I will be financially free!

lorriedriver1988

Hello everyone.

A brand new diary! Yay! :j

Background story

There is myself and DH. We are both in our mid twenties. We have two DS's. The oldest is 19 months and the youngest is 6 months. We bought our current house in October 2013 when I was heavily pregnant with DS2. We sold our previous house for £122,500 and purchased for £179,500. We decided to use the H2B scheme. So the finances consist of £35,000 H2B loan, £86,000 mortgage and the rest was deposit.

Targets

* Clear £35,000 H2B loan before 5 year interest free period is up. So far we have roughly £6,500 saved up, needs to be £11,00 by end of 2014.
* Save up £1900 by next spring so that I can do a college course and start OU English Literature degree
* Save £1500 towards B2L dream by end of 2014- so far £134
* Aim to be MF by 40 and own our first B2L.

Ways to achieve this

* Sell things on ebay
* I already have two jobs
* Look to see if there are any opportunities to take more responsibility in my school job
* Try to increase hours at other job
* Carry on doing surveys for vouchers and cash pay-outs
* Carry on looking for jobs and applying for jobs I'm interested in
* Keep outgoing costs as low as possible.
* Make use of all money-off coupons, loyalty cards, staff discount, special offers, cashback websites and use cashback credit card.
* Make sure I'm always getting best deal on savings. :money:

I will update as much as possible and keep sig up to date as well

lorriedriver1988

I thought I would write a list of all the financial productsI have

1) Joint Hali reward account- which is used forwages and some dd’s

2) Solo reward account- used to get £5 reward

3) $antander 123 account- used to store £3,000 andfor dd’s that I can get cashback on.

4&5) 2 x $antander e-saversin which one is my courses fund, the other we use to save all our loose changeand use towards my DS’s birthdays

6) Nationwide Flexdirect- used assavings with £2,500 in it for the 5% interest

7) Nationwide Regular ISA-putting odd bits of money in their towards B2L dream

8) TSB Current Account- £1,000for 5% interest being used as a savings account

9) Cap 1 Cashback credit card-balance paid in full each month.



Survey Sites I use

1) T0luna

2) Vo

3) My Surv

4) G Hulk

5) Swagbucking

6) Crowdology

7) Wh smith surveys

8) 1psos

9) Global TM

10) Inbox £’s

11) MM

12) YG

13) 1 poll







Additional money earners



Cashback websites I use for every purchaseI make online

Using vouchers when I can.

Working two jobs.

lorriedriver1988

Money saving Antic Today

My MIL has the kiddie winks today so DH and myself had a quiet day.

* Took two skirts back after realising I can't afford to spend any money unnecessarily.
* We treated ourselves to a few treats for lunch from Mr S rather than going out for lunch. We used a gift card and bought some reduced meat as well. Only spent £1.19 of real cash.
* Redeemed £50 from YG- will go straight to savings
* Sold an item bay of e
* Some surveys completed
* Will order a belt from next using giftcard so I can utilise my jeans more
* Talked to DH about downgrading our Sky package.
* Cleaned house using minimal products- stardrops. basics bleach and washable cloth.
* Read free book on kindle.
* Will download some more if any look good.

Have a nice evening all.

lorriedriver1988

Today's little list of MSE things

* put dishwasher on DONE
* swagbucking DONE- can't decide what to do with points
* do all surveys available DONE- not many around
* all meals from stores DONE
* work 3-7pm DONE
* take clothes off airer DONE just need to put away
* cleaned bathrooms using minimal products DONE
* Get DH to clean kitchen DONE
* get DH to ring sky to down grade Sky package DONE can't be reduced
* do washing when I get home from work DONE just need to put on airer.
* do ironing DONE
* discuss ways with DH of reducing our grocery bill. Have a few ideas. one to be carried over.
* Post on freecycle/freegle for bike- what to learn to ride a bike so I can eventually cycle to both jobs DONE fingers crossed someone will be generous.

Other things to add to list:

* Finish off the school job app- too tired too do at the moment almost completed.

I need to save roughly £700+ each month to ensure we reach the target. I will endeavour to look at ways to increase income and decrease outgoings. I am determined to rid us of the debt we owe.

GunWharf

Good luck in your Journey!

You are doing well and I look forward to seeing your progress.

All the best from the Captain on the South Coast.

killerpeaty

Wow, I'm so impressed with what you're able to do! Do you sleep?

