The BIG Plan...

MummyEm

Had a really lovely weekend. Had some friends over to stay then BBQ at another friends on Sunday. Was shattered by last night though and in bed by half eight!

• Booked kids school meals for this week
• Need to get refund from school for DS school meals. He is eligible for free meals now as in year 1 but still have some money left on my account. I would much rather have this in my savings account towards this month's total
• 3 eb@y parcels posted this morning. Two of which had been relisted a few times. I need to get some more listings done as don't have a huge amount left on there but have quite a busy week ahead. I will try to take some pictures on my phone so I can list items when I have a few spare minutes here and there over the week.

I also managed to fit a bit of shopping in this weekend as I've decided to make a start updating my wardrobe a little. Not very MFW I know, but need to smarten up a little for work as looking a bit drab at the moment. I still need to have that clear out too which is now even more desperate as have no room for new purchases...

I am waiting for Halifax to update mortgage with this month's payment and also add interest. I'm not entirely sure which day it goes on but am getting really impatient to see what it is with this month's OPs!

Anyway, back to today's list, off to check through kids uniform to make sure everything has name labels and bags are ready for the morning. I am dreading it:(

MummyEm

Interest, normal payment and standard OP have all been applied to the mortgage giving us a total of £268,976.02
I was going to round down the £6.02 but looking back have realised that if I OP £31.02 that means we have paid £1000.00 capital off :T:T:T for this month so that is what I will be doing shortly.

• Daily interest now sub £14 @ £13.97
• Another item sold on eB@y. Need to pack this evening and get posted tomorrow
• Kids back at school so feeling a little
• DH didn't make it home for dinner last night so rejigged mealplan. Ate LO and veggies needing to be used up instead. One meal saved to be eaten later in the week

Probably in for quite an expensive week this week as will be paying for fencing and some of kids activities start back too. Hoping I have not missed anything off the budget...

MummyEm

Kids back at school and activities starting back up so cheque book is constantly open! It's all budgeted for at least and the kids are loving being busy again with their friends.

Hit the gym this morning for the first time in months so should sleep well tonight!

In MS news.

• Another eB@y item sold
• Managed to sell some paving slabs and these were collected this weekend so £25 for the savings pot
• Have a couple of large items with bids on which I will be glad to see the back of. DH wants the garage cleared out by winter so he can park his car in there so need to up the pace in clearing out
• Did really well sticking to mealplan last week. Meal plan and shop are done for this week so just need to stick to it!
• I have started an end of week money update of my spreadsheets. I've managed to stick to this for the last three weeks and am finding it really helpful (as I don't forget what's been spent like I did trying to do it monthly) and I can see exactly where we are and what we are allowed to spend. Just need to convince DH to not overspend and we'd be :rotfl:!!

Off to do school run and enjoy some sunshine now as will be stuck indoors working for the next three days

MummyEm

Haven't had much to update this last few weeks. Still eB@ying away but have used up my free listings for this month so have a pile waiting for October. Sales still ticking over. Posted 5 items so far this week and have had two large items collected. Haven't calculated exact £ sales but have £70 cash for collected items so that's not bad at all.

I have made a start clearing out my wardrobe. I decided to try my own version of Project 333 for the next three months to try to cut down on the amount of time I waste in the morning looking for something to wear. I am doing a separate 'work' and 'casual' wardrobe as I don't think I could manage it otherwise

I am looking at a couple new potential 'extra income' avenues which I'm hoping could develop into a little business venture over time. I'd love to cut down on some hours I do in one particular location at the moment as the atmosphere there is so awful. We shall see, for now, I'm doing it for fun and we'll see how it goes.

OP - no further OP's to the mortgage this month. Extra income still being diverted to repayment fund.

Budget - I am really struggling to get to grasps with it at the moment. Since DH started his new job, his expenses and spends are all over the place. I have little idea what's going on. I really need to get to grips with it but getting little help on this front from DH and I just can't seem to find a way to keep track of it all. Think I need to sit down with DH and explain it to him (again!!) but I can't ever seem to get through. His response seems to be that he needs to earn more money - errr no, missing the point

MummyEm

Just checking in for month end. Mortgage normal payment, standard OP, and small extra OP made for the month so total of £1442.40 paid this month - just over £1k capital paid off.

