Challenge of a lifetime!

cotswoldaccountant

Thanks so much PrincessLou! I used to wait until the end of the month, and overpay what was left, but it wasn't a very good strategy as there was never anything left!

So I decided at around the time I started this challenge that I would make sure there was the right amount of money in the current account at the start of the month to last the month ahead, and anything extra that came in during the month would be overpaid.

This seems to work better, as:
a) it stops me from spending too much during the month, as I know the amount available is limited, as anything "spare" will be OPd.
b) our income streams are quite random, but we get bits of money in over the course of the month - deposit and balance payments for the holiday let, payments for my accountancy invoices, lodger rent, and of course the odd ebay item etc. It is nice to OP these straight away, rather than waiting to the end of the month, so as to save as much interest as possible!

The money that comes in at the beginning of the month is OH's salary and this is about the same each month, and we know that we can live off this as long as we don't have any big expenses.

For various reasons, OH's salary has been lower than usual for the last couple of months, so we haven't been able to OP as much as usual.

Also, I have just set up a limited company for my accountancy business (previously I was a sole trader) and I have needed to have a quite bit of spare cash in the bank to fund the company start-up.

The number of spreadsheets I have with all the info on is a bit mind-boggling!

Thanks for the prompt that I was getting close to £375k - that will be an exciting day, and I agree it seems to have come quite quickly since moving to the cheaper mortgage :j:j

cotswoldaccountant

Just working out my self assessment tax for this year, and I have realised we have had no fewer than 11 lodgers since moving to this house. I'm very appreciative of the opportunity to meet such interesting and lovely people, as well as the extra income it brings. Would highly recommend having a lodger to anyone who is looking to make a bit of extra (tax free) money, and has the space and inclination to have an extra person in the household!:beer:

cotswoldaccountant

Spent all yesterday evening working on accounts for the holiday let - makes me wish I had organised my receipts better throughout the year, rather than just stuffing them in a folder until April! I'm not very good at following my own advice - I wouldn't be very happy if a client kept their records so badly!

One of my aims with the mortgage-free challenge is, like many others on this forum, to clear clutter and live in a more organised way. I am pretty organised about most things, but paperwork is rather getting on top of me if I don't deal with it very regularly. The filing cabinet is full to bursting, so I think that will be the first thing to sort out - I liked Tilly's comment the other day about checking every piece of paper in the study to see if it needed to be shredded or filed - I definitely need to have that sort of mentality!

We have lovely friends coming to stay tonight so really looking forward to that. Hope everyone has a lovely Saturday.

crossways

I have not got round to starting a diary. Maybe one day. I find your posts very helpful. I think I have read some on LMH too?
What are your thoughts on making payments into cash Isa's. We have been using all our spare cash to pay down the mortgage, but after reading yours and Tilly's diary's I am wondering should we be putting some money into an Isa? Many thanks.

cotswoldaccountant

Hi Crossways,

Thanks for reading my diary - I'm glad it's been helpful! I do think it is important to have some savings as well as paying off the mortgage - mainly because OH's job is as a contractor so he has no job security, and also we have an old house where we always worry about the roof needing to be repaired, so we have wanted to have a bit of savings to cover these two eventualities!

I don't use my full ISA allowance each year as I do prefer to put money into the mortgage, but I wouldn't get rid of these savings entirely.

CA

cotswoldaccountant

Afternoon all. Had a lovely time with our friends and have spent a nice day at home after they left this morning. Children have played happily, end of holiday homework finished, and now they're watching a film. It's not holding the interest of the youngest two though, so my time is limited and teatime is calling!

I've spent lots of time today sorting out our airing cupboard and it looks amazing! It is a big built-in set of shelves on the landing, but was filled to bursting, so invariably the doors wouldn't shut and most of the contents were spilling out onto the floor. Impossible to find a matching duvet set or set of towels without taking the whole lot out! Anyway, I've sorted it all, ironed everything and replaced the few pieces of spare bedlinen and towels which I want to keep, nicely sorted by shelf into single, double, kingsize and towels. Most of the surplus stuff is going to the charity shop, but there are several children's sets and baby towels that I have put aside for an NCT sale at the end of the month.

Have chased up some overdue invoices too, so all in all a productive day!

CA

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi CA, you must feel fab right now. I'd be popping by and checking the contents every few minutes :)

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday x x x

cotswoldaccountant

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS wrote: »

Hi CA, you must feel fab right now. I'd be popping by and checking the contents every few minutes :)

That is EXACTLY what I am doing! Any excuse to pop upstairs for a quick look. I can't get over the fact that the doors close too - it's a revelation. OH will be amazed when he gets home - when he went out he raised a despairing eyebrow at the endless pile of linen all over the landing!

cotswoldaccountant

Morning all. Should be a nice sunny day today, which will make a change! Had a wet family walk yesterday which was nice, but would have been nicer without the rain...

Pleased that my airing cupboard is still tidy after a week. I'm working on my older sons' bedroom at the moment - clutter everywhere. It's a huge room at the top of the house but the storage isn't great, and is mostly mismatched cupboards that have seen better days. I'd love to replace everything and get some nice built-in shelving and proper clothes storage, but that is a priority for after the mortgage is paid off! And they are too young to mind what their furniture looks like at the moment. Have sorted all of the books and moved any that were too young for them into the younger children's rooms. The immediate benefit was that straight away, they found books they hadn't seen for ages that they wanted to read.

I had success chasing up old invoices and have managed to make several OPs this month. Target OPs for the month exceeded, which makes up for lack of OPs last month so hopefully still on track...

Hope everyone enjoys a nice sunny Sunday.

CA

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi CA, you are making such fantastic progress - watching those numbers decrease is life changing in my opinion.

What did your DH say about the airing cupboard?

Tilly x