CMs 10 year mfw plan... starting tomorrow!

cardiffmatch

Ooh, actually in other news I remembered to set myself a reminder to call up my mobile phone company today and switch to a cheaper deal. I've gone for SIM only at a price only a little above the cost of Martin's current best deal as it fitted the way I use the phone better. I have therefore saved myself a healthy £32 per month, which pleases me mightily (and has been diverted to the OP pot as "money I won't notice")!!

julliff

Hi CM,

Love your diary, looks like you are going great guns. I really like your mini challenges! I am also trying to aim for 3 NSDs but maybe I am cheating a bit by not deciding in advance which days they will be!

Have subscribed and will look forward to seeing your progress :-)

cardiffmatch

Thanks for the encouragement julliff!

Mini challenges are going great this week:

Targets:
1: Three NSDs: [STRIKE]Tues/Weds[/STRIKE]/Fri
2: Total weekly spend (including my half of food) £120: £88 so far
3: Food budget (for 2) £40 (£31 spent so far)
4: Stick to the meal plan: [STRIKE]Mon/Tues/Weds[/STRIKE]/Thurs/Fri/Sat I adlibbed a bit last night on account of being home alone but it was basically the same...
5: Packed lunch every day: [STRIKE]Mon/Tues/Weds/Thurs[/STRIKE]/Fri If I manage five days in a row this will be a record!
6: Four days with some form of exercise [STRIKE]Mon/Tues[/STRIKE]/Weds - not quite!/Fri
7: Four booze-free days [STRIKE]Mon/Tues/Weds[/STRIKE]/Fri

So six out of seven are on track so far - not bad I think! Also, Our weekend plans have changed slightly so I should be able to catch up on the exercise front on Saturday morning...

BlueMoo

Your mini-challenges look like a great way to keep the motivation whilst keeping in mind the long term goal.

Hmmm... think I need to steal no. 6...

cardiffmatch

BlueMoo wrote: »

Hmmm... think I need to steal no. 6...

Feel free to steal it entirely (and do mine on my behalf as it's always the one I find hardest to stick to!!!)

cardiffmatch

The end of week mini challenge round up:

Targets:
1: Three NSDs: [STRIKE]Tues/Weds/Fri[/STRIKE]
2: Total weekly spend (including my half of food) £120: £84 so far
3: Food budget (for 2) £40 (£31 spent so far)
4: Stick to the meal plan: [STRIKE]Mon/Tues/Weds/Thurs/Fri[/STRIKE]/Sat
5: Packed lunch every day: [STRIKE]Mon/Tues/Weds/Thurs/Fri[/STRIKE]
6: Four days with some form of exercise Mon/Tues/Weds - not quite!/Fri
7: Four booze-free days [STRIKE]Mon/Tues/Weds/Fri[/STRIKE]

The big success of the week is definitely managing a packed lunch every day for a week - I'm pleased with that. However, I'm going to have to start varying things a little bit as my repertoire of pasta and cous cous salads is pretty limited!

The sharp eyed amongst you may think I'm jumping the gun a bit as I've ticked off "sticking to the meal plan" and "booze free day" today even though it's only lunch time. However, we only have enough food in the fridge to make one type of meal tonight and there certainly isn't any wine left (!) so that will hopefully sort itself!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend. It's payday for me next week and looking forward to making a lovely OP already.

CM

cardiffmatch

Checking back in for the week: it's Wednesday so we are half way there!

I have money creation news; the lawyers for the sale of our flat seem to have stuffed up somewhere, meaning I received a demand for the service charge and ground rent on a flat we sold five months ago (!). They have been sent away to sort this mess out. They really have been a terrible bunch to deal with throughout, but this has reminded me of two things:

1) They (the lawyers) still owe me £500 from the sale
2) I have been paying £150 per month into a savings account (0.0001% interest or something) for the service charge, which obviously is no longer necessary

I have requested the £500 in writing and popped along to close the savings account. This unearthed nearly £850 I didn't know I had :j:beer::j. It also means I have been able to move that regular £150/month to my monthly offsetting amount, along with another £30 from tidying up old standing orders etc - feeling v pleased with myself!

Even more excitingly, I put on an old fleece this morning and found a tenner in the pocket - this has particularly pleased me:D

On to this week's mini challenges. I'm sticking with the same as last week as they did me well. Next week I will shake it up a bit!

Targets:
1: Three NSDs: Mon/Thurs/Fri
2: Total weekly spend (including my half of food) £120: £43 so far
3: Food budget (for 2) £40 (£31 spent, weekly shop done)
4: Stick to the meal plan: Mon/Tues/Weds/Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun
5: Packed lunch every day: Mon/Tues/Weds/Thurs/Fri
6: Four days with some form of exercise Weds/Thurs/Fri/Sat
7: Four booze-free days Mon/Tues/Weds/Thurs:o

So all going well except for the bottle of wine we opened on Monday and finished last night! It was a nice bottle of red though; £3.75 from Aldi so definitely moneysaving...?

Hope everyone is having a happy hump day

CM

exarmydreamer

Hi Cardiffmatch, Your doing very well and I wish I had pockets stuffed with cash I had forgotten about . Although this year I have on 2 occasions found £20 left in the street with no one about. We are just down the road from you as well in the Vale of Glamorgan in the town of Barry.

Aldi wine is so good :beer:, hope you have a good day.

cardiffmatch

Thanks exarmydreamer and congrats on reaching your OP target this year! We will miss by a mile I'm afraid, but every little counts.

£40 on the street - good call! My other small victory has been complaining about a problem and some poor service at a well known department store in the new shopping centre in Cardiff. After a brief bit of investigation, they are sending me £50 which is definitely going straight to the overpayment pot!

LolaLemon

I'm loving your enthusiasm of putting all spare money into your mortgage.
I think i will be poping in every so often to try and catch some of it