Today is not a NSD!

WishIwasstill25

We finally made it to our holiday let this evening (after the usual packing the car arguments) and it's lovely to spend time with our friends. Hence the late posting. We've planned out our week's activities and we will be heading home for a rest at the end of the week!!!

Hubby put 2 months of housekeeping in the account yesterday, so I'm feeling solvent on a spends basis. I've had a good sort through ynab tonight, one of its advantages is that you can spend money out of the 'wrong' bank account, but record it accurately on Ynab. This is what has been happening, so I've spent this evening shuffling money around in real life as well as on Ynab, to make sure money is in the correct place. I'm seriously considering shutting all the accounts I have now and opening a 1,2,3 account as I think I'll do quite well from the cash back. The only thing is I pay the majority of my bills annually, not on dd, so don't know if this would stop me getting the cash back, I'll have to check it out.

It's not going to be a mega spends week, as our friends work to a tight budget, which I am more than happy to go along with, mortgage interest will appear in a few days and then all the bills go out, so I'll have a better idea where we are up too. I feel that ynab has actually stalled my mfw plans, but that I have much more control over my spending, so that's got to be better right?

The plasterers started at home today, soooo pleased I'm away, I do feel for the lodger though, she's living in the mess, I think a good welsh present is called for.....

Good night all, off to subscribe to some new diaries, I'm just nosey!!!

Wish

WishIwasstill25

Had a lovely day out today with our friends and their squiddlers...

We've spent out on lunch, ice creams & food shopping for the rest of the week. Shopping with our friend shows me just how good we actually are, things kept getting added to the trolley, things I would never normally buy, thankfully we are splitting the costs for the week, so it won't be too bad.

Quite tired tonight as I didn't sleep well yesterday. Planning on a more lazy day tomorrow as the squiddlers are tired & grumpy. ( but hubby and I may head out to our favourite antique centre tomorrow night.

Sleep well

Wish

slowlyfading

Hope you've had a nice relaxing day

WishIwasstill25

Here I am, in bed at 10pm catching up with some diaries... Shattered!!!

So just time for headlines tonight...

Spending under control

School work needs doing

Sleep needed

Good night all!

Wish

WishIwasstill25

Arghhhhhhh.......

Since starting this diary, and getting ynab it seems that I'm becoming less mfw as the months go on. The only overpayments I've made have been the regular £50 and the cash back from my debit car, a grand total of £2.02 this month!!!!!!

Our bank account balances all look quite healthy, but my grocery, household goods & spending budgets in ynab are going to need a miracle to last the month.

I've started rounding up ynab budgets for bills & direct debits, so they are all a few pence in credit once the bills have been paid. I'm aiming to get a month ahead eventually on ynab, and I know it's gong to take 100 months if I'm doing it a penny at a time, but after Christmas I finish paying a bank loan I took out at the beginning of 2014 to clear a gettin out of control credit card. I'm pleased to say that ynab has stopped that happening again, but I can't wait until I have the £275 a month to do other things with. (Get ahead on ynab,emergency fund filling, over paying on mortgage)

Money is just rubbish, wouldn't it be so much better if we didn't need it?

Right winge over, feel a bit better now.

Have a good weekend

Wish.

WishIwasstill25

I don't want to go back to work tomorrow

And that is all I shall say on the matter.

Mortgage interest has been added, I've worked it out at £5.07 a day, which is a lot of money, and I'm £2.10 away from my target of paying £190 a month or less in interest. Still hoping that's my Christmas pressie to me, not the mortgage company.

Still feeling pretty miserable about how slowly the mortgage is reducing, so envious of you all paying £1k a month of your capital. I will get there.

I've sorted my ns&i money out, put in for a withdrawal to pay mum and dad back for the loft, I've incurred about £100 in early withdrawal charges, but that's a lot less than the interest would have been on a loan, and I hate owing anybody money, especially my family. I withdrew £500 more than I owe them, because it said that part of the penalty was 90 days interest which is removed from the amount you withdraw. It turns out it's only £2.50 but I didn't know that, so I've got £497 to allocate in ynab when it hits my account.

I'm yet to work out where I'm going to allocate it completely, so will update when I do. But, be assured I'm not rushing out to buy a new pair of shoes!!! I do know that part of it I'm going to use to fund a 'school' budget in ynab, which will then get replenished when I put my receipts in at work. That should reduce the amount of juggling I have to do when I do buy things for work.

Busy week ahead, so just off to write my to do list for next week.

I've not meal planned this week... Oops. But hubby and lodger are away until wed/Thursday, so I'll just be eating homemade freezer meals for the start of the week.

Have a good one everyone.

Wish

BookWorm

Hi Wish

Don't be downhearted re: mortgage payments. I'm only taking baby steps too - but they all count - and even small payments are better than none

Enjoy the rest of your evening

BW

slowlyfading

I don't want to go back tomorrow either I hope it goes okay.

smifffy1989

Me too! I only op £50 a month because I still like to have money that is guilt free for anything.

Don't worry about the big number set smaller targets.

WishIwasstill25

It is months, rather than weeks since I last posted, I hope you will all welcome me back. I feel like a yo yo saver, returning to the diet club when things have gone a little astray. I have thought about my little thread a lot, just not had the energy to log on, but, along with returning to healthy eating.... I'm back on the mortgage free wannabe train.

So to start: an update,

1) last Thursday I rang the student loans company and paid off the balance of my student loan. My student loan debt did not bother me whilst it was thousands of pounds, but when I realized paying it off was possible (having been told it's good debt and you'll never pay it off) it just became annoying, so I made a concerted effort to pay it off before the end of this school year. Which I have achieved. I felt a real sense of achievement, I'm the first of my friends to do so, and am looking forward to the next pay day when I will be £160 better off.

2) I'm still loving YNAB I am a bit of a geek, it's installed on every computer and mobile device I ever use and generally sit in the car park of a shop adding my spends to ynab to make sure I do. I've stopped recording all the cash I spend, I just record how much cash I've tAken out of the bank and split it between grocery, and spending money categories as that's usually what I spend cash on.

3) I've bought a new passport. This was a massive step for me, they are sooooo expensive and I didn't think I really needed one. But, hubby has now booked us a holiday to Prague for the summer holidays, so it was worth it. I've created a YNAB category of holiday spends, and am putting some money aside to spend there.

4) I'm going to invest in a start up business. I've got some money that I inherited from a grandparent a few years back. A friend has started a business, it's going really well, but he needs a bit of extra capital to take it to the next step. It's a bit of a gamble, but I never count that money as mine, I never calculate it in my net worth, and I'm going to match fund what he's getting as a loan form the bank. So, yes a bit of a risk, but not a dangerous one.

5) the mortgage, this is the next thing to be kicked into the long grass... At £44,900 it's not the biggest mortgage in the world, but our 4.79% interest rate is fixed until April next year. I'm hoping that the 1.99% deal I've seen from our provider will still be available when we can get a new deal in about February next year because the early repayment charge is just too big for us at the moment.

6) I'm back here because I've had a very spendy weekend. I'd put £300 aside to pay off my student loan and only needed £85, so have had a little celebration: bottle of bubbly for me and the girls, bottle of whiskey for the hubby, and a new handbag. Plus £100 put towards the holiday spends. Which isn't too bad I guess, but is not going to get the mortgage paid down, maybe I start that properly next month......

My goals now are:

get the mortgage down to 40k ASAP. I've been paying off £300 a month capital, which would mean 16months, so I'm going to try for 12. With my £200 student loan payment adding to it, from July onwards, it should be possible.

Keep saving. I've got a hsbc advance account and opened their loyalty isa with their save together bonus. So I get £10a month from them and am putting £25 a month into the 'save together' category on YNAB this is the start of my first proper emergency fund. As I've said before, hubby has our real emergency fund, it's part of the deal of me paying all of the bills. But I'm liking the idea of saving myself too. As much as I'm tempted to throw every penny at the mortgage, I think this is a wise thing to do.

Buy some new clothes... I've bought 2 tops and 1 pair of work trousers since September, which is very money saving, but a bit boring. I'm putting a little bit of money aside each month towards new clothes, I just need to go shopping. I've bought a couple of things at the next clearance over the year, but they didn't fit, so I keep taking stuff back.

Get back on the meal planning, pack lunch taking to work, no supermarket one the way home munchies spends and loose some weight. The slimming world approach works for me, so I just need to cut down on bread, crisps and cheese and all will be well.

Thanks for reading.

Off to catch up on all of your stories.

Night all
Wish