Lovethymini's Offset MFW Diary

lovethymini

I'm back

Everything went a bit un-MFW until we sold DH's car last month, and then we decided to refurbish the study, so the sleeves are rolled up for round two...

Best achievement we've made is definitely selling dh's car for £11,250 in the end - so we paid £9,000 back to in-laws and we only owe them £1000 now, so we won't need to pay them £500/month after May's payment! We've bought an economical Scenic which cost us £2,000 and is cheaper all around to run - plus I love it so much more than the Chrysler as I don't feel like a gangster's wife now when I'm out.

So... current mortgage is £203,455.64.

I'm going to have an "Essentials Only Challenge" in April. It's surprising what gets bought over the month, and I want the credit card statements only to show food and fuel - I think I will find this very difficult.

My ebay box is close to bursting so I will have a blitz on that tomorrow. We've switched broadband from Virgin to TalkTalk so that's saved us about £15/month, water DD has reduced £2/month and the cat has decided she will eat Sainsbury's own brand wet food and go on a diet (she's barely moved all winter).
On the minus side, we'll be losing our child tax credit of £40/month, and the gas and leccy has just gone up by £35/month, and let's not even talk about fuel prices - thank goodness DH is using the bike.

PS Lidl's tinned beans and sausages contain 50% of your rda of salt in just half the can!

cake21

Good luck with your Essentials Only Challenge, lovethymini :money:

lovethymini

Well it's nearly the end of my "essentials only" April - where did the time go?!
Good bits:

• Programmed the electricity monitor - discovered that it costs about 9p to run the washing machine on the eco cycle vs 15p for a normal full 40 degree cycle, so I shall continue to use eco, plus I have turned the spin speed right down (saves more money). Next appliance to test is the tv electricity consumption has been creeping up and we've not long been given an LCD for the lounge
• Got a sandpit free for DS and he loves it! It's a 65" tractor tyre - plus redeemed tesco vouchers for 20 x free bags of playsand.
• Managed to grow 4 hollyhocks from seeds (my first time, usually I'd buy the plants)
• got house insurance for £130 under Mr T's renewal price, plus £20 cashback
• Ebayed lots of things, including ds' old shoes
• Joined Autoaid for £38 for the year - covers DH as well, much less than traditional breakdown cover!
• Got 15 free pairs of shorts for ds from a friend
• Made a Moving House Card for in-laws using bits and bobs around the house
• Spent the whole bank holiday weekend pottering about the garden and going out for the odd little bike ride with ds and dh - free!
• Keeping spreadsheet more accurate as we start the new financial year. So far we've spent £230 less than we've earned :j

Bad Bits

• Bought 4 plants (front garden really needed them...french lavender and irises)
• Bought some easter eggs (on genuine offer though, not Mr T's "half price" tricks)
• Bought dvd for ds, £5
• Sent a lampshade back to Litecraft for refund £50 only for it to go missing in the post. Royal Mail have been useless. Gutted.
• Went for 3 long trips to visit family/friends this month, so lots of diesel - £365 so far
• Had to buy a new lampshade for DS - he was scared of the flickering lightbulb in his bedroom!
• Bought Living Etc today as a treat, only to return home and find it in the letterbox, I thought my subscription had run out, how come it was in the shop before the subscription arrived?!

So a fairly good start. I think we need to keep the "essentials only" mantra going, especially seeing as I want to do so much to the house and DH wants more motorbikes, let alone get the mortgage down!

Dad's 60th Birthday soon, we've renewed his magazine subscription for him, and we've got him some 1960s motorbike books which he will LOVE (and we only paid £20 for the lot). Dads are so difficult to buy for. Note to self: make Dad's card.

liuhut

Loved reading your diary, I've felt that I'm doing two steps forward and three back at times but i'm sure eventually it will all come together!!
Why dont you post on the 'all the small things' thread each day, I probably only do it weekly but it keeps me focused and I get loads of ideas from it as well.
L x

lovethymini

Thanks Liuhut, I was mooching on there before my essay post. (Wanders back for another look)

After re-examining Living Etc, I realise that this is a new one which I don't already have. I think I was overcome with the excitement of having time for a magazine to read after dropping ds off at pre-school.

