Memorygirls - The Matrix Reloaded

Bitsy_Beans

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Oh - beware - overpaying the mortgage leads to an unhealthy inclination to get very excited and jump about a lot in glee when the mortgage statement arrives. Under NO circumstances ever let friends and family know this as they will, without question, all think you are utterly barmy!

Well they won't know any difference as I do this already :rotfl:
I gleefully told H that the end of this year we'll be down to owing circa £89K. He couldn't understand what I was getting excited at as it was still a large amount. he failed to grasp my joy at seeing it reduce <sigh>

Heating is still on here for a couple of hours a day. Tried switching it off but kids complained in the morning that they were too cold. Since my timer won't let me set it for just once a day it's on for an hour and a half in the morning and evening.

EssexHebridean

tellmeitsfriday wrote: »

OD is interest free up to £250 and I won't be spending more than £100 extra

Sorts that one out then!

Memory_Girl

:eek::eek: Got my sums wrong - had a feeling something wasn't right - and I was right :rotfl:

Mortgage actually only has 21 years and 9 months left to run. Meaning I should be aiming for Dec 2031 rather than 2033

:cool:Does that mean I have already shortened my mortgage??:D

So running it back through the spreasheet I will be looking at £168 per month for 12 months then increasing by 10% every 12 months to meet the target :eek:

Gutted!!!! but then if I get busy with "double or quits" and get rid of Big Horse Debt - then there is over £250 per month there to play with without looking elsewhere :T

Back to cleaning the clutter - and BTW - where does all the dust come from??

MG

PS Off to update the signature

greenbee

Re gas & elec, I'm on one of the tariffs where you submit a monthly meter reading and only pay for what you've used. I also get nectar points (for what they're worth) for every meter reading I submit, and get an additional discount. It does mean I'm not budgeting for a fixed amount each month, but it also means that turning down the heating and switching off the lights has an immediate effect on my bills. I also have an electricity monitor, so can see when I've left something on upstairs... days when I do lots of laundry, cooking and use the DW

Mind you, working from home means I'm using more than I used to, but its still cheaper than fuel for a 45 mile each way commute

I need to have another look at my finances, but spring cleaning will need to be done first - I have three days off between the bank holidays and I intend to use it (apart from the hospital appointment ) to spring clean, declutter and sort out my finances... and maybe do some gardening...

greenbee

Memory_Girl wrote: »

Back to cleaning the clutter - and BTW - where does all the dust come from??

Underneath the clutter

Seriously, sell the clutter rather than giving it away. If your dad can take one or both kids for a morning, you and maybe DS1 or your mum could do carboots, table top sales etc and although it would be dull, this is a good time of year to do them - pick a sunny day ideally - you should be able to clear the junk and make decent inroads into your debt repayment by the end of the royal wedding weekend.

Get DS1 to grow extra veg seedlings to sell, either at car boots or a stall outside the house, and he can start earning his own money

Oh... and home baked stuff always goes down well at boot sales.

The other tip is not to have so much stuff that people can't see what's there. Only put out a manageable amount of stuff at a time.

The novelty will wear off, but why not set yourself a challenge to see how much you can raise from flogging your clutter in a month. You could ebay too... if you feel bad about the charity shop, you can always use a percentage of your earnings (10% is traditional isn't it?) to buy materials for your crafts (which you could also potentially sell at car boots/table top sales).

Firewalker

I have been thinking! First, I think that we will have to get rid of the negative wealth first before we tackle the mortgage. I am not sure that the same principle applies to the negative wealth - any knowlegeable friends here please advise. Although even Eistein who like me never managed to learn how much he earns remarked that the most powerful force on this planet is compound interest.

Second, and this is a bit of a biggy really, I have been feeling lost lately. So this got me thinking that what we did to Fantasia was a ' virtual directions make over'. What would you say that we have regular sessions set aside and do a similar thing for other members? I for one would not mind having one to get me going on something; to stop 'flossing' as my trainer says.

Now back to work for me - without direction as I may feel.

Firewalker

EssexHebridean

FW - when I started on here in 2008 I was six months into a 30 month loan that I had taken out for my car. I paid that loan off in 13 months instead of 30, and, because with a "fixed payment" style loan, all the interest is loaded on at the beginning to give you your X no of equal payments, I reduced what I had to pay by something like £700. The trick is to stash the money you are savings towards it aside until you have enough to pay it off, then ask for a settlement figure. Also check there aren't penalties for paying early, if it's loans you are thinking about.

Memory_Girl

Like FW I have been going around and around about what to tackle first - so here goes.

Accept Memoryguys offer of £500 and crack on doing as much of the room for DS2 as humanly possible with the budget. Need to stud and plasterboard and tape and paper walls. Skirting and architrave - but at least I have the doors and radiator

Carboot my clutter to make up the rest - to get carpets etc. DS1 then moves upstairs.

Make Do and Mend the two downstairs letting rooms - and farm them over to the college in good time for next term. Should be able to do this with a couple of pots of paint, some wallpaper I have and making a new quilt cover or two.

Double or quits to get rid of Big Horse at a realistic rate and use income from Rent- a- room to pay down the mortgage and pay back Memoryguy.

That still leaves me finding something to do to generate family income to make our lives a little more pleasant - but the above is sustainable, and do-able with a lot of support and cheerleading/ chivvying

BTW My room is decluttered and clean and there is very little in it in reality. If I could source a 5m x 3m carpet I could move upstairs as soon as it was laid. For some reason I thought I had much more "stuff" than I actually do.

Off to call Memoryguy and say "yes please" - then we are on the £500 makeover challenge

MG

tellmeitsfriday

If you have enough space for the three of you to do "family" then really that sounds like a good idea MG.

I wish I had a spare room to rent out

greenbee

Memory_Girl wrote: »

BTW My room is decluttered and clean and there is very little in it in reality. If I could source a 5m x 3m carpet I could move upstairs as soon as it was laid. For some reason I thought I had much more "stuff" than I actually do.

why do you need carpet? horrible stuff do you have floorboards you could paint, and then maybe make some rag rugs for warmth? This is make do and mend remember...

The other thing you can do (perhaps during the holidays if the college students only want them in term time) is to do B&B. There is a demand for small B&Bs - eco/organic is very popular. As long as you have a nice room (or two) and a clean and comfortable bathroom, then you don't need much more. There may be a certain appeal in a 'family' B&B where they eat with you and DSs too . And homemade preserves and bread, eggs from clootie's hens etc would all add to the appeal!