My mortgage free mission!!!!!!

frugalfrog

Client meeting went great! The client was very happy that I took the time to sit down and explain everything that I was going to do. His previous accountant would just take his paperwork away, without any sort of conversation & that if he had queries he would find it difficult to get hold of. I have had a lot of people say this type of thing. Now I need to sort out a client engagement letter and work out how much to charge! Then get on with it!

Just got back from a couple of hours at BTL, sorted a lot of the garden & my Mum made a start on the bathroom.We've got 2 weeks to get it sorted, but my diary is pretty busy next week!

frugalfrog

Well posting from my new phone its soo
pretty and so much faster than my old one. For only £15 per month I'm getting 650 min plus 500mb without having to pay anything for the phone.

Checked my bank yesterday and appears we have been paid more tax credit! I'm just waiting for a letter explaining everything.

frugalfrog

My daughters new big bed is being delivered today. We decided to go for bunk beds which can split into two single beds, ready for dd2. It will work out cheaper in the long run. But also Argos had a offer if you spend £500 you get £100 off. The bunk beds were £400 so we got us a new bed frame too, pretty much for free our old bed was almost falling down, it was only a cheap one I had went I lived at my parents, so is pretty old now! We are still waiting for top cashback to confirm, I raised a claim as it didn't track immediately!

These cashback sites are excellent when they track but a pain when they don't! But we have had £100 so far this year mainly from swapping energy and broadband suppliers :money:

frugalfrog

New client all signed up and docs received, just have to start working!

DH has had a quiet month so don't think I will be able to draw what I would normally, hoping we can pay the bills! I have never been in our overdraft but may have to this month!

Recd confirmation from tax credits of this years payment, so will have to sort out a new soa tonight once dd is in bed.
Won't include my income yet as its not regular and what I earn can be a bonus to savings and debt.

Had a busy afternoon with surveys, had loads come through. So far this month I've earned about £65 a lot of that will be amazon vouchers but still can get baby stuff and stationary for work.

I've just signed up to my surveys and am pretty impressed so far. Only started getting surveys yesterday but have ordered first £5 amazon voucher. Says it will take a week to clear so better than swagbicks!

frugalfrog

Well have had a busy week!

BTL is nearly sorted, had to spend some money on getting it up to scratch, but it looks (and smells) a lot better!

Have had a few SPEND days, managing to keep food bill at around £40, but was VERY naughty last week and had a Chinese! Was only a portion of noodles each but nearly £10! We had a busy day at BTL, and it was late when we left so I didnt feel like cooking.

Parents have "forced" us to book a holiday! They are giving my brother a bit of money towards their wedding in December, so offered to pay for a cottage for us to stay in up in the lake district for a week. Was a bit reluctant as they have already given us enough with lending us the money for the house, but they were pretty insistent. So found one near Kendal (where the majority of DH's family lives). Booked for October, so will have a 2 year old and a 3 month old. Going to take both little ones to see great grandparents. I am now really looking forward to it. Just hope we will have enough money to pay for petrol up there! about 300 miles :eek: However, did book via topcashback & got £21.56 cashback :money:

Had a bit of a spend the other day, it was real nappy week last week and there was 20% off the nappies I like (smartipants), so bought 6 new nappies and a couple of nighttime wraps as the current ones don't fit very well and my daughter keeps having wet patches on her pjs in the morning. I spent £70!!!! but then these will also be used for DD2, so will have plenty of nappies to last her (will also quite possibly have 2 kids in nappies unless we manage to get DD1 potty trained in time for DD2's birth).

Had a bit of financial juggling the other day. Have a 0% cc which is due to end middle of May and balance is £3,380, but only have about £2,200 in saving... I took it out when I planned on going back to work in London, so presumed I would have enough money to cover it.. but things didn't pan out that way --- soooo, I applied for a 0% balance transfer with Natwest, which was accepted & I have requested to transfer £2,000 (at a cost of £20) - which will leave around £800 cash in the savings, to help with our cashflow problems we have. I really despise paying money for money, but there is little I can do with our current situation. But at least I am not burying my head in the sand and ignoring them.

So at the end of this month we will have 2 cc, one with a balance of £2000 and one £980. I am going to open a new savings account - not sure where yet as the rates are abysmal at the moment :mad: and when the money comes in from TC for last year, this should cover all of this, so will put in savings until have to pay of CC, which will be £900 in Dec 13 (after paying min fees) and £1,755 in May 2014.

Hoping there will be a few £ left from TC to do some much needed work on our house! Will have to hope!

I have also decided on surveys to take paypal as much as possible. They are worth about 14% less on Swagbucks, but then I can put it straight into savings rather than spending on stuff that we possibly don't need :A

I have just been looking at my mortgage spreadsheet & am horrified that we are spending £500 per month on interest on our mortgage :eek: and another £100 per month on BTL. That is £600 per month for nothing really!!!! I am realising why I decided to start this in the first place. REALLY NEED TO DO SOMETHING!!!

