Make hay whilst the sun shines.

brizzledfw

Well done

MoneyMission

Very exciting! Just booked cheapy flights for our holiday next summer! Accommodation already booked a couple of months ago. Have been there before and it's just what we fancy again. Car hire should come in around £160 ish. That'll leave us with enough spending money and actually some spare leftover based on what we'd budgeted.

Got DD's week long school trip to pay for so will probably put the spare budget to that.

In other news, I've re-jigged some budgets for next year and think will set the OP target at £4,000. This years and last years targets were reached without too much stretch so I'm sure a little bit of focus will make the £4,000 target manageable. Am not 100% committing to that yet but am seriously considering it.

Way overspent on food budget this week. £34 over. I did get some gifts for friends of children birthdays that are coming up but still :eek: Will budget meal plan for next two weeks to make up for it.

MoneyMission

oooof. It's been a spendy month. DD had multitude of friends birthdays to buy for, car tax, car service and MoT, lunch out for friends birthday, clothes for rapidly growing DD, flights for summer holiday, etc etc. All from pots but still feels like a large amount has gone out. The food budget is back on track after my overspend.

Have mulled over OP's for 2018 in my head and am going to set it at £4,000. Standard OP's will take me to £3,056 so have about £950 to squeeze out of other sources or ~ £100 per month. Should be achievable.

Right, hmade bacon and egg muffins are beckoning! And more tea.

MoneyMission

All quiet at MM Towers. Kids asleep still. Has been a few days of sleepovers here for Girl MM's friends as she missed some of their birthdays earlier this term due to having tonsillitis. Last friend heading home this morning and it's then just us 4 for the rest of the week.

We're away at a competition this weekend for Boy MM. Have already paid for cheapy hotel and now need to get as many snacks / meals that we can take with us as possible so we don't spend too much. Will go out for a dinner somewhere Saturday night but am going to try and take all other meals from home. Mr MM will no doubt want many cups of coffee so I'm going to take flasks and insulated cups to try and curb his addiction to coffee shops.

Need to look up things to do in the area as Boy MM is competing at 9am Saturday and then not until 6pm that evening! Sunday's schedule is a bit busier for him so we will hang around and watch his rounds in between heading to local parks for walks etc.
Have Tilly Tidied £44 to the mortgage pot so far this month. Final OP to make tomorrow but am hoping to end the month on £339 all in. :beer:

MoneyMission

October OP of £350 made. I found an extra £11 to round it up from the £339 I was hoping for.

And, I think I'm setting next years target even higher - possibly £5,100! Crumbs - I've almost got the hang of this MFW lark now! Still a monster mortgage but for at least the next 6 years to benefit from our location (good schools and 6th form college, close to work etc) we'll be staying. Our plan is to OP as much as possible to give us the freedom when we're mid fifties-ish to move to part time work. We'll downsize, either in this area or somewhere else, which means we'll be mortgage free AND have a nice pot of money to make this reality.

Bring it on!

brizzledfw

Sounding good...we like a goal round here

I also agree re being properly part time in mid fifties...that’s my goal too. Just need to work on OH a bit...think he believes he will be wanting to carry on work until he conks out....but I would prefer to plan for the former!

Have a good Friday and weekend

MoneyMission

Gosh. RL got a bit busy and I haven't updated for a while. Probably a good time to give a round up of 2017 and set out some goals for 2018.

2017 - Achievements
Mortgage
Mortgage overpayments: £4,510
LTV at end of year: 29%
Savings pots
Annual Expenses - £189 left over in the car maintenance pot to be carried over into 2018's pot.
Energency Fund - £5k
House Fund - £1k
Car Fund - £3,250

2018 - Plans
Mortgage
Mortgage overpayments - £5k
Savings Pots
Annual Expenses - 2018 all saved up. Start saving for 2019.
Emergency Fund - £5k
House Fund - £1k
Car Fund - £6,850

Emergency Fund is fine at that level for us.
The House Fund is for things that crop up that need replacing or fixing. We've got no major plans for the house this year so £1k seems sensible.
Car Fund grows at £300 per month until we're ready to buy new car or cars. None needed for a few years so this is another pot that can act as an emergency fund if required.

Have given over responsibility of 'fun' money to Mr MM for 2018. I've realised that I have a tendency towards 'worry' about money and would rather chuck all spare cash at savings or OP's. It's not that I don't want to have fun but I shoulder all the financial responsibility and so keep a fairly tight rein on things. Time for him to be the one to manage something on a budget. I know it's all joint money but I may also feel a little more 'cherished' if he takes us all out rather than me thinking 'can we afford this' all the time.

Happy New Year to everyone. Here's hoping it's a good one.

MM
x

MoneyMission

Time for my annual check in!!

2018 - Review
Mortgage overpayments - £5k Not done. Big holiday in 2019 saved up for instead. Did manage £1,896 in OPs so not a total fail.
Annual Expenses - 2018 all saved up. Start saving for 2019. Done. All 2019 annual expenses saved.
Emergency Fund - £5k Done
House Fund - £1k Not done. Currently at £450.
Car Fund - £6,850 Almost! Currently at £6,650!

2019 Plans
Mortgage overpayments: £2,420 on the 2019 1% challenge.
Annual Expenses: Save all 2020 annual expenses.
Emergency Fund: Maintain £5k emergency fund.
House Fund: top up to £500 and maintain. Got some spends in this area coming up so don't want to be unrealistic here.
Car Fund: add £1,800 to the pot.

Notes: Am changing career this year! Can't wait. Have realised that as I mature (!), I am less inclined to put up with the constant reactive nature of my current line of work. Had a long hard think over last year about what I may like to do and I have a new job stating in 3 weeks to allow me to retrain in the chosen field. A drop in salary to take on board, but also a drop in hours worked and stress levels. Hoping for a better work / life balance.

New career is also a step towards future plans for mortgage free-ness. We are staying in our current home for another 5 years tops. Then, we'll release the equity and head off somewhere a bit less pricey and buy somewhere mortgage free. Kids will be gone / semi-independent by then but they'll always have a bedroom with us wherever we choose to base ourselves. We'll need an income of some sort but we're not given to extravagance so can get by on less. The retraining for me now is to give time to qualify and get experience so I can look for part time roles wherever we end up. OH can do some consultancy in his field from wherever we live.

We have lots to look forward to this year:
Weekend in Devon - hoping to spot evidence of beavers on the River Otter
Weekend camping at favourite location.
Big holiday abroad.
Fledging one offspring from school to college (fingers crossed, with a fair wind, if he does some revision, the right questions come up on the GCSE papers etc etc)!! :cool:
Enjoying getting out in my garden a bit more.

Wishing everyone luck with their journeys and have a very happy 2019!

PS. I love New Years Day every year because our mortgage lender shows our mortgage balance to be £0 for just one day!!!

shangaijimmy

Take a picture of that £0 balance...great motivator!

MoneyMission

shangaijimmy wrote: »

Take a picture of that £0 balance...great motivator!

Screen shotted and now on my desktop!