I have a dream...to be a MFW

ajmoney

Hi guys,

I have been back from my work trip for a week now and am starting to feel like I have caught up to date with unpacking, washing, post and money related things. I haven't read through any threads and may not have time to catch up so may need to pick up on things as we go. I am trying not to spend as much time on the internet as it was taking a lot of time up but I wasn't really looking at anything.

I am feeling quite low at the moment. I have had a week off already and have 2 more to go but Mr AJM is at work so I am quite lonely. Maybe it is a sign that I should take up a hobby or something but my work is so sporadic that it is had to keep up with anything. The first of my promotion courses starts in 5 months time so I will probably start my preparation for that early. I hope to pick myself up soon anyway.

Everything is going well money wise so onwards and upwards.

newgirly

Sorry you are feeling a bit low aj, are you off to the horse racing today? I haven't popped in for a while and spotted you got tickets a while back. Hope you have a good weekend

ajmoney

Yes, our free horse racing is today and so far the weather is lovely. We have some money ready for our bets, it should be a good day.

I had a bit of a chat with Mr AJM about how I am feeling at the moment. He understands the work related stuff which helps and is trying to help me through anything else. We are hoping to decide on a summer holiday destination this weekend ND hopefully book so I can have something to look forward to.

newgirly

Have a great day at the horses aj, hope you win

ajmoney

We are very close to owning 20% of our house :j I may have to make an extra OP tomorrow to make it for the end of the month! It has taken us 2 years and 8 and a half months. Based on this it would take us 10 years to clear both the mortgages, however my OP schedule for the larger mortgage gets bigger as the years progress so hopefully I can bring this down

ajmoney

Ooops, forgot the deposit we put down helped towards this but still...20% is better than it would have been had we not OPd.

ajmoney

I am slowly starting to feel myself and more positive again. The start of the week wasn't so good but I went for a small shopping trip on Tuesday and got a bargain on some summer sandals, getting out of the house for a wander seemed to work wonders and it is the first thing I have bought myself in a very long time. For the last 3 days I have been working from lists, some of the things have been getting moved over for months but I have finally tackled them and have nothing on my list now :j the house is looking a lot tidier for my efforts too. Since getting a cleaner I have become really lazy but I think I have got a system running now that should mean the tidy areas stay tidy and the rest of the house will slowly get there! I have made myself ANOTHER list of these jobs for a monthly basis and have tackled as many as I can this week as I am on holiday. After nearly 3 years in this house I have managed to sort out the stuff we dumped in a wardrobe and it only took 30 mins so not sure why I left it so long! I have also made a dent in the small/junk room, I would like to have it sorted by August and try and do the garage too.

I am rewarding my efforts by watching tv until I go shopping and meet Mr AJM in town to complete our errands. I wonder if he will see the difference when he gets home :rotfl:

lulabelle1

Hey aj, how's things... Having a cleaner really helps doesn't it if you're super busy with work etc. Hope you're feeling better in yourself.

ajmoney

lulabelle1 wrote: »

Hey aj, how's things... Having a cleaner really helps doesn't it if you're super busy with work etc. Hope you're feeling better in yourself.

Just back this morning from a work trip away, had enough time for a cuppa with Mr AJM before he left for work and now I am trying to catch up on emails and money shifting as I was away over pay day and the internet was rubbish.

Our cleaner is a star and has made my next 2 days more relaxing, my parents are coming to stay and all I need to do is change the bed sheets and catch up on my own washing from my trip

I am feeling better and more positive. My dad is doing some work with me this weekend to try and find the root cause of my winter stresses and then give me ways to deal with them so I don't become bogged down this year as my normal trigger time is when I will have my first lot of promotion exams. I hope it will help me more in general too.

I am really excited, we are going for a personal shopper session soon and I have been putting away any extra money I have. It has also been insurance renewal time etc so any extra money I had saved up that hasn't been used has been moved across too and I have £530 to spend :j I really do need to revamp my wardrobe and am looking forward to not worrying about the cost at the till. I hope not to spend it all but if I do I actually don't mind for once. However if there is anything left I am going to treat myself to an ipod. I have wanted one for ages, it will be really handy for my work course and it will mean Mr AJM can have his back!

Mortgage OPs are going really well, I think I may reach my 2014 MFW target by the end of next month I am making the most of our excess money while we can because any spare I have during the winter months will be used to get home or Mr AJM coming to see me during my 3 month work course.

I am looking for a couple of good clips to paste on here to show you all what I have been doing over the last 2 weeks.

ajmoney

Hi guys :hello:

Mr AJM and I were trying to work out a better OP schedule at the beginning of the week but to OP an extra £500 on top of what we are doing now would only help us knock an extra 18 months off our current plan so we have decided it is not worth it. We will send extra money to it on top of our regular OPs as an when but we are not going to go mad. We are currently on target to OP our larger mortgage by November 2023 and want to take this to March 2023 (Mr AJM's 60th birthday) as the latest date, at this point we would then move all OPs to our smaller mortgage which we would clear by October 2024. He doesn't want to work this long but can see the sense in it, the earlier we make it happen the better for him. We are still working on the earlier dates but may be less likely to set ourselves up for a fall, especially if the interest rates start to rise this year as predicted.

We will be reassessing our money from September anyway as I will be moving away with work and only getting home for the weekend once every 3 or 4 weeks. I get money to assist in travelling home which will help and we will put less into our food/spending account as I won't be here but I am not sure yet how this will affect OPs and savings. I am sure I will become more creative with my money to allow us to keep doing what we are doing but it will take some adjusting.

We have finally booked our holiday, a week in Egypt in a 5* hotel, all extras, airport parking etc and we have spent about £2000 less that we had put away which is not far off we are planning on spending on our Christmas holiday, however because I will be living away we are going to leave it quite late to book in case I would rather have some time at home.