The march to financial freedom

Ali-OK

Rollercoaster_Rach wrote: »

Hi Ali...would love to join your 'sweet treat ban gang' LOL!:rotfl: but have just eaten 3 school biscuits and yesterday a big sponge cake....so don't think I'm ready!

I've got to stop sugar in my tea but I love it soooo much!

RR xx

Come on over to MiT's thread - she's the 'leader of the gang'

Ahh, good point on sugar in tea, I dip in and out of that one with a sometimes I do put one in and quite often I forget and can't be bothered to get back up, so drink it without :rotfl:

Ali-OK

I'm ahead of myself today with work, which meant I could do the food shop. Some of the prices have gone up in Ald! (but then they seem to yo-yo everywhere these days) and adding in a few needed household/toiletry items, plus catering for some different meals for DS, I spent £27.11. Also spent £1.39 on milk at the little shop this morning. Total for May £42.16 so far and sig to update.

Electricity meter reading taken and submitted to new supplier @ 7am, so another job done.

Second unbudgeted spend this month has come up - I've opened the last bottle of contact lens solution, so need to re-order that. I use an online company as it works out cheaper than shop or opticians.

Energylinx have acknowledged my cashback claim and expect that to be in my account within 3-4 days. :j

Though it's early, financials update:
- bank account checked
- freepostcodelottery (day) - checked
- Nectar adpoints - 14 waiting, so will be up at 34 points
- Nectar Canvass - not done any
- Nectar Search - up to 60/100
- Nectar card value the same at £60.01
- Inbox Pounds - up at £1.84 with 30p+ credit to come for another survey I've done
- Qmee - picked up another 17p last night

The not so good news, is I had a look at my last mortgage statement to find that the term left was 13 yrs and 9 months - not 14 years as I thought :eek: It means the overpayments total £458 rather than £510, so I'm still on track there. Phew.

I need to check out the early repayment fee too, as statement says one thing and customer services say something else....someone is telling porkie pies and I can't afford to get that wrong! Either way, I'll be within the 10% max payment anyway so shouldn't be a problem, but as the mortgage is in 2 parts (on same rate) and the little one is £25k, I won't pay more than £2.5k off of that one, fortunately 3 of the 5 payments have gone to the big one.

If you followed that, well done . I need a cuppa now

Ali-OK

The Mortgage

The mortgage is having a post all of it's own today.

I phoned to ask about the 10% max payments for the year, but the guy I spoke to was clearly as geeky as alot of MSErs in loving his spreadsheets and working out every figure, percentage and date going and we had quite a long chat and I got lots of useful information. As it's currently in scribbled note form on a square of a scrap paper, it needs setting out somewhere useful (here) and being neat and tidy. I like to be organised. I may even update my sig so I remember the post number and can come back to it.

At 31/12/13
Mortgage Part 1 - £27,345 / £84.09 Interest p/mth
Mortgage Part 2 - £106,099 / £326.25 Interest p/mth
Daily Interest overall - £13.44 (not clever enough to split :rotfl:)

Total - £133,444 / £410.34 with 13yrs 9 months remaining - end date September 2027 :eek:

At 14/5/14
Mortgage Part 1 - £25,944 / £79.78 Interest p/month
Mortgage Part 2 - £103,906 / £319.74 Interest p/month
Daily Interest overall - £13.14

Total - £129,850 / £399.52 with 13yrs 5 months remaining - end date if my spreadsheet plans are followed - December 2024

Paid off so far - £3,594. :j
Interest reduced by £10.82 per month and 0.30p per day :j

The biggest bit of good news is on their system, they have both the Halifax HPI Index value for the house and their own - these are incredible figures - HPI index values it at £307,000, Santand3r values it at £275,000. As far as they are concerned, my LTV sits at 47.22%. :T

If I were to put the outstanding (£129,850) onto repayment today, the monthly amount would be £1,023.78. It's doable which is a great relief. :j They've also put the conversion fee up from £50 in January to £75 :eek:

However, where it gets really interesting is that this year, the Spanish Bank are not just allowing 10% overpayments, but 20% OPs for Interest Only mortgages and that it's the overall amount and not 20% max per each part. I wonder how many people know about that...it's not been on any paperwork or been offered in the monthly conversations I have with them when I send the capital payments. Another sign banks don't want mortgages paid off I guess. Not helped by the overpayment year being Jan-Dec and not my mortgage year of Sept-Aug.

I'm now toying with which part to throw the capital payments at. I think keep going to get the £103,906 to £99k (October's OP) and then move to getting rid of the little one over the next 2 years.

End of Chapter 1 for today

Ali-OK

Chapter 2

I knew one of the bags of coppers was near to £1 and when DS added some more roadkill from the playground last night, counting was called for - result £1.03. :j The £1 coins were similar so I "stole" the 2 from the grocery budget to make it up to £20. Bingo - a sunny drive up to the bank and £21 was deposited. Home to log onto online banking and a £21 transfer shall be winging it's way to the CC in the morning. :T

Between that, the mortgage phone call and work, that's been the extent of the day. Oh and dinner - I had Toad in the Hole on the meal plan, but somehow made Sausage Casserole instead :rotfl: Never mind, eaten up and enjoyed. No sweet treats either. :T

Financials:
- bank account checked - mortgage interest payment SO changed and now under £400 at £399.52 :T
- freepostcodelottery (both) - checked
- Nectar adpoints - somehow, one of the ads disappeared last night so the 34 is actually 28 points :mad:
- Nectar Canvass - a 100 pointer that was waiting for me, wasn't really. Oh how they like to pull me in and spit me out :mad:
- Nectar Search - That stopped working at 60 points last night, but have upped it to 70/100 tonight
- Nectar card - no surprise, still at £60.01
- Inbox Pounds - a nice result as a 50p free cash game credit was added and I'm up at £2.59
- Qmee - another 10p in the pot

All looking positive and close on an extra £100 will have been shaved off the CC from all the little bits and pieces this month alone. The £20.40 IP cheque has been processed too - could be a Saturday arrival. :j

No spends today. Still to order contact lens solution, but as a bottle lasts a good month, I might hang onto until we reach June.

One last job to do today, DS needs bacon, sausage and cheese for his cooking at school tomorrow. Fortunately I'd got all of that in the freezer so no additional spends and just need to grill the bacon and sausage and cut it up - it's for pizza topping! We never made that at school! He's warned me it might not make it home for tea and he doesn't need a packed lunch :rotfl:

Hope everyone has had a good day and enjoyed the lovely sunshine and warm temperature. Heating is most definitely off :rotfl:

Ali-OK

Another £21 bites the CC dust :j Sig updated and 47% gone, GONE, GONE!!

Ali-OK

Early evening update whilst batch spag bol settles and before I start my 15 mins a day outdoor jobs to get on top of those - mostly odd bits of weeding that have come on with avengeance these past couple of weeks.

Mortgage Interest letter arrived confirming I am indeed below the £400 amount at £399.52 this month. :j Shame it was ruined when I received a text asking me to confirm I had requested a bank account switch :eek: I hadn't, but that's now sorted (they'd transposed a digit in the phone number they should have text).

Ooh, ordered a free garden kit from our local water authority so will be interesting to see what's in it and useful when that arrives.

Noddle credit report check done and all good there.

Financials:
- bank account checked
- freepostcodelottery (both) - checked
- Nectar adpoints - can't get the page to load tonight, will try again later
- Nectar canvass and search - no advance
- Nectar card - mysteriously moved up to £60.76 and I can't find anything in the points list that's been added yesterday to work out where it has come from!
- Inbox Pounds - up to £2.83, plenty more to do there later
- Qmee - will hopefully pick up something there later too

DS brought half his pizza home and it's pretty good - think I should start making home-made pizza, would be a good way to use up leftovers for toppings too.

Still on the 'no sweet treat' wagon.

That's it for today. Hope everyone has had a good one.

Ali-OK

I finished work at lunchtime today - hoorah, it's felt like a very long week. Still some business admin stuff to do but a 5 min job as everything else is up to date.

Money that's come in to the bank account today:

- £2.01 Quidco (unexpected, must be a purchase from an Xmas present last year)
- £34.00 Energylinx cashback. Now this is a mistake as it should be £17 per energy and I've already had the gas one. Have emailed them.

Had an email from Homebase about a 'less than 5 min survey for 50 points' so that's been done.

The rest of the financials:
- bank account checked
- Freepostcodelottery (daytime) - checked
- Nectar adpoints - double one plus a few more and am at 53 points
- Nectar Canvass - oh dear, nil points this week
- Nectar Search - up to 77/100
- Nectar card - £60.76 still
- Inbox Pounds - up to £3.22
- Qmee - another 10p

A tot up of what can be thrown at the CC in the coming days:

£17.00 Energylinx cashback (or £34 if they say keep the extra )
£ 2.01 Quidco
£ 0.54 Qmee in pot to be transferred
£20.40 IP cheque due any day now
£ 8.91 rounding bank account
£48.86 Total :T

Meaning £421.60 will be paid off during May. :j

I'm deliberating about how to split money between mortgage OPs and the CC for the rest of this year.

Pros to pay CC off and not do another BT - the 3% charge and I can up mortgage OPs next year, though the mortgage rate is 3.69% so a higher saving to be made there.

Alternatively, I keep doing what I'm doing and use the Emergency Fund to pay CC off and build that back afterwards.

Ideally, the car will sell (no interest so far - going to advertise on a different website that is also FOC) and the problem will be solved anyway. I'll then have a different one of savings vs. mortgage OPs. It's not easy being this indecisive.

With the great weather this weekend, I was planning on doing a car boot on Sunday, only for DS to be invited to a birthday do (not really a party), but that cuts across timings and the mum-taxi will be needed. :mad:

I've put £15 of fuel in the sports car today too, it was getting low and we're going out later so I'm going to take that and keep it running well.

Ooh lastly, I've already done the housework :j, some washing done and on the line and routine stuff sorted. I am going to enjoy the sunshine this weekend - whether it's reading a book lazing in it or the planned gardening. Nothing like the promise of great weather to get me moving :rotfl:

millionaire_in_training

I'm the leader, I'm the leader. I'm the leader of the gang I am

MMMM White chocolate magnums :drool:

Been catching up

My mortgage is a repayment one and I would love to overpay but totally need to concentrate on CC debt first. You're doing so well xx

Ali-OK

millionaire_in_training wrote: »

I'm the leader, I'm the leader. I'm the leader of the gang I am

I'm singing that :rotfl:. Bet the young 'uns don't know it!

millionaire_in_training wrote: »

My mortgage is a repayment one and I would love to overpay but totally need to concentrate on CC debt first. You're doing so well xx

I keep changing my spreadsheets At the moment settling on £730 to the mortgage (£103 OP) and £500 to the CC next month. That's based on what I'm expecting to pay myself for May. It's been a good run for work financially.

The Inbox Pounds cheque arrived this morning, so I raided the tin to see what coins I'd got and took another £10 as well - so banked £30.40.

Qmee offered up a bit more last night to add (17p), but the old supplier electric bill arrived this morning which was £6.50, so need to recalculate again..for the 1,956th time :rotfl:

I will certainly have a £40+ payment to go to the CC on Monday. I'm on a roll this month, after a couple of tight ones with car and birthday expenses.

Had an enquiry on the car this morning by email - have replied, so let's see if they pick up the phone to make an appointment to view.

Time I left the laptop for the sunshine - it was cool and cloudy when I walked the doglets early - they are now sunbathing on the patio. I need to put sunscreen on the blonde one so she doesn't burn her nose and face

Catch up later...if I've not gone out for a drink with a certain person

Ali-OK

Today's more organised updated

Sunshine enjoyed and less weeds to look at whilst al fresco dining. Still plenty to do as lots of tea breaks but no sweet treats still :j

Financials:
- bank account checked
- freepostcodelottery (both) - checked
- nectar adpoints - won't load
- nectar canvass - still to look at
- nectar search - 100/100 completed for May :T
- nectar card - value shot up to £61.82, no idea how though!
- Inbox Pounds - up to £3.75
- Qmee - nothing today, but goodness I've tried!

Payment to CC on Monday will be £53.13, bringing the CC down to £4,274.13 and £425.87 paid off ths month. :j Total gone 47.81%. Excited that June will see me into the £3k and over the 50% mark.

I phoned the car enquirer back and had quite a long chat - the questions were all ones answered by the advert which was a tad annoying. Says he'll get back to me in a couple of days, so I'm not confident something will come of that. In the meantime, enjoying being out in it and when I think it's pretty much my only hobbie/forms part of my limited social life but will increase as DS gets older, it's not bad value at £55 per month (averaging all the costs). Yes, I'm wavering on letting it go and as each month passes, the less I need the money to sell it for the debt as that's going down anyway. Hmmm.

Off to pull a few more weeds up that are annoying me :rotfl: