Polkadot Dress and her (long) journey to mortgage freedom.....

Polkadot_Dress

Thanks Pix and Moneycurious

Not much to report on the money saving today. Back at work and feeling bleurgh. Mr PD was on puppy duty today and apparently she was looking for me by the front door when I left which has made me feel very loved and wanted

Keeping up to date with the Money Wiz app and it is giving us some very pretty and informative bar graphs and pie charts. Slightly concerning my biggest expenditure is Te$co :eek:

On the goals front, I am still mulling them over but will share asap.

Polkadot_Dress

So after a little mulling over the figures here are my goals for 2013:-

• Pay off outstanding loan of £6000 by 31st March 2013 at the latest.
• Pay off £10,000 capital over the next 9 months (April to December 2013)
• Plan sensibly and consider new mortgage deal when existing rate of 2.99% comes to an end if November 2013
• Track expenditure all year in order to make informed decisions (I have a habit of giving up on this task)
• Raise £750 on ebay during 2013 and use this for birthday/xmas presents/treats throughout the year.
• Be truly accountable and believe that this is possible!

I have been off sick today from work (first day in 3 years , I think I pushed myself to hard earlier this week as there was something I had to go in for, and I've may be made matters worse).

My daughter made me a lovely 'Get Well Soon' chocolate cake today with a whole bar of galaxy melted as a topping. Yum

I also used some ebay funds to replace some faulty parts in our dishwasher. I bought a lovely AEG model off a friend 4 years ago for £50 and it has been brilliant, just needed to replace cutlery basket and a spray arm to keep it going a while longer. £18.74 including delivery for these two items.

pavlovs_dog

Polkadot_Dress wrote: »

Also in case this is news to anyone. If you have a paypal account you can request a paypal access card which is a debit card linked to your paypal account. I've had mine for about a year now and it is fabulous. Sell something on ebay and no waiting for funds to transfer to your account, you can access the funds immediately using your card.

handy to know, cheers PDD :T

Good luck with your aims for 2012 :beer:

Debt_Free_Guy

I love the fact that you have set yourself a mortgage reduction target. Personally I think that's the right thing to do at anytime but especially now when interest rates are at an historic low and any future rises are likely to mean that you'll be incurring higher interest charges on outstanding capital amounts.

As i like to say "If you aim at nothing you're gonna hit it" In other words you need to have a target!

Like you my focus is on paying down mortgage debt where possible which isn't always easy!!!!!

All the best with your journey, well done on your property savvy skills in the past and enjoy your fabulous house - sounds awesome

moneycurious

Hope your feeling much better!!!

Polkadot_Dress

Hi all

Sorry for long silence on progress here - a combination of still being under the weather and the looooonggg old month of January meaning I was slipping into my overdraft :eek: Don't want to ever get back into those habits, it was quite a fright.

So me and Mr PD have been paid now so I can breathe a sigh of relief.

On the MFW front in January we have:-

• Discovered @ldi. Goodness why have I never shopped there before, I am so impressed with the prices!
• Sold a silver spoon for £79 on ebay :T
• Saved £79 on AA Breakdown Cover just by phoning up and threating to leave! Wouldn't have bothered with this before and would have just accepted their renewal price
• Got an unexpected promotion at work with a nice rise (which will all be allocated to the MFW plans!)

Just noticed the £79 coincidence in figs above - perhaps it's a lucky number for me :cool:

That's all for now

PD x

moneycurious

Well done on the promotion!!! I am awaiting going to @ldo with mr mc but he isnt to keen, i am rather a reduction queen to be honest! 79 does appear to be a good number for you!!!

Polkadot_Dress

Hi Moneycurious - Mr PD wasn't keen either so I went with my eldest son on my first visit. Tbh I'm glad I didn't take him as he would have been completely stressed by the fact you pack your bags not at the checkout (unless you are super quick!), but at a little bar behind the checkout. So my advice is to make the trip alone first!

Mr PD particularly isn't interested in my now regular game of 'see this, guess how much this was?' when I produce anything from the cupboard purchased from @ldi :rotfl:

So far can particularly recommend the potato wedges for 79p, the ham/chorizo and super cheap (and decent quality) veg. E.g. big bag of red onions for 49p.

It is a little out of my way to get there but think I will keep it up now - the only downside is my nearest one seems to be so popular that parking is a :eek:

PD x

pavlovs_dog

keep an eye out for this Thursday's Mirror. On the last Thrusday of the month they normally do a page of vouchers for Aldi. The main one is £5 off a £35 spend, but there are usually a dozen % off specific items too (which can be used alongside the £5 coupon).

Stock levels of promo items is pretty good too IME.

If I can find time to do a fortnight's meal plan, I might even buy two papers and stock up on the non perishables at the start of the month, saving £10.

:think:

Polkadot_Dress

Thanks for tip Pavlov's Dog

Updated sig to account for £211 Feb council tax payment which has gone to loan pot, and £305 January loan payment. Over half way now and 60 days to go for this first challenge of paying loan off by end of March :T

A welcome expense today - have met our new dog sitter who will look after puppy 3 lunchtimes per week whilst I am at work. Lovely lady who knows her stuff and worth the £24 per week. Yes it will slow down the challenge, but I am so happy she will be in good hands.

PD x