My 2020 Vision

XSpender

After lurking and reading everyone else’s diaries I thought it was time I started my own to keep me on track. Our goal is to have paid off our mortgage by 2020, when we are both 50. I am not sure if this is possible but you gotta have a dream.:)

We have made £2000 of overpayments so far this year from DH bonuses, PPI claims and money made from a few sales and extra bits that have come our way.:j

Our mortgage balance is currently £119565.99 and we also owe approximately £16000 on a secured loan. Our mortgage is IO and the secured is 8.5% with 40 payments left to go. We can overpay the secured but it costs £60 time + settlement interest so we have decided to throw everything at the mortgage until we have paid enough off to withdraw the overpayments to clear the secured or just keep paying it.

Adding them both together we owe a total of £135k against the house. We also owe £209 on a HP and about £200 on a TV which are due to be cleared with DH bonus in June.

We do have some work we want to do on the house now that we have decided to stay here for the next 5 years or so. This includes a new boiler as I am sure ours is costing us a fortune, new double glazing and doors, built in appliances in the kitchen, new flooring in the bathroom and our bedroom, blinds in 4 rooms and decorate throughout. Not much then! :eek: We are hoping to complete this over the next 12-18 months.

My OP target for the rest of this year is £4000 directly off the mortgage and our secured balance should come down by approximately £2200. Our first step is to cut down our spending to free up some cash and to start making payments to our mortgage as if it was a repayment mortgage and will end in 2031 years as if it was always repayment if that makes sense. This will increase our current payments by £430. If I can up these payments to £800, a £550 increase I will knock 3 years off the term but need to pay a lot more to hit 2020.

My first BIG payment will be 1st August as we have so much to pay out before then with a family wedding, our summer holiday, work on the car and a stag do!

We are both in our early 40’s with a 3 year old and a dog and work FT.

Oops that was a ginormous post:o

newgirly

Hi xspender, welcome to the mfw board Have you had a diary before as your name seems familiar? Anyway best of luck with the oping you have done so well already.

XSpender

Hi newgirly

I did have one a long time ago and on the DFW thread even further back.

yukkibear

Hi Xspender. I also recognise your name. Good luck with your journey. Our mortgage also finishes 2031, but am aiming for 2021.

XSpender

Hi yukkibear. I am suprised people remember my name as I dont think I post much. I am a bit too shy to post on other peoples diaries as I dont think I have much to add but I do like to read and I thank as I go:)

I managed a NSD yesterday, must be the first one in ages, helped by taking everything I needed to eat and drink to work. I have slipped into naughty habits of buying breakfast, lunch and large mugs of tea at work and it is really adding up.

I am going to do a tilly tidy of my accounts tonight as DH is paid tomorrow which should be about a tenner. He should also come home with some lift money from two of his team he takes to work every day which should be abot £50 so will pay this to the mortgage too.

Other plans for the week include doing a big shop with lots of vouchers for the new Mr T they have opened near to me. I want to do a pretty big stock up to stop us nipping to the shop every 2 days:eek: We also need to complete the forms to sign up for childcare vouchers. Our DS is 3 and we still havent got round to it:o

VoucherMan

Go on then. I'll let you hijack my diary title

A link to your old diary in case anyone wants to read back

(I'm aiming for 2018 though)

XSpender

Oops probably should have checked if anyone else had the same one first:o I don't mind changing it if you can give me a day or two to think of another one. Good luck with your new target of 2018 VoucherMan:)

I might have a read of my old diary myself, things have changed quite a bit since then (for the better).:)

XSpender

I still haven't come up with a different title for my diary but will keep working on it. Then need to work out how to change it.

Had a look over my old diary - thanks to voucherman for the link - and wow! Things have changed since then!

DH fuel bill is a lot higher than expected this month so our very expensive month is going to be tighter than a tight thing. Cleaner cancelled yesterday due to illness so saved a bit there but since she was on hols last week it will mean I will have to do it myself:eek:

DH had a promotion at the beginning of the year and I worked out yesterday what his potential earnings are and he was chuffed to bits and I was chuffed that his first thought was about staying in this house and paying off the mortgage as quick as we can:T

Have to go into town for an outfit for a wedding today and really can't be bothered:rotfl:

VoucherMan

XSpender wrote: »

I still haven't come up with a different title for my diary but will keep working on it.

The comment was very tongue in cheek. Mine's got my name in the title anyway so they're not the same.

