Lois_E begins a long MFW journey

misscousinitt

Well done! Fantastic that you have got three-quarters of the way there.

MCI

teapot2

:j:j:beer::beer::j:j Well done on owning 75% of your home, thats a huge achievement. I wondered where you'd gone as I read your diary and there was nothing posted for a couple of weeks. Hope its not so busy now the holidays are here and you can relax a bit after all that money juggling and bill paying .

Lois_E

Thanks misscousinitt and teapot2. I'm not sure I can take much credit for the achievement, though. I got a big payout from my split with X, which provided most of the house, and I've only paid off a little bit since. Actually, I should probably take credit for the bit of saving I did between splitting from X and the money actually arriving a few years later, and indeed for our healthy financial situation while we were together - I was always more responsible with money than he was. So maybe this is an achievement after all!

Good news today. I had to contact the tax credits people recently with a minor change of circumstances. I knew it wouldn't change my payments, but they said that it would generate a new notice anyway, so the new notice came today. The projection for how much I'm going to get for 2012-13 is up £27 a month. And that's based on figures for my 2011-12 income that are about £3500 more than my actual income was, so the numbers should go up more once I send them the accurate numbers.

I also want to report that I was good today and went to the shop on my bike rather than taking the car. My back brake isn't working :eek:, but I've got a friend visiting tomorrow who's good with bikes, so I'll see if I can get him to teach me how to fix brakes.

Hurdler

Absolutely you should take credit for the saving as well as using the payout... some other folks might have chosen to splurge...

Well done again...

misscousinitt

Hurdler wrote: »

Absolutely you should take credit for the saving as well as using the payout... some other folks might have chosen to splurge...

Well done again...

My thinking exactly...don't play down the achievement.:)

MCI

Lois_E

Hurdler wrote: »

Absolutely you should take credit for the saving as well as using the payout... some other folks might have chosen to splurge...

Well done again...

misscousinitt wrote: »

My thinking exactly...don't play down the achievement.:)

MCI

Thanks both of you. I feel all encouraged now!

I've just succumbed to the temptation to spend more time fiddling with my spreadsheet. The problem is that although I'm still sure it's the right thing to do to pay the loans off first and then OP the mortgage, I'm getting frustrated that I'm paying stuff off and it's making no difference to my projected mortgage free date.

So, I've decided to calculate my MFD on the basis of total house borrowing rather than just the mortgage bit. I've tweaked the calculations to assume that once the mortgage has gone, I will put the payments towards the loans, and find my MFD that way. It does add an extra 4 years or so. :eek: But not really because the loans will be long gone by then - and so will the mortgage. Anyway, it means that my efforts so far have cut a couple of months off already, as well as the half month that I got from moving my mortgage payment day earlier to match my payday.

On a more mundane level, I am happy to report that today has been a no spend day

Lois_E

I am trying to get organised, so I've done a meal plan for the week and got a shopping delivery last night. I'm hoping this will stop me dropping into the Co-op down the road and picking up little bits and pieces all through the week. We'll see. I've already realised a few things I forgot to include.

A cheque arrived in the post yesterday that I've been waiting for - pity I had a friend round and didn't have time to take it to the bank so now it won't get paid in until Tuesday. I'll be within walking distance of the bank later this morning, though, so I think I'll go and pay it in at the cashpoint then, so I won't have to make a special trip into town for it next week.

Finally got fed up of the BT Vision box not having its remote - kids lost it some time ago. :mad: We can watch recorded TV but only by beginning at the beginning of a show and watching all the way to the end - no rewind, fast forward or pause or anything. Googled it, and found I could get a new one by phoning the BT Vision tech helpdesk. What I found on Google was that they would send a new one for free if yours was broken. I expected to have to pay since ours is perfectly functional but just lost. Anyway, I've just phoned them, and they're sending a new one for free, so that's a result!

Lois_E

Paid the cheque into the bank.

NSD today. :A

Opened new savings account - will now be getting 2.8% instead of 2.6%, so only a small change but positive all the same.

Paid £100 off FL1. I now only need just over £80 more to get another month shaved off my MFD.

The thing is, I probably shouldn't have done that. I really need to get my emergency fund built up before I do any more OPing. At present I've got £2500 in my ISA and just over £100 in my savings account, but I think I should have more. I'm not worried about losing my job - it's very secure, and if by any chance I did lose it then my TCs would go up to compensate. I'm more concerned about unexpected or not so unexpected big expenses.

I'd like to have enough in savings that I could buy a reasonably decent second-hand car for cash without having to borrow for it. My current car's not that old and in pretty good condition, so it should last several years, but you never know what's around the corner. Also, I want to get the loft insulation upgraded in the autumn ready for next winter, and there are some related things to get fixed while it's being done (getting it properly boarded and the dodgy hatch & ladder replaced), so I need to make sure I've got enough money to do that.

Saving doesn't feel as much fun as making those borrowing numbers come down, though.

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi Lois, I understand what you mean about saving and also the desire to have a cash buffer for emergencies. there always seems to be a trade off doesn't there, but I love that mortgage coming down

Enjoy Easter, Tilly x

Radish72

I always worry about emergency money (probably why my ISA is so full)

Its so hard to balance everything out, bills, savings, OP's, emergency

Needing a new car was a big one for me, so I had to save for that first before anything else but stopped at 5K

Must start building that back up again