2020 vision. VoucherMan's MFW diary

VoucherMan

I hope everyone's had, or better yet - still having, a merry Christmas.

I'm glad to say that the cold I was given by someone at work last Friday:( has almost cleared up. For the first time since last Friday when faced with the choice of alcohol or hot chocolate the alcohol won. So I've had a couple of Snowballs. Enjoyed the first one that much that the second ended up in a pint glass.

So that's my excuse if I start to meander or become incoherent.

It's entirely Amazon's fault that I'm here anyway. Dropping their prices on Christmas day!

I've a few price watches on the Amazon price tracker site camelcamelcamel. Got an email today saying that a pressure washer I'd been looking at had fallen below my target price. I've been wanting to get one since my dad borrowed mine a few years ago (he still uses it occasionally & I haven't the heart to ask for it back) so I decided to get this as it's now at it's lowest price for over a year. At a rate of three to four car washes saved a year it should pay for itself in about three years.

Anyway, back to my reason for posting. Due to the unplanned spend I decided to have an unusually in depth look at the years spending. Haven't decided where to file this one yet. It'll be on January's credit card bill, but it is still a 2012 spend and I don't want to spoil next year savings before I've even got started.


Amongst my 2012 spends were

£130 on mortgage PPI which I've now cancelled.
over £150 at the garden centre (I don't have a garden, just a small back yard)
over £2400 in 'miscellaneous items' - anything from a spare usb lead to a new surround sound system. All stuff that was a one-off purchase or impulse buy so won't be needed next year.
This £2400 includes over £700 spent on eBay in March.:eek:




Looking ahead to 2013. I always try to over estimate on my spreadsheets. With that in mind I've had a look at what I can hope to save.

I always allow £100 a month for petrol. Only spent £620 this year so with a similar spend next year I should be able to knock about £500 off the spreadsheet.

Car insurance surprised me. After the way it's gone up the last few years I was expecting it to pass the £500 barrier this year. Had a quick look on a comparison site and it's coming back as about 30% cheaper than last year.:j Must be something to do with these new equality rules they've just brought in. Be interesting to see if my renewal price is anywhere near though.
House insurance seems to be lower as well. 15% down. Between the two that's another £300 off.

Along with £180 to knock off water & council tax, about £100 (hopefully) from the car service, and about £45 worth of points on my Nectar card that I really should spend.

And last, but not least mustn't forget the extra (estimated) £435 from a combination of pay rise & increased tax allowance from April. Not much, but then I wasn't expecting anything this year so it all helps.
I've not touched the pets budget as there's no way that will come down, or the food allowance. I could probably make a few savings but with food prices these days it's hard to tell.


All this leads to me ending up with more savings than I'd expected. The £4500 for the ISA should be easily achievable, with enough left over to get the cellar door replaced and stick another £600 in the O/P fund. I might decide to join the 2013MFW after all.

gallygirl

VoucherMan wrote: »

At a rate of three to four car washes saved a year it should pay for itself in about three years.

And don't forget to factor in the fun element. Take aim! Fire! Take that! Kapow! Or would that just be me .

Best get on the 2013 challenge with all these savings. I envy you your fuel spends - mine is over 2k since March :eek:.

VoucherMan

gallygirl wrote: »

I envy you your fuel spends - mine is over 2k since March :eek:.

Mine could be even lower if I weren't so lazy.

I used to cycle to work. Only takes about 15 minutes. I could walk it in about half an hour. The weather always seems to be crap though & why would I want to get soaked so often when the car's just sat there. It's not as if it costs that much to run.

Now if we had a decent summer!

VoucherMan

That's it. I've put my name down. No turning back now.

MFW 2013 - No.63

It's only for an extra £600 on top of my monthly standing order but should bring the MF date forward a month, and save about £240 in interest.

*Jellie*

Hi voucherman
I've enjoyed reading your diary and you've inspired me to update my spreadsheets. I'm another aiming for Mortgage free by 50

VoucherMan

This month's mortgage payment has cleared so I thought I'd better update the signature. I prefer to leave it until the 3rd. Gives them a chance to add a load more interest!

£50009:) Tempted to make a £10 op just to take it under £50000 but I can wait. Regular op goes through on the 20th and that will do it.

In my first year (8 months) I've overpaid £2700. The balance is now £2784 lower than it would have been. £84 better off in my pocket than theirs.



Still waiting for a follow up to the letter I got from the Halifax last year.

'From later this year we'll be changing the way we manage your Halifax mortgage.

....

Later in the year, we'll write to you...'

I guess they forgot :cool:


Don't think it will make any difference to me http://www.halifax.co.uk/mortgages/help-and-advice/existing-customers/how-we-manage-your-mortgage/
If you make overpayments by standing order these will not change

VoucherMan

VoucherMan wrote: »

hoping for a fruitful visit from the pay-rise faerie

Boss called me into the office today for 'a word'. Not often a good sign. Today was different. Turns out I'm getting an extra 2% rise.
Not much but it's on top of the annual rise, and a lot more than many are getting the current climate so I plan to make the most of it.

Not wanting to waste it all I've had another look at the spreadsheet. I must have made some extra savings somewhere as I now reckon I'll have even more spare, and that's before I factor in the pay rise.

I'm not going to change anything yet. Lets get all the big insurance & car bills out of the way first. Not to mention my previously unplanned mini spending spree.
But with a bit of luck I'll add an extra £1000 to this years op target. Maybe even £2000.

ajmoney

VoucherMan wrote: »

Boss called me into the office today for 'a word'. Not often a good sign. Today was different. Turns out I'm getting an extra 2% rise.
Not much but it's on top of the annual rise, and a lot more than many are getting the current climate so I plan to make the most of it.

I have had an annual wage freeze for the last 2 years and this year am getting 1% and people are moaning that the government want to slow benefit rises to 1%, I am not sure where the difference is but I'm not sure it should be there. DH has had the same annual pay rubbish as me.

So, are you OPing your 2% rise or indulging?

gallygirl

Well done VM :j.

VoucherMan

ajmoney wrote: »

So, are you OPing your 2% rise or indulging?

Bit of an indulgence. There's one or two things I've wanted to get but couldn't justify. so now I'm going to treat myself. (that's the mini spending spree I mentioned)

The rest is all going on ops.

I'm waiting until the car's MOT is done this weekend then I'm going to go mad with the credit card. Just got the annual cashback on the card (another bonus I'd forgotten about) and I'm itching to build up next year's.