Mortgage free by 50

Mortgagefreeby50

Ok, I need to calm down and remember that I was way ahead with my target last year. I stupidly set my MFW2013 target as if I was starting the year from scratch, when I was actually already £1500 into the target.

So, in 2013 I have £848.63 to find in order to be on track to be MortgageFreeby50. That is certainly do-able. There are 8 months left, so that's £106.08 per month to find. I will be back at work from August, and will be carrying on with Quidco, mystery shops, coupons etc so should be ok. I'm going to change my signature to reflect what I need to do for the rest of the year. I will amend my MFW2013 target so that I don't get all down hearted!

Here is the current sig just in case I want to refer back to it:
2014 MSE overpayments: May: £23.58/£105
2013 overpayment target: £2211/£3060 72%
MOC savings:£44.67 £5.26
Grocery challenge underspend: £ 131.01

I'm going to streamline it and only put the remaining 2013 savings I need to get.

Mortgagefreeby50

I transferred £55.81 which were quidco payments for the last couple of weeks. I'm off to do a mystery shop for ballbusters today and a market research panel this afternoon. Should bring in about £20.

Mortgagefreeby50

I have been MIA for a few months, just popping in occasionally to update MFW2013 and the 3 year challenge. Mini-MSE is 10 and a half months now and I'm loving being at home with her. I am meeting work next week to discuss going back-boo! The paltry £5k I saved up before maternity has not lasted at all and we have a hefty credit card bill that will be a priority when I'm working again. Shouldn't take too long to shift it but I hate being in debt after being debt-free and savings-rich for so long. Consequently my overpayment savings are not really getting bigger, just the odd quidco and mystery shop here and there. I am still on target for clearing the mortgage by 50, thanks to being ahead with my savings last year.

MallyGirl

Hi - I like your name. At the moment my plan has us mortgage free in the month we both turn 50 but I expect there will be at least 1 car purchase before then so I expect it will take another year.
Good luck with the return to work - I went back 3 days per week when DD was 10 months. I upped to 4 days when she was 10 years old and am waiting to see how she settles in senior school this Autumn before I think about going full time.

Mortgagefreeby50

Ok, I am trying to get back on the wagon after nearly a year off work on maternity leave.
The financials have took a hit. Despite careful budgeting beforehand, I seem to have managed to accumulate nearly £9000 debt. A big chunk of this is car payments which have been coming out all year but are due to stop in December. I had counted on still receiving my car allowance from work, but a loop hole meant that they didn't have to carry on paying it. Apparently if I had a company car then I could keep that, but seeing as I receive car allowance instead of a company car, they don't have to keep paying that during maternity leave, despite it being one of my benefits. grrrr.

This was the situation as of 1.8.13:

2013 MSE overpayments: Aug £0.39/£102
2013 overpayment target: £259/£3060 84%
MOC savings: £3.60
RBS £7005, Tesco £1196, Barclaycard £4581, overdraft £684 = £13466
HSBC £1241 ISA £4560 = £5801 need to find £7665

I have been doing a bit of self-employed work recently to ease myself back into work and earn some much needed cash. I have managed to get my current account back up to 0, so the overdraft is gone. The next priority is the Tesco card as I am paying interest on the balance. We can carry on living frugally for the next few months when I am back at work as although I am 'working' full time, I have accrued enough holiday to have two days off a week and so will actually only be working part time. Hopefully I can direct the majority of my wages towards clearing the debt. I hate it, especially as we were debt free before and managed to save a good deposit for this house.

I have studied the credit card statements and bank accounts so that I can fill in a truly accurate budget planner. I need to find out how I could have got it so wrong before, what did I miss?? The missing car allowance is £3600, so I still miscalculated by £5400.

I have kept my overpayments/emergency fund intact, totalling £5800. Should I pay this off the bills and work to build it back up? The interest earned will be outweighed by the interest on the credit cards when the 0% period ends in the next month or two.

Mortgagefreeby50

Just done a very responsible thing and cancelled our lottery direct debit. It was going up to £36 a month from £16. We have won diddly squat for years! I have now put that £16 towards our monthly overpayment which takes it up to a nice round £50 a month. This is actually coming off the mortgage instead of going into the ISA like the other savings do.

Mortgagefreeby50

I have now completed my budget planner. We have £250 spare to put towards the credit card every month. I have calculated our food spends based on the last 6 months spending. If I can get under budget each month then I shall put the difference towards the credit card. I really want to get back in a position where we pay it off in full each month. I think I have been seduced by club card points and amazon points etc so have been putting all spending on a credit card. I think it would help to go back to cash and remember it is real money that I am spending.

southerndave

Just catching up on other diaries. Glad to see you getting back on track. Cash is great, it has really made a difference to us and I intend explaining more in my diary soon. It makes you see what you are actually, physically using. Be interested to see how you get on and keep it up!

southerndave

How's it going?

Mortgagefreeby50

Hi,

Thanks for dropping by!

It's not going toooooo bad, apart from the small detail that I'm currently unemployed! When I went back to work it became apparent that it just wasn't going to work any more as I was doing a 3 hour round trip commute every day which meant I was knackered and missing valuable time with mini-mse. Luckily, a place where I had been working as a locum offered me a job, starting mid November. I'm just doing a few days here and there until then. It's 15 mins from home and regular hours, so much more suited to my new life as a mummy-mse.


Money-wise, this means we are not getting any money coming in but I have had a ppi claim come through along with cashing in a small pension and my isa which will clear the credit cards. So we will be in a debt free situation but unfortunately our long term savings have been sacrificed. Including my lovely overpayment savings - booooo!! But, it was silly to have them sitting there while in debt. The pension was small and I am still relatively young so will be starting a new pension with my new job.

Overpayments are continuing in the form of £50 every month standing order and I will rebuild my emergency fund and start saving for the next baby, all on part time wages- sigh!

I am definitely glad I took the year off. We can always replace the savings but I won't get that year again.