The impossible dream

Tahlullah

Last month of the year and time to evaluate.
Lots of money going out on things unexpected to a degree. Dental bill has come in and needs paying at £250. Just bad timing.
Car MOT dealt with for £100 which was on top of the service items - tyres and brakes.
Still not got my money back from ebay but no worries as it will come through.
Christmas works party coming up so that will be expensive.
On the plus side, £100 in £2 coins helping with shopping.
Saved £110 in Shop & Scan vouchers which are helping towards Christmas presents.
£30 in nectar points to be spent at Sainsbury's.
£69 on Christmas food from Tesco vouchers.
Saved an extra £1000 so will be starting the New Year at £40,000 mortgage. A great success.
YNAB really helping with understanding what I am doing with my money and allowing me to make decisions rather than just reacting to unexpected expenditure.

Next years target will be to pay off one of my mortgages, so I hope to repay £12,000 or £1000 a month.

Threats include my holidays which I don't wish to skimp on and this Grand Debt which is still hanging on like a bad smell. Job is still at risk but not worrying about it until it happens. Been here before and no amount of worry can change the direction of fate. All I can do is stay focussed on overpaying the mortgage as and when I can, whilst enjoying life to the full. Still on target to pay it off before I am 56.

A good ending to an interesting year. Bring it on 2018.

Tahlullah

The momentous day is here and I made the £1k payment into the mortgage. I am officially at the £40k point, with only £12k to go on Mortgage 1. So with good luck, by 1 January 2019, I will have paid off Mortgage 1 and owe £28k maximum.

Have joined MFW to keep me on track with this plan. Also, with a bit of help from Tall Girl, I am joining Money Box. Lets see if this works out for me. I don't do a lot of spending anyway, but every little helps.

Money back in from Ebay. Been spent on presents as planned.
March winter holiday fully paid for with spending money put aside.
Only the big debt to deal with. At the beginning of this year, I was hoping it would have been over in 6 months. Instead, here I am going into a 2nd year and it still looms large. But, this too will pass. Perhaps not as quickly as one would hope. And perhaps at a higher cost than desired, but it will pass.

All good.

TallGirl

Good lunch with it all seems you have a good plan and hopefully worst case scenario won’t happen with big debt. Re Moneybox shame there is no cash back or refer a friend but nice little app and would be good for non MSE folks who might not look at their bank statements or analyse their money.

Tahlullah

New Year and off to a spendy start. Finally bought the new work bag I had been wittering about only because ebay had a great deal on - save 15% using their code and then bought through Top Cashback. Bought a pair of boots as well but not sure of the quality. Look nice but not likely to last a year.

2 NSD's so far (one was a Bank holiday!) but I need to go and get some essentials in, such as vegetables. Still have a cupboard full of stollen and chocolates so won't starve.

Hoping to make a £100 overpayment this month. Not got a lot of spare money as still stabilising after the Christmas period. I tend to do all my purchasing for the year in one go, then just top up when needed, so the bag and a pair of boots should be all I need for a while.

Have a list of things to ebay but will wait until February, after the Christmas offload and when people have a bit more money to spend. Setting a target of making £50 per month. Hopefully, this should increase my overpayment by £600 over the year. However, the £50 can be made in any form so may not be cash to pay into the mortgage, it may just create a situation where I don't need to spend because I have saved. Not sure if the save £600 will work but worth a try.

Its a plan.

Tahlullah

Joined Swagbucks. Been an entertaining day. It ill take an age to get anywhere with it but I will persevere. Been watching videos. Not sure how many points you need to earn £10 but I can guarantee it is way more than I have collected so far.

armchairexpert

Waiting until February is a good idea. Jan is definitely a buyer's market (note to self: do I need to buy anything off eBay?).

I missed your milestone post up thread, sorry! I can't believe your mortgage is so tiny. I'm so jealous. Well done!

Tahlullah

Thank you ACE. No worries about missing my milestone. Not as exciting as paying off the mortgage completely, which is still a few years away unfortunately. But I will be beyond ecstatic when I get rid of Mortgage 1 next year December. Actually, I can't get rid until March '19 as I am currently in a 2 year fixed deal and it doesn't end until March 19. If I pay it off in December '18 I will incur a penalty, so I can only get to the point of owing £50 in December and then close it in March 19. I am so excited about this!

