Ultrarunner's aim to be mortgage-free

ultrarunner

Pay day yesterday, hurrah! Celebrated by paying off my credit card. That's a debt of £4000 cleared in 5 months (combination of flight to USA, annual season ticket and spending on the garden). Full steam ahead on the overpayments now

I also sold 2 tickets to a gig for £100, not bad considering I got them for free.

Spent the afternoon with my parents putting in a flower bed in the garden. Looking rather nice and colourful now, and in exchange for my cooking lunch they paid for some plants in the garden centre. Also put up a rather nice bird feeder, a present from some friends.

Had a very long and hectic week of work (multiple 10pm finishes) and also had to re-do a uni assignment... one more of these to go and a dissertation then I'm free...

It's 1 year and 1 week that I've been in my house and I love it

sweetdaisy

ultrarunner wrote: »

Pay day yesterday, hurrah! Celebrated by paying off my credit card. That's a debt of £4000 cleared in 5 months (combination of flight to USA, annual season ticket and spending on the garden). Full steam ahead on the overpayments now

That's great news on paying off your credit card, let the mortgage overpayments begin

ultrarunner

Yes that is the plan sweetdaisy. I've just checked my bank account and I'm in a good position, particularly when the lodger money comes in next week.

I will be spending a lot of money on holiday, however it will be an amazing time and I probably won't have a holiday like that again... however holiday spending will be all on the credit card, and my bonus in early August should clear all of that.

Plans for today is sorting out my wardrobe, I need to get rid of a lot of stuff that doesn't fit me, so I expect to have a few bags for the charity shop!

ultrarunner

Another busy week... kept the spending down which is good

Clothes taken to the charity shop, still more to go I think but a black bags worth was a good start.

Paid off a chunk of my water bill, and tweaked the direct debit so it should cover usage in future. The trouble with running more is there is more laundry, I've also used a bit on the garden. I have a water butt, but it's only a small one and doesn't feed off the main downpipe.

Electricity and gas bills are probably going up having submitted a new meter reading , I'm on a fairly decent fixed tariff EDF blue, but I have a cold house and the chilly spring hasn't helped. My next priority in the house is to get some more insulation in the loft and look at doing something downstairs where I have a few gaps between the floorboards. Perhaps a decent rug to trap some heat in too.

Off to my brother's wedding this weekend so back home tonight, then I must work on my last college assignment on Sunday!

Really enjoying my running now, weightloss is at 60 lbs now this year, and have entered a few half marathons for the Autumn

originalmiscellany

Well done Ultra! I have a friend who is into ultra marathons too and I have nothing but respect for him and you! He did the badwater a few times and a stupid one from NY to the west coast, running a marathon a day basically for 2 months or something daft. Anyway, rather him than me
Enjoy the sunny day

ultrarunner

I vaguely know a bloke who did that last year; it may even be the same guy. A bit far for me!

Nice surprise today, £50 of vouchers from work after getting good feedback from a client. Handy as I have some shopping to do soon. Think I'll overpay the value of the vouchers

Also been given some secateurs and a nice plant pot by my Mum tonight.

edinburgher

A smidgin of good news from work, we are going to operate the pension via salary sacrifice at some point, this will save me £25 per month due to being more tax efficient

Excellent - planning on increasing your monthly OP by the same amount?

I've been doing this with our S&S ISA every time I manage to save some money off the budget. We started out at £50/mth last year, we're now up to £195+/mth

ultrarunner

edinburgher wrote: »

Excellent - planning on increasing your monthly OP by the same amount?

I've been doing this with our S&S ISA every time I manage to save some money off the budget. We started out at £50/mth last year, we're now up to £195+/mth

Possibly, until now my natural position when I get a payrise is to up my contributions by a few percent, so there is a temptation to tweak my pension so I end up with the same net pay.

Something to consider when it gets introduced.

That's some pretty good savings over 12 months!

ultrarunner

Well I couldn't hold off any more - today was clothes shopping time!

Given I didn't have any shorts or jeans that fitted me I couldn't avoid it much longer. Don't know how going to the shops on a Saturday can be anyone's idea of fun :eek:

2 pair of jeans, 1 pair of chinos, a few shorts and a few short sleeve shirts also purchased. First time clothes shopping this year I think. Going to take back a pair of trousers I don't like much and a pair of board shorts tomorrow as I got a better pair in H&M

Packed up all my gear for holiday this afternoon when I got back. Only a few more things to sort now - prescription for my hacking cough. The doctor gave me a post-dated one last Monday, and while the cough is much better I'm conscious of the difficulty of getting any treatment on holiday, plus aircon always sets my throat off anyway.

It's been a busy week - my brother's wedding went very well, lots of fun. Also managed to complete my final assignment this week, did it all at work as it's been a quiet spell :cool: Did my fastest 5k for 6 years at parkrun this morning, and had a good all round week for running really.

Getting car insurance quotes sorted now as it expires shortly after I come back - looks like I can get it down to £230! Also want to change phone contract but think I need to wait until I get back, I can get a sim only contract for half the price which will do me right.

not long till I'm in Florida - 3 and a bit days! cannot wait :j

ultrarunner

Back from holiday and I had a fab time in Florida, massive party in Miami, Key West and then in NE Florida including drinking moonshine with a genuine redneck... I can't say it was a very MSE experience but it was a fantastic one nonetheless and I didn't spend as much as I feared...

Back at work to some good news - a regrading pay rise of approx 2.2k, the cost of living rise in September should push me up a bit more, and bonus is due in a month :T

Also got a call to do some consumer testing next week which will pay £30. Had a busy day yesterday getting car insurance sorted (saved £100), and getting my new phone ordered (will save me some money even getting an Iphone)... sadly this wasn't delivered to work, due to a !!!! courier company beginning with Y.... who also happen to be one of my clients. Hopefully sorted tomorrow...

Anyway time for a run