Its time to grow up and pay off the mortgage

OS_QS

Well the rubbish weather has made me focus on my list.....

Spent over an hour researching G&E suppliers. Have decided to stick with Eon, only a £3/month saving, and I can use the app and get clubcard points. Afraid in this instance, I like eon and i don't feel its worth the hassle changing for that small saving. I will however keep an eye on the market and see if anything good comes up.

Also looked up Isas (been on my to-do list for months!) Have settled on Nationwide, because we already bank with them, a good rate and I trust them. So will go into branch on wednesday morning and get it all set up.

then I need to tidy out/up my loft.

need to also look for a new mattress, have been holding out for costco deal, but no such luck, so will have to bite the bullet and spend the pennies.

Also going to start meal planning, using this few days off work to get myself sorted and start back with a routine

OS_QS

managed to get £3.25 on Valued opinions this morning.

got £1.50 credited to my account from boots as an apology for some recent correspondence from them which they had forgotten to pay the postage for.

In laws have came to visit and have brought a mini food hamper of lovely fresh fish/meat from 'back home'. Should keep us going for a few days

Since it was quite cold this morning, I have finally organised my loft. Its almost embarrassing how much christmas stuff I have. But I absolutely love christmas time

two loads of freshly washed washing on the line. Love it.

OS_QS

good few days clearing out / recycling / getting money for stuff lying around.

We have a pile of good quality text books from our university days, and zapper have offered a decent amount of money for them - however, I was wondering if anyone has had any success with them?

thanks in advance

OS_QS

Clearing out the house last week has not only been good for the mind, but also the bank balance. I started music magpie-ing some of the less good dvds and asked if I could send away any of the games lying around. OH was curious at the money offered, and said that GAME would maybe offer more. A quick phonecall and GAME were offering +25% on trade ins instore, and to enter barcodes on their website. OH got the bug and dug out *heaps* of old stuff he didn’t play anymore. Got almost £50 more doing this than MM. J

Clearing out study, and came across a few things I may try and e*bay. Having never bought/sold anything on that site before, I think I will wait for a free listing weekend, so I can figure it all out without it actually costing me anything for the experiment.

A bit wary of the zapper site, especially as it wasn’t mentioned in the recent MSE email on how to sell books – how’s that for timing!! J

Mobile bill came in £8 over ‘normal’ monthly DD, need to go online to investigate why/change plan. Turns out data charge so will change to a plan with more 'free' data.

OS_QS

Had a good chat with OH who has a passion for learning new things but never gets to spend much time indulging in it for all our other commitments. I made a throw away comment of 'if we could get rid of our mortgage as quickly as possible' we could do more things / work less, so we could spend time doing things we want....and hey presto,we agree to up the mortgage overpayments! :j

So from July £500/month being committed by Standing Order.

Im also going to check on payday if I can make an additional £200 this month to make up for the reduced payment back in April.

Total overpayments to date is £1600 and 5 months off term

OS_QS

Finally set up the FD 8% saver, feeling guilty that it literally took 5 clicks of the mouse, and i've been meaning to do it since february! Didn't realise it took the £300 instantly from my account though! If I knew that, it might've been a more sensible idea to do it after payday! No matter, it will keep me focussed

OS_QS

OH train was delayed yesterday, I asked him to keep his ticket safe so I could claim for a refund, but he went and left it on the train. :mad: £15 wasted. He just doesn't seem to acknowledge that its the little things that matter. I'm a little disappointed, as I really thought we'd turned a corner.

On a brighter note, entered my very first competition fingers crossed!

OS_QS

OH got an email from amazon offering an additional £5 giftcard for book trade-ins (I didnt even know you could do this!). So I sat and logged in all the ones sitting in a pile from our clear out. They only accepted half, but offered £44.70 + £5. so if it all gets accepted, thats a decent offer

Finally changed energy deal, only saving £20/yr but get tesco clubcard points

set up my FD 8% saver :T

Applied for the Nationwide ISA, only slightly less than the market leading Santander, but I've been with the NW for years and really like them. Worth the 0.2 difference in interest rate in my humble opinion!

That's all my jobs on the list done now :j

now just have to go clean my bathrooms and kitchen floor

OS_QS

Received a text from the Nationwide saying that’s my ISA set up online. Now just need to fill out the transfer form.

Posted Amazon trade in books J

Cancelled boots contact lens scheme. Will use up my surplus then get from specsavers saving £40/year J

Now that’s all the big things done and sorted, what to do now that I’ve done my list?!

abouttimetoo

OS_QS wrote: »

Had a good chat with OH who has a passion for learning new things but never gets to spend much time indulging in it for all our other commitments. I made a throw away comment of 'if we could get rid of our mortgage as quickly as possible' we could do more things / work less, so we could spend time doing things we want....and hey presto,we agree to up the mortgage overpayments! :j

So from July £500/month being committed by Standing Order.

Im also going to check on payday if I can make an additional £200 this month to make up for the reduced payment back in April.

Total overpayments to date is £1600 and 5 months off term

Hi there OS QS, well done on your progress and it looks like your OH has come a long way in just a few short months :T

OS_QS wrote: »

Now that’s all the big things done and sorted, what to do now that I’ve done my list?!

Aha, good question, me thinks you need a new list

Are you with BT, are they still doing their c.£50 off a year if you pay your line rental a year in advance (I think it works out that you pay £10 per month instead of £15 ish?

When are your mobile contracts up for renewal, if fairly close it maybe time to do a little research on packages and what the cashbacks etc might be

Are any of your bills received as paper, many places give extra discount if you go paperless e.g. I think Br Gas & Br Electric do as well as BT

What kind of TV packages do you have Sky etc

Do you have a separate car account that you can pay into monthly even if it's just for tax and insurance?

Well done on all your progress so far, as you've already spotted it's often the little things that make the difference

Good luck with your lext list

Regards
ATT