Move mortgage mountain project

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How are you getting on since Juliff? Hope things are going well with your daughters and you are looking forward to the summer.

julliff

I have been looking at all of the MFW threads, and feel like I should really start trying again.

I have just reread the whole thread again, and felt the full spectrum of emotions as I recalled that time in my life.

Some things have changed, others not really:

DD1 is now 18 and going off to University next week. She is now a lovely young woman, who I will miss a lot. She can still very occaisionally be a bit of a hothead, but she is mostly a lovely person, who is fun and great company. I think she will miss me too

DD2 is 16 and just starting sixth form. She is a different type of teenager, and I don't see that much of her, as she is off with her friends a lot of the time. She is quite like me, a bit of a sulker, and a closed book sometimes. She too is lovely.

Still on my own, and sometimes flounder. I did have one relationship which ended badly, and resulted in me being harassed for the best part of a year. I don't know if I can risk any further episodes and am now very guarded.

I have lost nearly all of the two stone I wanted to, and am now a size 12!
I completely embrace the vacuous woman inside me, and enjoy clothes and shoes in a way I have not for about 20 years. Of course, I always look for a bargain, and my all time favourite shoes are a pair from M&S which were reduced to a fiver!

I definitely carpe more dium now. I go to the gyn three times a week, I joined a canoeing club, I am part of a voluntary organisation, I am doing a Scuba try dive next week... lots of stuff.

Still a contractor in the same place (!), must be doing something right.

Well, I want to get back in the saddle, so will post later with a new MFW plan of action....

:0)

Brighton_belle

Hey Juliffe - long time no hear! really great to have an update - you have not been forgotten. It's lovely to hear about your girls - what a great job you did there. And no where do you mention regret at the decision you took to break up with your husband, with is great.
And well done on the size 12! How wonderful you can now enjoy clothes shopping etc.
And even better, hearing about canoeing and scuba - could you have imagined this sort of life for yourself a few years ago!

I'm sorry you had another bad relationship experience. I don't know if it would be of any value to seek some counselling around relationships and the type of man you have attracted to see if there are small changes you can make to give yourself more confidence that next time can and will be different.

Otherwise, a huge well done you:T I am so so glad you found the courage to break away as you did.

julliff

Hello BrightonBelle

Well, if the road to hell is paved with good intentions, I must be well on my way by now!

So sorry not to have posted and thank you for your lovely kind message. Things never seem to get any simpler in my life, (although much more peaceful ) and I still struggle to keep up with it all!

DD1 is now enjoying Uni, and I miss her a lot. She is good company, and was back for reading week last week. I am so pleased to see her making her way in the world though, and is very sensible too. I was so scared she would turn out like her Dad, but she is going to be just fine, I can see. Vey determined.

DD2 is just doing her own thing now. Straight A student, and seems ro be content.

Well, as for the MF quest, I am not doing so brilliantly. Well, I do pay the maximum regular overpayment, so it is going down faster, but there always seems to be something else when it comes to lump sum payments. Hmmm, will have to try harder!

Relationships -- I know I am a disaster, and it probably goes all the way back to my childhood, and my horrible Dad. He used to say "you are nothing" to us kids all the time. Loads of that sort of thing. Oh well, maybe better to be alone. Getting a bit long in the tooth now anyway. The only men I attract now are seedy married men at work, who seem to think I will be grateful. They can be very persistent too. Sigh.

Anyway back to the matter in hand.

The scuba diving was brilliant, and I have now joined a BSAC club and am doing my ocean divers training. I absolutely love it, being underwater is so, so peaceful (this is a recurring them for my enjoyment it seems). It could turn out to be an expensive hobby though. We can use club kit until we get our own, but I will need a mask, as I need it to be fitted with prescription lenses, as I can't wear my reading glasses under, and I need to read the gauges. hehehe

I am going to set myself a little challenge. Whenever I buy something for myself, I have to make the equivelent payment to the mortgage! This will make everything seem twice as expensive, and so I will be more selective on how I spend my money, and bring down the mortgage too hopefully. For instance, I bought mnyself a nook a couple of weeks ago for £49, so I paid £49 into mortgage account too. Need to do more of this,

I now take my own tea to work, and also soup in a flask. That alone saves me about £15 a week!

Well, I have rambled on a bit, so I'll leave it there. Other challenge is to update this diary AT LEAST once a week, hopefully more.

julliff

Hmm, the challenge to pay into mortgage the equivelent of the cost of any money I spend on myself may prove to be more, err, challenging than I thought. I managed to lose my iPOD on holiday a couple of weeks ago, so to replace it AND pay that much into Mortgage account is going to be quite a sum. I feel lost without it though.

