My Mortgage free mission

smile24

Mrs_Rachel_Trelfa wrote: »

Hi smile, a belated welcome from me. Work/childcare balance scares me as although me and the hubby do not have children yet, a family is something we wanting to start in the near future.

Cracking rate for the next 5 years. I kook forward to following your journey if I may?

It would be great if you followed any input welcome! work/childcare is a very personal balance. I have to work to pay the bills I earn a bit more even part time than OH. I also enjoy going to work... I am deffo not cut out to be a stay at home mum. I am so lucky that her grandparents are local, relatively young and delighted to have her 1 day week each or I am not sure the numbers would add up!

smile24

Just got back from my run and showered - My trainers now have a hole in so £50 to be spent on a new pair in the next week.

Therefore this months planned spends:
Trainers £50
I am going to Wales for Easter so there will be extra fuel and food but trying to keep it cheap = £60
Posh evening do on Sat paid for last month so just a few drinks £10
I need to enter a Triathlon = £30

= £150.

My goals for the month = another £150 in e-saver.

smile24

Well every month there is always 1 weekend where my budget plans get thrown and this was it.

On Friday I went shopping and spent the money I had from xmas all going to plan. On Saturday night I went to a fundraiser and spent £40.00 more than I thought - it was however all for a good cause and we won champagne and prosecco.

Therefore today I have felt a little fragile and while OH was working me and LO had the loveliest day on the beach with a friend. Parking £5 (hate paying for parking but no choice) and Ice Cream £5.

Leeds still owe us £950 which I really hope gets refunded this week or I will have to phone them again. I think we are going to spend some of this on building a wardrobe and if there is anything left use it to overpay the mortgage!

So 3 nights socializing last week, Saturday night out and I am shattered. Going to try and go to sleep very soon to get some energy for this week; working 3 days, running tomorrow night, and going to Wales on Wednesday for a holiday which will mostly consist of climbing, walking and cycling (and chasing after a 2 year old who is now potty trained!)

I will update next week and will hopefully then know how much we can overpay this month :-)

smile24

Well I am back! Got back from our little break on Monday and struggled through the week - Made it to Friday yay!!

Had a running race on Wed and went for a long bike ride last night with some running buddies so after a mega busy day at work I am pooped tonight.

Doing OK money wise. I have transferred £100 to my savings account and with pay day on Tuesday I think I have £168 left in my spending account.

This weekend spends;
- Trainers ( about £40 I have a 10% discount voucher)
- Birthday cards x 2 (£2.00)
- Birthday Present x 2 (£20.00)
- Saturday night drinks (£10)

I am hoping this will be it and leftover money at the end of the month will go in my savings account.
I have felt much more in control of my money this month . I guess I am more aware of where it has gone and have more left at the end of the month.

What to do with my savings money I am not yet sure..I would like to use some of it to overpay probably half but is it best to let it build up a bit first? I can think of loads of things to spend it on but don't want to waste it.

Our first new mortgage payment comes out a week on Mon with out first actual overpayment of £100... excited!

Well I hope everyone has a fun weekend. OH is working, we are off out Sat night with family, other than that I am hoping to;
- get a good 10m run in,
- get my trainers and presents for people
- have fun with LO
- go see my mum
- get on top of housework

smile24

Well I am very pleased with how April has gone

Total put aside; £312. Very happy with this as April included multiple "fun" things and I still managed to save for me a good amount. I am optimistic about building this up over the next few months.

Pay day was Yesterday meaning we are nearly in May which presents new challenges (and more fun).

£200 spent on a course for work.. no way work will pay and it will be useful/ interesting. Course is not till October but I am all booked up now. Hotel costs will hopefully not be this month.

Also going away for a week at the end of the month with the in laws and for a weekend with friends.

Therefore less will be saved in May. My aim is £150.00.

Had a low spend week so far;
- £1.00 on snacks at work
- £3.00 on soft play plus drink today.

Hoping for a low spend weekend as well as most of our plans are free/low cost.

There are a few things i need to sort out; uniform tax rebate, claiming back some money on professional reg fees and I have a growing pile of stuff to sell.

I will update next week once mortgage payments have gone out.

smile24

Hello I have had a busy couple of weeks!

1st Santander payment came out so I phoned to try and make my 1st £100 overpayment and found out the minimum amount is £500. So we will set up another account and put £100 a month in from out joint account. This is a little annoying as 1) we have so many little accounts between us and 2) the temptation for OH to go and buy a silly smart TV is big. He is good with money but sees his mates with nice big TV's and is like we have money can we have one. Err no coz TV's are a silly thing to spend out money on (especially when all we really watch is sport and big bang theory).

Anyway we talked about it and agreed to overpay £500 every 4 months = £1500 a year over 5 years £6000. I will hope to add to this from my own savings.

Money saving goals of the week;
- swap TV/internet package. We are paying too much for Virgin.
- Try again to sell some clothes and LO's toys.

Our joint account is looking healthy we have £1000 spare in there so £3500 ish spare between us for emergency/ house repairs/ car repairs.

We purchased a tent this week as it was on offer + extra £10.00 on topcashback so that will be great for cheap weekends away = good quality family time (fingers crossed for sun)

Had another fairly low spend weekend;
£15.00 night out on Friday inc train home
£3.00 on cake ingredients to take to LO's nursery fete
£2.00 at Fete
Today just extra petrol to get to my dads and a running race.

I have £216 to last me the month..Things to spend on;
1 hotel night away with friends (£30.00)
Meal out with friends (£30.00)
Day trips on our week away (£50.00)
Lawn Mower part (£8.00) will sort that now
= 118.
I really want to some new off road trainers and new pedals + shoes for my bike.. but i feel this is a little indulgent so still having a think.

Food shop for the week done £35.00 which i reckon is good -been reading how much some people spend and I think we do great - home cooking is definitely the key for us. It helps that OH is a manager at a supermarket so out meat and fish is nearly always reduced.

Talking of which I must get the slow cooker ready for chilli tomorrow x

yukkibear

Popping in to say Hi and belated welcome. It's good to get things written down isn't it, and works well to see exactly where you are with money. Looking forward to following your journey.

smile24

Hello
Busy week and weekend. Other than 200 miles worth of petrol not sure I have spent a single penny this weekend. Lovely beach trip Saturday my sister bought us ice cream and today I did sport and then had to pick LO from the in laws as OH was at work.

I have set up another savings account to pay all the money we can overpay into to pay off in £500 chunks. We have so many bank accounts it's ridiculous. £200 in there so far.

Trying to sell some stuff on facebay but people are messing me around.. very annoying.

We are nearing the end of the month less than 2 weeks till pay day. Should be able to sneak £100 into my savings account. That will take in to £400.

This weeks moneysaving job has to be switching gas and electric. We had our annual statement through and we can save £150 a year. Also need to look again and ditching virgin for TV and internet.

Right getting organised for a week of work; Made lunches, made tomorrow nights dinner, just about to pack LO nursery bag.

speak soon x

smile24

Hello again,

Seems like ages since I last wrote on here.. we went away for a week and had some busy weekends. I have continued to think about cash flow (probably a bit to much).

Last month was a tight one due to that work course costing £200 and a weekend in Devon ended up costing more than I thought. O yes and I bought some groupon surf lessons to cheer up my sister she is going through a rubbish time and the moment. So only £30 saved not as good as April.

June however is a new month ..
Start with good things;
- Gas and electric has been switched saving £160 a year
- Extra job done = extra £50/60
- 2 toddler toys sold = extra £10

costly things;
- Mostly car insurance needs to be paid
- need a hair cut
- need a new bike pump
- I entered a triathlon costing £50 and I do feel a bit guilty. OH rarely spends this much on something for him but it stops me getting fat and I love endorphins.

Extra things I need to do;
- Look again at Broadband/Tv
- Uniform tax rebate.
- Continue to sell bits and bobs. Think I will avoid ebay though and stick to local facebook

So July should be our first £500 overpayment. I will also get the cam belt changed on my car. And then start building up the money pots again.

This week LO is poorly = all the fun things I thought of doing ruined :-( I will check back next week see how I am doing.

smile24

Hello I am back again. I have been meaning to check back in but never had 5 minutes to myself. Tonight me and LO are home alone so no one t distract me and I have been thinking on what I need to focus on.

We have £500.00 saved up as an over payment but will probably not get to bank until next month.

Jobs to do this week;
- Sort extra days of childcare with nursery
- Sort cam belt change.
- Pay for swim pass for rest of season (£49.00) and then use it s much as poss.
- Enter last tri of the year £59.00 eek. But I have cancelled 2 smaller ones I was thinking of doing to save and train for this one.

Then I should have paid for everything I need and can focus on what's left.

I start my new extra job the week after so that will be interesting. No idea how much extra money will come from it yet deffo 5 days worth before end of august.

We have been plodding along doing fairly well I think. We have a good buffer of savings between so thinking about prioritising what needs/wants money spent on and what to save/overpay.

I'll be back soon :-)