Mortgage Free in Three Yrs

comping_cat

I am so excited - going to have to PM Tall Girl again with a new figure!!!

Dont know why i re checked - must've done it too early on Friday morning, but my balance now stands at £75,902.20!!!! I've made it under the 76K mark HURRAH!!!!!

Ive paid off £4302.41 WOW!!!

Kaz2904

Just come in from work, Happy Belated birthday Tallgirl. Hope you had a good celebration and holiday.

Now I have to let you all in on my dirty secret......




I spent my break last night going through all of the disposed of papers and magazines and cutting out all of the money off vouchers from them. After adding them all up I ought to be able to get £19.80 off my shopping (in bursts). Just how sad am I though?!

firesidemaid

Kaz2904 wrote: »

Now I have to let you all in on my dirty secret......

I spent my break last night going through all of the disposed of papers and magazines and cutting out all of the money off vouchers from them. After adding them all up I ought to be able to get £19.80 off my shopping (in bursts). Just how sad am I though?!

well done! i do that - i can't believe that people don't take the coupons out. i also get very excited when i find good high-value ones:j

the only downside this week is that the asda checkout girl told me that they are no longer accepting internet coupons!? so i'm going to check with customer services about this. i don't think couponstar will be happy (let alone me......).

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

sazzacat wrote: »

well done! i do that - i can't believe that people don't take the coupons out. i also get very excited when i find good high-value ones:j

the only downside this week is that the asda checkout girl told me that they are no longer accepting internet coupons!? so i'm going to check with customer services about this. i don't think couponstar will be happy (let alone me......).

---

Sounds like something I would do too....;)

I have had no luck with printed off coupons at asda so I tend to stick to the ones I've clipped out of mags.

Had a good old chat with DH over the hols and he has seen a huge decrease in our mortgage balance since I started overpaying and I don't think he believed it was possible. I suggested the next best way of cutting back is to spend (even) less on food shopping. This will not be easy as I already grown some of my own and cook from scratch using meal planning but I think if I meal plan for the whole month instead of weekly it might work out. I have also gone through the cupboards and freezer and done an inventory of food and realised that I could start up a supermarket! So, I'm using up everything before I buy any more food so hopefully a cheap month this month.

My DD wanted to buy some veg pate from the health food shop but when I looked at the ingredients I reckoned I could make my own so I whizzed up 1/2 an onion, a carrot, tin of chick peas, 1 tbspn tahini, herbs s and p and spread it on some fresh home made bread. It was lovely and we ate the lot! I'm going to adapt it to whatever veg I've got in and have some mung beans sprouting on the windowsill in a jar so that will be nice with the spread in a sarnie. Nice for packed lunches when they go back to school and cheap and healthy too.

I have been toying with the idea of eating less meat and using more pulses as I like them and with DH cholesterol level might not be a bad thing.

Anyway, he is in agreement to further cutbacks which is a minor miracle as he used to just buy whatever he fancied in the supermarket when I first met him! (He would put things in the trolley and I would be taking them out!) Now he is really keen on frugal living as we eat better and have more holidays and if we need anything we can generally get it without getting into debt.

So, goals for the month of August are as follows...

- meal plan for the month using up whats in the house.
- sell some stuff on ebay (must find out if there is a 10p listing day)
- Try not to buy anything and just substitute with whats already in.
- Enjoy the kids being off school and look for ways to keep them entertained without spending too much money.

Thats it!

LookAfterThePennies_4

Hi,
Mortgage balance at start of April £56,819
Mortgage balance at 5th Aug £56,559

We have had to temporarily stop making overpayments as we are currently on the lender's standard variable rate while our remortgage goes through. We will then be able to make unlimited overpayments with our new mortgage company:j

Money has been a bit tight as I'm currently not working but that changes in September when I start a job and should be able to overpay by approximately £500pcm. My husband will also be making overpayments from his salary.

Objectives for August:

Sell lots on Ebay/Amazon
Make some meal plans and stick to them!

Karmacat

Kaz2904, I do that too sometimes. At the mo, I'm really annoyed with myself - I found some out of date Tesco vouchers for extra points if you buy fresh veg or frozen food or whatever - can't use them now, v peeved. I *never* usually do that!

TallGirl

Totally agree with you there on the out of date coupons. So annoying you almost feel like you have lost the actualy money. Once my DH "found" 30 Sainsbury nectar vouchers (when you got paper ones) in his jacket pocket he hadn't used for ages.

It is so nice to have your DH/OH on board it makes it so much easier. My FIL told us on Saturday that the inherritance from his sister has now come through so hopefully DH should get his cheque soon. He has agreed to pay it all off the mortage in which that would clear 12.5% of it. THat is so unreal. However he did say lets just clear 10% and use the rest towards a holiday. Well as all our holidays for this year are now paid and I have no more leave left in could just sit in the off set savings account but tempted to get the mortgage down instead.

Anyway enough rambling on from me. When would you guys like me to post the chart? I know as soon as I put it up more people will remember to PM me which is a shame.

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

Hi Tallgirl, Happy belated borthday greetings to you! I would love to see how everyone is doing so I vote for posting the chart but please do whatever makes less work and hassle for you. Thank you for co ordinating this along with Dithering Dad.
I'm getting really into it now...:)

Just got back from the dentist and both kids have to go see the orthodontist, dentist tells me that braces can cost thousands? Is this right? I know NHS dentistry costs have risen but I didn't think it would be that much. I suppose I'll get a better idea when they've been to see the orthodontist...better start saving up then...

I took Martins advice and 'self insure' by having a little pot of money that I save into regularly for glasses and dentists. I worked it out that it would be cheaper to do this than pay into a scheme.
Hope everyone is ok and excited about the chart!

cupid_s

Desperate_Housewife wrote: »

Just got back from the dentist and both kids have to go see the orthodontist, dentist tells me that braces can cost thousands? Is this right? I know NHS dentistry costs have risen but I didn't think it would be that much. I suppose I'll get a better idea when they've been to see the orthodontist...better start saving up then...

How old are the kids? I had braces for about 4 years and as I was under 18 we never had to pay a penny. I thought all childrens NHS treatment was free?

freebird65

cupid_s wrote: »

How old are the kids? I had braces for about 4 years and as I was under 18 we never had to pay a penny. I thought all childrens NHS treatment was free?

Not any more by all accounts. A couple of friends with kids have been asked to shell out in the region of £3K+ per child!! :eek:

P.S. Belated birthday greetings to TallGirl!!! :beer: