Mortgage Free In 12 Months

Carafan

Nothing much to report today. Had a day working at home yesterday so didn't spend anything, OH ordered a radio controlled boat but its being paid for with money he got given for christmas so thats ok! I still have £70 put to one side from my birthday but I'm keeping that for a rainy day;)

In my wardrobe I have a couple of unworn things that I like but aren't quite right iyswim. Today I shall have a look at them to see if I can alter them in any way to make them better (and wearable) - new clothes for free:j
One of my big ways of saving this year will be to cut down on clothes shopping. Admittedly I cut back last year but there is still room for improvement. I'm quite proud of the fact that I haven't bought anything in the sales as they are a major weakness of mine - I love a bargin!

Right I better do the ironing and then will take a look to see what can be altered.

Carafan

Well have had a look through my wardrobe and found a skirt and a pair of trousers from Crew that have never been worn, the reason being that they are both too long. Just need to get my sewing machine out now.

On a different note I have decided to put some targets down for Jan to help me be more focused.

So here goes........

1. Shorten skirt and trousers. - Done, very happy with both and shall wear the skirt tommorrow!
2. Go through books for selling on Amazon (never done this before so if anyone can offer any advice:)) - Done, sorted 26 books, now need to list them
3. Go through Ebay box in attic and start listing stuff.
4. Continue to put any loose change in sealed pot.
5. Book caravan sites for this years holidays (this will enable me to budget for them) - Done, just waiting for confirmation for one of them
6. Batch cook and put in freezer. - 2 portions of casserole, 1 batch of pizza base dough
7. Use up stock of handmade cards for the 3 birthdays I have this month rather than buying them.Done, got them ready to send
8. Loose the 1/2 stone I put on over Christmas!!!:o

Right I think thats that for now- off to make a start.

Carafan

A quiet day today, just catching up on housework.

Yesterday was a no spend day for both of us although I did book our holidays for the year ahead.

I've managed to book 3 separate weeks and 2 short breaks in the caravan for £650 staying on some lovely sites (not the cheapest of sites I know but a big saving on last years holidays which cost over 10x that amount:eek:)

None of them need any payment up front so thats good for this months budget.

I was really pleased with the clothing alterations that I made yesterday, the skirt looks great and will definately be worn now. I've had to spend today as DS needed his hair cutting - it was £9.50 well spent though as I can now see what he looks like again:D

Carafan

Here we are, Monday morning again!

Well nothing much to report - we have had a very frugal weekend which involved a long walk over the fields, mooching around the local garden centre for inspiration and digging up the artichokes in the veggie garden.

I spent a while planning our gardening projects for the year ahead - I may have to re-evaluate how soon we pay our mortgage off. this year we will have to buy 300ft of hedging plants and 200ft of fencing - and this is just for starters:eek:

So far the jobs we have earmarked for the house/garden are:

1. Fire proof interior doors - this has to be done asap to comply with the building regs for our loft conversion.
2. Buy and plant 4 x Silver Birch trees in courtyard at back of house (we have the money for these as it was our xmas present from in-laws)
3. Have gates made/installed (my Dad is lined up to make these!)
4. Finish paving at rear of house
5. Buy/Plant/Install hedging and fencing to boundaries.
6. Make new raised beds in veggie garden.
7. Plant more fruit trees in orchard.

Phew! those are the must do jobs for this year - there are also the 'would like to do's'

1. Replace bay window and roof above.
2. Make a new patio area/pond next to cabin
3. Install wood burning stove

These are the ones that will cost the most though and will seriously make a big dent in our mortgage free plans so will most likely be put off untill next year. Its not as if we haven't anything to do in the meantime:rotfl:

Gosh after all that thinking about what needs doing I seriously need a coffee!!!!

have a good week:)

Carafan:beer:

Carafan

Hello,

Well the end of January is nearly here!
I know that i've not updated for a week or so, so I thought that I'd have a round up of what I've done this month to get closer to my target of being mortgage free

Here goes.....

Amount overpaid........£300.00 (+£1500 transferred from savings)
Amount saved...........£700.00

Amount to go...........£10,924

Well its going down:j It would be great to get it below £10,000 by the end of Feb so shall have to continue to be frugal.

Hope your plans are all going well:beer: