Littlefred's bid for mortgage freedom!

littlefred169

Thanks Froggy I'll have a look

HelenDaveKids

We have done that in the past and saved heaps.

gallygirl

If not, try ebay, DD got a part for her lease car rather than pay £100 excess (sssshhhhhhh ).

littlefred169

Well I ended up in the garage as the bit behind the mirror had melted which is a bit beyond me!! £45 including labour. I also had to get 2 new tyres so that was even more and I get fairly decent ones due to the motorway miles I do so I get the money back in fuel. Well eventually!

littlefred169

Bleugh I still seem to be sturggling with money and food I'll try and do something about it

littlefred169

Err I've been away from this longer than I thought!

I'm currently changing mortgage to reduce my interest rate by 1.7% and I'm fixed for 5 years and I'm still chipping away slowly but I seems to have lost my mojo in pretty much everything

I'm currently really busy with cadets and I'm starting to wonder if I should cut down to 1 night a week but I know my current co won't let me do that which would mean moving to another unit but there is such a great bunch of cadets I don't want to leave. Or I could take a couple of months leave and try again but I don't know if it'll be any quieter than now as there always seems to be something going on. Bah! I can't make a decision

littlefred169

A tiring couple of days at work which isn't helped by getting back late! I'm currently sat at my cadet covering another section's night as most of the staff are on our unit boating week. I am however managing to catch up on diaries and other odds and sods. On a money note I have £20 to last until pay day (Wednesday) and I've away at the football with my dad this weekend. This could get interesting!

littlefred169

I found out today that we're going to have a big inspection at work and it will be between now and the end of March with 1 weeks notice:eek:

On the positive I've managed to get my phone and bradband for 7.70 per month :j

I've also had my new mortgage offer through and I spent Friday morning sorting out paper work so I'll be glad when it's all sorted.
Saturday was a bit more fun going to the football although getting a third of the way and my dad realising he didn't have the tickets made us cut it a bit fine. We were there just 10 minutes before kick off!

Hope everyone is OK

LF

littlefred169

Should be finding out if I can go to 1 night a week at cadets later. Wish me luck....

littlefred169

Well what a few years!!

Work - As previously said I finished my masters but now I'm having to do a top up course as apparently according some lovely paper my masters doesn't have enough of the specialism I work in :rotfl: I've only worked in the speciality in a regional specialist centre for 4 years but that doesn't count! Oh well at least work is paying for it.

I've been given a local 6-month secondment to consider in the town 30 miles away and it would be a promotion with the potential to become permanent. I'm thinking about it but it would mean managing a department I've never worked in as they've merged 3 departments (I currently work in 1 but and worked in a second for 7 years) Still undecided although it is by the seaside!

Cadets - Some big changes!! I did go down to 1 night a week but ended up not enjoying myself so I took 5 months off in late 2015/early16 to see whether I wanted to do cadets anymore or wanted to try another unit. Well I still wanted to do it so I'm now at a more local unit (only 10 miles away rather than 30 like the last one!) and back doing 2 nights a week. We have a really good adult team and the majority of the cadets are a joy to teach and now we're back to the part of the year I enjoy the most. Cue the dodgy sun tans (hopefully)

Holidays - I went to Malta for weeks diving a few years ago but diving is soooo expensive. For my 30th and my sister’s 50th mum decreed she was going to take us both on holiday and asked where I’d like to go. Answer – somewhere hot where I can dive. She only took use to the b!!dy Maldives!! :j:j It was amazing and something I would never have been able to afford. Manta rays swimming above me, 30 or so nurse sharks on a night dive and numerous other sharks/fish. Oh and of course the beaches!

My brother and I went to where our maternal great grandparents are from in Brittany and we were supposed to be staying in the hotel that our great great grandparents built but the cancelled our booking 2 days before we went! :mad: We still went to have a look but we will go back to actually look around the place. We may to some research on when the family may be buried before we go back so we don't have to spend forever walking through cemeteries.

Although not a ‘full’ holiday I’ve not long got back from Stockholm where my dad and I went to watch our football team play and thankfully they won! 3 days, some mad football fans and my dad falling over (6’4’’ and 20 something stone) didn’t make it feel very relaxing.

Money – Seeing as this is MSE!! My mortgage is reducing very nicely and although my official mortgage free date is the same my mortgage allows for overpayments that can be clawed back and this it at £5754.68 since October 2014 so I will probably permanently but this off the mortgage when the fixed rate ends.

My mum and dad sold their bungalow in Cornwall and gave me and my brother and sister £5K each! :j However it did come with instructions… I’m not allowed to put it to the mortgage!! I was supposed to spend some on my boiler but that has since been OK and I was told to go on a ‘proper’ holiday so I’m off to Australia in February 2017 for a month!! I will be visiting my cousin who I haven’t seen for donkeys years and I will get to meet his wife and daughter. I may get discounts on flights over there as another cousin works for Emirates. I’ve done my visa and other than wanting to do the tourist things in Sydney, visit Uluru and dive on the Great Barrier Reef I’m still planning what to do so I’m open to suggestions if you lovely people have any. So all my extra money is currently going into the Oz fund!

MSE – I have become reaaaaaalllly lax recently to the extent I was buying my lunch at M&S every day and having takeaways 2-3 times a week!!:eek: I hate to think how much money I have wasted!! I went back to my own lunches last week and have been cutting down on the takeaways. It seems I’ve had another mini lightbulb moment! I have been still getting better deals in my utilities etc. most recently saving £65 on my car insurance renewal so I didn’t completely fall of the wagon. I also am saving on the gas bill as it appears my bath is leaking as I found a puddle underneath it on the ground floor! So cue going to the gym for a shower until my friend has time to come and have a look. This may be a couple of weeks as he’s really busy at the moment but I don’t mind as it’s so much cheaper for me and it’s making me go for more swims as I have to go to the gym anyway. So the hot water is not turned on at the moment, very MSE. Silver lining and all that.

I’ve been catching up with some of the diaries I used to read and this is definitely re inspiring me to get the mortgage paid off and retire early as I really don’t want to be working until I’m 68 or god knows what age by the time I get there!

Tilly tidied 10p, every little helps!!

LF x