Budgets set for the month and first week of shopping is going well.

Two more eB@y sales this week though only small items.

Repayment savings pot stands at £5512.25 . Still have lots of work expenses owed from DH work but a few large bills to pay too. If we can end the month at this level we will have done quite well (though higher would be great!).

Have finished work for the week so planning a day of pottering about at home / in kitchen tomorrow. Kids have requested HM pizza for tea. Have run out of tinned tomatoes so will be making sauce using the last of this year's homegrown tomatoes as the grocery budget is spent for the week so will not be going to the shops. Will also make a cake for friend's Bday and poss something for another friend who's just moved house though more eggs may be required unless I can get inventive I think a clear out of the baking cupboard is in order to see what can be conjured up

MummyEm

Inspired by the fiscal fasting threads in the DFW board, I'm going to have one full week this week of planned only spends. If it's not on my monthly budget, it's not being bought! Not quite NSD but NUSD (No Unplanned Spending Days)!

Have been to butchers this morning to buy meat for the week. Have groceries being delivered this afternoon. Shouldn't need any other food this week except a joint for our Sunday roast (will buy this Friday) and possibly some bananas later in the week.


I will try to update every day this week with my spends so there is no cheating

Things I can to for 'free' to keep me busy this week

• Baking - use up some ingredients that have been hanging around a while including some sad looking bananas and some Easter chocolate
• Clearing out/reorganising/tidying up in the playroom
• Pack away summer clothes
• Prepare items for NCT sale next month
• Sort through presents stash and start thinking about Christmas presents
• Organise bits for Christmas - secret santa with family (?) - check which family will be coming over/staying etc.
• Batch cooking
• Prepare Halloween craft activities for half-term
• Plan other half-term activities

MummyEm

It's been a while so thought I'd pop in with an update.

I've been working more hours recently so between that and the kids we're all pretty busy adjusting to a new routine. This might be only temporary though so just enjoying the extra income while we have it and putting it to good use!

Total OP in 2014 (since we changed mortgage deal in April) £1042.60 :T

Current daily interest £13.70 so slowly going in the right direction.

We are currently OPing around £160-200 a month to top up our repayment so that we pay £1k capital a month.

Mortgage currently stands at £263,800.00.


We will continue with this for 2015. We are still paying back a family loan aiming to clear £10k from this this year. We also have some work to do in the house and front and back gardens this spring. This is around £10k again. We have the money saved for this ready to go.

I haven't yet replaced my car which is still going ok at the moment but we are half expecting that to change at any time!

Other financial plans are to fill our ISA allowance for the year and keep saving towards a couple of big holidays we are planning in the next couple of years.

We have some work shares that are due to mature towards the end of the year so a lot of next year's plans will be dependent on how well those do (tho looking good so far).

Maybe_its_because

Hi Mummy Em,

Good to see a fellow mum/PT worker/MFW in the £200k++

We have a similar dream end date as you.

Like your plans and fab progress so far. Will subscribe and follow your progress.

MIB xx

MummyEm

Hi MIB

Welcome to my rather neglected diary! Do you have a diary? I love reading other peoples, especially those in similar circumstances - I find it so motivating.

MEM

MummyEm

Kids are off school poorly today so have been using the day to catch up on a few things.

BT bill had gone up loads last month so called them to pay for line rental up front saving £33.98 for the year. The Broadband cost has also over doubled. They have such better deals for new customers :mad: I hate that companies don't appreciate their current customers as much as new ones... Anyway spoke to their Retentions dept but need to call back tomorrow as now I've placed order for line rental, they can't offer new BB deal until the order clears. This will happen midnight today so will call back tomorrow. Hope I can knock a few £s off a month.

ISA rate has dropped off as had come to end of fixed term so have set DH the task of calling them to see what they offer. He also needs to call to cancel an old pension DD that we no longer require as he has a much better one with work - saving £80 a month.

Need to spend some time looking at Feb finances but will be a bit of a spendy month as going away for half term.