Two Pennies Left

Fortune_Smiles

Sounds like a plan QB Wolf.

shala_moo

Fortune_Smiles wrote: »

What a fantastic day :cool:. Very exciting marshalling the Olympic Torch - much flag waving and high fiving the Police motorcyclists as they passed. Went for a lovely pub supper with Mr F and some friends after (which will come out of this month's entertainment budget).

Not much MS stuff today:

• Cheque came today from the family member - £138 instead of the £128 I'd thought so that's a bonus. That will be going straight off Mr F's credit card.
• Mr F was paid some expenses he'd forgotten about so that's another £100 or so for credit card clearing.
• I've decided not to transfer my home insurance to my mortgage provider. Seems that they broker each element to a different insurer - buildings to one, contents to another, emergency cover to yet another, etc. Some reviews say that this has caused problems as, if your house falls down for example, you then have to deal with each insurer individually. If there was a catastrophe I just wouldn't want the additional stress of co-ordinating all of that. The next best quote was with T3sc0 so I'd be really interested to hear from anyone who has had to claim through them.

Mr F is back and it doesn't look like he'll be away again with this company. He is starting a new job soon which will give us a little bit extra to play with - hmmmm what to buy? Shoes? Chocolate? Gin? or Kittens? :rotfl:

Take care all

Fortune x

I'm not a drinker so i vote KITTENS!! :rotfl:

Good luck to Mr F on his new job..

Fortune_Smiles

Thanks for visiting shala_moo. We do have the Fortunate Cat but I find that one is never enough :rotfl:.

FunLovinCriminal

Wow, really enjoying your diary Fortune. I would really like to do something like this. We have a relatively (compared to some diaries read) £93k mortgage. I would love to start OP but OH is more keen on the lillies than the bread! Any tips on persuasive tips?
T3SC0 are very good insurers in my experience. I am with them for Car Insurance and they proved very good when I was in an accident a couple of years ago.
Anyway, keep up the very very good work, and keep us posted with any jedi mind tricks I can use to persuade the OH.
FLC

FunLovinCriminal

Further to my last - I'm sure you get a good deal on Tesco Insurance through TopCashBack.co.uk.
We got £60 back on a £120 Home & Contents policy with them earlier in the year. T3SC0 gave us £30, and TCB gave us £30. So check out the website if it is still active
FLC

Fortune_Smiles

Thanks for reading FLC. Jedi mind tricks huh - sounds like a great idea for a new thread. Mr F isn't bad with money he just isn't interested in all the admin around it. So happily, he leaves all that to me. So, what worked for me:

• I found something that Mr F thought was important and linked to that. He didn't want to be paying a mortgage after his retirement age. But it could be wanting to travel, buying a dream car, etc.
• The mortgage calculator was a great help. Mr F was impressed when I showed him how much money we could save in interest.
• Sometimes I just didn't tell him I was economising. He didn't even notice if we started using a different brand of baked beans!
• We have a joint account for all household costs and then each have a separate personal account. We agreed a monthly amount for personal spending and I transfer this over each pay day. My account always looks quite healthy, Mr F's is always empty but once it's gone it's gone so it helps to control spending on lillies.
• I make sure that Mr F benefits from all the MS. So he will be getting an Aston driving day as a result of the Avi0$ points (something he's always wanted to do) and the Amaz0n (J0hn L£wi$) lamps are to replace the ones in our bedroom which he hates.
• Timing is important. We have had an expensive 18 months and sacrifices have had to be made. Mr F didn't like this much so was much more open to MS as a result.
• I got started way before he did but I think MS is catching and he gradually started to take notice and make an effort.
• Mr F doesn't like to feel he is being nagged so I drip fed little things in now and again. If we did this - it would save £120 per year - that would save us 4 months off the mortgage. It's taken a year!

I'm sure it will be different for everyone but why don't you start the 'Jedi Mind Tricks' thread? People are bound to have some brilliant ideas.

Fortune x

FunLovinCriminal

Hi Fortune
Jedi-Mind-Tricks will be posted shortly.
Its not that the OH doesn't want to MS. She feels we work hard for our money, we should spend it now, and enjoy it. The mortgage will look after it self. Where I feel that if we OP now we could enjoy ourselves when we are Mortgage-Free. I suppose its all about balance!
The awkward part is where I look after the money coming in, and bills, etc going out. She tends to do the food shopping, so it is difficult to down-brand, though I shall try!
Thanks for the ideas though, some great points on there.
Going back to the pet insurance. Aviva are paying £20 cashback on TCB, plus 10% saving for purchasing online.

katsu

FLC - 2 ideas:

1 - can you do a 50-50 - eg set up a treats account and an OP savings account (if you need a minimum amount to make an OP - like I do with santanduur) and then if, for example, you save £40 by not eating out, you transfer £20 to each account and then the treats account can be used for fun whilst you can also show your OH how it all added up to make OPs relatively painlessly?

2 - Also, what about saving all the "free" money for OPs - eg using Quidco or TCB for online shopping, doing a bank account switch to someone like Halifax for £5 a month reward money, or First Direct for the £100-ish switching bonus and then using the reward/incentive money for an OP. If you do surveys and get vouchers then use them for things you would have bought anyway, transfer that cash equivalent to your OP pot. The "free money" is money you wouldn't have had and so your OH isn't deprived if you OP it? On that point - cashback CC for your monthly spends - then OP the cashback.

Hope these are some help.

FunLovinCriminal

Katsu, thanks, brilliant advice
At the moment we have all our quido & tcb money going into an ING account, only because we are looking to go to Australia early next year, and every little penny is going there.
I have just transferred our mortgage from ING to Clydesdale for their fixed rate, and unfortunately I can't make lump sum OP only a direct debit. So I shall be looking at the calculators on here to see what I can afford to what can make a difference - as highly addictive as everyone tells me.

Love the idea of the 50-50 account. Any money we save goes into that pot from tomorrow.
Thanks again
FLC

Fortune_Smiles

At last the sun is here. Mr F went off to a 4x4 thingy today leaving me to have a lazy Sunday. He made his own sandwiches... marmite! :rotfl:We do have food in the house - honest.

I did some gardening then went to a neighbours to help her pick blackcurrants. It was lovely sitting in the sun, chatting over a glass of wine while we worked. I took some eggs and a bag of chicken poo :rotfl:Yes, really - she has about 20 compost heaps so is always glad to get a bag. We have a bit of a bartering thing going on so MS today:

• Half a kilo of blackcurrants from my neighbour which I've made into cordial
• She also gave me four cuttings of what I think are called Lychnis Flowers (Rose Campion). They are a vibrant pink flower with grey foliage. I've put them at the back of the border at the front of the house where there are some gaps.
• Her husband also gave us two barrow loads of logs for the woodburner. Mr F gave him some advice about restoring one (yes one) of his classic cars and lent him some tools so the logs were a thank you for that.
• Most of my Fleabay listings have ended £60.23 so far :j. I'm going to keep that in the current account because I might have been a tiny bit over enthusiastic about MS this month and left us a little short. Anything which doesn't sell I'll relist on Thursday with some new items. I realise it's a free listing day today but I'm just toooo tired.
• The remainder of last night's Bacon, Leek and Potato Bake with veg for dinner tonight. Washed down with a banana, blackcurrant and yoghurt smoothie to use up the last of the blackcurrants.
• And another NSD.

Well that's the weekend over but at least the sun is forecast to be around a bit longer . Enjoy everyone.

Fortune x