A Budgeteers Quest to be Debt Free & Mortgage Free By 40

Chocforever

Having read your post above, I can understand why you are keen to get rid of the debt as soon as possible; it is holding you back from what you really want to do in terms of the day to day niceties and longer term plans.

I don't think you should ever describe yourself as lazy; if you are, I don't know what that makes me !

The house deposit is coming along. Once I had a bit more cash available, it was nice to be able to buy treats. Then I went a bit mad and starting spending way too much on weekends away, clothes etc. I have tried to rein that in and want to stay focused on saving for the house.

I can certainly empathise with only trying to fix one health problem at a time. It's not good if you are taking lots of painkillers for a prolonged period of time. I have started to have one health problem investigated. I am part way through (with no answer, of course ) and now there is something else bothering me more. I can't decide which to pursue first and, in the meantime, I am wimping out from doing anything at all!

Have a nice weekend

DedicatedDFW

Chocforever wrote: »

Having read your post above, I can understand why you are keen to get rid of the debt as soon as possible; it is holding you back from what you really want to do in terms of the day to day niceties and longer term plans.

I don't think you should ever describe yourself as lazy; if you are, I don't know what that makes me !

The house deposit is coming along. Once I had a bit more cash available, it was nice to be able to buy treats. Then I went a bit mad and starting spending way too much on weekends away, clothes etc. I have tried to rein that in and want to stay focused on saving for the house.

I can certainly empathise with only trying to fix one health problem at a time. It's not good if you are taking lots of painkillers for a prolonged period of time. I have started to have one health problem investigated. I am part way through (with no answer, of course ) and now there is something else bothering me more. I can't decide which to pursue first and, in the meantime, I am wimping out from doing anything at all!

Have a nice weekend

Hi Chocforever

Yep I'm worried about budgeting once i'm debt free i have posted questions on other threads i think because as you say i don't want to go mad and spend lots - even when i'm debt free i won't have lots to spend anyways as debt repayments are mostly from extra earnings I keep trying to work out how much is enough? For spends for things like you say - clothes, weekends away etc. So i'm trying to work out a budget in advance then i know what i'm working with if that makes sense

Well Done on having savings in place for your own home :T

So sorry to hear that you are having health problems too - i really hope they find out whats wrong with both things soon and then those things can be treated and you'll feel loads better x

Lovely to hear from you again too

DedicatedDFW

jwil wrote: »

I'm good thanks, glad it's the weekend :T

Hey jwil!

I too am very glad its the weekend - especially as i have only just got up :eek::eek::eek:

Need to find some energy from somewhere to get on with some more of my list too

DedicatedDFW

So, one part of the bad money news the other day was the opening of 2 letters which effectively sees me £400 out of pocket One was an outstanding bill :eek: which i thought i'd resolved several months ago - must admit the letter made me all _pale_ Anyways i've now sent another letter to try and resolve this so we will see how they respond and i've popped the dates into my diary. The other letter was saying the item i had to refund on *bay was not covered by the post office :mad::mad::mad: so a bit less than £50 lost their :mad::mad::mad:

Today though i got the confirmation of next months mortgage payment - which as i've come off the fixed rate has gone down. I will continue to pay the same amount though - i'd already planned to overpay the mortgage. In fact i should have been paying a lump sum of £3000 next month but instead am using this for essential work on the house. Overpayments are essential as i cannot remortgage anywhere given my income vs mortgage payments vs equity

But the good news is i will be paying the same amount off each month but as part of that will be an overpayment now then this means i will be reducing the balance a little :T

The next letter was a cheque - only a small amount and i mentioned it before - its from the complaint i made and that is all settled now and i'll pop that into the bank on monday and once its cleared its an overpayment off target 1 - so again good news

Yet another letter - it's about a small unexpected refund due to changing supplier i'd overpaid without realising it. It is only a small amount again but when it is here (they've not sent the cheque yet just a letter saying they will *where is the rolleyes smiley when you need it?*). So once that is here then again this will go to target 1

Now the 2 cheques and difference in mortgage payment do not add up to £400 so i just hope i can sort that other bill out.

DedicatedDFW

So i've got to make sure i keep focused :cool:

Wasted almost £12 the other day - in many ways it couldn't be helped - i was exhausted and couldn't drive to the supermarket. This saw a visit to a small supermarket to purchase the essentials of bread, milk and things for tea. At my usual supermarket i would have got *alot* more for that amount Still, i am at least aware of this and knew i was in no fit state to go any further and i only bought what was needed.

The house is still in absolute disarray and will remain so for some time due to continued work needed. What i need to do though is make sure that anything that can be tidied away is, that anything not needed is: listed for sale, charitied, gifted etc.

That i go through my freezer and meal plan - quite a scary prospect my freezer at the mo. :eek: Fuller than a full thing and i'm not sure whats where now Still a full freezer is better than an empty one Actually i'd better lift something out for tea tomorrow and squeeze some reduced price pies in their ready for a lunch / meal another day

That i walk more than drive - not a problem really, since no longer working part-time i'm only driving to the supermarket and carboot. Kinda feel its a bit luxurious to have a car for this but i am looking for a new job or 2 new jobs in fact so may well need a car for this so will re-assess this once the work situation is more resolved

I;m still wearing layers rather than blasting the heating out - am sure there are better looks but still it is more economical - a kinda hidden cost as in we pay the bill when it comes and don't say hand over the money immediately we use the heating or after having it on for a spell of time.

Rightio then - freezer time and tea preparation beckons.

Ooh, i did have a go at the drawer i need to sort out but it needs more work - one of the reasons i want to move i just want more space!

jwil

Hey DDFW,

Yay to mortgage overpayments and refund cheques. Grr to bills and non-refunds though.

You must have needed the lie in today.

DedicatedDFW

Aw! Thanks jwil But i am almost too ashamed to admit that i have been thouroughly shattered for the last few days now - almost a week :eek::eek::eek: Which resulted in me dragging myself out of bed to cancel the docs appointment - was far too tired to drive - went back to bed and got up 4 hours later :eek::eek::eek: And i only got up then as i had to go to work

So that is a doctors appointment i now need to rebook - oops!

DedicatedDFW

So, although i was exhausted i still dragged myself out of bed on sunday ready to head off to the carbooty

This was helped by the fact that i did just about nothing all day saturday, had myself a nice early night and had promised to pick my mother up so it would have been unfair for her to get up and ready for nothing.

It was an odd day as i was too tired to 'shop' properly Left a couple of bits i would have bought otherwise but am not regretting them now - just acknowledging the fact that if i am going to get up at such an early hour i need to be alert enough to make the most of my time :cool:

The other thing that put me off buying stuff was that i was sick of spending money again probably affected by tiredness as the things i considered would have been a good saving on things i'll buy at some point anyways.

But, in good news I did nab me a few bargains :T Which i am very happy with :T:T:T I got myself an item i have wanted for over 2 years :j:j:j and, because of the way i am, i am delighted to have bought this second hand rather than brand new :T - i do like pre-loved, used, vintage things Plus this is something i could only really buy abroad so thats the reason i've not got it for so long too i *did* not buy one of the 3 sewing machines i saw - given there is no electrical supply i was unable to test they were working and 1 of the machines was really overpriced too. Still, was a tad wistful

I bought 2 new pieces of clothing brand new with the tags on which i didn't know whilst hung up Sadly i'm not sure about the fit of 1 so may list this on the bay of e - but it was such a low price i had to give it a whirl and really is a lovely item i paid peanuts for

I also got an authentic designer handbag for a couple of quid :D:D The lady i bought it off was lovely and charged so low as she said she wasn't sure of it was authentic - i had checked all the bits i needed to and was fairly sure it was and it indeed is :T:T:T Then as i trundled round i saw another couple of the same designer bag which were easy to spot as copies so of course left these alone

I also managed to pick some more bits up for one of my hobbys - and at a great price too so again very happy with these

Got some other bits too so really was quite a haul of goodies

DedicatedDFW

So today it was back to work, and i have spent only my travel fare to work so not too bad.

Tomorrow i need to get up earlier as i'll need to nip to the post office *and* i need to pay my money into the bank :eek:

Really need to sort out the freezer - might do a buffet at the weekend - there is lots of that stuff in there so am really hoping to clear a bit of space :eek: Also i *must not* buy anything for the freezer from shopping this week

jwil

Hope you get that doctors appointment soon and you are feeling a little less tired today.

Your bargains sound fab :T :T :T Well done!