Have given two of the hollyhocks to friends - still, two left for moi!

getmore4less

Do you still have 2 cars?

As long as hubby is happy on the bike in the winter you could probably get away with one.


Freeing up the £500pm loan money will make a big difference.

I would keep that £500 in a seperate offset account as the not to be spent money.

All the savings for future spends kept seperately.

£200k @ 3.75% with a payment of £640+£500 term is 255 months so 21 years 3months.

If you can find another £100pm that will reduce the term to 225months 18years 9 months

The little extras offset on a temporary basis will help but only a bit it is the permanent overpayments that make the big difference to terms of the loan.

adwat

Hi Lovethymini, welcome to MFW. I've just looked through your SOA and reckon you can shave enough off some of your expenditure to give you about £500 per month spare compared to what you're currently spending. As and when you pay back the £500pm loan you should have £1000pm spare. £500pm is £6k per year and when it goes up to £1000pm thats £12k per year you'll be able to offset/pay off. That sort of amount will soon start making a big difference to your mortgage. Don't forget any payrises you both have over time will also ease your budget - make the hard choices as soon as possible and it will only get easier! Good luck with your overpayments! It might seem like you're not making much headway at first but keep plugging away and you'll never regret it.

getmore4less

adwat wrote: »

Hi Lovethymini, welcome to MFW. I've just looked through your SOA and reckon you can shave enough off some of your expenditure to give you about £500 per month spare compared to what you're currently spending. As and when you pay back the £500pm loan you should have £1000pm spare. £500pm is £6k per year and when it goes up to £1000pm thats £12k per year you'll be able to offset/pay off. That sort of amount will soon start making a big difference to your mortgage. Don't forget any payrises you both have over time will also ease your budget - make the hard choices as soon as possible and it will only get easier! Good luck with your overpayments! It might seem like you're not making much headway at first but keep plugging away and you'll never regret it.

Interested where you see the savings.

adwat

Hi getmoreforless,

I've highlighted where I think lovethymini could possibly make some savings - just as a first guess, but you know what it's like - once you start making savings you kinda get addicted and end up saving even more than you first thought. Also, selling one of the cars would also give a handy lump sum to kick start her mortgage reduction.

lovethymini wrote: »

This is where our money goes. Where we have had bigger bills than originally budgeted back in April, , I have changed our SOA to help keep the annual spend on target - for example car maintenance went up to £2,100 for the year in total because the mini had urgent surgery on engine and bodywork, costing us £900 back in June...

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,063.29
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 125.46

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00 Got this down to £27 now.
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.00 inc home phone, on national supply so cant get cheaper.
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00 --> £50 saving
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.92
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640.00 this is interest only
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00 should reduce now DH commuting 500m per week by bike --> £150 saving for using motorbike
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.33 for 3 vehicles
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84.17 3 vehicles
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175.00 --> £75 saving if sell other car

Debt Repayments

Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500.00 Mum & Dad loan, ends Oct '12

Savings & Investments

Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 DS's savings account

Family

Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.00

Entertainment

Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.17
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.99
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00 adjusted to accomodate a few very extravagant months this year. --> £100 saving here for sure

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.33 adjusted after DH's big bill this June
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 --> £50 saving here

Big One Offs

Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 went well over this
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 Dh now takes packed lunch but still takes cash for coffees etc for his team --> £50 saving here
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,188.75


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,101.03

Just ideas, obviously I'm just guessing, but I think there's some slack in her budget overall.

getmore4less

OK I don't think they are all sustainable long term, but achievable short term.

Clothes will need replacing eventualy, might get away with nothing for a few months maybe a year if well stocked.

Eating out, not everyone can go for years without the odd meal out.

House maintance is a tricky one, I think £600py is on the low side especialy if you include household goods/furniture purchase/replacements and garden which cuurently have no budget elsewhere.