The MFW diary of a procrastinator

katsu

Thanks Linz, I didn't know what to do with small amounts of money from overseas (or indeed any money from overseas - I just only have small amounts). I was keeping it as a souvenir but as an MFW it is a pretty silly souvenir and far better off the mortgage

mbbetter

I take my foreign currency into the post office, I'm sure the rates aren't the best in the world but they see OK. Its worth if for me, as no queue and they change small amounts. Besides getting it into the mortgage is saving me 3.59% on the interest I'm paying on the foreign notes sitting in my desk.

Back to this week - not a bad little week.

Today I managed to nibble a little bit more off the mortgage. Halifax paid me +£5 to bank with them - bounced straight off the mortgage. Sold an item on ebay, that the OH got for free +£18. Been a good month all in all with overpayments at £1175, gonna try and squeeze another £25 from somewhere to round off at £1200.

Food budget: This week I've been extremely good (by my standards - I know others are better) with managing the budget. (Let the OH do some shopping in waitrose over the weekend - she is a bit less frugal ...),We have been without a cooker for the past few weeks, so its microwave only. What a hassle using a microwave is - I'm serious, having to cook different things in a set order and worry about timing is a bit of a stress. New Range has arrived and will be going in soon. Anyway averaging around £4 a meal at the moment scanning for bargians have found the local M&S reduced section, so happy with that - although the reductions are still pretty pricey.

Still procrastinating over the 0% card - need to get onto it, finished the paperwork - lost the Freepost envolope. Other things I've got to crack on with: chuck a couple of things on ebay / ramp up matched betting (only £17 so far this month). Away with work a bit later in the month so that should save a little bit of moolah as food will be expensed.

How we are budgeting:

The way I'm working things at the moment (probably how everyone works) is overpaying every penny left in my current (offset) account at payday, then through the month trying to A. Spend as little as possible B. Earn a little cash here and there - the extra cash gets paid off the mortgage immediately. The savings roll into next month

Rinse & Repeat

Also I've worked out the yearly cost on all of our bills now transfer the monthly cost into an offset account each month. In the past we would just pay bills as they came in, so a £300 house insurance bill is now covered from our offset account by transferring £25 a month. We have these fixed costs every month and it has made it much easier to predict how much we can overpay each month. I tend to try and predict 2 months in advance, budgeting for DIY mainly.

I've convinced the OH to work this way - we now have a shared Google spreadsheet, where we store every transaction we make and have a sheet showing past and predicted overpayments.

Its all getting a bit addictive and quite good fun.

mbbetter

The last month has been very quiet on the MFW front. Holidays, unclaimed work expenses and general hectic life have meant the mortgage neglected.

The OH overpayed a nice £500 which took a nice chunk out. Keep chipping away folks!

mbbetter

Another overpayment from the OH = another £500 off the mortgage

Also searched around for cheaper house insurance this month - saving a further £20 with £30 cashback to come. Pretty happy with that.

Cheers,

mbbetter

Got paid which is always a good thing.

Overpayed another +£375 this morning which takes the monthly payments closer to the kind of figure we are trying to reach.

Really, Really need to find the motivation to get back into matched betting - haven't done anything for a couple of months and its a nice little source of extra income.

Cheers and good luck all.

mbbetter

A nice little overpayment I've had queuing whilst waiting for some expenses went off the mortgage today +£125.

This rounds the months overpayments off at a nice £1k. Pretty happy with that. I think the recent overpayements have been largely due to the fact that we have not been doing any DIY. We have the garden to do soon and despite thinking this will be a cheap project, as with all things the cash starts racking up...

Cheers and good luck

remote_control

You're doing really well - just read your diary from the beginning. I like to see the ways you get an extra few pounds each month as this is what I try to do. What does your mortgage total stand at now? I'm thinking of doing a diary but like you I'm worried about the personal information bit, not that it really matters, I'd happily rabbit on to anyone who listens about cashback sites, overpayments and money saving.

Good luck

Vixstar

Have just read all your diary too. Love the way you keep finding little bits of cash and equating them to overpayments rather than justthinking it's not worth it. I'm going to try and follow this philosophy too.

mbbetter

Been a little slack at updating the diary I'm afraid. its been a busy period having started a new job - slight pay rise which is always nice.

In terms of overpayment, the OH overpaid both into June and July as she forgot which dates the mortgate ran from/to.

The end result is we overpaid £1500 in June.

We have also overpaid a further £1000 for the July overpayements.

Mortgage now standing at £156,134. Hoping to get it below £150k by the end of the year, but we shall see...

Cheers all and good luck!

mbbetter

Ok now that I have settled into the new job, I've re-focussed my efforts a little back to tackling the chunky mortgage. I neglected the full on war with the mortgage due to being totally absorbed on getting used to my new job. That said there but there have still been the continued monthly skirmishes that have dented the mortgages forces a little.

I've reassessed my ammunition stockpile and taking on a more aggressive approach to taking on the mortgage.

The following is this weeks battle report:

Moved to direct debit on Broadband - saving +£2 per month.


Signed up for Tescos online shoping and got +£15 off first shop. Also hoping that a bit more planning on the weekly food shop will help save.

I've started making my lunch at work rather than buying a sandwich. Where I work now, the sandwiches are so rough I've been forced into it. Looking back buying a packet of crisps for 80p everyday was maddness - when I just bought a packet of 6 for £1.

I've just canceled my gym membership as I haven't used it for months so that will save +£46 a month.

OH overpayed +£90 that she owed me off the mortgage rather than paying me.

I have also been saving heavily for gifts for this year (due to OH significant milestone birthday). Saved a little too hard (or didn't spend enough on her!:eek:) resulted in a bit left over for the mortgage +£109

Finally I also exchanged some Euros hanging around in my wallet back for sterling for a nice +£35 off the mortgage.

This rounds off aorund £300 of savings/overpayment. Some of which are ongoing Next month marks the 1 year point of the diary, so I'm keen to knock as much off as possible before then.

Cheers and good luck all!