Danni R's little road to riches?

philhews

Hi Danni, it looks like we're in pretty similar situations. I got my mortgage a year ago and it's about the same value as yours, we have roughly the same income too so it'll be interesting to see how you get on with the saving/overpaying.

I seem to have spent the first year buying stuff despite every intention to save an emergency fund but I'm aiming for 3 months of my essential expenditure before I start consider overpaying, for me that works out to about £3k. After that it'll be a case of putting aside money for annual expenses and then savings for holidays/house improvements etc, but that'll all be one pot. It gets too depressing having several accounts with a couple of hundred in as you feel like you're not getting anywhere.

Running a spending diary is a good idea if you find you're not sure where your money goes, I use Microsoft Money to record everything which is good, but can be complicated to get it all set up. A simple spreadsheet split into categories would be a good place to start.

Good luck with it all, I'll keep checking back to see how it's going!

Danni-R

Hi Phil.

Thanks for reading. I do want about 3k put away but I dont know how/ when that will happen.

Found out yesterday that my job isnt as stable as I thought. I had a major panic and then got my head in the zone. I can 'make do' with about £800 for bills so will aim for that as quickly as possible to buy myself some time.

I'm now the proud owner of a (second hand) iphone so hopefully that will have a free app for counting where I'm spending my money.

Danni-R

Whooops! Let this slide a little bit havent I.

So I'm currently e-baying like mad. 10 items put on every 2 days is my aim. Last week I did 10 for the week and made £50 ish. But that included my old phone which went for £23!

I should be able to make my first OP. in Feb which I'm excited about. I dont have a minimum I can repay but I want to hit £250.

My new master plan.

I'm fixed for 3 years and want to save about £9k in that time which I think is overly optimisitic but I could still do it. Then I can remortgage when my rate is up and use the £9k and that should take my mortgage down to £90k which will have my LTV rate hopefully at about 55 - 60% once all the changes are up to date (hopefully?)

and that is the figure heading down in the right direction!

Muhren

Yeah you have been far to slack on the updates!

At least you have been accumulating money unlike me where I have been spending it like monopoly money over the past couple of weekends.

I am on a 2 year fix so not as much time to LTV rate down but my aim is to get it to 65% by the time I come to remortgage.

How are you getting on with your lodger?

Danni-R

Its going well. he's out a lot and he's realised he's got too much stuff so is giving it to me to e-bay.

So you had a fairly nice sized deposit as well?

I wouldnt stress too much about spending money as long as you're still heading in the right direction.
Me.... I'm going to treat myself to a £2.30 coffee from work. Yep. Thats what they cost here and its scary! I went through a phase of having one a day. Thats pretty wild for me!

2 Weeks tomorrow til pay day. Whoop whoop whoop!

Have you given any more thought to getting a lodger?

Muhren

I just don't have anything laying around that I can sell on ebay, I am however waiting for some labels from Music Magpie so I can send off some cd's and dvd's. £10 for 30 of them, not much but every little helps. I think I read somewhere that every £10 trimmed off an average mortgage of £100,000 will save you £30 in interest but I could just be making that up!

Have said to my mate that I might want him to move in at the start of next year but still not 100% convinced.

There was a girl I know put on her facebook that she is cutting out drinking coffee as she was spending £60 a month on it. I was thinking that was crazy but then thought about how much I have spent in the last couple of weekends on booze. You are only young once right!

Yeah I had a decent deposit. I think I've always been fairly good with money as ever since I had my first savings account at around 16/17 liked the idea of seeing my money grow. So really I started saving unknowingly for a deposit then. Would have been able to reduce my LTV by around 10% but I went out a bought a car about 3 1/2 years ago, which might not of been the best money saving option but I still have it and don't regret buying it.

Danni-R

Lucky that you've always been good with money!

I didnt get that coffee in the end :-( Made one when I got home instead I think.

Will you actually use that £10 to make an op?!?

Most people I know have got a new car. Its the ones with out houses/ flats though!

Muhren

The tenner will just go into my savings pot so won't be used directly as an op.

That is the true money saving approach a DIY coffee at home!

Another expensive weekend for me as I went to meet some mates up in Leeds, I really need to reign in this spending!

Danni-R

Do you want me to tut tut tut you for going out and spending money? I can do if it'll make you feel better? I think that as long as you still pay your bills and save etc then to have a few crazy days is ok.

the coffee was ok. it always tastes better when they do it though. Probably as they use real milk and my sachets are 'just add water'.

I downloaded the music magpie app last night so will try and work my way through the box of cd's that have been sitting in my living room months/ since I moved in.

Did you not think of e-baying them?

My house mate must have the patience of a saint!

Muhren

Haha it might get my !!!! in gear if you do! I know what you mean though as long as everything is covered and can still save then you have to live your life.

I did think about ebay but I don't think I would have got a great deal more selling on there and it would of been a lot more hassle listing each item and then sending each one out separately.