My mortgage free mission!!!!!!

frugalfrog

I've never though about TCB for surveys! I will have a look, thanks

Lois_E

frugalfrog wrote: »

Keeping a close eye on my Elec & Gas usage, wondering if anyone else looks this closely? I check the meters every 2 weeks or so, the past two weeks gas usage has been approx 129KWH per day and elec 15.6kwh per day - does anyone think this usage sound high? (but I am still at home all day most days and it has been blooming cold!)

elantan wrote: »

i check mine weekly ( addicted moi ...never )

last week i used 11 units of gas per day which works out at 123.3 kwh per day .... my electricity usually is 14 units per day , but can go up to 25 ( if i am using tumble dryer, excessive washing machine, doing alot of cooking etc ) but i have also had it as low as 11 units per day

we arnt home through the day so ours is basically night usage.... our house is always freezing ... the house tempreture usually sits at around 15degrees but i could honestly do with it a bit warmer...we live in a two bedroom detached bungalow with a down stairs half mezzanine kinda thing

hope that helps

frugalfrog wrote: »

Thanks, I'm in an Edwardian semi, however, it does seem to keep the heat in quite well. Heating turns off at 11pm and nursery thermometer never gets below 19C even when it snowed!

Glad to see there are other people as obsessed as me :rotfl:I love this forum!

I check my utilities weekly too - and have a graph on my "financial master spreadsheet" tracking them, both in kWh/day and in £/day. You can really see the huge difference in the prices/kWh of gas and electricity.

My electricity is usually somewhere between 10 and 15 kWh/day, with occasional higher ones. I know I could do more to get it down by finding some way to incentivise the kids to switch stuff off. I got the little electric fan heater out once last week when it was really cold, and I've been giving in to the temptation to use it even when I don't really need it - very naughty! Must put it back in the loft where it won't tempt me.

My gas was down around 10 kWh/day in the summer, but has been up over 100 kWh/day almost every week since the middle of December, and my highest was 143 kWh/day for the really cold week we've just had recently. It's a biggish house (4 bed detached) and I do like to keep it warm, but it is at least reasonably well insulated (although the loft could do with a bit of extra which I might get done this year).

frugalfrog

Not a NSD today the cheap washable nappies I bought for DD when I was pregnant when I wasnt sure whether I would get on with the washables are a bit past their best & the velcro has started to come unstuck resulting in a wet pair of trousers (luckily it has only been wet ones so far :eek:) so I decided to buy some more of the smartipants (3 nappies for £38), but as I already had points on the website I get them from I saved £1.11, so only actually spent £36.89. But these should last her for a long time (and possibly baby#2). I do really need 6 more to replace the cheap ones, but going to wait until next month to get another 3.

Ebay sales have finished, the suit didnt go (didnt really expect it though), but my two dresses sold for £8.51 & £7.50 so waiting for payment then will post.

DH had a bit of an idea yesterday to make some money, his Mum has run a sucessful business on Ebay selling antiques. We have a friend who works in a clearance warehouse which buys furniture from large business ie hotels/pub chains & sell thems on. We have bought some items for the house very cheap, and his Mum suggested that a set of lamps DH bought would sell well on Ebay, we bought them for £20 for the pair, but she said they would easily sell for £60. £££ appeared in DH eyes may give him £50 to buy some stuff to see how we get on selling it. Speculate to accumulate and all that ....

Also, pin number for "stoozing" card has arrived today, but not received card or welcome pack yet. Hopefully they will come Monday

Made a stew for dinner last night, £3.50 worth of beef from butchers but only used half the veg I bought from Aldi & have made enought for 3 days dinner. Cheap yummy meals!

frugalfrog

Also, I refered my parents to Sky & should be receiving £75 M&S vouchers

frugalfrog

Lois_E wrote: »

(although the loft could do with a bit of extra which I might get done this year).

Yeah I think my loft may need doing too, if you compared our roof to next door (recently rennovated) when it snowed, our house melted the snow pretty quickly and next door stayed white for a good few days.

