Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

mummalove

Sorry Newgirly I missed you birthday - glad you had a great day and have finally cracked baking the giant cupcake :j Did you order your log cabin in the end...how long to wait, if you did?

newgirly

Thanks Mummalove, baked a chocolate giant muffin today as well , yum.
I've had a manic day, took the boys and a couple of their friends to the park to play football and it was bitterly cold. Had my parents for lunch and went and looked at local log cabin firm that makes them to order. need to spend more time comparing and pricing them up before ordering though. I have changed so much , in the old days we would have ordered the first one we had seen. MSE seems to be having a very big impact on me now.:D

I am slightly irritated as my DM said today that my nan has said" how on earth can they afford to spend on that sort of thing", which annoyed me a bit as everyone in our family spends enough, including my nan and we are very careful now, going without lots so we can op and spend a small amount on the house.
I guess people don't have any idea how much hard work this can be if they don't do it themselves, and assume you don't spend as you are on the breadline rather than choosing to it it for a reason.

I'm now going to relax in my PJ's and watch sunday night tv and hang out on mse, my idea of heaven! I may even go on the mortagage op calculator, my fav at the moment is "this much i know". How sad am I :rotfl:

CathT

Hope you find a good deal on your log cabin. Will be fab when it's done!

newgirly

I have had a fab morning shopping Bought a load of cheap t shirts from primarni with birthday money, plus 2 pictures and 3 cushions for the log cabin. Also got 3 ikea coffee tables for £1.79 each curtesy of grabbit, so a very succesful shop. Non of my "real" money used either, all birthday money or log cabin budget :j

Need to do lots more washing still, its really stepped up a notch now both boys have taken to playing football on a regular basis which means so much more washing.

Time to update the monthly spends as well, and keep a good record of what is being spent on the log cabin, so we don't go over budget.

mummalove

Great spending session today then!

Oh, it really gets my goat hearing flippant comments made about your spending when they simply do not know how much hard work and heart ache that goes into the savings you make. (I'm not having a dig about your Nan, just 'people' in general). I find 'people' only see what they want to see and not how it was actually achieved in the first place. I, for one, think you are doing a marvellous job :T and the log cabin will be your very own palace in the garden!! Bet you can't wait....

newgirly

Thanks Mummalove, I am looking forward to it, I know its not to a lot of peoples taste but I think as long as the neighbours don't mind, I don't care, I've become much less bothered by what other people think, don't know if thats me getting older now I'm 36
It helps coming on here and talking to others who understand what you are doing and why as well, I have some lovely kind friends who are great in the real world but they would be shocked at what i don't spend if they knew!

I have ds 2 home in bed today, ds1 was sent home ill yesterday but is now fine , but ds2 was up half the night in our bed, which is a squash as he is 10. the school did say if they are off today can I still bring him in for the mock sats exam then take him home again, there is no way i am doing that though, poor thing is way too bad to go out, don't think he would do very well feeling like that anyway.
Talk about pushy, they have been trying to push the kids at the higher levels (mine are for maths), by giving them extra lessons so they can have even higher results.

Best go and get ready, still have one to take in, my dm is coming over to sit with the other.

Iris_Blue

Just wait till you get to 37 - then you really don't care!

With your Nan saying that I took "that sort of thing " to mean that she didn't think it was worth X amount of money not that you couldn't afford it. Either way, she's your Nan and she isn't going to understand is she? What she likes , you don't and so on. I'd take it with a pinch of salt. It was just something to make conversation that's all.

I personally am dying to see the log cabin!

Hope your son is better soon.

newgirly

Thanks iris blue, if i work out how to put photos on here i will put on one of the log cabin when its up.

Both Ds'2 are at school today, I still feel terrible though, stayed on the sofa all day yesterday and today. I dropped them at a friends house this morning and she walked them for me, what a star.
Another friend has asked me if her son can walk back to mine from a different school tonight as she is working later and can't get back, she will pick him up when shes finished, I did say I have a bug, but he is still coming anyway. So will have to have a bit of a tidy as the house is a tip due to me doing nothing.:o

Have been wasting lots of time on the mortgage calculator again, due to boredom. Trying to work out how much of my new wages I should op. If I work every week it should be £50, which would knock off a good few months over the term , but would also be nice to spend on treats over the next few years as the rest of the budget is cut to the bone. Decisions decisions,plus I think the boys may well get a lot more expensive to run when they become teenagers.

I need to do an easter egg list, we have so many to buy for, I would like to try and get them while its still early on and they are on offer, I think i spent about £1/£1.50 each last year. Plus I got my 3 the cheaper eggs rather than the posh or character ones they usually get.

Other news is that I applied for a higher limit on my CC (for groceries thats paid in full every month), so I can put the log cabin on it and then pay it off, unbelievably they have approved it witha new limit of £2,500. I put my income down as £1.00!
I have the money in the isa but thought it a good idea to get a little extra cover through the cc. also will get lots of points to put towards a gift voucher using the card.
Plus I've updated my grocery challenge money and there is £66 left for the next 22 days, eek, plus I owe my mum £9 for shopping she dropped off earlier.

newgirly

I've had a good day on onepoll, 1.20p, I'm up to £33.65 now. Still a way to go before payout.
Still feeling quite ill today, so have been stuck on the sofa again. trying to get some ideas for cheap meals to make (when i feel like it again!) poor kids have been fed on nuggets and chips twice this week as i just could not cook. Not that they minded though

Have been working out some figures again and decided to Op half of my £50pw wages, then keep the rest for either treats or save up to do work on the house/garden.
By chucking the extra £100 pm , IF I stick to the budget I should be able to clear the mortgage in april 2020, 10 years from when we re-mortgaged last may, and 20 years from when we bought the house. (I don't want to think about that though, as we should have a tiny mortgage by now:mad:)

I have been worrying lately about how obsessed I am becoming with oping, and the kids not getting enough treats/new bedroom/pocket money etc. the stupid thing is i know they get enough, lots of stuff at xmas / birthdays, parties, friends over and 2 hols this year. I just feel like i say no to a lot of things. I think I need to carry on as I am really , as if i start to bend the budget a lot and spend more , I may well fall off the MFW wagon, I am definatly an all or nothing kind of person.
This month has definatly not been the easiest so far, I have just realised that the child tax credit stops in a few weeks, i did know but just kind of forgot, so thats £10.45 PW less, plus the DD for gas/elec has gone from £80PM to £120 due to our huge bill.
Dh will not be getting any share dividends for the first time in 20 odd years as well. Sometimes all the little things seem to get dwarfed by the big unexpected knocks that come along.

I think I'm just feeling sorry for myself at the moment being stuck in! apologies for the moaning

mummalove

Don't worry Newgirly, we all have days where we beat ourselves up what we shouldnt have done, spent on and where it all went exactly. Hindsight is a wonderful thing

The thing to focus on now, is where you are going and your plan to get there. Kind of think you have that one in the bag!

We are just an impatient lot and would just like results now, not later!