I have come up with a couple of other challenges though, the first of which I will definitely do, and the second I am pondering over, as it overlaps with the one above:

• My mortgage is split into two parts, one is currently £69571.49 and the second £13909.98 (this is where all OPs go). Anyway, each month my statement shows how much interest I have been charged on each. So, I am going to pay the interest on the lower balance each month. Last month it was something like £22 (will have to check exact amount).
• Bargain hunting! Whenever I get a discount I will pay the money I have saved into mortgage. For example, I bought DD2 a skirt this week, which was originally£10. In the sale it was half price, and I also used a 10% discount coupon, bringing the final price to £4.50 -- a "saving" of £5.50 which would be paid into mortgage account.

I am sure these things have been done by others, and if so, I would be really happy to hear how it worked out/is working out!


Other small things I am doing:


aiming for 3 nsds a week;
going to try to get a reduction on my sky subscription (I very rarely even watch telly, but DD2 does);
Joined a survey site which pays for completion;
ebay stuff that is saleable (is it worth waiting for a free listing weekend?);
try to find a recipe for the bread that no-one eats! end of loaf stuff.


I have updated my sig, so that I can see progress since my "restart" on this journey :-)


Oh yes, and I managed to get a free neck massage appointment with my gym instructor (he is qualified in sports injury stuff) when I told him that I have been having a few problems and needed an osteopath or some such. In return he wants me to put up flyers at work, which is no cost to me. Result!

kirstypark

Hi Julliff, really enjoyed reading your diary - what a inspiration you are.

julliff

Hi,

Thanks Kirstypark for your post, you are very kind!

So, thought I would post to update on last week’s challenges:

Managed the three no spend days. Will try for the same this week. I am hoping for Weds/Thurs/Fri. as I have already bought someone a coffee today, and
Tomorrow I am out for a curry with a group of friends.

Paid £35.43 into Mortgage account. This comprised the £4.50 I saved on DD2s skirt, £2.55 Quidco payment, and the rest was the mortgage interest amount I have
Committed to bunging in. Quite pleased with that J

Also this week, planning to take soup to work every day, am getting into a good routine with that

I also need to ring up Virgin to see if I can negotiate a better price on my broadband and phone. I switched to them a couple of years ago because I needed a new number and was not willing to go to filing a harassment complaint to achieve it. (was too ashamed to do that). Prices for them keep going up, so I want to go back to a non-cable provider, where you are not tied so much, if I can’t haggle the price down a bit.

Meal plan for this week:

Mon - chicken teriyaki with leftover roast chicken and peppers;
Tues – out for a curry (dd2 to have pizza from freezer);
Weds – Fajitas
Thurs – Shepherd’s Pie;
Fri – Tuna and pasta bake;
Sat: Homemade fish and chips;
Sun: Pork casserole with dumplings

I have all the food I need for this week, so should not need to shop again before the weekend. (Milk from milkman)

I had an email from DD1 telling me that all her flatmates think she is the queen of budgeting! Glad its rubbing off a bit, although she did say
“I’m not even that good at it, but they are all useless!” hahaha!

julliff

hmm, just read my post back, and its a bit rambling! Will try to be a bit more organised in my thoughts and plans...:-)

julliff

Wow, end of another week. Where does the time go?

So, progress this week:


Managed 2 NSDs so far, and am hoping for another one today;

• Got £16 in vouchers from M&S for credit card spends (paid off in full each month of course);
• Another £2.23 from quidco;
• Had enough £2 coins to make up a bag, so banked and paid £20 off mortgage.

So altogether I have paid another £38.23 off mortgage this week. Not a fortune, but pleased all the same.


I got a letter from CPP yesterday asking me to vote on the credit card protection scheme review. I held a Barclaycard protection scheme policy for about 3 years, and so if this goes ahead, I may get something in compensation! I am a bit cross with myself as at my last filing blitz, I threw out all the documentation for this policy. I keep things for years, and if only I had kept them a bit longer, I would have had all of the information at my fingertips. As it is, I only have a vague memory of it. I am sure I had it up to 2009 though.

Have managed to switch my Gas & Elec and fix it until June 2015. I was with SP, and because my fix had ended, I was on the standard tariff.

