Cazmanian_minx's new MF diary

cazmanian_minx

I think I need a fresh start! (Old thread for anyone interested)

OK, so the basics are as follows. I'm Caz, I've just turned 36, I'm married to Mr Minx and we live with our two Springers, Smokey and Red, and horse, Merlin, in our forever home, which is a croft overlooking a beach on the north coast of Scotland.

We moved here in June 2008 and have an interest only tracker mortgage which is base rate + 1.1% for the life of the mortgage (20 years). At our current rate of overpayment we're due to pay it off completely in January 2028, 5 months ahead of the end of the term, but that assumes the base rate stays at 0.5% which I think is extraordinarily unlikely.

Mr Minx is an engineer and I'm self-employed, primarily as an online retailer. We got married last month His income is fixed but mine fluctuates in more or less direct correlation with the amount of work I put in, which is wonderfully freeing in a lot of ways and scary in a lot of other ways! I earn little bits of extra money from writing and investing - I've spent the last six months learning how to spread bet, extremely cautiously, and seem to be doing well so far.

The plan is to expand my business into something nationwide and then sell it. If this goes spectacularly right, we could have enough to retire within 10 years. Watch this space...:D

cazmanian_minx

Payment date / Payment amount/ Principal / Interest (monthly/daily)/ Outstanding balance
Nov 2012 / £237.08 / £78.94 / £158.14 (£5.10) / £120,196.44
Oct 2012 / £237.08 / £80.06 / £157.02 (£5.23) / £120,275.38
Sep 2012 / £237.08 / £74.01 / £163.07 (£5.26) / £120,355.44
Aug 2012 / £737.08 / £573.23 / £163.85 (£5.29) / £120,429.45
Jul 2012 / £737.08 / £577.57 / £159.51 (£5.32) / £121,002.68
Jun 2012 / £737.08 / £571.68 / £165.40 (£5.34) / £121,580.25
May 2012 / £737.08 / £577.15 / £159.93 (£5.33) / £122,151.93
Apr 2012 / £737.08 / £570.77 / £166.31 (£5.36) / £122,729.08
Mar 2012 / £737.08 / £580.32 / £156.76 (£5.41) / £123,299.85
Feb 2012 / £737.08 / £574.08 / £163.00 (£5.26) / £123,880.17
Jan 2012 / £737.08 / £573.07 / £164.01 (£5.29) / £124,454.25
Dec 2011 / £737.08 / £573.96 / £163.15 (£5.44) / £125,027.32
Nov 2011 / £737.08 / £566.55 / £170.53 (£5.50) / £125,601.25
Oct 2011 / £737.08 / £571.25 / £165.83 (£5.53) / £126,167.80
Sep 2011 / £737.08 / £564.27 / £172.81 (£5.57) / £126,739.05
Aug 2011 / £737.08 / £563.44 / £173.64 (£5.60) / £127,303.32
Jul 2011 / £737.08 / £568.31 / £168.77 (£5.63) / £127,866.76
Jun 2011 / £737.08 / £562.23 / £174.85 (£5.64) / £128,435.07
May 2011 / £737.08 / £567.21 / £169.87 (£5.66) / £128,997.30
Apr 2011 / £737.08 / £561.05 / £176.06 (£5.68) / £129,564.51
Mar 2011 / £737.08 / £579.73 / £157.35 (£5.62) / £130,125.56
Feb 2011 / £737.08 / £564.22 / £172.86 (£5.58) / £130,705.29
Jan 2011 / £737.08 / £564.65 / £172.43 (£5.56) / £131,269.51
Dec 2010 / £737.08 / £567.12 / £169.96 (£5.67) / £131,834.16
Nov 2010 / £737.08 / £562.36 / £174.72 (£5.64) / £132,401.28
Oct 2010 / £737.08 / £567.81 / £169.27 (£5.64) / £132,963.64
Sep 2010 / £737.08 / £561.54 / £175.54 (£5.66) / £133,531.45
Aug 2010 / £737.08 / £561.87 / £175.21 (£5.65) / £134,092.99
Jul 2010 / £737.08 / £566.96 / £170.12 (£5.67) / £134,654.86
Jun 2010 / £737.08 / £559.79 / £177.29 (£5.72) / £135,221.82
May 2010 / £737.08 / £564.29 / £172.79 (£5.76) / £135,781.61
Apr 2010 / £737.08 / £557.39 / £179.69 (£5.80) / £136,345.90
Mar 2010 / £737.08 / £581.68 / £155.40 (£5.55) / £136,903.29
Feb 2010 / £737.08 / £564.47 / £172.61 (£5.57) / £137,484.97
Jan 2010 / £737.08 / £564.67 / £172.41 (£5.56) / £138,049.44
Dec 2009 / £737.08 / £572.34 / £164.74 (£5.49) / £138,614.11
Nov 2009 / £737.08 / £565.55 / £171.53 (£5.53) / £139,186.45
Oct 2009 / £737.08 / £568.98 / £168.10 (£5.60) / £139,752.00
Sep 2009 / £737.08 / £562.16 / £174.92 (£5.64) / £140,320.98
Aug 2009 / £737.08 / £561.56 / £175.52 (£5.66) / £140,883.14
Jul 2009 / £737.08 / £567.23 / £169.85 (£5.66) / £141,444.70
Jun 2009 / £737.08 / £560.06 / £177.02 (£5.71) / £142,011.93
May 2009 / £737.08 / £564.43 / £172.65 (£5.76) / £142,571.99
Apr 2009 / £737.08 / £506.33 / £230.75 (£7.44) / £143,136.42
Mar 2009 / £737.08 / £476.60 / £260.48 (£9.30) / £143,642.75
Feb 2009 / £737.08 / £404.51 / £332.57 (£10.73) / £144,119.35
Jan 2009 / £737.08 / £305.65 / £431.43 (£13.92) / £144,523.86
Dec 2008 / £737.08 / £164.90 / £572.18 (£19.07) / £144,829.51
Nov 2008 / £737.08 / £14.42 / £722.66 (£23.31) / £144,994.41
Oct 2008 / £737.08 / £12.97 / £724.11 (£24.14) / £145,008.83
Sep 2008 / £737.08 / -£11.10 / £748.18 (£24.13) / £145,021.80
Aug 2008 / £737.08 / -£11.11 / £748.19 (£24.14) / £145,010.70
Jul 2008 / £870.73 / £145.41 / £725.32 (£24.18) / £144,999.59

