember, we have to enjoy and love the home we live in and try to live a bit for today and not just that MF existence we all dream of!

chin up hun, life is just frustrating sometimes x