MF by 30!

gallygirl

gallygirl - Hi :wave: Thank you for replying! Fab info on the will. I had no idea my parents automatically inherit (rookie mistake). That's one thing to scratch off the list then:j

Great stuff

As for buildings and contents, I do have this. I paid it in full last month. Same with car insurance and tax. Both paid in full. It's due in June. I've just factored this into my spreadsheet, and I'm putting £50pm a side to cover it. However, I'm thinking about paying my insurance monthly for a year, just till I can get on my feet. What do you reckon? ...

Which is fine if you'll be able to fork out for a year's worth at once. You're probably right to clear the cards first.

I don't have pet insurance. My cat is 11 and most companies charge more for older pets. I've always thought i'd use my emergency fund if anything (pray it not) happens to my cat. Good move or not?...

Depends if puss will live to 20 and die in sleep.... or something else....... At the very least I'd work out how much the insurance would be then save that every month, so you're insuring puss yourself IFSWIM.

You're right when it comes to birthdays and Christmas... I haven't budgeted those in at all. I'm a little scared to to be honest. I ignored them. Birthdays come to £150p.a. and Xmas comes to £150p.a. for presents and Xmas food. Only two close people in my life, you see.

Hate to tell you this, but birthdays and Xmas come round every year whether you ignore them or not _party_:xmassign:. (Yes, I know, I thought Xmas was every four years as well. Turns out that's the Olympics. Or Leap Year.)

Do you think £100pm is expensive for food? I'm pretty frugal when it comes to cooking. I like to make soups and casseroles etc and freeze them. I don't buy fast food, or any of these premade meals. I prefer to make things from scratch with fresh ingredients. I could probably reduce it to £20p.w. What do you think? Is this still expensive? £15 if I was very frugal _pale_

Actually, I think £100 is pretty good and I'd be happy with sticking to that.

Good grief woman I'm exhausted reading all that :rotfl:. With regards to your other comments. I'd concentrate on clearing the credit cards before doing anything else. After all, you can use the credit cards in an emergency . Aim to build up your savings more than 1k. You can unofficially offset against your savings against your mortgage, we're very kind on here . The car is a big upcoming issue. Unless you're using the bank of mum and dad, 0% finance isn't free, it's factored in somewhere, plus there's depreciation to be taken into account. Say 15k purchase price, 30% depreciation as soon as you drive out the garage. That takes its value down to £10,500. But you're paying 15k. Which is £4,500 over the value, 42% :eek:. Not so 0% after all .

I'm off for a lie down :rotfl:.

StrawberryJam132

gallygirl - Christmas is every year?! :eek: Haha I loved reading that!:D Thank you for replying to my essay!

gallygirl wrote: »

Aim to build up your savings more than 1k. You can unofficially offset against your savings against your mortgage, we're very kind on here .

Ahh, now I'm showing my naivety, please don't judge. I can't figure out what you mean by this... Not too sure what 'offset' means in this context, and completely lost with the savings/mortgage business? :rotfl:

gallygirl wrote: »

The car is a big upcoming issue. Unless you're using the bank of mum and dad, 0% finance isn't free, it's factored in somewhere, plus there's depreciation to be taken into account. Say 15k purchase price, 30% depreciation as soon as you drive out the garage. That takes its value down to £10,500. But you're paying 15k. Which is £4,500 over the value, 42% :eek:. Not so 0% after all .

This was enough to make me put a new car on the back burner! Is this the same for used cars? The depreciation value and the 0% being a lie?... If it is, I'm going to save for a year or two and buy a car outright. Something like £6,000 should get me a good second hand car...

DIARY UPDATE: Had a little panic earlier. Convinced myself I couldn't afford next months bills etc. In January double the mortgage is due, as I moved in this month a day after the agreed pay date. Panic panic panic! But rang mother and she said she's able to pick up the slack if I find myself in a sticky situation, as long as I pay it back a month later. This is a huge weight off my shoulders knowing this is an option. Determined to make it on my own though, without help!

Today's spending - £3.99 on an ariel extension lead. The previous owners left a Sky free sat box. I haven't been able to connect it, I'm not that tech savy. But if I can figure it out, I won't have to get Sky for over Xmas. The free channels should be enough to entertain guests (I'm not sure what channels are available on there, but it's better than nothing). This saves me forking out for installation fees etc till February, or later. I've decided I don't need internet for a few months yet either. I can go to the local Spoon's to send off CV's. That's money saved.:money:

Small steps forward!

SJ X

shala_moo

StrawberryJam132 wrote: »

To be honest, I haven't rung the water company yet to tell them I've moved in... Bad move I know... Rookie question, is a water meter like the electric and gas ones you can have? (I have these already). I budgeted £35 because that's what mother dearest told me to put aside (Naive)... Must ring water people... I'll add that to my to-do list...

Your mom's estimate is probably about right for water rates per month and better to over budget if you don't know rather than under budget.

I'd ring as soon as possible and arrange for them to come fit the meter (it might take a few weeks) they'll fit it in the street outside. They'll backdate the charge for rates from when you moved in to the day you have your meter fitted so you'll want that to be as limited a time as possible!

We have a quarterly bill (never over £70 for two of us) so I reckon you could be paying £5-10 a month if you're careful! :T

StrawberryJam132 wrote: »

An hour in the morning and two at night at the moment. I want to reduce this to an hour at night too. Does that seem good?... I'm really good at turning all electrics off etc. One good thing about my upbringing...

This sounds great, you should have some great savings here.. I've recently gone round all my radiators that are on outside walls and put a foil insulation behind them. I haven't seen any savings yet as I haven't had any bills, but I can feel the house is warmer quicker. The roll cost £5-6 from H0mebase and I used one roll on three massive radiators.

Hopefully, being a terrace house, you'll able to leech the neighbours warmth :rotfl:

StrawberryJam132 wrote: »

to be honest, since my breakup, I've needed the alone time. I'm not sure I could deal with someone else in my space at the moment. I know it's not the best option financially, but I would find it depressing. I'm not the most social when it comes to my own private space. Does that make sense? Don't get me wrong, if worse came to worse, I'd take a lodger.

Completely understand, I barely cope living with the OH and cat :rotfl:they breathe really loudly!

StrawberryJam132 wrote: »

I then worked out I can get £1,000 emergency fund together by May 30th. That then leaves me free to start making over payments on my mortgage from June.

Can you get your overpayments back from your mortgage if you needed too? Might be worth looking into, then you wouldn't be so reliant on your emergency fund.



As GG mentioned, I unofficially offset my savings against my mortgage at the moment, I keep note of it on a lovely spreadsheet - do you have one? You'll love them soon!:rotfl: It doesn't reduce the interest yet, but until I change my mortgage to an official offset one I'm leaving my money where it can be got hold of it if needed!

shala_moo

StrawberryJam132 wrote: »

Ahh, now I'm showing my naivety, please don't judge. I can't figure out what you mean by this... Not too sure what 'offset' means in this context, and completely lost with the savings/mortgage business? :rotfl:

All it means is that you have your total mortgage figure and a total savings figure (all set out in a lovely spreadsheet if you wish or just noted down in a book somewhere) and you take off one against the other..

Example

Mortgage £54,400
Savings pot £ 1,000

Money owed £53,400

It won't pay off your mortgage or reduce your interest but you'll know how much you owe to the world, and at some point when your savings equal your mortgage then you can pay it all off and we can have a party!! _party_

StrawberryJam132

shala_moo wrote: »

We have a quarterly bill (never over £70 for two of us) so I reckon you could be paying £5-10 a month if you're careful! :T

I would love £5-£10p.m!! :T Thank you for the advice on ringing and the meter. I'll ring them first thing in the morning!:D

shala_moo wrote: »

I've recently gone round all my radiators that are on outside walls and put a foil insulation behind them. I haven't seen any savings yet as I haven't had any bills, but I can feel the house is warmer quicker. The roll cost £5-6 from H0mebase and I used one roll on three massive radiators.!

.... I've never heard of putting foil behind your radiators?! Does this work? What do I have to do? Can it be any foil? I'm excited by this :rotfl:

shala_moo wrote: »

As GG mentioned, I unofficially offset my savings against my mortgage at the moment, I keep note of it on a lovely spreadsheet - do you have one? You'll love them soon!:rotfl: It doesn't reduce the interest yet, but until I change my mortgage to an official offset one I'm leaving my money where it can be got hold of it if needed!

Thank you for explaining the whole offset business to me So basically, it's saving money to add to your capital when you change your mortgage? But in the mean time, it's accessible if you need it for something else? So I could technically have my emergency fund as that unofficial offset?

Ohhhhh and have I got a spreadsheet?! I'm OBSESSED with them! I have the one for my mortgage, and a budget sheet that I'm constantly on, tweaking things here and there. I can't believe I've ever lived without one!

.... I can't believe foil behind radiators and spending most of my time on spreadsheets is what gets me excited these days... Anyone know where I can pick up a life? :rotfl:

SJ X

gallygirl

StrawberryJam132 wrote: »

Thank you for explaining the whole offset business to me So basically, it's saving money to add to your capital when you change your mortgage? But in the mean time, it's accessible if you need it for something else? So I could technically have my emergency fund as that unofficial offset?

A proper offset mortgage is where your savings accounts are all linked to your mortgage. Instead of getting interest on your savings you don't pay interest on that part. There are some really good deals if you have a decent loan to value ration. However, a lot on here don't have offset mortgages but are lucky enough to have very low interest rates so can still get better interest rates on savings (with regular savers). So, when I say I've just OP'd £250 it probably means a regular saver has gone out. One day we'll all have enough to be mortgage neutral :T. In the meantime we run 'unofficial offsets' with our spreadsheets .

Em, if you love spreadsheets and are excited by foil down the radiators I hate to think how you'll react when you hear about Tilly Tidies :rotfl:. We'll save those for another day .

shala_moo

Thanks for explaining the offset thing better than I could GG!

StrawberryJam132 wrote: »

.... I've never heard of putting foil behind your radiators?! Does this work? What do I have to do? Can it be any foil? I'm excited by this :rotfl:

.... I can't believe foil behind radiators and spending most of my time on spreadsheets is what gets me excited these days... Anyone know where I can pick up a life? :rotfl:

It reflects the heat instead of it going through your walls or so they say - I've noticed that I can feel the heat more these days with the foil!

Downstairs I used normal kitchen foil, but upstairs I bought THIS from H0mebase just because I was in there and saw it..

I'm sorry for my part in leading you down into the murky depths of spreadsheets and MFW-ism.. it's like a cult - there's no getting out!! :rotfl::rotfl:

newgirly

Hi strawberry jam just wanted to wish you all the best with the new diary

StrawberryJam132

UPDATE: Hi everyone It's been a while since I updated this diary! That's because I decided not to get internet or phone in my home till February... It's not necessary, and it means I can save that little extra cash until I get secure in my finances... I've made the decision to work away for a month (Dec 27th-Jan 20th) to get some cash. It sucks working over New Years, but it's double pay, so must be done! .... I miss my house. I've hardly had any time there since moving in. It still doesn't feel like home yet. I want to nest! I've come to resent living out of a suitcase.

There's not much to update. I've managed to keep my head above water this Christmas by refusing to spend unless absolutely necessary. I gave my family a budget of £50 each and did not budge. It's usually closer to £150 each, so I'm happy with that... I've covered my double mortgage payment this month, and have about £100 spare after all my expenses. I'm using this as a cushion till next month's pay. I used the £250 I was hoping to use as OP's to reduce my CC debt. It now stands at £732.01. I want to tackle this head on and be debt free by February 28th :beer:

I've been tweaking my mortgage repayment spreadsheet. I downloaded it off MSE. It's by Chris Gamlin. Does anyone else use this? It's looking pretty tough to be mortgage free by 30 (2019).... The numbers look scary... But I'm determined to do it! The 16K I'll be saving in interest is my biggest motivator!:T... Still, I've got lots to figure out. Prioritising mainly. I want a new car, but that looks like it'll have to go on the back burner... I really like the idea of an offset mortgage. I can remortgage in two years, I'll definitely be doing that!!

Also, what's Tilly Tidies???? I'll be trying the foil down the radiators when I return home in Jan

That's about it.... I'm off to write down some New Years resolutions... Is there a thread on MSE on this subject?... So far I have:

1. Find a new job.

2. Financial Goals:

-OP by £4,000.
-Save an emergency fund.
-Get debt free.
-Save a little for house stuff.

3. Run a half marathon in October.

Hope you're all having a lovely Christmas, and a positive New Year

SJ X

teabody

Hi SJ.....Found you :T

Well, havent you had a time of it!!! I am really impressed by your intiative to do something about it. I bought my 1st house aged 20 with my NOW husband.Not sure whether buying a new house 9 years on with a new 30 year mortgage was a good idea. :eek: I am now 31. I really hope you get there...its not only doable but you have the right approach from the start...I believe you can do it!!! Really wishing that I had your idea back when I was 24. However I am here now and will be encouraging you along the way!!! Happy New Year to you in your new home xx