cazmanian_minx

Spread betting account
Because I'm still relatively new to spread betting, I always open positions with guaranteed stop losses, though I do move the stops as the trade moves.

Current balance (not including open trades): £0.00 (£80.23 banked).

Open positions:

Closed positions:
GSK (Glaxo Smith Kline) March - bought @ 1292.02p £1/point. Target 1350p, stop 1180p Closed at 1348.1p, profit £56.08
VOD (Vodafone) March - bought @ 163.51p £1/point. Target 190p, stop 145p. Closed at 169.8p, profit £6.29
BP March - bought @ 389.03p £1/point. Target 450p, stop 360p. Closed at 360p, loss £29.03
RR. (Rolls Royce) rolling - bought @ 585.10 £1/point. Target 640p, stop 540p. Closed at 597.40, profit £12.30
FTSE100 daily - bought @ 5421.3 £1/point, stop 5400. Closed at 5425, profit £3.70
FTSE100 daily - bought @ 5667.8 £1/point. Target 5760, stop 5600. Closed at 5725, profit £57.20
HSV (Homeserve) rolling - bought @ 265.20 £1/point. Target 450p, stop 210p. Closed at 269.1, profit £3.90 minus 17p rolling charges.
HSV (Homeserve) December - bought @268.9 £1/point. Target 450p, stop 230p. Closed at 230, loss £38.90.
BOK (Booker Group) December - bought @ 78.00 £1/point. Target 95p, stop 70p. Closed at 70, loss £8.00
RR. (Rolls Royce) March - bought @ 764.3p £1/point. Target 825p, stop 640p. Closed at 746.9p, loss £17.40.


Share dealing account

Nil balance - got emptied to pay wedding bills!

cazmanian_minx

And this is the nasty bit - the personal debt which I really shouldn't have, but brought upon myself by deciding to buy a new (second hand) car AND get my teeth sorted out. Only myself to blame

Cards and loans:
Egg card: £4090.89 - 5/10 £3295.00
[STRIKE]Tesco card: £1000.00[/STRIKE] - 5/10 £0
[STRIKE]Post Office card: £2277.84[/STRIKE] - 5/9 £0
Teeth loan: £3750.00 - 5/10 £250
Balance transfer card - 5/10 £2883.90

Known incoming bills:
[STRIKE]Wedding photographer: about £1200[/STRIKE] - 01/09/11 £0

Debt total: [STRIKE]£12,318.73[/STRIKE] £6,248.90

TallGirl

Hi Caz nice you are back. Glad the wedding went well yes they are expensive but worth it. glad to hear the business is still doing well I remember you back from mfi3 when you moved to Scotland.

cazmanian_minx

Pay day I pay myself weekly at the moment, it helps a bit with the cash flow.

Today I finished listing a load of beads which had been skulking at the back of the stock room for a couple of years. They're all on auction at 99p starts, so they'll probably sell for less than I paid, but at least I can put the money raised back into stock I know will sell quickly - these have been on my website for 3 years and I've sold maybe 4 packs a year, if that. I've got a LOAD more stuff in the same vein, accumulated over the past 6 years, and I want to get it all cleared by the end of the month.

On the personal decluttering side, I put my Canon 1.4X extender on eBay. I've had it just over 2 years and used it about 3 times, so it's not like I'm going to miss it...! With 4 and a half days to go it's reached £122 and has 20 watchers, so I'm hopeful that it's going to make a good price. Top price for these at the moment seems to be £230-£250, so fingers crossed. I think I have some Hoya close-up filters which don't fit any of the lenses I have any more, so those can go on as well over the weekend, if I can find them (free listing weekend for the win...). It's a nice big chunk of overpayment for the credit cards anyway

Talking of eBay, I would normally be browsing it on a Friday night, looking for cheap clothes - I dropped a dress size and discovered Fat Face and Joules at the same time; eBay turned out to be a very good source of Fat Face stuff for less than a fiver, but the bargain hunting is rather addictive! Instead I'm reading all the MFW diaries for inspiration AND I've decided to take back the Fat Face jeans I bought at Gatwick on the way home from our honeymoon when I'm in Inverness next. (They had a sale on, I bought £130-worth of clothes for £52.50, but the jeans are just a little bit too low in the rise for me so I might as well get my £17.50 back).

Usually when I've got my weight under control my spending goes haywire and vice versa, but for the last week I've stuck to my eating plan and my spending plan - could this be the start of a new Caz??

newgirly

Hello, I remember you from a previous diary, I recall seeing pictures of your lovely cottage. Anyway welcome back, and good luck on your mortgage free journey, have you set any targets yet for what you are paying off or overpaying?

groatie_queen

Nice to see you back! Congratulations on getting married!

I look forward to cheering you on with the financial plans.

All the best,

GQ

cazmanian_minx

newgirly wrote: »

Hello, I remember you from a previous diary, I recall seeing pictures of your lovely cottage. Anyway welcome back, and good luck on your mortgage free journey, have you set any targets yet for what you are paying off or overpaying?

Thank you I'm in the 12/12/12 MFi3 take 2 challenge and I think I set a target of the interest-bearing amount being £88,xxx which I doubt very much I'm going to make now, but if I can get it into 5 figures (even if it's only £99,999.99!!) by that date I shall consider I've done really well

cazmanian_minx

It's mortgage payment day but although IF is showing the payment and overpayment, they haven't updated the interest calculation yet so I can't update my sig and second post :mad: Usually it's there first thing, so I suspect I shall have to wait until tomorrow

I submitted a meter reading to Scottish Hydro over the weekend because their prices changed on 31st August and found that we're due a bill in 10 days anyway and we're £350 in credit with them, which is a good start. Winters can be very, very hard up here and our house only has night storage heaters - the electricity bill last winter averaged £125 a month from September to March and that was AFTER we'd replaced the night storage in the living room with a wood burning stove :eek: We're stuck with SH though, no other supplier offers a night storage tariff now and our meter is so horribly complex (we have two supply numbers going into one set of meter readings and one supply has two different rates) that no other power company will touch it unless we get the whole thing rewired.

I'm currently mulling over pet insurance. I had the bill for Merlin's renewal over the weekend, it's gone up to £33 a month from £29 because he's 16 now and half his legs are excluded, even the one I haven't made a claim on yet! If he was going to be prone to laminitis we'd have seen it this summer because the grass was really lush and he's not shod and I don't think colic will be an issue either because with a previous owner he broke into the feed shed and ate half a bin of unsoaked beet shreds with no ill effects. Smokey is up to £27 a month and hasn't had a claim since his arthritis was diagnosed which, again, is now excluded. So I think I'm going to put £50 a month aside and once I've got a reasonable fund built up I'll start self-insuring.

abouttimetoo

Hi Caz

Great to see you back posting

Looks like you have the MFW bit between your teeth again (that's not a horsey pun, honest guv)

Are you still leeping up with your writing?

PS, many congratulations on your wedding :j