Mrs. P's MFW Diary

MrsPorridge

I have spent a few years on the Debt Free Wannabe forum and now just have my mortgage to pay off.

I have two mortgages. Both repayment and both at 1.5% I am not on a deal at the moment but my rate cannot go up by more than 1% above base rate.

No penalty for over-payment

Both end in 4 years time.

Mortgage one is for £11,744.11

Mortgage two is for £16.050.19

I am starting this diary to keep me focussed and to try and see how much I can pay off mortgage one this year.

I have spent the last few years Ebaying everything in sight and having car boot sales so really don't have much left that I can sell off. Having said that I think I probably have enough for at least one boot sale once the weather improves!

I used to religiously meal plan but this has gone by the by over the last 6 months or so.

From beginning of January I have tried to pull the horns in and have been eating as much from the freezer as possible - it has never looked so bare but its still not empty yet. The family are getting a bit fed up of mince in all its forms (I found at least 20 bags of mince bolognaise type mixture I cooked up over the year).

So - enough rambling. My plans to get back on the moneysaving wagon are:

1. Meal plan sensibly - stick to shopping list
2. Review all outgoings and see where any savings can be made
3. Have a play with the mortgage calculator and see how much I can overpay and what will be the result - this might be the best motivator of all.

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi Mrs Porridge, welcome to the madhouse

I'm a firm believer in menu planning to control costs. Good luck with your plans.

Tilly

MrsPorridge

Well I have just shaved more than half off my car insurance - going from just over £400 to £159 - but I have paid it in a one off instalment to save another £60 odd pounds. Feel pleased that I took the trouble to do that - and it only took about 20 minutes - time well spent.

MrsPorridge

Looking at my SOA today decided that even though I have money to save each month I don't. My idea was to save and then to overpay on the mortgage. I think it would be easier for me to overpay each month. I have £300 that I can overpay each month and then if there is extra left over perhaps I can OP that too. I am very discplined in that I save so much for car, bike, heating oil etc each month but seem not to be able to put much into "savings".

Jobs for tomorrow when I have a bit of free time to spare:

Phone the mortgage company and ask about OPing and whether I can set up a DD for a set amount

Set up another online savings account with my current account and start putting £100 per month into it towards DS' university - he goes to Oxford (if he gets the grades) in October and we would like to help him out as he has studied very hard.

Work out my meal plan for next week - am still using stuff from the freezer and I think I can just about sqeeze another few days out of it.
I just read on someone else's diary that they are doing their own verison of the 5:2 diet by having soup two evenings a week as a main meal. What a fab idea and I have a soup maker so no excuses! I also have a breadmaker so soup with lovely hm bread sounds perfect.

Once I have the overpaying sorted I will then look into savings - at the moment I have an ISA and premium bonds.

MrsPorridge

Well - I haven't done very well with my overpayments - in fact I have made zero overpayments!

Am still struggling to stay within my limits each month and have been dipping into my savings.

I have to start getting myself organised.

I now have an overdraft of around £1200 each month and I must get this sorted.

In other fantastic news - DS has got a place at Oxford University - so excited and so pleased for him. However, DH and I would like to support him as much as we can.

DH and I fancy a change - once DS is sorted then we are thinking of selling up our house and moving to an area where property is cheaper and then maybe living off savings or just working part time or maybe doing B&B. We are both ready for a change and are both sick and tired of the 9-5. We don't mind hard work but want to be in charge for a change.

For all the above I need to get back into gear and get it sorted.

First job then is to pay off the overdraft by Christmas.

Most of the overspending is going on food. I have today started a plan for meal planning.

Some MS stuff I have done:

A collegeague has given me loads of veggies from his garden and this has all been made into soups and frozen. From next week I will be taking this into work to have for lunches - which will save me at least £20 per week as I have fallen into the dreadful habit of buying lunch every day.

This weekend we are going to visit my Dad stopping at a Travel Lodge which is pretty skanky -we have stopped there before, but the bedding and room are clean (which is all that really matters) and it cost us £27. We were going to stop two nights but have decided to drive back home late in the evening. We live in Cornwall so this will mean we will avoid all the holiday traffic (which seems to be worse than ever this year). So we have saved one night's accommodation

Will try and fill in this diary at least 3 times a week and keep looking at the site to keep myself motivated and to keep my eye on the ball.

MrsPorridge

Oh just looking at my previous posts - one thing I have done religiously is to save £100 per month for DS - so I can do it if I want to!