Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

I braved the shopping centre first thing this morning, I wanted to use a gift voucher to get a black blazer and white shirt in the n@xt sale. Had some success getting the blazer for £20 but no suitable white shirt.

I’ve decided to revive the “capsule wardrobe” way of dressing I used to do years ago. I’ve cleared out every drawer and wardrobe today and have bagged up 5 bags for cash for clothes, one bag for eBaying and a large suitcase full of stuff that’s either very seasonal - shorts, Xmas jumpers etc. or occasional stuff I rarely wear but can’t throw away. End result is a still way too big, but greatly paired down wardrobe of mix and match items. I’ll need to remove stuff still and add better items as I go but it’s a start. This time the colour scheme is black, sage/khaki , white and light dusty pink.

I’m the worst kind of shopper who loves shopping for a bargain and buys to much hopefully this will curb the urge to be as wasteful both with money and resources. I’ll have different capsule wardrobe for each season, obviously carrying over some items.

I do feel like for me this is a big step forward to reducing my spending, I don’t spend large amounts but it’s constant small amounts on items that are spur of the moment and often don’t work well, my “fun budget” should feel the benefit

£6 real money spent too today on a reduced Laura Ashley hand cream tin for mil from boots for Mother’s Day.

Popped to a friends today as she wanted help renewing her home insurance, she is divorced and a hardworking mum of four who is like superwoman, but she says herself she has no confidence with financial matters and had been paying her mortgage provider (after an in branch meeting many years ago) for all her insurances :eek: end result home insurance for £180 per year down from £93 PER MONTH :eek::eek: and life insurance down from £55 per month to £17, she’s happy but I’m just so shocked at what she’s been paying for so long she’s a full time cleaner so it’s a lot of money to have been wasting. It makes me so cross that people get taken advantage of in this way, unlimited insurance contents and rebuild costs she was insured for previously! Shame on the BS .....

newgirly

Today’s plans are :

Update 2019’s mfw thread and this diary with the year’s totals

Rejoin and set a target for next year

Make a 20 things in 2020 list that I want to do or achieve

Back later!

South_coast

Morning newgirly

I'm new here, finally getting involved yesterday after years of lurking. Your diary has always been one of my favourites after I binge-read it a few Christmases ago and have kept up with it ever since. I'm delighted to hear about your new "less is more" attitude to clothes shopping, I won't have to shout at you under my breath any more, so good luck with it!

Wishing you and the family an amazing 2020 - and please try not to stay up all night tonight waiting for the kids to come home!

newgirly

Hi south coast, thanks so much for popping in it’s still weird to think there are probably a few more people reading this than you think! Do you have a diary too?

I’ll not stay up waiting for the kids as they will be out all night and I’ll be lucky to be awake at 12 :rotfl: happy new year to you

newgirly

newgirly wrote: »

newgirly wrote: »

newgirly wrote: »

2019 update!

Start figures jan 2019:

Mortgage £79,000

Total On 31st December:

Mortgage £73,119.28

Total paid off this year:

£2000 (paid towards kitchen) plus £5,880.72 =£7,880.72

Not the best year!

We did also pay for ds2 and dds bedrooms to be gutted and made lovely along with a bit of furniture as well as a new lovely kitchen which has made a massive difference and was long overdue.

newgirly

New terrifying target worked out for 2020!

I want to pay £17,913.49 off the balance (will have to be £18k due to neatness ) plus interest which equals £19,601.28 :eek: or £1,633.44 per month _pale_

I’ve worked out that this is 48.5% of our total joint monthly income including rent from the boys.

This is a little worrying as we have two old cars to run for the moment, we are paying dd £200pm while on work placement and we are putting away money for two cruises spending money and one cruises balance of £1200 we have booked for 2021. Plus a weekend to a cottage near Alton towers at Halloween.

It’s a slightly higher target than we have managed his year, but I always think a high target is not a bad thing I’m well aware that we are lucky to be able to choose set a high target and it’s not forced upon us through necessity.

So I’m after free money at the moment, I’ve applied to transfer some of my marriage tax allowance to dh - it won’t make a huge difference but we might save about £90 a year. Plus I’ve sent dd a link to join topcashabck as she may be buying a merlin annual pass soon with Xmas money. I’m going to sell some clothes for cash later this week and possibly open a new bank account or two for cashback.