Talking of that, I am now launching project draught proofing at home. I live in a draughty 3 bed semi, and so I have been going around looking at how I could improve things. Am trying to go for the quick wins first, but will add a couple on to my challenges.

So, for the week ahead:

• 3 No spend days;
• Acquire and put up heavy curtains at window top of stairs & my bedroom (currently just blinds there);
• Look at sealing up trickle vents (not really required as house already draughty);
• Take soup to work every day for lunch;
• Meal plan & stick to it;
• Find six thing to ebay, for free listing weekend;
• 3 gym sessions
• Pot spider plant babies -- this will stop me buying new plants for a while I hope

no Scuba last night, as I w DD2’s presentation evening. I am so proud of her, she got 6 A’s 2 B’s and a C in her GCSEs in the summer. Both of the girls are doing so well, and it’s fantastic to see. I so wanted them to see that it is worth putting the effort in to get something, and I think it has paid off. They both seem to have the determination to do well, by their own efforts. I am really looking forward to seeing her get her certificates. Of course, her Dad won’t be there, but I am glad for me, and I don’t think DD2 even expects him to go, as he has never taken any interest in that sort of thing.

Sunday, I am going to go shopping for curtains, and hopefully get some Christmas shopping done too. I need to come up with some sort of list, as otherwise I will just end up walking in circles. I am planning to give the girls money mostly, as DD1 wants to do a year abroad next year as part of her Uni course, and DD2 wants to save up for a festival ticket (bit worried about that one actually). But, I want to get them a couple of things to open on Christmas morning, before I drop them off at their Dads. And I have a few nieces and nephews to buy for too.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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julliff

Ok, time to update my diary again. I’ve not done very well this week, but progress:

• [FONT=&quot][STRIKE]3 No spend days; [/STRIKE][/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Acquire and put up heavy curtains at window top of stairs & my bedroom (currently just blinds there); not yet[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot][STRIKE]Look at sealing up trickle vents (not really required as house already draughty); [/STRIKE][/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot][STRIKE]Take soup to work every day for lunch;[/STRIKE][/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot][STRIKE]Meal plan & stick to it;[/STRIKE][/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Find six thing to ebay, for free listing weekend; only managed to put three up, as I got distracted by visitors[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]3 gym sessions – rubbish, only did one![/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot][STRIKE]Pot spider plant babies -- this will stop me buying new plants for a while I hope[/STRIKE][/FONT]

Those which I did not do will get carried forward. However, I did look for curtains, but was a bit taken aback by the prices, especially as I only want one for the top of the stairs (it is very narrow). So I am now thinking of having a go at making them myself (this could be a very foolish idea, as I am not very creative or artistic, which is why I work in IT – hahaha), or looking in the charity shops for some curtains or fabric. I have to do a charity shop trawl anyway, as I always meet up with a group of friends for a Christmas bash, and we do a secret Santa, the rules of which are that the gift must come from a Charity shop, and cost no more than a fiver. Of course, we always try to get the naffest thing possible, but it is always good fun, and in a good cause too!

Other progress – I am having some cavity wall insulation put in this week, free to me! Also, they are going to clean out my drains and mend a crack in the render. All part of a government scheme I am told.

Last night at scuba, someone offered me a shortie wetsuit for a fiver, as they could no longer fit into it! This is a bargain and something I need, so I am very pleased.

DD1 is home this weekend, which is lovely. It has cost me dear, as I gave her £100 extra as she is struggling a bit, and needs some new shoes etc. I am happy to help her out, as she is very sensible, and working really hard. I did suggest that she might like to ask her Dad to contribute a bit now he is working. I know he won’t, so it was probably a bit childish of me to even mention it. I won’t do that again. Anyway, will be doing a big dinner tomorrow, and have invited my Mum round too, as DD1 is very close to her Grandma.

Anyway, paid in this week was the grand total of £20.49 which represents the savings I made on some Boots 3. For 2 offers (£7.89), and an amount equivalent to the money I paid for a jumper in the sale (£12.60). Not a massive amount, but I am still going in the right direction.


So, next week will be more of the same:

• [FONT=&quot]3 No spend days; [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Acquire and put up heavy curtains at window top of stairs & my bedroom (currently just blinds there); [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Take soup to work every day for lunch;[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Meal plan & stick to it;[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Find six thing to ebay, for free listing weekend; [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]3 gym sessions;[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Sort our Christmas decorations – we have about six large boxes and I am determined not to buy any new this year![/FONT]

I am going to try to update more than once a week too.