Aspirations of Frugality and Fun on the Road to Mortgage Freedom

Alchemilla

Sounds like a briliantly productive day already.

Karmacat

It does, doesn't it, good for you!

This overpayment thing ... I had a Nationwide mortgage at one stage, and it used to drive me crazy the way people I spoke to had so little clarity. If you overpay it must either reduce your monthly payment, or reduce the term. The only way for the payment to stay the same is if it now includes a small overpayment, surely?

I think staff are so used to their company's assumptions and practices, and so used to thinking that customers don't understand, they forget that an assumption isn't a god given rule, its just a way the company decides to do business.

Have a face to face, ask them to work it through with you, or if they won't do that, then get them at least to put it in writing rather than trusting a phone. If they won't do that, why not? Supervisor should be getting involved. Their complaints department too. The Financial Ombudsman, if necessary (I'm not sure of the name of the relevant Omb, but thats the principle).

The very fact that you keep getting told different things tells you that they don't understand it well enough to relate it to another person. Not good enough! But you'll have to fight, I'm afraid....

Good luck with it!

pavlovs_dog

lovely news about the evil assignment DDFW, chuffed for you :j

DedicatedDFW

Thanks for stopping by everyone

Todays plans have been scuppered by the weather.

So far today though i have - cooked 2 lots of meat for packed lunches this week - meat was cheaper and alot more than just buying some already cooked / sliced :T

I've used up some ingredients that needed to be used before going off and have made some savoury shortbread - i think or just biscuits :T

I've washed up and dried up lots of times.

I've finished the last book i was reading and am on to the next bit of study :T

I've decluttered 1 shelf and 1 storage area in the utility. The storage area only has essentials there having been done not too long ago. The shelf has yielded 2 biggish items for le carboot - too big for any postage due to the low value of the items. The shelf has been tidied and i will work on decluttering it throughout the year - it now mainly the bottles of alcohol shelf - vodka, whisky etc. It is so much tidier now with these bulky items gone :T

I've paid the last bit i owed on my credit card for this months bill
Hope everyone is well - off to do more study

in_need_of_direction

and you recorded a weightloss of 2 lbs yesterday - well done.

edinburgher

So far today though i have - cooked 2 lots of meat for packed lunches this week - meat was cheaper and alot more than just buying some already cooked / sliced

What are you buying DDFW? Because a packet of ham costs me about £1.60 from L1dl and I'm curious to see what could be cheaper for a week's pieces with leftovers to spare.

jwil

Hey DDFW, another hugely productive weekend :T

Definitely done the right thing with the overpayments.

On your sig, you have 2 savings pots - for the loft and the guttering. Have you thought about combining them? The guttering is obviously an urgent job, so if you combined the pots, you'd be well on the way to being halfway there. Once you got that done, you could then save up for the loft.

Following on from what Edinburgher says - do you have a meat slicer or something? I can't get thin slices off a joint to save my life. I keep thinking about getting one as it would be more economical, but not sure how well it would work. If not, how do you get the slices thin enough for sandwiches etc?

PositiveBalance

jwil wrote: »

On your sig, you have 2 savings pots - for the loft and the guttering. Have you thought about combining them? The guttering is obviously an urgent job, so if you combined the pots, you'd be well on the way to being halfway there. Once you got that done, you could then save up for the loft.

Great minds, Jwil, great minds...that's exactly what I was thinking, but I didn't want to appear to be a gutter nag.

Following on from what Edinburgher says - do you have a meat slicer or something? I can't get thin slices off a joint to save my life. I keep thinking about getting one as it would be more economical, but not sure how well it would work. If not, how do you get the slices thin enough for sandwiches etc?

Confound you, Jwil! I bought one of these ages ago for exactly this reason (well, that and homemade bread) but it has stayed in its box due to a lack of space in my tiny kitchen. I had resolved to sell it for that very reason, although part of me always wanted to keep it for when I move into a new place and have more space. Now you have reinforced the positive things about keeping one, and I don't know what to do. Drat you! :rotfl:

BTW, how is baby Jwil?

PositiveBalance

P.S. I just realised I didn't congratulate you on your assignment, Dedicated. Well done! :j Have a pat on the back! *Pats Dedicated's shoulder*

DedicatedDFW

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

and you recorded a weightloss of 2 lbs yesterday - well done.

Thanks INOD i was very pleased

edinburgher wrote: »

What are you buying DDFW? Because a packet of ham costs me about £1.60 from L1dl and I'm curious to see what could be cheaper for a week's pieces with leftovers to spare.

Hi Ed, sorry i should have explained better - i seem to not be able to leave reduced priced meat in the supermarket - the yellow stickered items - so any that i see i do tend to buy if there's room for it as i can go weeks with none :eek: So basically i'm cooking meat i picked up for 19p - 99p. Mostly its purely for sarnies as my Mr would happily scoff the lot at tea :eek: and has been known to :eek::eek::eek: this weeks offerings were a 1.4kg lamb 99p, chicken pieces - thighs/drums 49p i also cooked a chicken meal for actual teas rather than sarnies - i know what you mean - lunch stuff is so dear

Hope all is well with you ?