2020 vision. VoucherMan's MFW diary

VoucherMan

This month's turned out much better than I'd expected.

The car sailed through it's MOT. Cheapest service & MOT bill I've had for a long time.

Got the home insurance sorted. Four different comparison sites all gave the same price for one company but Confused.com were offering £10 of Nectar points. Seemed rude not to

Don't think they'll be able to compete with the car insurance though.
I've got a few 'test quotes' to see if I can improve the premium. Started off with the car valued at £1000. A bit generous for my old banger but it's a starting point. Set the excess at £250. Then I played with the numbers. First increasing the value, then lowering the excess.

It turns out cheaper to insure my car with an excess of £50 & valued at £5000 than if I set the excess to £250 & value to £1000.

And in case that wasn't enough I've been going back to the site most days any updating the quote. Sometimes in the morning, sometimes the evening. Using exactly the same details I've got a quote about 15% cheaper just by trying at different times. Only valid for 30 days so I can't get a usable quote for another week or so, but at least I've an idea of what to expect.

So with all those savings under, or almost under, my belt I've paid my first £1000 into the ISA. Just another £3500 to go then I can concentrate on the mortgage.

VoucherMan

Just checked my mortgage balance. Under £50,000 :j

I'm now paying £16 a month less interest than when I started last May.

It's going to be a slow year in the op department while I concentrate on building up the savings but things will hopefully pick up towards the end of the year.

I should be able to squeeze another £1000 into the ISA before the tax year ends. Just hope the banks start offering some better deals in April though. Can't believe that even the 5 year fixes are only offering 2.5% Might have to set up a payday loans company to get some interest

VoucherMan

Another month almost over. Another £500 into the ISA / emergency fund. Only £3000 to go. No idea what I'm going to do with it come April when the rate changes. Fingers crossed there'll be something a bit decent out there. At least the rest is safely tucked away for another couple of years. Starting to wish I'd gone for a four year fix now instead of a three year.

Decided I'm going to give the builder until the weekend to finish off. If he doesn't then I'll tell him not to bother. I'll do it myself. (The same builder from before Christmas. Still waiting :mad:) It's not as if there's much to do. Fit a cold tap, I think. It must take him longer travelling than actually doing the work.

Not really bothered about the work. Just want to get it paid for so I know exactly where I'm at with the money. That and I've a few other jobs to do but don't want to start them until this one's finished. Haven't even had the carpet cleaner, who I spoke to last year, in yet.

Everything else is done. Walls & ceiling painted. Flooring down. Skirting cut to size and varnished. I've not screwed it to the wall yet. That can wait until the weekend. May take a while to fit. Carefully measured all the pieces and mitred the corners at as close to 45 degrees as I could. Only to find the walls aren't all square. Still, it's not bad for my first attempt.

Seems a bit of a waste really. I've had the room gutted & replastered / rewired / decorated and all I've got in it is the washing machine. Think I'll try & move the chest freezer in a couple of weeks. I might put some storage/shelving in there just to make use of the room but for now I think I like the 'empty' look. Much easier to clean & keep tidy.

VoucherMan

Another month, another payment.

The sig's updated and I've sent an update to fb for the MFIT-T3. Only paid off about 4% of my challenge target so well behind but I knew I would be. Going to play catch-up later in the year.

I've got rid of the builder at last. He only had a tap left to fit but never got around to doing it. So I've bought a cheap one off eBay and done it myself. Now I've sorted that out I can give the carpet cleaner a call.
A couple of other small jobs to do then I can start saving for the new cellar door.

Had a letter from Npower. My fixed tariff ends in April so off to search for a new one. Won't take long. It's all being made nice and simple now isn't it?

Not a chance!
Had a look on Mysupermarket and also put some of the tariff details into a spreadsheet. (whoever invented spreadsheets has a lot to answer for. Started messing last night. Before I knew it was 11.30. So much for a relaxing evening)

If I stay with Npower on their cheapest variable it looks like a 15% increase. There are at least 4 fixed rate tariffs cheaper though. Including a 2 year fix from EDF. Very tempting but with one small problem. I have to wait until May for my annual £100 discount. Without this it wouldn't be worth it.

Also noticed when looking at some bills this my usage for the last three months is 50% higher than the same time last year. :eek: Time for some cutbacks I think.

VoucherMan

VoucherMan wrote: »

T
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:

Received the letter at last and I'm not impressed.