I also try to keep my house warm as I have a 8 month old & I dont want her to get cold. I can really bundle her up too much as she is trying her hardest to crawl at the moment & dont want to make that anymore difficult for her

frugalfrog

Stoozing M&S card came through this morning. £4000 credit limit, not as much as I had hoped, but nevermind. Still a good amount for 0% interest for 15 months. So anticipate to recieve season ticket loan in Feb pay:

Loan = £7168
less first installment = -£597.33
Balance = £6570.67

Season ticket loan = £7168
less vouchers for delays = -£92.59
M&S credit card = -£4000
need to pay in cash = £3075.41

So will be left with a cash balance of £3495.26. Will put £2000 in a high interest 1 year bond (best currently 3.6% = £72 interest). If I pay minimum 2.5% per month I will have a balance after 13 months of £2878.19. I must remember to put the minimum payment on my SOA!

Will have about £1500 plus my bonus to play with this month. FIRST thing to do is get a new car! We are still trying to run my Mini as the main car which isnt easy with baby stuff! Have a budget of £2000-£2500 for 4 door car (shouldnt be too difficult as DH works in the industry). Then sell my Mini (Cooper 2006) for about £5000 (selling for much more on autotrader). Want to pay at least £1500 OP out of that money, but that may be a couple of months yet. OP is slow progress!

Sorry probaby lost all of your interest now

Have to post ebay items today & have lots more to sell. Does anyone know whether ebay have free listings every fortnight or has that just been recently?

Saw the weather forcast last night & aparently its going to be 16C by Thursday!!!! Will get out in the garden in the heat :j

frugalfrog

Just done an update SOA including the credit card

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1000
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1000
Benefits................................ 81.2
Other income............................ 435.6
Total monthly income.................... 2516.8
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 753.4
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 409.0000000000001
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 119.45
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 44
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 74
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 12.92
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 30
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 41
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 50.57
Other insurance......................... 11.07
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 2117.53

Assets
Cash.................................... 2175
House value (Gross)..................... 150000
Shares and bonds........................ 1600
Car(s).................................. 7500
Other assets............................ 105000
Total Assets............................ 266275

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 126385...(753.4)....4.93
Secured Debt.................. 80955....(409)......1.6
Total secured & HP debts...... 207340....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Parents loan...................13750.....0.........0
sofa...........................1044.8....32.65.....0
credit card....................4000......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........18794.8...132.65....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,516.8
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,117.53
Available for debt repayments........... 399.27
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 132.65
Amount left after debt repayments....... 266.62
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 266,275
Total HP & Secured debt................. -207,340
Total Unsecured debt.................... -18,794.8
Net Assets.............................. 40,140.2
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.


The incomes are still estimates as I am still to see exactly how much I will be taking home

frugalfrog

Discovered a bag full of bagged up 1p & 2p's! I remember just before we moved I emptied DH change jar which he had been putting his loose change in for years & had over £100 in. I thought we had taken all of the money to the bank, however, our bank only lets you hand in 5 bags per person per day, so it took a while. We must have got distracted by the move & baby arriving and forgot about these! There is £12 bagged up and nearly another £5 in 10p's, task for the next few days is to search the house for loose change

I'm soooo close to a payout on Superpoints its annoying! I cant find anything else to do today so hopefully I will get a few points tomorrow to claim $10.

I've decided to focus my free time on Dooyoo, before Christmas I worked my a$$ off and managed to raise £65 in about a month to pay for presents. But it does take a lot of effort and time which I havent had recently. Need to get into the swing of it again.

Started the 4 week count down to returning to work Money will be easier, but I will miss my little lady soooo much She is such the funniest little thing and have been soo lucky that has been quite an easy baby. Hopefully she will turn into an easy toddler like her mummy and not the terror her daddy was like (according to MIL) :eek:

Weronika

Sorry if I missed it if you already explained, but why you have nothing allocated for clothes?
I spend around £100 on 3 of us every 3 months(seasonal sales:D) that's why it seemed odd to me.

frugalfrog

To put it plainly I dont spend any money on clothes!!! I bought more than enought clothes over the past 3 years, which I am gradually selling on Ebay the items I dont wear. The only items of clothing I bought in the last year was maternity clothes. We normally get vouchers from family for birthdays/christmas which we spend on clothes, which has worked well for the past year. I see clothes as a "want" rather than a "need". Baby clothes fall under my baby budget (also Granny is a bit addicted at buying little baby girl clothes so quite often dont have to buy anything!)