The BIG Plan...

MummyEm

cb4fwh wrote: »

Good luck! Just bear in mind that it will be worth it in the end! I started with a mortgage of around 240k ish in 2006 over 20 years. I started overpaying last year, and with a fair wind should have paid it off by the time I am 41 in 2019 - saving around £30k in interest!

For me, the secret to success is not going uber frugal - I still need my holidays!

Thank you cb4fwh. Holidays are important to us too. Our holidays the last few years haven't been very far afield or expensive, I don't think they need to be with a 3 and 5 year old! The though of the flights puts me off if nothing else :eek: We are planning a big trip next year to visit my sister in Oz. All 'extra' income from quidco, topcashbck, ebay etc. is diverted into this fund currently. This should help keep us focused.

Well done on your own MF achievements. It's kinda scary how the interest savings add up.

MummyEm

Lois_E wrote: »

Hello MummyEm and welcome to MFW :wave:

I am in a similar position - trying to build up my emergency fund and pay off some family loans before getting cracking on the actual mortgage OPs. So I'll be following your journey with interest. My diary is here.

Good luck for the journey.

Thanks Lois, I will have a read.

MummyEm

A bit more MS done today. I have used up 8 birthday/anniversary cards I had from my stash rather than go out and buy any more :j This should cover all Birthdays/celebrations we have coming up in Feb (big family!!). I have budgeted for these in my yearly budget so the gifts budget pot will be looking pretty good. I have a small gift to buy but it will only be a little one as it's going overseas so don't want to pay for a lot a postage.

Also today I have bagged up all our old/foreign currency and contact cash4coins to convert them I'm not expecting much for them but it clears a space (we will never use them), and the pennies will be put to better use in the emergency fund.

-3 ebay parcel posted today
-1 ebay parcel awaiting collection from courier
-withdrawn £75 from Paypal today which should be around £58 to the holiday pot after postage costs :j

I'm off to bed shortly so will be a very MS evening. DD, DS, DH and myself are all poorly and have been all week. I was asleep by 8pm last night, so this is pretty late for me!

MummyEm

Just a small amount of MS today. I called our old energy provider to chase up some money they owe us. They are sending a cheque for £10.45, I will add this to the emergency savings pot when we receive it.

To-do

-investigate best instant access cash ISA rates
-fill out DD new passport form (I've been putting this off as I hate this job so I will write it on here to shame myself into doing it )

MummyEm

I have gained access to my online savings account that I had lost the details for. Current savings in there £3109.00 :j

I'm transferring over the the following today-

£2.00 saving mobile phone against budget - Jan
£2.00 saving mobile phone against budget - Feb
£10.20 saving school meals against budget
£137.64 my wages
£213.00 no council tax - Feb
£20.00 winnings

Total £382.74 :j

There should be some more spare £££s over the next week or so too as have had refund cheques through following gas and electric transfer. Also have some more wages due.

Emergency savings now stand at £3491.74 :beer:

cb4fwh

Your monthly council tax payment is more impressive than mine!

I pay £180 per month, and they still couldn't empty my bins last week! Oh well, I guess that it was a bit snowy so I'll let them off!

The savings pot seems to be going well - keep up the momentum!

MummyEm

I hate council tax!

Much the same here, no bin collection post the snow as the paths were deemed too icy so a health and safety hazard. I'm looking forward to a refund on my bill for that I think I could be waiting a while!

I have just spend a few minutes going over the budget for Feb. I have changed my work hours slightly and amended childcare plans. We had more childcare vouchers than I thought we had so I have another saving.

£184.90 for childcare savings against budget :j

Emergency savings now stand at £3676.64

Unfortunately, the figures won't go up like this every day though that would be nice. It will mostly be start and end of the month that figures change but it's all going in the right direction

MummyEm

Finally got into town to pay in refund cheques from last gas and electricity supplier.

Transfered £105.69 & £0.07 interest on an old savings account

Total emergency savings now stand at £3782.33

I've also had an message through to say that the old currency I sent off to exchange will bring us £28.68. I will transfer this in when it hits our account.

Other than that, all quiet on the money front. Trying to use up cupboard stores and get to the bottom of the freezers this month. This is in preparation for the building work which is due to start in March. The big chest freezer we have needs to be sold before this. We also have lots of other bits that need to go before the work starts so I'm still steadily ebaying away.

Lois_E

That emergency fund keeps going up! Well done MummyEm. :T

MummyEm

I realised yesterday that my last transfer over to the emergency fund didn't go through for some reason. So I have now transferred it over again along with £55 refund from M&S this was something from last year which it's taken until now to sort out :mad: As it wasn't included in the year's budget, I've put it to good use.

Emergency fund savings now stand at £3837.40 :j

I've also withdraw the cash4coins payment from my Paypal account so I'll put that to the savings when it hits the bank account too.

I am feeling a bit sorry for myself as I have a cold and feel rubbish.
I've been clearing out the conservatory ready for the builders who start beginning of March. The house is a mess as we're at that stage of tidying that there is stuff everywhere. The playroom/lounge and kitchen are covered in toys as I've not made the kids tidy up for three days. Plus the whole house needs a good clean and there is tons of washing and ironing to be done! Oh and we are very over budget on groceries this month. Aaaagh!!

I think I need to concentrate on the positives

-did all the kids ironing last night (well everything that was washed anyway!)
-I am about a quarter of the way through the pile of items I am sorting and labeling for a baby sale next week
-I have mealplanned for the rest of the month and should mostly just need fruit/veg/kids snacks/milk will still be quite a bit as we eat a lot of fresh fruit and veg but damage has been limited
-fresh bread in the BM is starting to smell lovely and should be ready shortly
-DH did a huge tip run yesterday and binned loads of stuff
-we have one more month council tax free to go to savings :j