Finally concentrating on becoming MF

hoglet121

Floppy broccoli & spinach quiche made for tomorrow. Eggs, cheese & pastry hide a multitude of questionable vegetables.... ;-)

hoglet121

Morning everyone

Last minute change of plan, no longer going out to a free concert but having a friend over for lunch and a matter instead. I can still use the picnic food I made yesterday but I won't be tempted by buyin anything extra to eat or drink. The cupboard is well stocked with tea ;-)

I didn't really have the energy for going out so really pleased how today's turned out. I'm quite happy spending time at home, tho I did just have to have a quick tidy up and remove the clean washing from yesterday that was piled up on the dining table hehe

Have a gray evening everyone :-)

hoglet121

*great not gray!!

hoglet121

lovely NSD tday :-)

lunch was great but I'm now shattered. ironing pile beckons and then back to work tomorrow.

will need to get petrol soon, either tomrrow or tues, but just a top up to tide over to pay day

hoglet121

Morning everyone!

I have a NSD planned today too - have resisted a cafe coffee despite the fact it's Monday morning, and I managed to eek out enough fuel to hang on till tomorrow.

I have brought porridge in to have for breakfast at work with a piece of fruit and I have my homemade spiced parsnip soup for lunch. Dinner will be chicken, salad and potatoes.

Had some great news at the weekend, I've lost 10kg since starting my diet in September. It's really motivated me to keep going, and despite the odd treat I know that I'm eating much healthier overall and that's what counts.

Enjoy your evening everyone :-)

ma0941987

hoglet121 wrote: »

Hi Everyone, I have been a very long term lurker here but have finally decided to concentrate on becoming MF by 2026.Yes I know that is a very long way out but our mortgage is due to finish in 2042 so 2026 is quite a difference. Here's a little bit about me.. Thoroughly messed up my finances when I was younger and first working and got into hideous amounts of debt - 3 maxed out credit cards, 2 loans, car on HP and an overdraft. I finally learned to budget and sorted myself out. I got married and a bit later we moved to NZ - 18 months ago we bought our first home. At the time it was still possible to get mortgages here with low equity and we bought our place with a 5% deposit. Things have changed here somewhat but that's another story.... Interest rates here are high tho and we are paying 5.2% at the moment, one of the main incentives to become MF as soon as possible. We saved for our house deposit by being very disciplined, and since we bought we really haven't been good at all. The savings pot just isn't growing and there's a reason for that.... we're spending way too much money. Over here we can't OP except when the mortgage is up for renewal, and ours is in October this year, so a good 8 months worth of saving will really help us make a dent. DH is more or less on board, but he does remember the deposit saving days with 'we did absolutely nothing and I don't want to live like that', so I have to be a bit canny in my money saving ways... This week I've realised that I really have to stop spending money in the cafe at work. This is so naughty as I bring lunch everyday anyway... We are both losing weight at the moment (him much more successfully than me.. hmmm i wonder why?!) so I tend to bring good healthy lunch food and then get tempted by a cake or a sandwich later on in the afternoon. I must make sure I bring a little something extra to tide myself over... DH gets paid tomorrow (he gets paid weekly) so a big chunk of money can go straight into savings... we have some big bills coming up in the next 2 weeks and I really want to take them from each week's money, not dip into the savings from the week before. we have also managed to greatly reduce our grocery bill over the last few months. I send DH to do the shop with a list and he is very good about not adding to it (I am not good at that). As a result we now spend about 60 pounds (NZ keyboard doesn't have a pound sign!) a week less than we were. We're currently spending between 60 and 70 pounds a week which includes all food except veg and fruit, alcohol, cleaning, household products and cat food. Our fruit and veg box is an extra 16 pounds on top. Our household is DH and I and 2 cats. that's enough from me, I plan on updating this as I go but we'll see. I sure need something to keep me motivated!

lol.................................

hoglet121

Very pleased to report that after wearing through my jeans and really not having enough in the budget for a new pair, having lost weight I now fit into 2 pairs of almost new jeans found lurking in the back of the cupboard :-)

Feeling a bit frustrated as I had a big clear out in a fit of despair last year and took a lot of clothes that no longer fitted me to the CS, so there could have been more clothes to re-discover, but at least they will have benefitted somebody.

hoglet121

Morning all :-)

Got through my NSD successfully yesterday, another one planned for today apart from $20 on fuel for commuting to work.Yesterday's spiced parsnip soup was definitely lacking something, and left a very strange taste in my mouth so will need to address that with the second portion. Today I have spicy pumpkin, cannelini bean and pasta soup, and I've eaten the porridge already. Snack cupboard is bare and I'm desperately trying to not spend anything till Thursday so trying to hold out. I've asked DH not to buy anything lunch-wise (he has a a once or twice a week subway habit despite taking lunch) this week so I can't very well go and buy myself anything in the cafe, or anywhere else for that matter. I sometimes find accountability is the only way to achieve my goals.

Scales reported another 1 kg gone, now 11.5 kg gone in total, another 16.5 to go eeeeek! Diet definitely helping the money saving tho - we just eat so much less. I get so frustrated when I think of all the years where we were bad to our bodies and our bank balance, if we'd cut back we would have been so much better off. At least we're doing something about it now.

Habibiboo

:wave:

Hi Hoglet, just stopped by for a quick catch up!

Signature's looking good to me ~ it shows you're on top of the situation and that counts for sooooo much! Don't forget the snowball effect too, as once that interest gets cut down you can really target that capital and find you're paying it off far quicker!

I know what you mean about addictive characteristics of mortgage calculator though ~ I kept doing it until I found a pay off date I was happy (ish) with and now try to meet the required figure each month by throwing every penny at the mortgage.

Heartily recommend chooks by the way, but you might want to keep them clear of the productive end of your garden otherwise it won't be yourselves your garden is feeding ...!

Snap with the speedy OHs ~ mine got collared too last week taking his daughter back to uni. Honestly, stick him on a long straight motorway and he thinks he's in a car chase film!

Glad to see you're going great guns, well done!

hoglet121

Hi Habibiboo!!

Thanks so much for your lovely comments :-)

Just need to convince DH re the chooks... I hope it's just a matter of time, after all he was initially very anti-cat, and he completely adores our 2. I solved that my temporarily rescuing some neighbours' cats one freezing cold Christmas when we were still in the UK. The person they'd asked to feed them had forgotten and they turned up at our doorstep frozen and hungry one evening. We fed them tinned hotdogs until the shops opened in the morning... After their owners had returned he came round to the idea.... so now all I need is to 'happen across' some chooks hehe :-)