BVic28

Setting a high target gives you something to constantly aim for and if you don’t quite make it you’ll still have made a lot of progress. Good luck! It sounds like you’ve got some good ideas to get you started

newgirly

Hi and thanks Bvic28

Happy new year :dance: I hate New Year’s Eve, but LOVE New Year’s Day, so many chances to make plans that I may or may not stick to :rotfl:



So the financial aims for the year are:

-Survive and pay £18k off the balance of the mortgage

- pay for holidays booked

- stay blonde (highlights are £££) :rotfl:

- put by extra money ready for the boys’ 21st in 2021

-save £2 coins for Xmas expenses other than presents which are budgeted for

- try and offset some gift costs with extra money to skim extra from the saving pot

- find some side hustles to create extra income



So the non financial aims are:

- lose one more stone, I’ve lost just over a stone this year making a total of 32 pounds lost in total. This is purely down to no alcohol as I eat more now :rotfl:

- try and rise above extended family irritations- at least don’t bend dh’s ear about it too much

- use the cineworld unlimited card a lot more

- create a nicer garden, it’s nice and newly paved but I want to fill it with flowers and living things, it’s a bit bland and sparse. Growing salad, veg and herbs is great so I don’t know why I stopped!

- get log cabin repaired and hot tub back running and getting used (not by me, I’ve seen too many traumatically sized spiders to cross the threshold) this falls oh dh’s shoulders and he thinks he is too old for diy now (he’s 47!) :rotfl:

-Be much more aware of what I buy for ethical reasons, keep at the capsule wardrobe idea as it will slow me down Luckily the kids just don’t buy clothes and dd is not a shopper.

- try using bar shampoo /conditioner and find some decent bar soap we could all switch to, cheaper but way less plastic.

- new floors and a lick of paint through the downstairs living/dining /conservatory room and hall.

- go somewhere with dh at least once a month, like a day out or date night not just food shopping should be easy but he works weekends sometimes on a Saturday so often will want to rest Sunday if it’s his only day off which is fair enough.


Finally a 20 things for 2020 wish list, I’ll post that below as this is getting long

newgirly

20 things in 2020

Following the attempt at 40 things before 40 bucket list from five years ago (5 years :eek:) of which I achieved about 80% I thought a new decade is a good time to do more.

1). Pay £18k off the mortgage , this has to be no.1!

2). Lose a stone

3). Go to Colchester zoo

4). Day out at the seaside

5). Two mum and dd days out in London minimum

6). At least monthly family dinner or bbq - they are all a bit elusive at weekends and I want a regular time to become normal before dd moves out

7). Read 20 books - I only read on holiday nowadays and use to read a lot

8). Take dh out once a month minimum

9). Start sewing or crafting- not sure what yet

10).Grow veg in pots

11). Go away for a cheap night or weekend with dh - or visit parents flat in York if broke

12). Exercise for free, need to get fitter and stronger

13).Throw a ‘do’ for mils 80th and dds boyfriends 30th - on a budget of course!

14). Go to theme park at least once

15). Sell surplus “stuff” or recycle

16). Meal plan loosely and bake once a week

17). Go to Harry Potter studio tour - I didn’t go this year and it made me sad

18). Take Geraldine the beetle to a few car shows with the roof down in the summer - not dads 1970’s lotus as it’s embarrassing trying to reverse when it decides it doesn’t want to in front a a huge queue :rotfl:

19). Get dh to renovate log cabin and get hot tub up and running, been saying this for a long time though - he is very resistant and I won’t go in after a particularly traumatically sized spider was spotted.

20). Try and get my sons out with me more, be it a day out or just a breakfast out

newgirly

Went to the shops yesterday and bought tons of cupboard bits, had a mr t £6 off voucher to use but ending up spending a bit more than I planned, now I have £10.44 a day instead of £11.14 , I think it’s easier to make it £10 a day , so I’ll chuck £15 petrol in and it will be £10 Fridge, freezer and cupboards full now, most of it basics range.

Also spent a bit on cl@nton cards sale, there was a little corner with Xmas bits in 3 for £1 , i bought some lovely twin packs of paper that were £5 a pack originally, cards at £10 a pack for 99p and 12 posh gift bags for 99p , loads of bits for under £10 full price £85.50 :eek: I would never pay that of course but it’s nice to have posh stuff for next year

Ordered a few items of clothes for best friends birthday before Xmas, none any good so I returned the three items and have only been refunded for two have emailed them but have been online and this is a reoccurring thing for them.

Plans today, stay in as ds2s girlfriend is poorly and I said I’ll keep an eye on her, so cleaning , washing , ironing and NOT eating biscuits :rotfl: