Five years for Spigs to be Mortgage Free!

Spiggle

Long_tall_sally wrote: »

Interesting reading Spiggle. Your figures are looking good.

Merry christmas to you & yours too.

LTS

Thanks LTS, :beer:
And the same to you and yours!

All the best,
Spigs

Spiggle

Afternoon All,

Just came on to have a bit of a moan really, so apologies. My computer is driving me mad at the moment. It has been for some months 'cos it's soooo sloooooow! Then on Thursday it just decided to keep shutting down on me. AAaaaarrrrgggghhhhhh! It was particularly painful because I was working at home that day and had to work Friday from home (normally my day off) to catch up on the work.

(Had to chuck a load of stuff off it to get it going again. It is now quieter but I seem to have lost all font smoothing features especially from the desktop and email.)

So, OH has been fed up for quite some time at the moaning, shouting and bad language emanating from my office due to the computer being a pain. He has also said for at least two months that it was time to get a new one (he knows nothing about them mind you!). :think:

I've resisted because I want to chuck everything we have at the mortgage. But I think the time has now come. The machine will be five years old shortly and it really bugs me that something so expensive doesn't have a longer useful life. What's that they say about obseletion being built in these days? :mad:

I thought when I got it I'd future proofed to some extent but having looked at the amount of RAM about these days and the size of HDDs I realise that 'future' was probably around 3 years max. :doh:

But I can't just magic money from nowhere and so I think the reg saver payments will be the item that gets hit with the cost. I can only hope that I can make the time back up to ensure I stay on target for my 55th birthday.

If I'm sensible, I can probably get a cpu for under £550 and so that will be one month missed off reg saver (min payment made obviously). If it comes out as more than that then I'll be really cheesed off. _pale_

Also I can't decide whether to just go for it now or wait until after Christmas for a possibly better deal. But then again, do cpu prices come down or just bundle prices in places like PC W*rld where I'll be getting already out of date OS/software/etc?

Since I started this, spending money has become so alien and I can't enjoy it any more.

Ok, sorry to have moaned but I got to do it somewhere.

If you have got any ideas, suggestions of good suppliers or anything else, please feel free to advise.

All the best,
Spigs

originalmiscellany

Well Spiggle, it may not be an ideal solution but you can always buy a little netbook - e.g.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Netbook-1-66GHz-Webcam-Starter/dp/B00509CRRA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323615717&sr=8-1

Not as expensive as a normal CPU but great, and fully functioning, just a bit smaller.

I have many friends who have them for their main laptops and are delighted with it.

Just a thought.

Spiggle

originalmiscellany wrote: »

Well Spiggle, it may not be an ideal solution but you can always buy a little netbook - e.g.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Netbook-1-66GHz-Webcam-Starter/dp/B00509CRRA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323615717&sr=8-1

Not as expensive as a normal CPU but great, and fully functioning, just a bit smaller.

I have many friends who have them for their main laptops and are delighted with it.

Just a thought.

Thanks for the suggestion OM!

I have a work supplied netbook which is great for meetings and the like. But I'm a full size girl and have a desktop cpu, full keyboard, and lovely large screen monitor in my home office (and in my work office come to think of it). I do find properly working on the netbook a strain tbh.

I'm checking some cpus out now and I think I can get at least i5, 6 gigs of Ram and 1.5tB for under £500 so I'm trying not to be too despondent.

Thanks for dropping by and contributing, I really appreciate it.

All the best,
Spigs

gallygirl

Rather than a cpu why not look at laptops? That's what I went for in the end. For 'real work' (i.e. playing with spreadsheets ) I plug in the monitor and keyboard in the study, for 'financial research' (i.e. playing on here ) I use it as a lappy downstairs.

£500 over 3 years is around 50p a day btw........ well worth it :j

black_taxi_2

my computor was slow--sometimes all it takes is to change internet explorer browser---worked for me

icontinuetodream

Hi spigs :wave:just read through your diary...really inspirational!! what amazing progress you have made!!! :TDefinatley subscribing

Spiggle

Well three replies! Thank you so much.

Hi gallygirl, I know what you mean about a laptop and I did work for two years exclusively on one but having looked about I can't seem to find the spec I need in a laptop within the budget I've set myself. I may have an impulse-ish buy in the sales after Christmas if I see any that are really good bargain but it would only be for 'playing' with!

I think I have a little more than an internet browser to worry about but I'm grateful for the suggestion black taxi, thank you. I do now completely accept that my machine is now under powered for my needs.

Thanks very much for your kind words icontinuetodream. You're very welcome to my ramblings! :rotfl:

On the computer front I have now found two options in budget but have asked the tech guys in work to price up the same spec through the work supplier. It may be cheaper but as it's higher than our usual spec it is unlikely. Nothing ventured nothing gained though. :cool:

Right, I'm off for my supper and University Challenge before the final of Junior Apprentice.

I hope everyone has a safe and warm evening in this foul weather.

Take care,
Spigs

LavenderBees

Just dropping by to say "Hi Spiggle" :wave:

I love reading people's diaries - helps keeps me focused on my own endeavours, and I'm always hoping for inspiration to hit. I don't feel at all qualified to comment on the best way for anything - all the maths involved of looking for the best deal/best investment absolutely does my head in!!!! Oops! Shhhhhhhhhh! Sorry for shouting....

It's all great food for thought, and it really does help knowing there's a whole community of people like us beavering away trying to ensure the banks get as little as possible of our very hard earned cash.:rotfl:

Good luck for 2012. No doubt we'll be in touch via the MFW 2012 thread, and I'll drop by into your diary when I can.

I love being an official MSEr

L x

Spiggle

Hi LavenderBees, :hello:

And thank you for dropping in on my ramblings. I know what you mean about all the working out and calculating. You didn't shout by the way and it does my head in too!!!:rotfl:

My biggest problem (as you'll have gathered) is learning to keep hold of offset amounts to earn more money for us. But the temptation to just pay it off is enormous!

The two sides of my brain just sit and argue with each other whenever I consider March and the amount we'll have offset meaning I could just pay off the second mortgage so I can throw everything at the main one. No doubt I'll still be in a muddle come March! :doh:

Look forward to spending the year with you on MFW 2012. Best wishes for Chrimbo and the New Year and here's to a great moneysaving 2012! :beer:

All the best,
Spigs