My journey to Mortgage-freedom

unhappy_shopper

At last, the sun has appeared out of the clouds today and I have planted the last of my fruit trees. I am hoping for a bountiful harvest in 2/3 years time. The rains have played havoc with the blossoms on the cherry and apple trees. I am not sure whether they got the opportunity for pollination in this weather. Anyway, fingers crossed.

I have decluttered the wardrobe in my DS1's room and found 5 still-in-package M&S shirts, all size 16. So, I have issued an ultimatum saying no more new shirts until these are put to use regularly. Oh the treasures lurking in the wardrobes! I am embarking on decluttering DS2's wardrobe today and I am pretty sure I'll find even more long-forgotten treasures there.

Anyone interested in £7.50 worth of Boots points, pm me. More details here.

ammonite

I keep de-cluttering but am sentimental so hang onto things. In a very nesting mood these past few weeks, sorted out lots of cupboards and made lots of inventories in my attempts to cut spending.

unhappy_shopper

unhappy_shopper wrote: »

Anyone interested in £7.50 worth of Boots points. More details here.

Now that this Boots Treat Street welcome offer has appeared in :money:'s weekly MSE mail, I'm sure there will be lot of takers. But don't forget to get yourself an additional £2.50 by getting referred by your OH/friend :-)

On the MF front, I'm trying to maintain our monthly OP amount by cutting corners from my my other pots. Hope I sustain this momentum. On that note, I'm on fiscal fast day 3 for this week.

Have a nice MSE day everyone :-)

misscousinitt

unhappy_shopper wrote: »

I have successfully had 5 NSDs this week. I feel that is the only way of containing my otherwise-surpassed grocery budget. For the past 2 days, I was on the euphoria of having made an OP towards mortgage. Today, I have started counting the days until the next pay hits the bank account. Is it only me who thinks this way?

No its definately not just you. I'm a day counter too.:)

Keep a tight reign on that grocery spend - I know its difficult sometimes, but I find its the best way to get extra £££s for the OP.

Keep going...great progress so far.

MCI

unhappy_shopper

Good Morning,

Thanks MCI for your encouraging words.

Fiscal fast progresses to Day 4. Have done the usual surveys incl. Nectar Canvass for 60 points and SP. Also, moved some money from fleabay sales in PP account to my mortgage OP account. Hoping that there will a FLW soon (Edit: Wish granted - as per latest news, coming weekend is a FLW, Yay!). Car insurance is due for renewal in June, so have to get going on the comparison.

Another superpoints 25-point referral here. Any takers?

I hope to get to the 500 point redemption level by Saturday so that I can redeem another $5. The $-£ exchange rate has dropped. 3 weeks back it was £3.07 and now it is £3.01. Fingers crossed for the exchange rate to move up.

Have a good MSE day, everyone!

unhappy_shopper

Hi all,

I am getting frustrated with Barcl*ys/W**lwich regarding online access to the mortgage account. Now they say it is only for offset account holders. Nowadays, they don't even send a letter with the new monthly payment figure.

Just did some quotes on my car insurance. They are prices ranging from £600 to £1800 :eek: I kid you not. This is atrocious. I guess the only way is to move out of this postcode. :mad: At least it is so much easier now to get the insurance quotes with the price comparison websites rather than just relying on the renewal letter from the insurance firm.

Great to see so many of you motivated and doing well with the MFW challenge

unhappy_shopper

It's sunny out here and that makes a welcome change to the weather. I have been out and about walking as well as a bit of gardening. Planted out the tomato and bean seedlings - they were looking desperate in my porch, the peas have been provided with sturdy canes for climbing. Now all they have to do is bear copious fruit/beans. The battle with the aphids plaguing the roses has begun. Hoping that some ladybirds will make their way soon to the garden to take care of them rather than me resorting to Provado. Well, thinking of spring and summer blooms, even though there are plenty of flowers in the garden which will look nice in the vase, I leave them be and buy flowers from the supermarket.

On the MFW front, we have a bit of money spare but still mulling over whether to plunge it into OP or put it in an ISA.

Next week is going to be a stressful week with DS2 having his GCSE exams on all 5 days.

Have a good day everyone :-)

unhappy_shopper

I am on the 3rd day of fiscal fast. I did all my grocery shopping on Saturday. No spends so far this week. I had a money-off voucher at Mr.T, so stocked up on a month's requirement of UHT milk. I also got loads of almonds and 10 cartons of grape juice using vouchers from the magazine. DS2 has already started missing his regular Tropicana OJ :eek:

On fleabay, slim pickings - was hoping to make at least £20, but made only around £12 after postage costs. The $5 that was redeemed from SP has hit PP. Altogether it is £15 into the OP pot. :j

greent

Hope Ds2's exams go well

unhappy_shopper

Thanks Greent for your good wishes. He is taking 11 GCSEs and the exams do not end until mid-June.

On the MFW front, I am still to get a revised/latest mortgage statement from Woolwich. Once I get that, based on their calculations, we'll decide whether to plough in more money into OPing the mortgage or to fill up our ISA pots.

Have a good day, everyone. (I am having my home-packed lunch. Bon apetit :wave:)