And I'm not going to let you know how to change the title anyway

XSpender

Thank you for graciously sharing your title voucher man:)

Bit of a spendy weekend as I had to get a dress for a wedding and the races. Good news is I got 20% off bad news is I bought 2!:eek::o. And I am still not sure if either are right for me:(

Booked the Chunnel for our hols which counts as :money: as we are staying with relatives for our holiday which really helps keep our costs down.

Had a lovely drive out with DH and DS today to our favourite cafe but its not cheap and we bought a couple of mugs too. Mugs are very short in our house and if more than 2 people visit they have to share cups :rotfl: Also popped into wait rose on the way home for a couple of GF items including beer:o which costs an arm and a leg or rather £7.50 for four bottles of GF lager......must make sure I drink it veeeerrrrrry sloooowwwwwlllyyy.

Made some crust less mini quiches and baked some jackets using normal spuds for my lunches next week.

Oh and 59p added to my change pots.

Plans for this week are:

1. Take a pack lunch, breakfast and milk for tea to work every day and don't spend a thing in the canteen or vending machines
2. Stick to the meal plan and do not be swayed when DH says 'I fancy......' And say no to a takeaway. Doesn't he know I have dresses to fit into!
3. Remember to use the £10 in vouchers and 600 points voucher I have for Mr T on thurs/fri.
4. Have a lime and soda if go to pub after final class at college on Wednesday to keep costs down
5. Make a meal plan and a shopping list for next week
6. Post my expenses on Monday
7. Make a start on listing my cupboards and freezers
8. Make some GF scones and a cake for lunches next week
9. Do not overspend when buying accessories to go with new dresses, can I use what I have got?


Most of my goals this week seem to be about damage limitation and managing our food spend than making overpayments.:eek: We do overspend on food and I really need to regain control of this area. I have gone from been a vegetarian to a meat eating celiac in the last 12 months and still haven't got to grips with managing this and my normal eating DH and DS.

XSpender

Some successes with my plan this week:

1. Take a pack lunch, breakfast and milk for tea to work every day and don't spend a thing in the canteen or vending machines Not spent a bean Monday or Tuesday and brought everything to work again today:)
2. Stick to the meal plan and do not be swayed when DH says 'I fancy......' And say no to a takeaway. Doesn't he know I have dresses to fit into! Meals have been moved about a bit but no takeaways so far although tonight may be a chippy tea after college.:o Will see if I can persuade DH I fancy fish fingers mushy peas and oven chips instead as I have all this in and it will be quick;)
3. Remember to use the £10 in vouchers and 600 points voucher I have for Mr T on thurs/fri. Shopping on Thursday, need to double check I have the 600 points voucher in my purse. I also read on the OS threasd they are doing £5 off £40 for next week too:) Every little helps;)
4. Have a lime and soda if go to pub after final class at college on Wednesday to keep costs down Will probably give this a miss as I am tired allready today and have a busy day at work tomorrow and the later I am in the more likely it is we will have a take away
5. Make a meal plan and a shopping list for next week Done and estimated £65 including booze for the weekend. Just need to stop DH adding extras in.
6. Post my expenses on Monday:mad: Forgot, hope they pay out any way as half the process is automated and the boss has authorised them on line
7. Make a start on listing my cupboards and freezers Not done
8. Make some GF scones and a cake for lunches next week will do at the weekend
9. Do not overspend when buying accessories to go with new dresses, can I use what I have got? Need to find a dress I like first! one of them is def going back and I am not sure the other one is dressy enough for the wedding. It should arrive n the post today but will have to then go pick it up from the sorting office. Planning to shop, on my own, on Sunday to finally sort out what the heck I am wearing for this wedding:mad:

I am feeling much more focussed on our spending at the moment even though the next 7 weeks are some of the most expensive we have had in a long time. DH bonus is in the bag for the end of June so we will be back on the straight and narrow although most of it will be covering our holiday spends, wedding expenses and our day at the races. I will be putting some away for the car insurance fro August, which we usually pay monthly, and paying off the bit outstanding on DH TV to reduce the amount of DDs that go out of the account every month.

Paying the car insurance up front will also save me the interest charges and I am going to shop around, go through TCB and reduce our cover/increase the excess as I have a car that is worth the same as the insurance cover!

DH said this morning that he would like to bank/save his next bonus in September as we do not have anything to pay out as we usually have our summer holiday then but will have already been away. A chunk of that will be heading towards the mortgage with a smaller chunk to savings for hols/christmas and the rest may go on some of the smaller jobs that need doing in the house like completing the bathroom makeover and decorating the living room and replastering the ceiling.