Janineh1982 MFW Chapter Begins :) 25 August 2012 at 2:28PM edited 22 August 2014 at 9:04AM in Mortgage-free wannabe 101 replies 8.7K views

janineh1982

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ammonite

Excel is my best friend in the world LOL!

Lots of luck with the house buying and mortgage paying off. If you manage it in six years that is a heck of an achievement.

We have decided to take the more scenic route and cut the mortgage term by 10 years, so have another 12 years to go if we get it paid off by the date we want it paid off by. We like holidays too much and also want to live a bit. We scrimp and save 90% of the time so that we can enjoy the other 10% of life in a bit of luxury. Whichever route anyone takes as long as they are happy and get to their goal that is all that matters.

Loads of luck

janineh1982

Since my 2nd LBM last month, i have tried to turn things around and save as much as possible in an effort to hit the 65k target by next April!!

Some of the things i have put into action to help the savings pot are:

1. Quidco acc opened last week - currently £245 tracking :beer: (DB and I travel via train and o/n in hotels for work quite a lot, so works really well. One train and hotel which booked already using quidco and a week away to St Lucia with virgin via quidco, for my 30th in Oct, DB paid )
2. Meal plan for the month scheduled and printed out - bought all things from the supermarket using Tesco quidco offer (10 off and 5 cash back), just a few bits of fresh fruit and veg each week to buy now (will now do this EVERY month!)
3. Ordered giff gaff £10 monthly sim and ordered pak code from orange - this will save me £36 a month
   
4. Ordering sky on DB name and cancelling it in my thro quidco- £100 Cash back and £100 m and s vouchers (Xmas pressies!) :j
   
5. Cancelled some of my 'beauty appointments' which has saved me approx £100 this month.Have reviewed this long term and only have kept only I can't bear to live without! :eek::eek:
   
6. Dyed my own hair - saved me £70 hairdressers bill next month :T
   
7. Trying to accomplish as many NSD's as possible!!!
8. Trying to live on about £115 per week (this includes, food, petrol (when i can't expense it), clothes, entertainment, etc etc)

The above has gone a long way to helping me achieve my goal (or so my trusty little s/sheet tells me), however i am sure there is more that can be done

ammonite

It sounds like an excellent start and some good ideas in there for others. I love Quidco payments, I always forget about them but when they get paid, I round them up to the nearest £5 or £10 and pay them into the savings fund

With regards to cancelling Sky - are you cancelling in your OH's name and then re-instating it in yours? Will they let you do that if you live in the same house because I'd be happy to do that. I'm trying to cancel ours or get it half price when the first year is up in a couple of weeks time.

janineh1982

Thanks Ammonite!

I use excel quite heavily at work and have have a 'budget' s/sheet which i've use daily for many years.....the challenge is, i wasn't making cuts where i could/should to assist the savings pot, just mooching along spending what i wanted (although not getting into debt and still saving)

Re the MF journey, each to their own i believe, if you are happy taking the scenic route, that's great :T

Me - i like the busy city route kind of journey - too impatient :rotfl:and since i've realised we can realistically be MF within 6 years, that's it, all systems a go go

janineh1982

Re sky - i believe so!
People i know have done it many times over, swapped from one person to the other (in the same household) to get a free sky+ box or HD etc. I know my parents have done it at least 3 times, over the years (most recently last year) and they have the same surname lol!!

I'd give it a try, quidco still has the offer on i think, it's up to a £100+ cashback (dep on your package) and then £100 M & S vouchers :cool:

ammonite

Thanks for the info, I just called Sky and our contract doesn't end until 2nd September so I need to call them again after that and work my magic

janineh1982

Had a really nice chilled day with the girls(pooches) and OH today

Has been lovely to have no work, no where to be and no jobs to do :j

Having said that we did have dog training this am, but @ 11 so not too early:p

Then popped to Mr. S to do the weekly shop (£25, fruit, veg, cheese eggs milk etc + a few other un 'listed' items, but this is what happens when DB comes shopping :mad: ) .....my plan is to do the weekly shop locally each week, grocers, farmshop and coop.....however I didn't get to it yesterday and wanted to make veg soup and quiche today/tomorrow ....the added bonus of course of taking him shopping is DB paid

Off out on the town with the girls (friends) tonight:T
Can't wait:D DB is playing taxi and we are having a few drinks poo's before going out......so should be a cheap night (esp as I'm a cheap date and get tipsy practically smelling wine :rotfl:)

Not much spend planned tomorrow, nice walk with the dogs mid day for a few hours then off to see DB family PM :undecided

I have realised though, apart from my spend tonight (~£25) and the shop today (which is part of the weekly budget + DB paid ) it will have been a very low spend wk end :j

Hope everyone else is having a good b/h

janineh1982

Soooo, i had a fantabulous night out with the girls Sunday :T

Unfortuantely i am still suffering with a slight hangover today :wall:....Yesterday was very much a write off, i didn't surface out of bed util around 2pm and whilst i did manage to drag myself to DB's parents for the afternoon, it was nigh on close to torture (they are a VERY loud family!!) .....I really really needed one of these..... :silenced:

I have to say, as i am getting on in my years :eek: my nights of drunken stupor are becoming few and far between as i cannot cope with the hangovers :rotfl: or wasting a whole day, the day after :cool:

That's not to say i don't go out with the girls regularly, just tend to limit my alcohol intake , which is not only great for my hangovers (lack of) but also waist line and purse

DB and i had another review of the finances/savings last night (i do believe he is truly getting on board with the MFW journey :T:j)...and looked the diff between a 20% dep vs 25% deposit. Mainly because we want to start looking spring next year and i think we may want to spend more than the 25% dep will allow at that time, hence 20% may end up being the compromise. Although i have done the calc's and we can still pay off witin 6 years :T

This week is thankfully a 4 day week due to the wonderful BH.
Lots of work to do, but no travelling

Lots to do on my list, although managed to get a good chunk completed today

• [STRIKE]Make Quiche from scratch, including pastry (use up ham and mushrooms)[/STRIKE] - In the oven cooking as i type
• [STRIKE]Kick Thomson up the a$$ to send my overdue 'compensation' check from our holiday over 6 weeks ago with them[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Kick N'Rock up the a$$ to get my credit file updated correctly[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Clean Windows[/STRIKE]
• Clean Car inside/out - myself:eek:
• Sort Tray cupboard (very very messy!!)
• Tidy 4th draw down (dumping ground for anything vaguley admin/housey related)
• [STRIKE]Make homemade Veg Soup [/STRIKE]
• Monthly Meal Plan
• [STRIKE]MOT Car[/STRIKE] (After having a company car for a number of years and my car being less than 3 years old before now, i was a tad shocked to find the MOT £40:eek:.... i think it was around £25 last time i went!!)
• Wash & iron all clothes in wash basket
• Patiently wait for pay day on Friday :j_party_:dance:
• Play around with pennies £££ s/sheet & see where else i may be able to save an extra few

JH x

ammonite

Glad you had a good night out. It is good that your partner is getting on board. Every so often I sit down and show OH the finances (he is pretty good anyway), it gets him really re-motivated which is half of the battle.

Good luck

janineh1982

Thanks Ammonite.

OH is onboard ( just about :A) but he doesn't get silly obsessive & excited about s/sheets + saving money