Anyway, Swagbucks. I am currently watching videos about coffee. I must admit this seems like a lot of work to make money compared to the other stuff I do, such as passively collecting Tesco clubcard points, Nectar points and Shop and Scan. Here, I have to make an effort to do something I wouldn't ordinarily do. Also, it is far more intensive than YouGov. I will see how long it takes me to get to my first £10 and then decide if I should keep gong.

Still having NSD's and starting afresh with collecting £2 coins. I think it takes 4 years to collect £100 worth of £2 coins so this will be an added help in December 2021. But the 0.50p coins may be at £100 by December 2018 so it may all work out ok.

Tahlullah

Just realised that in April 2018, I will be back to where I was in August 2013, owing £36,000. It has taken 5 years to repay £64,000. It has been a long hard struggle, but I only have a further 3 years to go - hopefully.

So, I have been having NSD's. I managed Sunday and Monday this week. I am still doing my YouGov, Shop & Scan and Swagbucks. I am still collecting coins when I can, but this remains difficult when not spending. I am still squirrelling bits away into MoneyBox. I am walking to work when I can to save on petrol and to get a paltry amount of exercise. I am sticking with YNAB, which means I never overspend on my budget but it also shows me I have no spare money to do anything except pay the known knowns. The unknown unknowns are another matter, but I pretty much have them down and am budgeting for them.

In one years time, I will have paid off my car finance, so more disposable income will be available. This on top of paying off Mortgage 1, so I very much see 2019 as The Year of the Tahlullah. I just need to carry on doing what I am doing, generating small amounts which help what little disposable income I have go further, even if it doesn't actually go into the mortgage overpayment pot. It ensures I can overpay the mortgage as I planned without it becoming a big struggle.

So, my plan for the rest of January - to have a minimum of 8 NSD's and I must walk to work at least 2 days per week. I earned and bought a £5 Argos voucher on Swagbucks. So I plan to earn another £5 by the end of January. I have been listing 1 item per day on ebay. I don't expect them to sell, but its about getting into a routine. I find ebay a real chore, so if I can get a rhythm, I may succeed in selling something come February. Just running out of obvious things to sell and obvious things to do to save money to help me overpay.

I keep reading one recurring question on these forums - what will you do once you are mortgage free? Answering that question has helped me realise that I am paying off my mortgage for another reason beyond not giving shed loads of money unnecessarily to the already rich banks. I am paying it off for me. The sooner I can pay off the mortgage, the sooner I can get away from this job that I am coming to realise I hate.

gallygirl

Tahlullah wrote: »

I am paying it off for me. The sooner I can pay off the mortgage, the sooner I can get away from this job that I am coming to realise I hate.

:T:T:T:T:T Choices, choices, choices :T:T:T:T:T. Will be there soon and then............. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCn7Kp2M8Cc .

Keep on keeping on, not long to go x

Tahlullah

Thanks for the vote of confidence Gallygirl. It really is appreciated.

So, last week I managed 4 no spend days. Pretty good I think. Sold a couple of things on the bay of E. Still inching towards another payout from Swagbucks, but this is proving slow. Top Cashback says I am owed £16 but not seen a penny of it yet.


And on the downside, I am overspent by £6 on YNAB. This is a first for me. I am fully budgeted for everything but have not yet learnt to account for Moneybox, which periodically pulls money out of my account. And because YNAB makes you account for every penny, you know where the money is needed. And right now, I cannot cover this overspend. I have an orange mark against my emergency fund!!! And the month isn't over yet! And I have already budgeted for February and I don't have any spare money hanging around with which to cover it then either.

I am going to have to take a long hard Paddington Bear stare at my finances at the beginning of February to see what can be done. What I believe I can cut back on to accommodate for Moneybox going forward. The problem is, like the rest of the world, I don't earn enough money to cover all of my expenses. Well, that's not strictly true. My expenses are not essential. My overpaying the mortgage is not essential.

It may be time to re-evaluate the budget.