Vixstar's 3 Step Plan to MF-dom

Sepa74

Hi Vixstar, I started keeping a spending diary this month too, and found I spent over £200 on food... Everyone else was very comforting about how hard it is to cook for one, so that made me feel a lot better, and I thought I'd pass the love on!!

Why don't you start paying off the car loan straight away and then build the savings fund up to the last £500 using a virtual sealed pot? Will take a lot longer, but an emergency fund isn't something you use often, so it won't matter, and you'll be saving a fair bit in interest on the car loan immediately.

Vixstar

Sepa Thanks for the reminder on how hard it is to cook for one, I do try to batch cook but sometimes I fancy stuff that can't be frozen or whatever.

Also think i will start attacking the car loan, I hate having it hanging over me and I'm sure an emergency fund of £7000 will do at the moment. Getting rid of the loan will give me more to save.

Unfortunately my planned cheap camping holiday seems to have turned into a shopathon - still waiting to see the full damage but luckily I will be reimbursed for a couple of the most expensive items.

Vixstar

So the end of the month outcome is that my holiday (plus a bit of spendaholicitis) made a huge dent in my current account to the extent that I ran out of money before the end of the month. Haven't done that in a long while. Thankfully some of the reimbursements came in and could cover the gap with some money I'd transferred to my savings account at the start of the month. In the end I had £80 left in my account and as I couldn't be doing with the faff of contacting the car loan company and waiting for letters I decided to OP my mortgage which is now below £70000 from £95000 in 2005. Pleased with that small victory.

Going to try again wit the spending diary as it made me think a little more about my money and aim for a slightly bigger victory next month.

Vixstar

Small steps in the right direction this month.
- Have just cancelled my breakdown cover in favour of one half the price and with a good whack of cash back.
- Started shopping round for insurance and noticed one that has just given a reasonable quote with £75 cash back (althoug they don't allow me to drive other cars under their policy so maybe a little more shopping round to do).
- Finally got access to my student loans account again and found out that only 12 months (and possibly a little additional payment) stand between me and student loan freedom (and some significant cash to pay immediately off my mortgage)
- Managed to get a work cash claim in before payroll cut off (although this money is destined for other uses)

All in all feeling quite pleased with myself.