I dream a dream.

beth111

Morning money savers,

I have been keeping my own diary but thought it would be a good idear to add it on here.
Firstly I appologice for any spelling or puntuation errors as I am not very good what kind of stuff.

I will post all my post's that I have done allready below and any advice and encoragement would be lovely.

I have read many diary and you are all an insperation to me.

XX

beth111

Hello all, (4.8.11)
I wanted to start a mortgage free diary to help me keep in check, any advice and tips would be gratefully received.
A little about me, I'm 28, OH 30, we have two small boys (2 &4) and we live in the shires. I am self employed and my OH is on an average wadge, mite even be below the average now .

Our mortgage I thought was £160,000 but when I phoned yesterday it was only £158k so very excited that I have all ready wiped 2k off before even doing anything
I am DETERMINED to reduce our term and would love to have it paid off before I am 46 , we have 26 years left at the min, It started at 30!!

I was very excited to have made our first OP yesterday of £550

I am going to keep a note and have been thinking of making a chart to show how I am going.

beth111

Evening all, 8/8/11

I can't seem to stop thinking about my MF mission, I am worried I wont be able to kept it up. I am self employed part time and OH earns about 22k pa our mortgage is high and when interest rates do go up that will eat in to all our extra money, plus some of the money we get now is not long team about

Any how my aim is

Over pay £225 per month.
(£18,109 in interest alone,
and mean you pay it off in full
8 years and 3 months earlier.
If you overpay, the total you'll repay, inc. interest & fees is £193,427
Not including any early payment charges from your lender)

:j:j:j:beer::beer::j:j:j

beth111

12/8/11
hi everyone,
Have been really thinking if should pay £225 off this mortgage or not this month??
I think I am holding back as only have £100 left in the bank for the rest of the month, we are REALLY out of food so need to go shopping tomo, almost out of petrol as well.
OH is also going out, Which I don't mind at all in fact I quite like it but he just can't go out with out spending £100 or over in one case.

I have also not really worked much this week apart from today and to mo but I should get £135.
I went though the statement this morning and found we have spent £270 on bit and bobs :eek::eek: I will be starting a spending diary next month to try and get on top of that. Also have to work out some form of way to keep track of saving for up and coming events.
DS2 Birthday - £90
OH Birthday - £?
Christmas -£500
Car Tax - £260
Car Insurance - £350
DS1 Birthday - £40
Butlins Holiday - £370
Other
........................................................£1480

beth111

29.08.11
Hi Everyone,
Well my MF dream seems to be crumbling slowly we seem to spend way to much money!! this month I have not been able to overpay the aimed £225 BUT we do have that to save.

To be fair we did buy two chest of draws that we did need at a cost of £100. It seem to be all the little bits be buy.

My OH does not seem to be on Bord, he likes the Idea of paying it off early but does not seem to help with saving the money. He is on about buying another TV!! we already have 2 very large TVs but yet he seems to think we could do with another!! :mad:
He does not seem to have any money sense, now I no I am no angel and I do spend money but I am the one that sorts the money out and deals with every aspect of our finances. I get frustrated as we don't seem to be going any where we are stuck in this rut.

Im working self employed but I have so much competition It does stress me out getting work. I am starting back next week in my second job so that should be another £160 per month to tied us over but again I am stressing about next year when we will loss a chunk of money per month. what are we going to do then??? my OH could do soo much better for him self but he has no drive, enthusiasm or motivation he is just happy as he is, this is all well and good BUT what happened next year when we loose £££ per month??? he say's "Im working full time you do something" I AM I run my own business (2), I look after 2 small children, I run all our finances, try and pay off the £5k debt we are in , save for Xmas, next holiday, Tax ,insurance etc, work a second job, Sell what I can on facebook, do surveys, look at money saving sites. What more can I do????

Sorry this is a morning post but I have to let it out some where and I am thinking whats the point at the moment.

Incoming and out goings
Mortgage - £684
Council Tax - £137
Tv - License - £13
Water - £36
Gas - £36
Elec - £25
Virgin - £60
Tesco - £100
Virgin cred - £100
Barcleys £70
MBNA _ £6
Life insurance - £21
Gym - £60
Lovefilm - £6
Food - £280
Petrol - £125
Phone- £25

TOTAL £1748

Income
OH £1412
ME £550 min
Other£500
CB £133
TOTAL £2638

- £1748

TOTAL £890

PLUS just remembered £23 Milk
Per month transfer £50 - Butlins
£50 for yearly exspedicure
£225 overpayment

HOW THE HELL HAVE WE SPENT £890 ON NOTHING???????????????????

beth111

5.9.11

well lost track already of the spending diary, don't think it has helped that I didn't get a diary from the start..... not to self get spending diary.

I have allocated us £100pw including food and petrol.... we will see how I get on.

Spent £65 yest on food and close to needing petrol, I will try and not use the car this week. I was going to take the boys to see my dad but we just don't have the petrol to use and tomo we are meeting friends, I do a pack lunch to try to save money.

I have also done an offer at work so again we will see how I get on and if that brings more work in.

downsizer3

Good luck in your journey!
Do you use the gym often enough to justify the expense - you may save there? It might ease the strain on your finances. The spending diary is the only way to keep on top of that 'lost' money every month. Budget budget budget!!

dimbo61

Start off small even £50 is a start and with 2 young kids and self employment you really need a good emergency fund

SAMMYE_2

Hi Beth,

It is a really tough journey and even harder if your partner is not on board and helping.

It does get easier though as your mortgage stays the same and your earning should increase with inflation its important that you keep and hammering away wherever you can though as its easy to get out the habit of saving.

As boring as this may sound if you have other debts like store cars / credit cards / loans it almost always better to clear them first as you are almost certainly being charged the higher amount of interest on those. Once you have cleared those you will have even more money you will be able to overpay with as money will not be being swallowed up with high interest.

Sam :-)

beth111

downsizer3 wrote: »

Good luck in your journey!
Do you use the gym often enough to justify the expense - you may save there? It might ease the strain on your finances. The spending diary is the only way to keep on top of that 'lost' money every month. Budget budget budget!!

Hi downsizer3, The gym is for both me and OH. I don't really use it as often as I should but OH goes 5 times a week :eek: I have looked aound and we are on the best deal around where we live I will have another look this afternoon and off to the shops to get a diary.

beth111

dimbo61 wrote: »

Start off small even £50 is a start and with 2 young kids and self employment you really need a good emergency fund

Hi dimbo61, Yes I agree I do we need an emergency fund, not sure how much would be needed yet will get the calculator out.