Countdown to Freedom

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

By the way, I hadn't noticed you were based in the West Mids, I originate from there and now live in Bucks. Small world

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi all, family and lodger fed and watered. Credit card and bank spending all up to date again in spending diary. Asd@ price guarantee complete and £3.17 voucher ready for Saturday. Washing, ironing up to date and busy day tomorrow.

Night all, Tilly

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Well certainly a busy day but in comparison to Billy the other day, probably a walk in the park for him.

Anyway, identified a new provider to move money across to mainland Europe, which saves £15 a month, thus £180 pa. You can guess where that will be heading. Could possibly improve this amount by transferring quarterly but due to banking crisis overseas, I am not prepared to make an annual transfer in case the money 'vanishes'. 1/4ly transfers would put a further £80 per year off the mortgage. Very likely to go for this option.

Billy, I will be investigating Lloyds off set also following your comments. I had hoped we would be able to make a decision today but sadly work got in the way. Fortunate that I love my career but there are times when more hours in the day are needed.

I truly do feel that this site has made me/us see the light. The attention to how, why and when our money is being spent has really made a difference. I would say we were never particularly extravagant but certainly wasteful. We both make it a rule to answer the need vs want question for everything purchased now. Thanks :money:

Night all
Tilly

SJ1

Hi

Just wanted to stop by and say well done for posting. Like you I have a similar, not quite so large, but not far off, mortgage and have always been a bit worried about writing too much about it since we are well off etc. But I agree with you, all the people who post on this board have the same aims whether their mortgage is £35,000 or £350,000. You cut your coat and all that....

Will be watching with interest. Would like to start a thread myself but unlike you I lost the car argument so we are going to get that this year and then start trying to kill the mortgage. I will never hear the end of it otherwise. Love the thought of paying it down and getting rid of it all.

I will be reading!

SJ

SJ1

P.S. How do you organise your money? Any top tips? I tried the envelope system which worked well for me for a while but could do with a few good tips to pick me back up into the money saving ways.

SJ

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi SJ1, I did a lengthy response and then MSE closed down !

I will respond later as I am just prepping for a con call.

Best wishes Tilly

Twiddy

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS wrote: »

By the way, I hadn't noticed you were based in the West Mids, I originate from there and now live in Bucks. Small world

Hi Tilly

We should get together by region once a quarter to catch up and swap MFW stories, then do a UK one once a year to do the same but on a much bigger scale!!

I bet some of us know each other really, but not by our nicknames posted here!!!

I'm from sunny Wolverhampton by the way, where did you originate from? If you're not willing to divulge I totally understand, just me being nosey

Cheers
T

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Dear SJ1, aaaagggggghhhh, I just finished another lengthy message and MSE shut down again.

So briefly as I can't face it again - I use savings accounts for major spends, into which I have automated transfers set up each pay day.
Holidays, Xmas, birthdays, annual bills, food, car maintenance, credit card - this latter one is the important one.

Whenever I spend anything on credit card, I transfer the money from whichever buckets above, into credit card pot. That way I never have a surprise when the bill is due to be paid. All CC are on Dd for the full amount and that way we don't end up with debt.

I take around £20 per week cash out and sometimes this gets used at the market for fruit/veg and the rest is used for bits and bobs. The only places i shops where I cant use a CC are ALd@ and Lid@. However I follow the same procedure, money spent on food is taken from food bucket/pot and dropped into bank account. It doesn't take long and then it's just executing a plan which is no problem.

If only I / we had had our LB moment years ago we would be laughing now, however, as he tells me, in a handful of years we will have no mortgage, two glorious homes with plenty of land, and many years of work left to fill the coffers. That way we could either both, or one or the other take less stressful or manic roles, or choose to continue as is and bank the cash. I cannot wait, although I love what I do, I want more choices available and believe me, we will achieve that.

Goodness just realised how passionate I feel about all of this!

Good luck and I look forward to hearing from you again.

Best wishes
Tilly

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hiya Twiddy, I come from Sedgley but given the need to be cautious I will leave it at that but I know Wolverhampton well.

Hope all well with you - get that diary started man......

Best wishes, Tilly

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi fellow MFWers, so DH and I formally applied for our FD offset mortgage today.

1.58% above bank rate, tracker for two years, starting March 2012.
Daily interest rate will reduce from £45, to just over £17:j:j:j:j We will be repaying capital and interest but will also build up savings in the offset portion. We are currently on 5.39% so I guess you can imagine how overjoyed I am.

The bank rate has a long way to go to catch up with where we are today so I am delighted.

We will be overpaying £2,500 :eek: per month - I know that's a lot, but our mortgage is huge and even with that it will take some time to beat it into submission.

I think that is enough now, I need to find a darkened room and calm down.

One thought, it would be an interesting task to figure out what impact the activities on the MFW board are costing the banks in terms of hard cash. It must be a fortune - what an excellent job we are all doling.

Onwards and upwards......
Tilly :T