SeriouslySeekingtoSave strongly strides straight into slaying her mortgage!

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

I'll have these posted by the weekend P! I've been churning a few ideas around in my brain but now it's time to commit on paper. Well, not actually paper paper unless I print it off.

:-) MSE goals 2011/12 here I come!

abouttimetoo

Hi SStS, good to see you back posting and well done on all you've achieved. I hope you get through all your house chores without further problems

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

Ok, so goals for this year.

1. Knock at least another £10,000 off my mortgage total (this can be in capital deductions as well as overpayments)
2. Set up a cash ESA this year and max it out.
3. All the house to be sorted decorating wise. This does not include the bathroom, just the bits that I've started doing now.
4. Once my house is finished begin the slow process of building up furniture. This does not have to be finished this year as I have definately learned through sleeping on a mattress for a year and having a single chair as furniture (used mostly for climbing up on and for the neighbours cat to sleep on) that I really really don't need a lot of possesions to be happy. I am looking for a 'finished' home but that doesn't need to be achieved right away, I can take me time and get good bargins!
5. Keep my food budget to £80 a month. This is a huge cut from last years of £140 which was a cut down from what I'd previously been doing. I don't know if I can keep to this but I'll be giving it a damn good try!
6. Cook more and make lots of soups. I've never made soup in my life and I'm 36!
7. Keep going to the gym as much as I have been.
8. Continue the learning process of making 'my money work harder for me'.
9. Be more social - I have neglected my social circle a bit this year. Obviously that will bring it's own challenges re my financial goals but I'm sure I can manage to balance this with a bit of discipline.
10. Have a decent length holiday abroard - at least a week. This does not include my yearly trip home to NZ. I live in Europe, I have access to very cheap travel if I plan it properly and travel was one of my main reasons for coming here in the first place. I need to make more use of it.
11. Go on at least two weekend hiking trips. England is a beautiful country and I love walking around it. I haven't been on any of these this year so this needs to change.

Ok, goals set in black and white - these are purposefully not just financial, in fact finance is possibly the minor part (although it should go without saying that anything I want to do has the 'in the most cost efficient way possible' tacked on to the end ). I feel that my work/life/money balance went a little off kilter this year past and that needs to be addressed.

Anyway, here's aiming for as successful a year this year as my previous! Wish me consistancy and determination!

Peonie

Great goals, and a good mix of financial and life.

I have a 101 in 1001 list (101 goals in 1001 days (2.75 years)) and I have achieved 72 so far. I hoped to achieve 80 but I do not think that is going to happen as my list finishes at the end of this month. I am writing my next and round 2 will include financial goals for the first time, but the majority focus on what I want to achieve, like climb Snowden or read a stupid number of books and decorate the house.

Good luck with your list.

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

Ok, the Direct Debits from Santander look to be about 50% correct after my current account switch, which is about what I expected of them. I had enough money in both accounts to cover any screwups as I have had previous experience. All in all really it went very smoothly, although they did take the Standing Order I had for the £300 each month into my FD regular saver which I didn't want them to as the 'rules' from FD state that the money has to come from their accounts. As I really don't want to get to the end of Feb and be told that I'd voided the contract I had that canned and then reset up on the FD side. My pay is still going into that account so that's fine.

I've moved all my 'spare' money to the new Santander account to take advantage of the 5% daily interest up to £2,500. At the end of my shuffling around I have just over £2k sitting there so from next pay I should have enough to max this and then make the first of my £500 OPs on the mortgage.

My regular saver comes due at the end of Feb and I'll have the £3600 I paid in plus the £135 interest. I want to combine that with part of the £2500 I have in the account with Santander and stick that straight into an ISA. I'll keep an eye on the deals though, if a particulary good one comes up during this time I'll move the £2,500 in and then top it up quickly by skipping OPs for a couple of months, and use the Regular Saver as a large OP when it come due instead. I don't suppose it matters that much really, other than the fact that I'm just itching to start OP'ing in a big way again!:D

All my spending is going on my credit cards and I'm just keeping a matching amount in savings to ensure that I don't get caught out if I can't BT the amount. At the moment my mortgage rate is higher than the transfer costs so I'm happy to pay this although at some point I might end up maxing my credit rating out and I'll get declined.

I have also just paid of the last of my HSBC credit card and I will take great satisfaction in ringing them tomorrow and instructing them to bin it. I can't believe I took so long to cotton on to the idea of CC's that give back to you - the Capital1 5% cashback and 0% interest for 6 months is a stunner. All part of the 'know how money works' progression I guess.

Well, my goodness that was dry. For an encore I guess I could post my spending diary for August (and possibly September as well) but I'll leave that treat for another day :rotfl:

Peonie

SeriouslySeekingtoSave wrote: »

All in all really it went very smoothly, although they did take the Standing Order I had for the £300 each month into my FD regular saver which I didn't want them to as the 'rules' from FD state that the money has to come from their accounts. As I really don't want to get to the end of Feb and be told that I'd voided the contract I had that canned and then reset up on the FD side. My pay is still going into that account so that's fine.

My regular saver comes due at the end of Feb and I'll have the £3600 I paid in plus the £135 interest. I want to combine that with part of the £2500 I have in the account with Santander and stick that straight into an ISA. I'll keep an eye on the deals though, if a particulary good one comes up during this time I'll move the £2,500 in and then top it up quickly by skipping OPs for a couple of months, and use the Regular Saver as a large OP when it come due instead. I don't suppose it matters that much really, other than the fact that I'm just itching to start OP'ing in a big way again!:D

I was looking at the FD monthly saver tonight. At 8% it is tempting. I did see there is a £10 monthly charge unless the criteria is met. I did not look at what the criteria is, but the £10 a month would wipe out a lot of the interest.

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

It's having a certain amount of money being paid into my account. My wages are going into there each month and I don't intend to change it, as the Santander account now has such a large buffer of money it doesn't matter if I slip up one month and don't transfer the dosh across before my mortgage and other charges are taken out.

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

Posted a question regarding my bay windows on the Home/DIY thread and I've been given a store to go visit and speak to about them; I was/am totally clueless about these sorts of things, never having owned a house and having my mother to run and ask questions of. I've found a store which isn't going to be difficult to get to so I'll head off on Saturday. I'll take some pictures and do some basic measurements so I'll have something to give them. I'd never even heard of the store - Dunelm. How do you pronounce it?

My broadband may have hit a snag as I'm sure TalkTalk was supposed to take over from the 4th (although I still don't have the router) but my Plusnet is still going and although I received a message from them saying 'sorry you aren't keeping your phone with us anymore' I haven't heard a peep about the broadband. My TalkTalk account on the website just has a brief statement about 'we are working hard to set up broadband for you'. I did email them a week ago and then resent it but they haven’t responded so I might have to actually ring them. Blast.

Regarding the social side of life, I’ve booked a couple of dinners with my friends – they are ‘World’ dinners. First one is Thai and the next is German (I think). They are meant to be ‘pay for only what you eat) and budgets of £10 - £15 and £15 - £20 respectively but the last one I went on (which was a very very good Chinese restaurant) I ordered based on that premise and still got pulled in for a lot of food that I didn’t order, didn’t eat and drinks and then when the bill came everyone just agreed to split the bill. I was really annoyed and haven’t done one since. This time though I’ll be prepared – I’ll take plenty of change, so I’ll be able to pay exact cash for whatever I order and if there is going to be another repeat of last time I’ll just say that I just ordered and ate x, y and z which comes to this many £’s and I am just going to pay that, plus a small tip. If I have the right amount in cash it makes it easier to do.

I’m also going a museum tour and a Sunday walk with another friend of mine so those two things will be free.

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

Ooh, a bit of a chill in the air this morning - I better hurry up and get my curtains sorted or I'll be having either a very expensive or a very cold winter!

Peonie

SeriouslySeekingtoSave wrote: »

Posted a question regarding my bay windows on the Home/DIY thread and I've been given a store to go visit and speak to about them; I was/am totally clueless about these sorts of things, never having owned a house and having my mother to run and ask questions of. I've found a store which isn't going to be difficult to get to so I'll head off on Saturday. I'll take some pictures and do some basic measurements so I'll have something to give them. I'd never even heard of the store - Dunelm. How do you pronounce it?

My broadband may have hit a snag as I'm sure TalkTalk was supposed to take over from the 4th (although I still don't have the router) but my Plusnet is still going and although I received a message from them saying 'sorry you aren't keeping your phone with us anymore' I haven't heard a peep about the broadband. My TalkTalk account on the website just has a brief statement about 'we are working hard to set up broadband for you'. I did email them a week ago and then resent it but they haven’t responded so I might have to actually ring them. Blast.

Regarding the social side of life, I’ve booked a couple of dinners with my friends – they are ‘World’ dinners. First one is Thai and the next is German (I think). They are meant to be ‘pay for only what you eat) and budgets of £10 - £15 and £15 - £20 respectively but the last one I went on (which was a very very good Chinese restaurant) I ordered based on that premise and still got pulled in for a lot of food that I didn’t order, didn’t eat and drinks and then when the bill came everyone just agreed to split the bill. I was really annoyed and haven’t done one since. This time though I’ll be prepared – I’ll take plenty of change, so I’ll be able to pay exact cash for whatever I order and if there is going to be another repeat of last time I’ll just say that I just ordered and ate x, y and z which comes to this many £’s and I am just going to pay that, plus a small tip. If I have the right amount in cash it makes it easier to do.

I’m also going a museum tour and a Sunday walk with another friend of mine so those two things will be free.

How are you getting on with the curtains? I've not been to Dunelm for years, did you find any fabric you like? As you live in London there should be loads of good fabric stores around. Make sure you get your curtains lined, they will hang better, let in less light and help keep the heat in. Will you make them yourself?

We're with TalkTalk and they took an extra week to sort out our phone and internet. I had withdrawal symptoms.

On the food front I don't eat or drink as much as others and would prefer to pay my own way. But the more vocal ones in the group prefer to split the bill.