The loooooong road to being MF!!

chocoholic_chick

Well we had them a few years ago but then OH had health complications so they never got used and we cancelled them. Most of our friends have them though so we thought it can be a cheap means of going out when cash is a little short. I think as long as we go twice a month it'll mean they're worth it so as long as it averages out that over the year it'll be ok. We're planning on getting rid of Sky TV when our contract is up so the savings made on that should cover the passes really, and we've already removed the movies from our package so I'm figuring it'll balance out in the end

This isn't our "forever home" either, it's fine for as and when we have children and they're young, but as they get older it'll be too small but I really want to be in a position that when we come to sell this house there's no mortgage left on it so it'll give us a really good deposit to put towards our next home which we're planning on being our forever home. I don't even wanna think how long all that will take though!

chocoholic_chick

Todays been a long day, hubby was away with work today for the first time in ages so had a ridiculously early start ( 4.30 ) and still isn't home Poor thing hasn't had a thing to eat either as he didn't have time for lunch and wasn't expecting his meeting to overrun by so long so he's gonna be wrecked when he gets in, feel really sorry for him.

So tonight I've been sat in a bit bored looking at holidays we can't afford. Trying to miraculously make a few thousand pound appear in my spreadsheet so I can afford a nice holiday to the carribean but sadly it's not happening and won't unless we win the lottery. I know this sounds shallow and pathetic, but when you've been on a summer holiday every year for pretty much your whole life it's hard to face a year where you don't get one, kind of keeps me going through the year as we both work hard and long hours and this year it feels like well what for?? Then I suppose I need to think well it's to pay off the loan we took out for the conservatory and the windows we're getting in, though it's not quite as exciting as a holiday! I know we're lucky to be in the position we are, I'm just having one of those crappy days and feeling a bit sorry for myself. Even more so since I've screwed up the finances so now we have £35 to last until pay day ( excluding food and petrol ). Really don't want to raid savings to top this up but may be forced to unless we live like hermits until pay day!

chocoholic_chick

Arghhh its all gone pete tong!

What with hubby being away this week a few times and an unexpected thing thats cropped up that gonna cost somewhere in the region of £100 our finances have just gone out the window. Hubby will be able to claim his expenses back but until that happens we're overdrawn. It's the first time I've ever been overdrawn and its gonna make next month hard starting with a negative balance when our budget was already tight. We've got a weekend away booked for next month as well, the stay is paid for already as I bought it as a treat for us a few months ago when I had some spare cash but we'll still need petrol money and money for going out etc so it looks as though our cineworld passes are definitely going to come in handy next month!

Bahhhh!

chocoholic_chick

Now our washing machine has packed up So had a look last night and it looks as though it's going to cost around £300 for a new one by the time you add on delivery etc Can't do without one so going to have to bite the bullet and order one tonight, another expense we could do without and it's going to have to go on the credit card until we can afford to pay it. Went shopping last night as thought if the snows bad and we're snowed in it's best to be safe then sorry, clearly everyone else had the same idea as it was heaving and the shelves in places were bare! Didn't need too much though and thankfully could get everything I needed so it only came to £25 and in a bid to save money I even used my nectar points towards it so only had to put £5 cash towards it. At the moment we have £170.43 still left in from our food and petrol account, might need to top the petrol up a bit before pay day next Friday and may need to do a small food shop next week but hoping that between them both it'll be £50 at most which means we should hopefully have £120 left to put towards the washing machine from there. Still have to find the other £180 and I don't really know where from as things are so tight for us at the moment, but what can you do???

We've spent virtually nothing on going out or anything this month, I think the only spend has been the popcorn at the cinema earlier this month, we've been bringing lunches in to work every day so have done everything we can, just doesn't seem enough

Bah!!!!

chocoholic_chick

Managed to get a new washing machine for £245.99 so not as bad and have put it on the credit card with 0% interest until November so have a bit of breathing space now to pay it off at least, still grrrrrr

So tempted to have a glass of wine tonight but no, I've vowed to give up drink for January and don't want to spoil it now! A glass of squash it is then, maybe if I put it in a wine glass I can convince myself its wine....

chocoholic_chick

Evening all

So we made it to pay day, yay! Still in a battle to get my refund from npower, it's just beyond ridiculous now, I'd never ever use them again. I *should* be getting just under £200 back in about 10 days, but I won't hold my breath. The washing machine we're just going to pay off over a few months so it doesn't leave us skint this month. So an update on the goals I set which I'll update once a month around pay day :-

• Clear the £4,342.16 left on the Sainsburys loan £100 OP'd so current Balance £4231.66
• Clear the £900.00 left on the loan from my parents £300 paid so current Balance £600
• Save the remaining £606.00 needed to get the windows replaced Done :T
• Overpay the mortgage by £2000 £0 in January
• Have £2000 in savings ( this is really for when I hopefully get pregnant to top up my maternity pay ) £0 in January

Hope to post more regularly on here soon, just been extremely busy lately

chocoholic_chick

It's been ages since I've posted on here! Alot's changed since my last update as well, health issues, family issues and a new job over the last few months means that the mortgage overpayments have been put on stop and to be honest I can't see us being in a position to make any this year now. We've had to buy a second car so have taken out a loan for this as well, so feels like we're going in the wrong direction a bit BUT this new job has better prospects so hoping it's going to pay off in the end. One slight positive is I've maintained the OP's on the loan

• Clear the £4,342.16 left on the Sainsburys loan £500 OP'd so current Balance £2,073.91
• Clear the £900.00 left on the loan from my parents Cleared!
• Overpay the mortgage by £2000 £0 so far
  
• Have £2000 in savings ( this is really for when I hopefully get pregnant to top up my maternity pay ) £0 so far

I also now have another loan of £8000 for which the first repayment will come out this month ( this was for the car ). Hopefully once the Sainsburys loan is paid off later in the year we'll start either OP on the loan or the mortgage, not sure which yet. Going to have a read through how everyone else is doing now

chocoholic_chick

Well I've woefully neglected this thread, probably because of sheer embarrassment of the lack of progress I've made. I started out with such positivity and seem to have gotten no-where, if anything we're in a worse position than when we started!! I stand no chance whatsoever of hitting my overpaying £2000 in 2013 target considering I've made 1 ( yes you read that right, 1!!! ) overpayment this year, and that was only a few weeks ago for a measly £60 If I'm lucky we'll manage to OP by a total of £750.00 this year.

So what went wrong?? Well we booked a holiday had a really tough time of it this year and needed the break. But I think we're both a little more focused now, we want to move in a few years time, fresh start and all that so really need to work on getting some equity in the house.

So I'm back and will update this more!!

chocoholic_chick

What a dreary morning it is out there today, looks like summers finally over with and Autumns well and truly here. Can't say I mind too much, I love autumn when it's getting cold outside and you're nice and warm in the house, it's the perfect time of year for comfort food as well so I'll be dusting off the slow cooker soon and start making stews and soups again

Mortgage wise this month I've managed to make my first OP of the year of £60. I've got another £100 put aside which I'm hoping to put towards it as well but don't want to until closer to pay day so I know I don't need the cash. Mainly found the cash by budgeting better food wise and shopping at Aldi rather than Sainsburys. We spent £280 on food & toiletries last month and so far this month it's been just over £160, I've made an allowance of £40 for the shop I'll do at the weekend but I've done a meal plan for next week and I'm hoping it'll come in under that as it's pay day for hubby next Friday so the start of new month for us. I budget £280 a month for food ( some months we were going over that ) so if I do manage to get it closer to £200 each month there's £80 for OP's straight away.

One of our loans is now down to a balance of £568.03 as well so 2 more months and that will be cleared ( 7 months early :j ). That was £331.55 per month so with the cash we're saving off that most is going to go on mortgage overpayments and £100 of it is going towards starting to overpay on the other loan we have. Technically it should all go on the loan as its a higher APR but we want to move home and need to get equity in the house so I'm trying to strike the right balance. We'll see how it goes

chocoholic_chick

So after saying I was going to wait until closer to payday have made that £100 overpayment tonight. We have £111.38 left to last until next Friday after this overpayment which should definitely be do-able ( £40 for food shopping, £20 for petrol ) and will still have some left over incase we fancy doing anything on the weekend.