That was scary; now to tackle the remaining mortgage

teapot2

Been reading on here about the Halifax Reward Accounts - we have a joint account and a separate current one each but hadn't relaised we could make them reward accounts. I thought you had to have a salary or something like that over £1000 a month going in regularly to take advantage of it but it sounds like other folk just move the cash around from account to account and back out again and thats enough. So, think we'll have to give that a go :beer:.
OH bless him has overpayment fever and has gone off to pay in another one - long may it continue. He's also posting a book I sold on Greenmetropolis. I'd already posted my Amazon sale when I was out earlier so another sale was a bonus. My last two amazon sales were old childrens books that I thought would probably never sell and I'd had them listed for ages - 3 years in one case so just goes to show.

Made a sauce yesterday with veg that was hanging about in the fridge. Decided to put some different flavour in it and went for smoked paprika which has lurked in the cupboard for an age. Was dreaming about something else and not paying attention so put waaaay too much in . Not sure I like it but can't waste it so will make a lasagne tonight and hope the white sauce helps to even it out a bit.

Hope everyone is having a good day - been lovely and sunny here today after a few wet and windy days. The butterflies are sitting on the gro-bag drying out their new wings before visiting the Buddleia - lovely, maybe summer isn't quite over yet

teapot2

:j :j boing, boing [not really would probably go through the floor!]. Very excited though as of now have no credit card debt which feels really good. Because it looked like OH would be made redundant I started seriously paying them off in January this year. I had 2 cards with about £1500 combined on them.

Bit embarrassing really as I sometimes only paid the minimum payment and although one was a low interest rate for life, the other was a 0% interest one which had run out and I didn't do anything about it - I know, I know wrists slapped.

Main expense on the 0% card was vet bills for our now sadly gone and much loved and missed poorly older boy cat. The bills mounted up towards the end although I wasn't putting anything on the other card, I wasn't paying anything much off it either.

ANYHOO, I used my Amazon earnings to make a big payment and then paid off £100 a month on each. This meant less for mortgage overpayments each month though. Cleared one a couple of months ago and made the last payment on the other today - feels great for the moment :beer:. No doubt I'll have reason to use one at some point in the future but for now am trying to just use cash and debit cards.

teapot2

Goodness, feels like ages since I posted on here, had a really busy week at work so bit tired still. BUT excited to see that when I put our MFin3 figures in, we will probably be a bit ahead of ourselves :j. Not sure how that happened and just hope I haven't calculated wrong - thats entirely possible as maths not the best .

Discovered today that when OH put in his freelance work cheque as an overpayment, for some reason the bank just paid it into his current account instead so that still has to come off mortgage account later in the week which is a nice surprise if a bit annoying.

Have spent quite a bit of the weekend doing work related paperwork which had a deadline and am nearly finished that so will stop in a mo and then the grass needs cutting. The forecast is rain so better get on with it......

CathT

Hi teapot

Just found your diary. Lots of luck on clearing your mortgage. Good news on being ahead of your original estimation!

teapot2

Thanks CathT - just hope my calculations are right though. I've got time on Wednesday to make an overpayment and also transfer OH's £150 to the mortgage account then the new total shows up online the next day. So that will be the figure for the challenge and will know them if I've been deluding myself....

teapot2

:j been stupidly excited about the latest MFiT - T2 chart being published - as I said above hoped I'd got my maths right and that we are ahead this time and, yes we are on 25.40% so only just ahead as its 25% of the way through the challenge. Really pleased though as its been such a tricky few months.

Went out yesterday with a couple of friends and we ended up at a garden centre that does loads of stuff other than plants [like they all seem to do]. Friends were piling their baskets high but I found it really difficult to buy anything - in the end I came away empty handed. I think I've spent so long being really careful and not buying stuff that even though money is not so tight now, I still am! Wonder if it'll wear off a bit by Xmas :eek:.

Had another busy week at work and the coming week is the same - Got quite a bit of travelling to do which I find knackering. But fridge is stocked up, some meals prepared ready just to be heated and soup is made so am trying to be organised.

Hope everyone has a good week x

teapot2

Where did the sunshine go? Its wet, cold and cloudy here today so handy that I got the washing dried outside yesterday. Had to put the heating on a couple of evenings now as its been getting very chilly, I so don't want to use it this early in the year but OH get very cold.