Oooh another thing, I got an email from Quidco the other day saying they are now doing cashback for Amazon! good news as I used to get Nectar points but they stopped a while back. Also, when on the site I noticed I had £2.84 on there payable, but they didnt have any payment method set up, so a few more pennies into paypal for me

CathT

Great news your TC have gone up - good luck for the back pay. Mine have sadly stopped but I'm hoping for backpay from last year when I renew - here's hoping. Thanks for the info re: quidco and amazon, that's handy to know.

CathT

Also meant to ask you how you got on with the drains? Ours have blocked a couple of times and if it happens again I think i'd have to go through the home insurance.

frugalfrog

Hi Cath, they came and unblocked the drains & did a camera survey and said that there were no cracks/problems with them & have issued a report back to the insurance company. I haven't heard anything since, I am not sure whether we will have to pay the excess yet.

New tenant is moved in and should get the rent cleared into our account this week.

I cant believe it is the end of April already, where has this month gone! Baby will be here before we know it! Still trying to workout if I will be eligible for any maternity allowance, I don't think I will be taking much time off (not that I work many hours to start with ) and working from home is easier than going out to work.

We had a budget roast dinner tonight, looking around Morrison's the other day & I spotted massive Turkey legs for £3! I roasted them today & both me and DH are big meat eaters, but still only ate one of the legs, so have the other one in the fridge for lunch/dinner tomorrow :money:

I have been looking through the savings account deals online & the rates are terrible! I will be lucky to get 2% :mad: I think my best option is to switch to a nationwide FlexDirect current account which gives 5% for up to £2500, then any money over that amount put in their ISA which is currently 2.5%. Going to wait until we have our TC payment for last year, as we should have quite a lump sum & want to make most of the 12 months deal

frugalfrog

Having a stressful morning and need to vent! :mad: Plus I am feeling like poo & want my bed, but too much to do & have a lively toddler running around.

Letter through the post from Building Society for other halfs business account saying that we have missed a DD for the motor insurance... fine from them £29.50, spoke to motor insurance... fine from them £25!!! Argh!!!! :mad:

We are having cash flow problems again, this is a major issue for small business with very little cash capital. One of other halfs clients owe around £900, I am owed £400 from one of my clients, plus our BTL we are due payment of £435 (rent paid on weekend, but due to bank holiday rent wasn't sent from letting agent until yesterday, then have to wait 3 days until its in our account...), other half should also get £600 from job he is doing currently on Friday. So at the end of this week/next week we will be rolling in it (well relatively speaking compared to now), but today we have NOTHING. Luckily all other dd's have been paid now, until the first day of June (hoping this will go out on Monday and not taken early or they will be cancelled too).

Tried to get business account fees waivered as this is a first time error, but no go.. asked if we can arrange a small overdraft of £100 to avoid this in the future... not available on their business accounts... :mad:. Looking for a different business account to switch to, but my other halfs business takes a lot of cash as payment (all accounted for & not underhand cash :A), but banking cash costs a fortune!

Have worked out that I can pay the rest of the years motor insurance on our 0% purchase cc which has about 5 months left at 0%, so could save around £30 in interest, which means we will only have a net loss of £15. But as the DD was due to go out yesterday, they wont let us change any payments until tomorrow as the account is locked out around the DD date.

Also received the Tax Credit renewal pack on Tuesday, so rang up yesterday to give the final figures. I have punched them into the Family Investments website calculator & it estimates that we are due around £3000 more than we have been paid, so hopefully we will get a nice payment shortly!

Now have to go down to shops to pick up a Daily Mirror (no I haven't gone mad!) there is a £5 off £40 Aldi shop in it today, so worth it if you shop at Aldi's and don't mind the embarrassment of buying the Mirror!

frugalfrog

Went and bought the Mirror (only to get the vouchers!), so will be going to Aldi shopping at some point over the weekend, hoping DH will be able to go with us, as it is getting increasingly difficult to push a trolly - I am now 30 weeks pregnant & cant believe how fast this is going! Also there is a baby/toddler event on at Aldi, so should be able to get some cheap baby grows/socks etc for the little one (also have offers on nappies/baby bath stuff, but I only use cloth nappies & 100% natural baby products).

Well DH client paid up to the tune of £900, put straight into the bank so no more panicking about this month! It is difficult to be annoyed at him as he is currently going through chemotherapy and he is still wanting to run his business, I don't think he trusts anyone else to take the reins for a while.

Been looking at other business account and the best one for cash payments is the Santander one, may look into that one.

Off to look at what to get DD1 for her second birthday (in less than 3 weeks!), I have some Amazon vouchers from surveys so hoping to not spend much actual money!