They've recalculated the mortgage payment. :mad: Why couldn't they just leave it alone. Never mind though. They've dropped my monthly payment by £19 so I've increased my monthly op by £20

Put some updated figures into a couple of spreadsheets including the ever entertaining mortgage calculator. A mortgage free date of November 2017 seems possible. Then I realised I'd not included my planned 'home improvement spends', mainly because I can't find all the details

Booked the carpet cleaner at last. He's coming round on April 1st (yes really he will turn up. Promise ) I'll have to try and get some of the cat's hair out of the carpet before he starts. Apparently cat hairs tend to clog up his machine.



..

Since I keep forgetting all my spending plans I'm going to add some notes here. At least then I won't keep losing them.

First job - this summer - the new cellar door. Think it's going to be about £550. Just depends which door I choose. I want one that lets a bit of light in but don't want big windows.

Next year it's re-plastering the walls under the stairs. going down to the cellar. Guessing at £800. Probably going to be much less but better to over budget.

In 2015 it's the turn of the stairs/landing and spare bedroom for a makeover. £1000 for the stairs & £200 to skim the walls in the bedroom. I'll probably get away with this if I do my own decorating. On the other hand If I decide to pay someone to do it for me it will probably be more.

Hopefully replacing the front door the year after. If it lasts that long. Do't know what sort to get so it could be anything from £500 to over £1000.

Lastly the living room. If I just get the walls skimmed and paint them it should be quite cheap but lots can happen in 3-4 years so I'm not thinking about it yet. Just budgeting a straight £1000 for now.

VoucherMan

Last pay day before the ISA ends. Put another £500 in so just another £2500 needed now to build up the emergency fund then I can get on with some decent ops.

Given up waiting for any decent new ISA rates so I've gone for another 3 year fix. 4.25% last year, 3% this year. I wonder what next year will have to offer.

At least I hope it's going into a 3% ISA. Filled in the form and chose 3 years. I just hope they put it in the right 3 year ISA as there look to be a couple.



.

VoucherMan

Time to give this poor neglected diary an airing.

I can't' decide whether I'm falling behind or not. Probably should have been firmer with myself at the start of the year and set myself a higher target. I thought after the extra pay rise I should save quite a bit more but it ain't happening.

Put another £500 into the ISA / EF this evening. Together with £300 I put in last month I just need another £1700 until I'm happy with it. No point saving any more than that. Ended up with a measly 1.95% for the ISA and I think rates have come down again since.

So what excuses can I come up with for my poor savings. I've just switched energy suppliers & my monthly DD's gone up about £9. I will be getting £200+ cash back sometime next spring though so longterm I'll be saving.
I've had the new cellar door fitted. Can't use that as an excuse as I'd already budgeted for it but I did ask them about the cost of a new front door. It's got a crack in the outer glass panel. Don't think anyone notices it but me. Still I want it fixing. I'd started off a few years ago asking if I could just replace the panel but no-one was interested. It had to be a complete door & glass panel above. Nothing less than £750!
When I ask the chap who fitted my cellar door he told me not to bother. 'No point getting a whole door. We can just replace the panel. Yes we can fix the door so it doesn't stick when it gets hot too.' £130
So that's my only decent excuse for overspending. The new door had been well down the list but at that price why wait?

I might be making a bit of money from my old CDs. They've been stuck in the attic for ages as i could never be bothered to sort them. Read someone's diary the other day & they'd sold them to musicmagpie. Decided to have a go myself. Don't have a mobile I can use to scan them. The webcam scanner works but the time it takes to find the right position to scan the barcode it's quicker to type the number in. Most of them I'm being offered between 15p and 30p but was very surprised when one CD rang up over £2.
I'm aiming for over £50 then I'll send them all off. If it's less than that I'll try and offload them to a charity shop.

Can't think of anywhere else the money's going. If anything I've been spending less. I'll have to update more often. Maybe then I'll stay focused and on track. Next update just before Christmas then

VoucherMan

Only nipped in to find remind my myself how much more I owe the EF. But since I'm here...

For all my love of spreadsheets & organisation I don't think I've kept a decent record of how much I've paid in anywhere! I could check bank statements or my banking spreadsheet but anything else like this would normally have a sheet of it's own.:wall: Not worth starting now. Another £500 transferred today only £1200 to go. Hopefully by October I'll be able to start topping up the MFW pot again.:)

Only thing that may slow progress at the moment is the sudden urge to buy a desktop PC. The folks on the Techie board aren't helping either. They're supposed to tell me it'll cost a fortune. Instead it will be cheaper than I thought. But I don't need one. The laptop's fine. hopefully next time I'm here I'll be saying the same.


In a change of plan the aquarium's gone from the living room. This has left a gap just the right size for a computer table. For now at least. In true MSE fashion I found an old desk top in the cellar and a set of (brand new) table legs which I salvaged from work. One desk built for the grand total of £0.00 I've got the kitchen table back now too so I can start filling that with other rubbish again :eek:

Also having moved the aquarium there's no (good) reason why I can't get the living room decorated sooner. I'll have a re-think next year.


The CD disposal never happened. Not sure if I got bored half way through or if it was the unusually good weather that changed my mind. At least I've printed a list of all that I'd done so should be easy enough to redo when I'm ready.

Seems there's an ideal way to put a stop to the sunshine. Had the day off today as the door was being fitted. Hello thunderstorms and rain.:( In this unusally dry year i think it's rained every time I've had a break! Anyone planning holidays avoid the week before August bank holiday. I'm off then so it's probably going to rain all week at least the air's a bit fresher. Might get a decent nights sleep.

VoucherMan

Another quiet month. Except for the night the electric board decided to dig a hole in the pavement right under my bedroom window around about midnight, but that's a different story.


Had the urge to go out and spend some money this month.:eek:

I've abandoned the new PC idea for now but I did decide to get a new standalone monitor to use with my laptop. Ended up with a nice new Samsung 20" one for £19.97

Also on the shopping list I think I need a food processor. Found a 'half price' one in the Argos clearance looks to have good reviews. Not sure when it's seen full price though. Most expensive I can find it was £34.99. Still, it looks more than enough for my needs. Shame I couldn't find any decent cat food offers. Just under £80 for a couple of bags :eek: Should keep them happy for a while anyway. At least I got a couple of free scratch pads for them.

One or two other bits on the list as well. Together with the boiler service which I'd forgotten to budget for I wasn't expecting much left for the ISA/EF this month so I was pleasantly surprised to find I still had over £500 spare. So before I get the chance to spend any more I've transferred it to the ISA. It won't actually stop me. I can still buy stuff with the credit card but it should hopefully slow me down. Another £700 to go Going to aim for £500 next month then in October once the last £200 is in the ISA I can restart on those extra mortgage ops :j:j
Thinking of going completely mad this weekend & getting a couple of lottery tickets & a scratch-card. My annual gamble.:A



A quick attempt to shame myself into action before I go. A few small jobs on my to do list. Never seem to get round to them. Crazy really since it's probably taking longer to write this than it will to do some of them.

• A pile of ink cartridges waiting to be sent off for recycling. They're not going to earn me any Clubcard points otherwise.
• A small hole in my trousers where it's not supposed to be. Really need to get it sewn up before it gets any worse. Could start getting a bit draughty in winter otherwise. One of my pairs of jeans seem to be developing a hole as well but I think I could pass them off as 'designer' . Or have ripped jeans gone out of fashion now. I never did care!
• The list of CD's still hasn't been sorted. If I haven't checked them by this time next month then they're going to a charity shop regardless of value.
• Have to start practising making mince pies too. Based on recent usage I've got about a ten year stash of mincemeat in the cupboard!
• And before I forget (as if I could) the ironing. After my last three or four evening marathon I decided I was going to iron every week to keep on top of it. Never happened! So tomorrow, Waterloo Road night, I'm going to get straight.
• While I'm making a list may as well add sorting the freezer. I haven't gone through it since last December. There could be all sorts of interesting bits in it.

VoucherMan

And I forget to put down my best (semi) money-saving contribution.

One of my ebay saved searches came up with something I wanted to buy. About 25% cheaper than usual too. This seller also included a best offer option. I'm always stumped by these. I'm as useless at haggling & bargaining as I am at selling stuff.

A bit of research later though & I discover you can find both the original listing price of an item & the best offer price it was sold for. So looking through some of the seller's feedback I can get an idea of the sort of offer they accept. So it was already cheaper than I'd seen it before but I bagged myself an extra 20% or so saving. :j

I think this may be the start of another eBay shopping spree if I'm not careful.:eek: