Its time to grow up and pay off the mortgage

OS_QS

Thanks guys! I've written a list of things I'd like and will need to reign it back a bit, as getting quite lengthy! The rise will def not cover it all!! :rotfl: will try and get something nice each month though

On the not so good front my poor little car has a coolant leak so need to get that fixed, I hope it won't be too expensive?!

Looking forward to the bank holiday :beer:

OS_QS

Uh oh the garage just called circa £300 for labour & parts :eek: so will be investing in my old faithful instead of me! I'll pop it on the cc and the direct debit will come out a few days after aprils payday and earn me a whole 75 club card points:rotfl:

intermittent snow showers here so not going to go out this afternoon (popped out an did the shopping this morning) so am going to start my clear out / declutter.

Anyone used that cash for clothes shops? I've never sold anything on eBay so this might be a way of earning something from stuff I don't wear anymore. I always give good quality stuff to family/ charity but there's some stuff tat would be suitable for selling by weight.

OS_QS

Last month BT charged me for not making the required amount of calls in a month, due to them including only 2 days of the month before the bill cut off :mad: I thought it would automatically rectify this month, but of course not! So I called up just now- and pretty poor for a communications company I spent 2 mins going through the 'if you want....press 7' rubbish just to be to be told that they were closed!! Will call back tomorrow.

Also called up my mobile provider as my contract is up for renewal in 4 days to switch to a new call plan for only £10.50 a month :T that's £120 saved over the 12month contract perfect for my low call, but high text and data usage:D happy days!

Still not started my clear out!!:rotfl:

OS_QS

This diary acts as a brilliant aide memoirs!

Totally forgot about BT until I started browsing! Anyways phone call made and the charge was indeed an error so has been refunded...... Shame errors aren't automatically corrected it was pure chance I even looked at the bill as its all online, but I wanted to make sure all my advance payments paid in November had came off ok.

A nice homemade supper out the freezer (just need to cook rice and veg) as well as soup for lunch from the same drawer means I've got half a drawer clear! Hoping to keep using up what I've already got to reduce the food bills this month definitely need to with the unexpected car bill yesterday

I'm trying to keep to only spending £40 a week to get the £5 off from te$cos. Past two shops have came in at £40.78 and £40.18, so have totally maximised the offered saving :T

OS_QS

I've got some good momentum going this weekend- I don't know if its the extra time off work, the feeling of spring (once the snow melts:rotfl:) or if I'm powered by chocolate!

However, I've uploaded our meter readings and noticed that there was a new bill available for viewing. Interestingly it was for one month, so for the period of 2 feb to 3 march we used:

Elec: £37.36
Gas: £73.11

.....Worth of energy. Quite a lot, but it has been very cold lately. Hoping the don't bump up our direct debit of £89. As our usage should come down when the sun comes out

Off to keep clearing out x

OS_QS

When I started this in February 2012, I had 3 main areas to attack: overpayments, car fund and a wedding fund. So thought a summary of progress against my goals would keep me on track for next year!

Mortgage:
Over the year we have increased 'standard' OPs from £300/month to £841 :T with the OP reserve sitting at £7547 which can be drawn back at any time.

Car: now a 2 car family. We chose not to replace our existing car, but supplement it with a newer model better suited for long journeys. Our old faithful is now used for my daily pottering This has been expensive but our quality of life as increase.

Wedding: see previous posts :rotfl:.....maybe next year

Many areas still to improve, primarily related to Household & grocery Management.

We now have a rainy day fund each, and with that out the way, this year are going to start a sunny day fund.

I was thinking holidays.... OH mentioned babies:eek::eek::eek:

abouttimetoo

Congrats on your pay rise OS QS, I'm sure it's very well deserved. I've heard a few bosses in the last few years say things to their team along the lines of "should be thankful you've got a job". I'm sure we are all thankful to have a job but when I hear some people say it with a certain tone in their voice it does make me a bit uncomfortable and I'm sure for some it's a bit of a cop out for a number of reasons.

Well done on all your progress so far, I remember you first posting last year and it's always great to look back and see how you what you have achieved since then

Re you thinking of holidays and OH thinking of babies

Regards
ATT

OS_QS

Hi ATT, thanks for posting. Its lovely when someone takes the time to pop in

You may laugh at the babies situation, and I did initially, however I dont think the three shocked faces in my post did my reaction justice!! :rotfl: I know I titled this thread 'its time to grow up' but I was meaning to get a better, mature attitude to money......but babies are a whole other ball game.

I laughed it off, but after spending a long time today thinking about it, he's definitely gotten broodier this past year. His biological clock must be a ticking:rotfl:. Thing is I don't think mine is?!

OS_QS

I've sat this evening and created (courtesy of Financial Bliss' instructions) a mortgage calculator which I can put in my varying monthly overpayments. Its very good and easy to read. Thanks to FB:beer: Very Easy to get carried away too......!

If Oh and I increase the OP by £100 each, taking our monthly standing order to a scary £1042 / month, this will allow the mortgage to be paid off the month before OH's 35th Birthday. Such Fun! Except I don't think that size of OP each and every month for the next 5 years will be a lot of fun! These mortgage calculators offer best results when based on fiction

The increased OP will not be happening for a few months yet, as I want a bit of breathing space and to build up our billing account for the next raft of MOT's/tax/insurance that's always around the corner!

ETA - I sent all my books to the charity shop. Heaps of room on the study bookcase now Kept my favourites and classics though. There's some things that electronic versions simply cant replace

southerndave

Its good to have a clear out. Even better not to fill t back up again!