Getting my hair cut tomorrow - not had it done for ages and its not my favourite thing but hopefully it will be ok. After that will head to the bank and make an overpayment; not sure how much yet, will raid the piggy, cow and cat banks later :j

Made some soup yesterday, its so thick the spoon stands up in it so will have to add some water I think. Also made a plum and pecan loaf which is very moreish - yum.

Got a long list of things to do today none of which are at all exciting so better go and get on I suppose, have procrastinated enough

Rob_192

teapot2 wrote: »

Went out yesterday with a couple of friends and we ended up at a garden centre that does loads of stuff other than plants [like they all seem to do]. Friends were piling their baskets high but I found it really difficult to buy anything - in the end I came away empty handed. I think I've spent so long being really careful and not buying stuff that even though money is not so tight now, I still am! Wonder if it'll wear off a bit by Xmas :eek:.

Hi Teapot, I've just come across your thread and wanted to wish you the evry best with your MFW plans.

Your comment about shopping with your friends reminds me of myself a few year back, I used to be very materialistic and money always seemed to burn a hole in my pocket. I know the sort of garden centre you mean and if you're not careful it's amazing how many things you end up buying that you didn't know you needed! We have this joke about Ikea being very expensive, not because it is, but because you always come back with a car full of stuff you never intended to buy! best to avoid going there in our experience.

Since having our 'lightbulb moment' several years ago, we've now cleared our mortgage and have a healthy balance of savings and it all comes down to not spending money on things you just don't need. OK you might want them, but you don't need them. I can now go weeks without spending anything, OK we do the weekly shop (own brands of course!) but I used to wonder into town every lunchtime and buy a Snickers, a drink, a magazine and maybe some sweets for the afternoon, then I'd pass by Dixons and eye up the next TV or CD player or whatever. Now I find I just don't have the urge to spend so much as a penny. It's all in the mind and once you get your head round it, it becomes very easy.

Sorry for the ramble, but good luck with clearing that mortgage, you won't believe how much easier you sleep at night once it's cleared.

Rob

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Hello,

I really agree with the point about getting into a no spending mindset. I have kept away from temptation for so long that I don't even think about buying little goodies and 'treats' any more. Probably because I have realised that it is not a treat when the cc bill comes in. I often think that we are lured by money saving offers like 10% off, or bogoff and we think we have done well - but if we had not gone to the shop, we would still have the money and not missed what we didn't know about. These things only save money when they are for real necessities, and that isn't often the case.

Good luck with it all,

Sensible squirrel (maybe just for today!)

teapot2

Rob_192 wrote: »

Hi Teapot, I've just come across your thread and wanted to wish you the evry best with your MFW plans.

Your comment about shopping with your friends reminds me of myself a few year back, I used to be very materialistic and money always seemed to burn a hole in my pocket. I know the sort of garden centre you mean and if you're not careful it's amazing how many things you end up buying that you didn't know you needed! We have this joke about Ikea being very expensive, not because it is, but because you always come back with a car full of stuff you never intended to buy! best to avoid going there in our experience.

Since having our 'lightbulb moment' several years ago, we've now cleared our mortgage and have a healthy balance of savings and it all comes down to not spending money on things you just don't need. OK you might want them, but you don't need them. I can now go weeks without spending anything, OK we do the weekly shop (own brands of course!) but I used to wonder into town every lunchtime and buy a Snickers, a drink, a magazine and maybe some sweets for the afternoon, then I'd pass by Dixons and eye up the next TV or CD player or whatever. Now I find I just don't have the urge to spend so much as a penny. It's all in the mind and once you get your head round it, it becomes very easy.

Sorry for the ramble, but good luck with clearing that mortgage, you won't believe how much easier you sleep at night once it's cleared.

Rob

Hi Rob, well done on clearing the mortgage and your savings :cool:. I so look forward to not having that mortgage to pay every month. We've nearly paid off half of it in 6 years and hopefully the second half will feel a bit more 'downhill' if you know what I mean. Having no spend days does get easier with practice I find and I don't really miss any of the 'stuff' I used to buy.