Onwards to freedom!

SuperSecretSquirrel

[SIZE=2][FONT=Courier New]               CURRENTVALUE       +/-MTH       +/-QTR       +/-YOY
House Value:    [COLOR=Blue]£125,000.00[/COLOR]        £0.00        £0.00        £0.00
Cash:            [COLOR=Blue]£42,651.90[/COLOR]     -£462.71   -£2,017.60   -£3,026.48
Pensions:        [COLOR=Blue]£69,749.09[/COLOR]      £270.85    £2,825.31   £21,372.59
Car Value:       [COLOR=Blue]£15,085.00[/COLOR]     -£360.00   -£1,080.00    £5,285.00
S&S:             [COLOR=Blue]£19,373.50[/COLOR]      £806.13    £3,069.11   £10,169.85
Mortgage:       [COLOR=DarkRed]-£18,680.39[/COLOR]      £746.54    £2,227.15   £11,218.20
Due to HMRC:       [COLOR=DarkRed]-£411.89[/COLOR]       £82.52       £76.71      -£38.70
Student Loan:      [COLOR=DarkRed]-£645.39[/COLOR]       £86.80    £1,350.15    £1,909.52
[B]Total:          £252,121.82    £1,170.13    £6,450.83   £46,889.98[/B][/FONT][/SIZE]

84.0% of the way to 300k net worth (2020 challenge), 14.9% mortgage ltv, £42,933.12 beyond mortgage neutral in liquid assets, 15.6% financially independent.
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June wasn't a spectacular month, but they can't all be! Happy to say we're still heading in the right direction

This was the third month of recording all our spends, and I've noticed that although not all months are created equal (car costs, insurances, christmas, birthdays, holidays, etc, all spread out unevenly throughout the year) we seem to have a fairly steady baseline so far. Will be interesting to see if this holds over a full year!

In June we spent:
£1524.28 on bills (run a home and two cars - inc £828.48pm accelerated mortgage)
£304.92 on weekly shops (food, cleaning products, toiletries, nappies, etc)
£403.54 on everything else

Hope you're all making good progress!

edinburgher

What if anything do you spend on home maintenance/improvement? I know my view is coloured by updating a 70s house, just curious to see how others fare. I.e. small repairs, paintwork touch ups, necessary purchases of tools for DIY/gardening etc.

SuperSecretSquirrel

That's where the spending can get quite lumpy I guess Ed. In the past three months there hasn't been anything too major, but I'd estimate around 8-9k spent on that kind of thing over the past 7 years. New bathroom, replastering some internal walls, new carpets, painting the exterior of the house, a fair amount of landscaping, a little redecorating, etc.

I guess once we have a years worth of spending recorded, we'll need to add a buffer on top to cover irregular expenditure. That should give us a fairly realistic ballpark annual spend figure.

Edit: Replacing cars would fit into this lumpy category too, and maybe out of the ordinary once in a lifetime type holidays too. Then there's helping out the children as they reach university or house buying age... I can see how life usually ends up being an eternal hamster wheel

Calfuray

Just finished reading your diary SSS - thanks for the kick up the backside

SuperSecretSquirrel

Thanks for reading along Cal - looks like you're back with a vengeance!

So, umm, I was at a loose end a little earlier today, and found myself back on the credit club... Another couple of cards are on their way - that's a further 16k-ish to be added to the stooze pot very soon My next credit score update could be a shocker!

SuperSecretSquirrel

That's all the 0% BT cards well and truly rinsed

I've paid £151.34 in fees, and £5.27 in interest (a little more may be added next month, but it shouldn't be much as I avoided the weekends this time, and arranged the BTs while the MTs were still in progress). I'm also expecting £25.25 cashback. Overall cost of £131.36 to borrow £30,270 (minus min repayments) over two years.

Minimum repayment DDs setup, and reminders to pay off or BT balances at end of 0% periods arranged.

Total stoozed balance now stands at £39,824.62

PB's will be maxed out after a regular saver matures this weekend, and will remain maxed until the mortgage payoff in January. They will be depleted over time, as and when stooze cards need repaying, or I find better homes for the cash.

Tried my luck applying for the remaining 0% BT deals available to me, offered ~£500 CLs so didn't bother submitting applications. Just as well really as I've run out of places to stash the cash for the next six months!

I think I'll just sit back and wait for some PB wins now while the automated systems keep things ticking over for a couple of years.

I will keep crawling along with the slow stooze of course

edinburgher

My credit score dropped from 850 to 450 or so :eek:

Planning on killing the MT card, as it would drop my total credit available by £5,000 and hopefully start the journey of rebuilding said score. Realistically, the next time we will need access to credit will be the end of 2020 when we remortgage.

SuperSecretSquirrel

Hi Ed Yikes!

Mine has dropped from 890 to 790 so far, but the last update was made when things were still in motion...

Since then 3 cards have been added, credit limit increased by 26.5k, borrowing increased by just over 25k, and percentage credit used gone from 41% to 65%. No doubt my credit score has a long way to fall! :rotfl:

Like you, I foresee no need for credit in the near future, so who cares

I guess consistently making the repayments will bump it up a little over time, and like you I will most likely close the mule card (or reduce the CL drastically) since it's no longer of much practical use.

This stoozing business has certainly made the "boring" bit of the last couple of months a little more interesting. I like having cause to update my spreadsheets

DeterminedSingleMummy

Wow credit limited increased by 26.5k that's amazing!! :T I will be needing another balance transfer in Nov when one of my 0% cards ends so will be looking to BT it to a 0% fee free card. It's nice to read other peoples stories I've got 3 0% cards going atm and never paid a single fee or interest and I love my spreadsheets too.:rotfl:

SuperSecretSquirrel

Hi DSM Might be worth you looking into paying a 0.5% money transfer fee to boost your stooze pot too?

I've decided to cool right off now. No more applications, make the monthly payments like clockwork, and eventually reduce the limit on the money transfer and slow stooze cards. I figure all this should give me a half decent chance of balance transferring my existing stooze pot at the end of the current 0% period. Doing so would probably be more worthwhile than trying to squeeze every last drop out right now.