MFW Diary - Take 1!

Calfuray

VoucherMan wrote: »

If it were me I'd go for whichever was the easiest way to make it read correctly.

I did notice that by putting your Interest Rate after Intro Period
to 5.98% that it changed your repayment time to 35 years.
Don't know if anyone else can explain that. It beats me.

Had a look at how up set up my spreadsheet. Interest rates started dropping just as my fixed rate finished so it was awkward to set up.
I cheated / made it easier by using my mortgage anniversary as a start date. Started it in January this year so changed my term from 25 to 20 years. I entered my current balance as the mortgage amount, then adjusted the Basic Monthly Payment on the monthly table, and again in May when rates went up.

Thanks, I've played around a bit with it and put it as if the mortgage was starting when the fixed rate ends, it still ends a bit earlier than it's supposed to but it'll do :rotfl:

Thanks for all the help!

Calfuray

nattypants wrote: »

Just caught up cal, and I'm impressed! Hope the exams went well and keep going exactly as you are (I wish I'd had your foresight in my younger years)

NP:D

Thanks The exams went *okay*, get results on Jan 8th!

And thanks for the support

Hopee you are recovered after LBR incident!

Calfuray

Am roasting, have put roasties on and have been a housework :A, lentil soup is on with leftover ham from yesterday

nattypants

Calfuray wrote: »

Hopee you are recovered after LBR incident!

Just about, although am never driving in jammies again (well until the next time;))

Calfuray

Since there won't be any more OPs until January, thought I'd do end of year round up:

OPs made in 2012: £402

I always knew I wanted to OP, but hadn't done it before. After playing around with Martin's calculator, I saw how much difference even £50 a month would make. Fell in love with the effects of a £200pm OP, but since that's over 20% of my wage I can't really stretch to that
Don't know why, but lightbulb moment when I actually started to pay was in Oct this year. Aiming for a conservative target of £100 pm, so £300, and got £402, not bad.

2013: Have signed up to MFW 2013, with target of £1200 OPs. Again, £100 a month, so should be a realistic (but still challenging enough!) target.

For future: Looking ahead, I'm going to be getting inheritance money this year. Since I didn't plan for it, I'm kind of at a loss what to do with it. I've signed up for MFiT-T3, with aim to have mortgage below £50,000 after it, so looking at possibility of signing up to an offset mortgage, since inheritance and emergency fund money would make up 40% of mortgage, this should really reduce interest? Need to research more. Also, no idea what to do with investing etc, let it sit in high-interest account.. or ???

Challenges: Currently I am still saving £250 a month for emergency savings fund, with over a year to go to make up the amount I would feel comfortable with.
Past few years, I saved my !!! off to get a new bathroom done. I bought all the parts month by month, so all I would have at the end would be labour. Then a cowboy did it, to the point where there were leaking pipes, tiles falling off wall etc. It had to be fixed urgently, and I ended up having to take out a loan to get it redone. It's now beautiful, but the sooner I pay the loan off the better, that would be more money freed up to OP.
So, at the end of 2013, I will have the last few months of loan/emergency fund to build up, unless I use inheritance to finish those early. Assuming I don't, I'll be able to start serious OPs in 2014.

2012 so far: Can't complain Holiday to Norway in May, got engaged in May, finalised degree I am doing, got prize for best grades in 1st year of uni, good grades (so far! next results on 8th Jan!), bought parts and built my computer, bought new laptop, bought loads of new furniture(!) and new bathroom of course. No excuses to not save/OP next year, we can obviously still have fun and be moneysaving.
Feel a bit guilty reading everything we did, but it all came out of saving, scrimping and hard work!

Hope 2013 is as good, this is where the serious work start, at uni and money-wise!

skint_spice

Well done for all you've achieved in 2012, hope 2013 is just as good for you:beer:.

Calfuray

skint_spice wrote: »

Well done for all you've achieved in 2012, hope 2013 is just as good for you:beer:.

Thank you, I hope so too! I hope it is good for all us MFWs, but I'm sure we will make it so :P

Progress! Chest freezer has been put in, plugged in, and partly filled. Went to our local butcher, who is cheaper and sooooo much tastier than any supermarket meat we've had. They are closing up for a week so were getting rid of everything cheap cheap - like over a kilo of good steak for £15. They must have heard about the chest freezer

So, chilling out for rest of today, and enjoying next few days off with hubby as not seen him much lately, then it's time to crack on with meal making and meal plan spreadsheet a la Tilly. So hard to think of new exciting meals to make, I swear he is fussier than most of your children - no exaggerations!

Had a wobbly moment where I nearly returned my laptop as I was sitting thinking how much I could OP from that amount of money! But no, it is luxury, and it is from Christmas present money so technically I didn't spend any of my own money... look at me still trying to convince myself :P

Off to relax with a cider and a good book, then dinner.

Hope everyone is doing well. Spent the last couple of hours reading up on diaries, hope I got everyone!

Happy New Year very soon! xx

Calfuray

Actually Happy New Year now!

Made a good start to the year, seem to have broken the online mortgage statement, it's showing our balance is -1850... If the bank want to owe us nearly 2 grand that's fine with me! :L

In all seriousness though, will need to check and see if it's resolved itself when I get up in the morning, or phone and find out if the OPs broke it!

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Calfuray, hope your menu spreadsheet went ok :T. It takes a while to get into the swing of it, but it saves so much time in the week when we are all busy.

Best wishes for 2013

Tilly x

gallygirl

Calfuray wrote: »

Made a good start to the year, seem to have broken the online mortgage statement, it's showing our balance is -1850... If the bank want to owe us nearly 2 grand that's fine with me! :L

In all seriousness though, will need to check and see if it's resolved itself when I get up in the morning, or phone and find out if the OPs broke it!

Maybe your bank is going in for Random Acts of Kindness and they've paid it off for you .