2011 mfw

fluffysox

curlygirl1971 wrote: »

We're also tagging on a long weekend in Washington so will have this cost of accomodation and trainfare (Am not paying for an internal flight!). Based on what I spent last year I think the whole trip will cost me £1600. It's decadent, it's not needed, I've been before, but you know what.......you only live once. Like most, I have people in my family with Dementia, Cancer and someone very close to me has MS......and I just think s0d it - I haven't always been this lucky and I can't bank on being in the future!

What other plans do people have this year - anyone else treating themselves? Or is everyone else fairly strict? Go on.....make me feel bad! I know Black Taxi is having a holiday - so don't just blame me!

Life is for living curlygirl, MFW saves us money in the long run and increases our financial security as well as our choices. If I hadn't been a MFW addict for the past few years my minimum monthly payments would be too high for me to afford to go on maternity leave this year. Now I can enjoy my pregnancy without worrying about a temporary drop in income. So enjoy your holiday, it sounds like a fantastic opportunity and so long as you budget for it- guilt-free :A:A.

fluffysox

In the process of doing a sort out of bank accounts and bills etc.

Done:
1. Rang Virgin and complained about them charging me 20% VAT on calls from the middle of December. Got a £2 credit to my account and set up evening calls for £2.50 a month- been meaning to do this for a while, should save me £10 a month easy:j:j.
2. Signed up for Virgin paperless billing to save £1.50 per month
3. Compared gas and electric as my current fixed plan with eon ends 1st March. Found one that should save £100 over year based on new eon plan. Also cashback via quidco. Going to wait a couple of weeks to arrange switch, if they change over before 1st March I get charged.
To do:
1. Close unused A+L account, little bit of money into OP (approx £5)
2. Close OH's Nationwide account- before we do this has anyone managed successfully to complain about disproportionate overdraft charges? Charged about £40 for being £40 overdrawn for 48 hours :mad:.
3. Close Halifax Credit card, credit balance of about £5 to OP. They took the minimum payment even though I'd cleared the balance.
4. OH has agreed to have a joint account plus separate "spends" accounts, he's not great at saving but with a little help from black taxi's interest rates a little light bulb has turned on. I'll sort this at half term;).
Anyway sorry for the long post but its all for the MFW goal .

sheslookinhot

Folks, I am back on the MFW trail, after clearing my mortgage at the end of last year. Using release of overpayments and a further advance I now have a mortgage of £14,500. The funds were needed to pay a very expensive dentist for expensive dental treatment. I am in the early stages of treatment plan.


Any way, took the advance over 3 years, Dec-13, but immediately have the MFW bug to clear this off as quick as possible. I am setting a conservative target of reducing the mortgage to £10k by end of year. I expect to do better. My longer term target is to clear it by next year, so 2 yrs rather than 3.

Shewholookshot celebrates the big 50 this year, so a wee trip to New York or San Fransisco beckons later in the year, as birthday falls at same time as daughter studies and sits higher exams.

Still paying the minimum on 0% CC's after I installed a kithcen on 0%CC's. The money I banked instead of maxing the monthly payment is there to pay for the kitchen, but while on 0% will continue with paying minimum on CC.

anyway, looks like I'll be around for a while yet, reading all your positive stories. :T

froddington

No 128 - £100 OP made today

cake21

curlygirl1971 wrote: »

Caaaakkkkkeeeee!!!! Welcome back! Croeso yn ôl (Pah! Thank goodness for Google Translate) <snip> What other plans do people have this year - anyone else treating themselves? Or is everyone else fairly strict? Go on.....make me feel bad! I know Black Taxi is having a holiday - so don't just blame me!

Diolch am yr hearty welcome back! On the holiday front, perhaps hosting a MFW weekend in your condo would assuage the guilt?

Confession time from me ...when I said

cake21 wrote: »

not all work and no play

I really meant

tacked a week's holiday on the end of a work trip and thoroughly enjoyed myself

Obviously I got the best prices I could by shopping around before leaving, but I think 1. it would be a lot more expensive if I waited until MF and had to pay for the flights myself as well, and 2. what if something happens and I can't go anyway?

Having said that I only ever buy Value tinned tomatoes, so I am quite strict!

black_taxi_2

mortgage/debt --feb payment £563

curlygirl1971

cake21 wrote: »

Diolch am yr hearty welcome back! On the holiday front, perhaps hosting a MFW weekend in your condo would assuage the guilt?

Having said that I only ever buy Value tinned tomatoes, so I am quite strict!

The Condo does indeed have another bedroom (you can see the lights of broadway from it) but there are already people queuing up to be my new best friend! Never been so popular :cool:

LOL - last night I made a huge vat of curry and as alway used value toms in it (and any old bit of veg and out of date lentils I could find)

But yes fluffysox - life is for living. I have felt rather guilty/conflicted about the expenditure again esp as so many other people are finding it so tough (but there again I've gone without holidays etc. in boom times) and then to make matters worse I worked out that if I put the £1600 into my mortgage as an OP in September I would actually have knocked another 6 months off the life of my morgage :eek: Oh the agonies.......I'll think of that as I'm tucking into a Pastrami on Rye at Eisenbergs on 5th

Anyway I need to forget about the holiday now (apart from making the best value arrangements and booking flights) and concentrate at getting the best out of my finances this year - I think it's going to be tough to find extra money to OP from my monthly budget and I need to be much stricter with myself in coming months than I was last year in order to make my plans work.

kizzie01

MFW No 90 checking in with February's overpayment of £221.82.

I have also transferred £1,000 into savings, so well chuffed.

CathT

MFW no 7
Feb OP of £450

curlygirl1971

fluffysox wrote: »

In the process of doing a sort out of bank accounts and bills etc.

To do:
1. Close unused A+L account, little bit of money into OP (approx £5)
2. Close OH's Nationwide account- before we do this has anyone managed successfully to complain about disproportionate overdraft charges? Charged about £40 for being £40 overdrawn for 48 hours :mad:.
3. Close Halifax Credit card, credit balance of about £5 to OP. They took the minimum payment even though I'd cleared the balance.
.

Fluffysox - You are closing some accounts - are you going to be opening up new? If so have you checked out the current switching offers around - between £50 and £100 to move accounts (See MSE Banking page). Are you a Halifax Reward Account customer? £5 a month. I've also got a Halifax Clarity Card as well (Which I took out after I closed my old Halifa Credit Card) £5 a month for spending £300. All mounts up. NatWest gave me £150 for switching current accounts 18 months ago and I'm consdering switching again this year to reap another £100 somewhere.