Lois_E begins a long MFW journey

icontinuetodream

excellent news on both the wm & book front!!:D

Lois_E

Thanks ictd.

Well, I've managed to get my mortgage payment day moved from 6th of the month to 1st with effect from 1st Feb. This means that for one month only, I am making my usual payment, but only having to pay 5 days' less interest, so knocking that bit more off the capital. Since all my income (pay and from X) arrives on or before the 1st, it makes sense to pay it to the mortgage straight away rather than having it sit in my current account for a week not earning any interest.

For my personal analysis of my money, I'm moving to "months" that run from the 6th to the 5th, to coincide with the beginning and end of the tax year, and because I have some DDs etc that happen on 2nd & 4th.

icontinuetodream

Lois_E wrote: »

Thanks ictd.

Well, I've managed to get my mortgage payment day moved from 6th of the month to 1st with effect from 1st Feb. This means that for one month only, I am making my usual payment, but only having to pay 5 days' less interest, so knocking that bit more off the capital. Since all my income (pay and from X) arrives on or before the 1st, it makes sense to pay it to the mortgage straight away rather than having it sit in my current account for a week not earning any interest.

Excellent idea!!:T Weird how you find ways to make exta contributions when you really sit down and think about it, isn't it?!

Lois_E wrote: »

For my personal analysis of my money, I'm moving to "months" that run from the 6th to the 5th, to coincide with the beginning and end of the tax year, and because I have some DDs etc that happen on 2nd & 4th.

DH gets paid on a paticular penultimate day of the month, and I get paid on a set day, so our 'flexible' outgoings - petrol, food, spends etc - are done from the first of the month basis and most of my fixed expenditure comes out on the day I get paid or within a week of it. There are a couple of anomalies, but I am addressing those slowly ;)

Lois_E

Lois_E wrote: »

Thanks ictd.

Well, I've managed to get my mortgage payment day moved from 6th of the month to 1st with effect from 1st Feb. This means that for one month only, I am making my usual payment, but only having to pay 5 days' less interest, so knocking that bit more off the capital. Since all my income (pay and from X) arrives on or before the 1st, it makes sense to pay it to the mortgage straight away rather than having it sit in my current account for a week not earning any interest.

Wow! I just fed the numbers into my spreadsheet. Moving the payment from the 6th to the 1st saves me £44 over the life of the mortgage. £44! And it costs me nothing, and hardly took any time or effort. So I've put some more numbers into the spreadsheet. If I move the mortgage payment all the way to the 26th (when I get paid) rather than just the 1st (when my X payment arrives) would save me £93! So I'm going to do that.

<Off to update sig>

Lois_E

Lois_E wrote: »

Wow! I just fed the numbers into my spreadsheet. Moving the payment from the 6th to the 1st saves me £44 over the life of the mortgage. £44! And it costs me nothing, and hardly took any time or effort. So I've put some more numbers into the spreadsheet. If I move the mortgage payment all the way to the 26th (when I get paid) rather than just the 1st (when my X payment arrives) would save me £93! So I'm going to do that.

Just did some more sums. I get paid on Thursday, and then the payment will go. With the decreased interest for the shortened month, I'll get my total owing down below £92k this Thursday! Humour me - I'm making progress so slowly compared with some of you - I have to celebrate each milestone, however little.

**curlywurly**

Hello Lois! Popped over from my diary to read yours, and I can tell you that you have inspired me to do two things:

1. Look at selling on Amazon (I do Ebay but am sick of all the charges).
2. Look at moving my mortgage payment date.

Alas I can't / won't do spreadsheets, although I could get a training course through work. But even if I learn how to do it, I am not sure what to put on the spreadsheet / how often to update it / what help it would actually be. One to ponder, I think!

CathT

Who'd have thought changing payment date would make so much difference. It's great to see that balance come down isn't it.

Lois_E

Nice to see you curlywurly. Spreadsheets aren't compulsory. If you enjoy your MF journey without them, that's cool. I'm a science teacher, though, so I can't stay motivated unless I track the numbers, and I don't feel I can understand numbers without making a graph of them.

Cath - thanks for the comment. I was so surprised too.

Confession - I succumbed to the kids' pestering for a take-away last night. It's one of my areas of weakness, spending-wise. I did bring it in at £9.20 for the three of us, though, so could have been a lot worse.

icontinuetodream

Lois_E wrote: »

Just did some more sums. I get paid on Thursday, and then the payment will go. With the decreased interest for the shortened month, I'll get my total owing down below £92k this Thursday! Humour me - I'm making progress so slowly compared with some of you - I have to celebrate each milestone, however little.

Thats fab!!! :T:T:T

Lois_E

Latest good news: there's an event going on at my school next week on a day I'm not usually in work because I'm part-time. I'm not sure yet, but it's looking as though they might pay me extra to go in for a few hours on the extra day. I wouldn't want to do an extra day every week, but as a one off it could be a useful extra bit of money to go towards the savings buffer. And the sooner I can build up the savings buffer, the sooner I can start on the actual OPs.