Mortgage Free by 40? 8 years to go

argomatt

Hi everyone, I hope you have had a good week.

A few things have turned out well this week, so I am feeling a bit better about the whole MFW endeavour.

Virgin Money agreed their charges for paying by SO were wrong, and have reversed them from my account.

I got accepted by Nationwide for the FlexDirect account when I asked them to review my earlier rejection. Apparently my previous address didn't match with that on the credit reference agency. V strange, have never had any problems like that before.

Got paid for the day's extra work I did last month

And been invited for interview for a promotion coming up at work. :j

Also, discovered that my 30 day notice savings account currently pays a massive 0.2% interest :eek: I have already transferred all the money out to fill up my ISA, and will be sending them the closure form as soon as I can get to a post box!


Have a nice weekend
:beer:

argomatt

Hi everyone!
It's been a while since I had chance to post on here but I have still been trying hard whenever I can to push towards being mortgage free..
21 NSDs in a row is a record for me, though I can't claim all of the credit, just been too busy with work and haven't had chance to go out and buy anything!
That would have left the bank balance much healthier but I transferred money to maximise my ISA as soon as I was paid, so now I haven't got much to live off for the rest of this month again.
Still, all worthwhile in the end.
Hope everyone else's MFW missions are going well.. I am looking forward to having time to catch up on diarys at the weekend

Matt

argomatt

Hi all :j :j

A quick weekly update from me, not much been going on here though.

In the process of opening a S@ntander ISA to transfer last years into, and to contribute to this year.

I am still trying to persuade Nationw1de to allow me a Flex Direct account. They still can't believe my address as it doesn't match up with their computer and they think I am not on the electoral roll.

I took my council tax bill, passport, and poll card for them to look at in the branch, so waiting to hear back from them now, though I will start chasing them for it soon.

I also started a Swagbucks account to have a go, but I am not really sure what I am doing with it, looks like I will need to do thousands of surveys before I am eligible for anything? Has anybody ever got anything worthwhile from this?

Matt :beer:

icklehelen

Hi Matt

I've been through phases with swagbucks. Once I got into it, it bacame quite addictive especially with the daily goal and extra bonuses for meeting the weekly and monthly targets!

It meant that my Christmas was very cheap as I basically bought most gifts from Am@zon with the vouchers redeemed!

I am now not so obsessed and dip into it now and again. Most days I go on to do the 'easy' points - NOSO, daily poll, one survey and a search until points are awarded. Some evenings I do the videos - on my laptop with sound off while I'm watching tv!

I'm already up to a £25 Am@zon voucher. It may not be the quickest way of making extra pennies but in November/December I'll be very grateful I stuck with it!!

HTH

ickle

argomatt

Hi Icklehelen

Thanks for the information,

I've had a bit more of a look around the site today and seen the NOSO for the first time, done the daily poll, and watched some videos :j

I'm hoping to make the most of it while I have got time available to do it, try to get an amazon voucher in the next two weeks but there don't seem to be many surveys available to me, and it looks like that's the main way of earning points?

Are there any similar websites that give rewards like this that I could try?

Matt

argomatt

Hi all.. I hope you are well.

Thank you to all those who read, comment, and thank on my diary, it really helps me to keep going, especially when things get a bit slow.

Things that have happened since I last posted:

Well on the way to my first Amazon voucher from Swagbucks

Flexdirect account finally open with Nationwide, I am a bit concerned about the switching process for direct debits etc. as I don't have enough cash to keep both old and new accounts enough in credit to cover all payments like they are suggesting.

Last year's ISA transferred to a higher interest one.

Two days extra work done, when I get paid for these, it will go towards the overpayment fund.

Signed up for Slimming World and lost 3.5 pounds in my first week :T:T

Jobs List:

Choose and open an ISA for this years savings

Obtain a Costco card and go have a look if there's any savings to be had in there when it opens nearby next month.

Get back on track with NSDs.

Find a cheaper contract for mobile phone and switch over.


Have a good weekend!
:beer::beer:

LauraJo

Hey Argomatt - just had a nosey and its a good goal!! I'm aiming to pay mine next yr when I'm 35 and OH 41 (he just missed the 40 mark!!) Same county as you too! I've found lots of dog walking (borrow one if you don't have one!) and trips to the beach in the summer a great money saver! Good luck will keep nosing to see how u getting on!

argomatt

Hi LauraJo
Thanks for posting!
I'd really like to have a dog because I do enjoy walking - done 5 miles this morning into town for the bank and back, and I am going to try to make the time to do more, especially now the weather should be improving (in theory..).
Good luck with your aims, you are so close now. Have you any big plans for once you've achieved it?

Matt
:beer:

LauraJo

Thanks Matt! It's weird but it almost feels like its just a dream and sometimes I dream about what we could do but it still has the same feeling as winning the lotto - good to dream but never gonna happen to me!! I reckon the first thing will be a good hols and then some house stuff that we have been putting off! Ideally I would love to go to a 4 day week too but not sure how OH would feel about that!!! How about you?

argomatt

A four day week sounds like a great idea, I would definitely go for that if I could.. at the moment I work 21 day weeks which is a lot too many!

I would like to get into a position where I could start up my own business, I had wanted to do this from the start but ended up taking a "normal" job to have the certainty and be able to get the mortgage in the first place!
So I am mainly looking forward to having the flexibility to stop work and get going with a business idea I have, although it is a long way away I am already starting to get my ideas together, researching and making contacts, because in reality the mortgage would'nt need to be gone completely, just be at a much lower level so I can comfortably cover it while I am getting myself started.