SeriouslySeekingtoSave strongly strides straight into slaying her mortgage!

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

Well the flights to NZ didn't actually exist! It was just a con to get you to call, apparently they don't have to provide prices that are actually accurate they are just there as a starting point. That should bloody well be illegal. I'm sure it is in NZ!

So the search for flights continues. There are some there for that price but they are either for airlines I won't touch (China Southern) or one or other of the legs has a hideous stopover. Hmm - I may have to pay a bit more for decent flights. Heigh ho.

On the slightly better money saving side of things I'm still sticking off the wasting money on food and it's still not a struggle. So that's another £25 in the OP pot (5 x £5). I've also put down my overtime for working the Bank Holiday Monday. It's only time and half I think so not that great, but still, with all of my doggy related expenses plus furniture plus plane tickets it's good to have and increase in funds coming the other way!

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

I have had the short hairy one for a bit over a week now and toting up the everything so far, he has cost me over £800 :eek:. Luckily I was braced for it but still, very very ouch

Once I'd done the calculations I looked down at him and felt like saying 'Oi, expensive one! Do something entertaining to justify your enormous expense account'. But even if I had. I imagine he would have just kept snoozing. Dogs, eh.

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

Well yesterday was a little bit of a MSE disaster. I brought in my hand luggage suitcase to take my 15kg bag of dog food home (don’t ask) and it wouldn’t fit so I took it back home with me and left it on the train. I told the train desk and they called ahead but by the time they got to it, it was already missing. It is possible that it was handed in at another station but I think more likely that it was stolen as soon as someone registered that its owner had left it on the train. Such a horrible thought that when you sit on a train you are surrounded by people who would steal from you given half a chance. It’s not something I’m used to but I’ve had another bag and a sleeping bag taken when on a train. I’ve yet to have any experience with anything ever being handed back.

Unfortunately it was a very handy bag for traveling – in size spec as cabin luggage for all the airlines, so I will have to buy myself another one.

To complete the day, I had what I was going to have for dinner in the bag so I ended up buying myself some chips and a curry roll from the local fish and chip shop J. Andtoday I’ve even bought myself lunch! Things are a little bit grim at work, one of my work colleagues is ino ne of his patented sulky strops – you can’t leave milk near the man it’d curdle. I find it bemusing that a grown man can act so much like a spoilt 3 year old child but so it is. It’s always worse after he come back from holiday and right now it’s nearly intolerable.

Heigh ho. At least I’m getting near the end of all of the money spends for pooch, baring the constant dog walking expense. He has most of his toys, I’ve got (lots of) his food, I’ve had keys cut so all my dog walkers will be able to get into the house. I haven’t paid for his neutering yet though (although he has had his first appointment for flea treatment and his infected ear and that was £75) – that’s been booked for the 20th of this month. And not a moment too soon as he’s starting to go all dominant on the other dogs and attempting to hump my leg. Poor thing – he’ll be much happier without all those nasty hormones upsetting him. The vets seems to be a good one and cheaper than the one I first registered him at. It’s also easier to get to even though it’s a little further away in distance. The buses go right to it and there are a lot of them so it’s much morec onvenient.

Peonie

That is a bad day. If I saw a bag on the train I'd be concerned it was a bomb!

TallGirl

Sorry to hear about your bag thats not nice but at least it wasn't your handbag with phone, keys wallet etc.

Glad to hear pooch is still a joy I know it's expensive with pets but everything shouldn't be about money you should also enjoy life.

Nearly the weekend to hopefully you can ignore your colleague for that long. He sounds horrible at my work we have volunteers who work harder and are more committed than the paid staff.

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

Well I’m getting my finances a little more in order. I’ve downloaded a monthly budget which I’m tinkering around with. The plan is to keep this up for a year and to actually track all of my monthly outgoings including taxes and other things which I’ve never bothered to track before. After a year of this, so long as I keep it going, I’ll see about doing an estimated yearly budget to go along with my monthly. I’ve never been very good at budgeting but this is more a record of spending rather than making me keep to a set budget due to my erratic spending habits.

I’ve also just checked my 2nd mortgage. Last month interest paid was £75; this month it’s £32.8. Result! :T So as I pay £130 each month for this mortgage, £97.37 of that is taken directly off my total. Very nice . That mortgage will be gone in no time, and then it’s just the rest of the tracker to knock on the head. I am beginning to be able to sense that finish line… Ok, a bit optimistic but still! Clearing that 2nd mortgage will be quite an achievement and I’ll make sure to have a small celebration. By then my main tracker will be somewhere around the £55,000 mark and I’ll set up a standing order of £130 a month to OP on that along with the other OP’s I make as and when.

I had an idea when I started that I wanted it paid off in 7 years and it looks like I’m on target to achieve this.

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

TallGirl wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your bag thats not nice but at least it wasn't your handbag with phone, keys wallet etc.

Glad to hear pooch is still a joy I know it's expensive with pets but everything shouldn't be about money you should also enjoy life.

Nearly the weekend to hopefully you can ignore your colleague for that long. He sounds horrible at my work we have volunteers who work harder and are more committed than the paid staff.

Yes I used to lose my handbag on a semi regular basis and I've had my wallet stolen a couple of times (both from the same pub). That was a nightmare. All the thief will have gotten was a squeaky tennis ball (brand new for pooch which he'd never used) and some leftover butter, ham and cheese! Not a good haul. I think there was some paperwork in the front section though so I really hope there wasn't anything which leaves me open for fraud. I'll keep a careful eye on my outgoings in the next little while.

Pooch is a little bundle of joy and definitely a huge increase to my life. Even if he is an expensive little thing who eats better than I do :rotfl:

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

Peonie wrote: »

That is a bad day. If I saw a bag on the train I'd be concerned it was a bomb!

I must have looked non terroristy

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

Even though it is only a small one of approx £450 a month (at current interest rates) when it is gone that will still be an extra £5,400 a year that is going and staying in my bank accounts. Hmmm, now there's a lurvely thought .

What will I spend it on

Probably saving for another mortgage, if I don't already have one :rotfl:If I don't have a mortgage to clear what will I do to keep motivated?!

What will you guys do once your mortgage is well and truly slain?

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

I had my first shop at Aldi. And when I went there I realised I had been walking past it everyday and never realised what it was. I think that I sometimes go through life with thick black sunglasses on and only a narrow hole for looking through.

I picked up a few things for dinner (including a delicious pizza which I've just nommed my way through half of) and also some gardening tools - hedge clipper, pruning shears and some gloves. As it's stopped raining I'll just pop out into the garden now and put them to work.