The long road to being mortgage free!

quintwins

ammonite wrote: »

Wahoo after over 2 months my first Chow payment came through - £26..made it up to £30 and popped it in the savings. Making the most of the bonuses there this month so will be really good and do lots of reviewing.

Have a good day everyone

:j:j well done your doing really well


i had a fab frugal day even tho i went shopping and being over budget for the week, i saw a good improvement in my bank balance from all my scrimping the last few weeks makes you relise it really is worth it.

ammonite

an unexpected bill came in, coupled with a weekend away (our only holiday this year!) means the savings will once again be small this month.

Did a big shop at the weekend and will only do top up shops for lunch items. We have enough freezer and cupboard items. Need to get making up the pasta, we have loads of it and not eating it much at the moment, so can get some cheap lunches out of pasta salad.

Off/working at home for quite a lot of this month so hopefully that will help with petrol costs.

Making the most of the beauty and household appliance bonuses on Ciao this month and only £5.90 from a Onepoll payout of £40. Not been very good on DooU - must change that and get back into the habit of reviewing again.

Even though we only buy a few items each month like a top, something for the house, a night out, all of that really adds up. I don't want to impose restrictions as we really do hardly buy anything for ourselves but I constantly feel like we have no money?! It is very frustrating but then I do make us save hard too.

Really, really need to be stricter with groceries, I am so weak in the supermarket!

LauraJo

Really, really need to be stricter with groceries, I am so weak in the supermarket![/QUOTE]

Its because they try and trick you with their buy one get one free of stuff that you don't even need! I am a total sucker for the bargain I never went in to get!

quintwins

I know you love your whoopsies but have you tried shopping online?

I think it's good still to buy stuff and go places it helps you keep focus, but I do think a budget for it is a good idea, and not a budget that gets saved if not spent but carried over for a big purchase or a trip away.

ammonite

I have tried online and like it but find it worse actually because we tend to only need to spend £25-£30 a week on top up shops and need to go weekly for fresh stuff for lunches, milk etc. So if I buy online I end up spending my £25 then "finding" £25 stuff I need to make it up to free delivery

They've got me every which way! :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

Hey ammonite
Ive still not cracked it on the shopping front- sometimes I think online is better but like you say end up adding loads to "make it worthwhile"
other times I end up in the supermarket loads !...
Its amazing how things add up isnt it like you say with spending on stuff that doesnt even feel "extravagant" at the time!

ammonite

I feel like I spend quite frugally and always buy offers. Mind you, it is rare that my cupboards are bare or even able to close

Complained about something that happened a while ago and got a refund of £110 - have put it into overpay as I was only expecting an apology

ammonite

Noticed I was only £80 away from a big round thousand and had somehow messed up the banking this month so we weren't as poor as I had thought so I decided to pay the £80 in to the savings to get a nice round number. I like round numbers I do !


7.952% of the mortgage now in savings Can't WAIT to get to 8% which will be next month as the mortgage comes down slightly and the overpays go in (although it will be 8% if I can just find another £36 this month - Waiting for a £50 from DooU, any day now it should be paid so should do it this month before payday!)

Spending diary commences today - just interested to see how we spend so hopefully can keep it up doing it with pen and paper as I find that easier than online.

ammonite

Hello all,

I have been beavering away on the review sites and still waiting for payments from both of the main ones. Have cashed in around £80 which I am waiting for and just over £35 now on 1poll- will probably take me until December to get over the magic £40 and then I'm calling it a day on there.

Had a pay out from the insurance company for a cancelled holiday which was a great bonus as we didn't know if they would definitely pay out on the policy as it was such late notice so we were thrilled that that was paid. Of course it went straight into the overpay and we now have 8.482% in the savings and that is before payday which is also this week!

I'm still gearing up for an overpay next April of the magic £2100 (the amount needed to take a year off our mortgage every year) which by then we will still have a decent savings pot and hopefully know a bit more about our long-term financial situation.

I am doing really well with cutting down grocery bills and really focused on eating what we've got now and only buying fresh items and the items needed to complete a meal (i.e. rice/potatoes). Idea is to almost completely empty the freezer by mid-October. Buy a batch load of meat and stock the freezer with home made ready meals for the next 3-4 months. I am doing wonderfully well with Yellow Sticker items lately too so have been putting them in the groceries but still managing to keep to a fairly decent budget.

P.S - Spending diary failed but I might try it again.

P.P.S - Please do say hi if you pop by - I am always grateful for suggestions to boost savings/mortgage fund

quintwins

:wave: hi

honestly i doubt there is much i can teach you, granny and eggs comes to mind but your doing fab just keep tooting along as you are..... and try avoid those shops.