Just thought I'd mention, flexdirect is 5% only for the one year and then goes to a measly 1%. But you can have two TSB accounts (each)! Closing the flexdirect and reopening after 6 months (I think) will reactivate the 5%.

lorriedriver1988

Hello GW and KP, thankyou for dropping by. KP your comments were very helpful.

Today's little list

*Clean all bathrooms in the house 2 out of 3 bathrooms clean
* Swagbucking
* Ring Bovis and tell them to pull their finger out their @$$ and sort out someone to come and look at my front door. This has been going on for weeks- there is something wrong with the lock, meaning the door won't open without brute force and the key keeps getting stuck. It's extremely frustrating:mad:
* All surveys that are available
* Go out for the day with DH, kids and friends, its a day off from Job 2 as its half term and its a normal day off from Job 1
* Do ironing if the washing is dry
* Ring Hali to take overpayment off mortgage for the mo, we are redirecting the £60 OP to our sofas that are on 0% *interest
* Sort out payment for sofa
* Clean kitchen
* List more stuff on bay of e and gumtree.
* Finish job app off
* Post parcel off
I achieve most things that I need to do, but its DH that drags things out. I find it much easier to get up early get it done, rather than procrastinate over things. That way things don't fester.

mismatch

Loving it attitude as I'm having breakfast procrastinating over going food shopping (I hate it!!) But it enthusiasm and achievements are a virtual kick up the !!! to get me moving. I'm gonna stalk along and sub for a few more hopefully. Good luck!!!

lorriedriver1988

Today's little list

*Clean all bathrooms in the house DONE
* Swagbucking in progress
* Ring Bovis and tell them to pull their finger out their @$$ and sort out someone to come and look at my front door. This has been going on for weeks- there is something wrong with the lock, meaning the door won't open without brute force and the key keeps getting stuck. It's extremely frustrating:mad: DH has spoken to them
* All surveys that are available in progress
* Go out for the day with DH, kids and friends, its a day off from Job 2 as its half term and its a normal day off from Job 1 went for lunch at Toby Carvery, cost us about £15 to feed myself, DH and DS1. A lot cheaper than £30 plus we could have spent at zoo.
* Do ironing if the washing is dry
* Ring Hali to take overpayment off mortgage for the mo, we are redirecting the £60 OP to our sofas that are on 0% *interest DONE
* Sort out payment for sofa ring up when want to make extra payment DONE
* Clean kitchen DONE
* List more stuff on bay of e and gumtree.
* Finish job app off
* Post parcel off DONE 20p under budget. I will transfer 20p over to savings
I achieve most things that I need to do, but its DH that drags things out. I find it much easier to get up early get it done, rather than procrastinate over things. That way things don't fester.

Things I need to still do-

* Finish off Job App
* Do job search
* Ironing DONE
* Look for Freebies DONE
* Look through money off vouchers we got through post
* List a few items DONE
* Eat yummy rhubard crumble with custard for pudding DONE
* Think in great detail whether I could manage a third job.
* More surveys

lorriedriver1988

Hi everyone.

I am very overwhelmed with the comments I have received. Everybody is so positive and genuine. I am inspired with people on this site especially DFW's. The determination shown is outstanding and can only be praised.

I have just done a job search and have seen a job I am interested in. It is bar work Fri, Sat and Sun 10pm- 4am. I am seriously thinking about applying for it. That would be three jobs to jungle.

Additionally, another source of income could be from renting out one of the four bedrooms. It would be tax free income.
I am determined not to be defeated by this ghastly debt we owe,

After we went out for lunch we went to Tesco's to buy bleach and some goodies for me as DH is at cinema with friend as its bargain Tuesday. We spent just over £5 but that included some bibs reduced from £3 to 50p and a bottle brush reduced from £4.50 to £1.75:money: My current bottle brush and some bibs did need replacing.

I am super excited that I have two bids on bay of e. Hope they go up even more. Right I'm off to continue with swagbucking and job app.

Night everyone.

lorriedriver1988

Hello everyone,

The weather is miserable here, but it will not dampen my enthusiasm for being financially free from the chains of the banks.

Things I will have/ will do:

* Cleaned bathrooms DONE
* Had a quick shower DONE
* Rang clothes company about rearranging picking up bag
* Check bay of e
* Check banks DONE
* Swagbucking
* All surveys that are available
* Clean kitchen
* All meals from stores
* Complete job app
* Work 3-7pm
* Re-read Martin's email

Have a good day everyone!