Sweetdaisy's aim to be mortgage-free

QB_Wolf

Nice OP SD, 55k by the end of the year sounds good, good luck with the job hunting.

southerndave

I am amazed about Xmas being done and dusted, are you moving onto Easter next?! ;-) Seriously, well done and the mortgage target is fantastic.

sweetdaisy

QB_Wolf wrote: »

Nice OP SD, 55k by the end of the year sounds good, good luck with the job hunting.

Thanks QBW. I don't think I'll be making many more OP's this year (if I do it will be small ones just to keep up my motivation) as I have already reached my target of getting the mortgage to £55K by the end of the year and want to focus on increasing my Savings.

sweetdaisy

southerndave wrote: »

I am amazed about Xmas being done and dusted, are you moving onto Easter next?! ;-) Seriously, well done and the mortgage target is fantastic.

:rotfl:. Hi Dave. The only reason I have completed Christmas shopping for the children is that I have had the time to do a lot of comparing prices online and have been able to find good offers before the prices shoot up for Chritsmas . I have also been able to earn Cashback through TCB on some of the presents. This year has been scaled back in terms of presents as I have bought fewer presents, but better quality and ones that I know that they will like. The bonus is that I have still stayed within budget so am pleased with this.

As for Easter :easter_ba . . . the children get 2 Easter eggs and a pack of Mini Eggs each and that's their lot. I don't buy presents/toys for them. I never got presents as a child for Easter so neither do they :rotfl:.

sweetdaisy

It’s been a glorious weekend in my neck of the woods. Took the children to a party yesterday and DS2 has taken like a ‘duck to water’ wearing pants and we can now go anywhere without him weeing himself. It’s lovely not having to change nappies anymore.

Had a family day out and visited Pembroke Castle today. We have not been before and really enjoyed. The children were in their element climbing all the stairs to the towers and pretending to fight dragons. Took a picnic for lunch to save money and stopped in a family restaurant for food on the journey home. We are planning to go to Drayton Manor next Sat/Sun depending on the weather, as we told the children we would take them for their birthdays as they are a month apart. DS2 is also tall enough to be able to go on the rides in Thomas Land.

Had a small underspend of £19 this week, which has been put into Savings.

DS1 breaks up from school in a fortnight so I need to look through DH's rota next week and plan what days DS1 will be in School Club etc.

edinburgher

I cannot believe that you have Christmas wrapped up (so to speak). That's seriously impressive...

I haven't even figured out what to do for Mrs E's Birthday yet!

sweetdaisy

edinburgher wrote: »

I cannot believe that you have Christmas wrapped up (so to speak). That's seriously impressive...

I haven't even figured out what to do for Mrs E's Birthday yet!

Although the children's presents are done, I have no idea what to get the rest of the family and I will probably leave it quite close to Christmas to decide. When I start college in September I am not going to have much free time for planning/organising and the time that I will have will be spent with the children. As soon as they go to bed I will have to study and I don't yet know how I am going to manage full-time work and college, but I will just have to see how it all pans out .

sweetdaisy

Enjoyed a day out at Drayton Manor yesterday. The weather was boiling, children really enjoyed themselves, we got soaked on the river rapids (which the children loved) and DH was happy as he got to go on two of the adult Rollercoasters. All in all it was a great day out, not very MSE as it was expensive, but we don’t often go to theme parks so it was a nice treat.

Only had an underspend this week of £6, so I have kept this in the 'spending' account.

Received a £50 cheque from a survey site and that brings this month’s survey/cashback earnings to £101 so far.

Been through my diary and DH's work rota and luckily DS1 only needs to go into School Club once a week during the half-term. However, I have run out of childcare vouchers so need to build up them so will be using Savings to pay for childcare costs. There are a few cheques to be cashed by DS2's Nursery for the past few weeks, but from then up until the second week in August our Nursery/School Club costs come to just over £600 :eek:. Can't wait until DS2 starts full-time school in September . . .

sweetdaisy

Due to DH’s shift pattern we can’t take a family holiday this summer, therefore I have booked a long weekend break at the end of August. We are going to a Hoseasons Caravan Park in Snowdonia. Not booked with them before,but it looks nice and had great reviews. Did the booking through TCB and earned almost £19 in Cashback.

It has been a month of spending as I have treated myself to some (much needed) new clothes and bought a number of birthday gifts for family and children’s school friends. Made all purchases online through TCB and earned £8 in cashback.

Received my gas and electric bill from Npower and I am now £148 in credit - I still don’t get how I can be over £400 in credit a few weeks ago and now it is £148?? Anyway, the good news is that my monthly D/D is not increasing and remains at £80 and my next bill is due in September.

Monthly mortgage payment made this week. Mortgage balance is now £58,238, however the balance will increase as the monthly interest will be added around 24th of the month. I have an urge to make a mortgage OP, but I must plough as much money into Savings as I can. When I am happy with what I have in Savings then I will put as much as I can towards the mortgage.

As of today I am not on a diet as such but really need to tone up and lose around 5 pounds. Even though I have been back in work a fortnight after breaking my ankle, having not done any exercise for 9 weeks whilst I was off means that I am not as toned as before. I am going to try and eat just fruit,salad and vegetables and limit any processed food for a fortnight or so. Hopefully this, along with daily exercise of some sort - either walking or using the cross-trainer will kick me into shape.

sweetdaisy

I’ve not been around much lately as I have been busy. Mortgage balance is £57,655 and I am still on target to repay the mortgage by January 2022. I have not made any additional mortgage overpayments this month and won’t be making any for a while as I am ploughing all extra money into our Offset Savings account.

No news on the job front, still plodding along where I am until something else comes up. We will know in October where we stand for the next Financial Year. I think there are going to be big changes ahead. Even though I am looking to change direction work-wise I need to make plans if I am not successful in changing jobs before any changes start, so this is one of reasons why as much money as possible is going into Savings, as I would like a nice buffer in there should there be any job losses/redundancies on the horizon.

Received a statement from Npower and my dual fuel monthly direct debit has been reduced by £9. I am happy with this and will now be paying £71 a month, but know that this will shoot up once the heating goes on in October/November.

DS2 finishes Nursery next week and is starting full-time school in September. Both children will be going to After School Club two afternoons a week and I am now going to be paying for this by childcare vouchers as I have been building up my voucher account. School uniforms, PE kits, shoes etc have been bought. All I need to do now is spend hours sewing name labels into them (a job which I loathe) .

I am starting College part-time mid September. I have no idea how I am going to juggle working full-time, children and studying. Will have to wait and see how it all goes and hopefully I can get into a routine quickly.

Looking forward to our 4 day Caravan park holiday at the end of August. I feel I need a break and the boys are really looking forward to going . I have also booked a hotel stay in September to Sheffield for the weekend as DS2 has an event to attend for those who have the same medical condition as him. This should be a good day as there are lots of activities being organised for the children and their siblings, as well as an opportunity to meet other parents whose children have the same condition. Booked this through TCB and received just over £11 in Cashback.