Flutteringby's MF Journey

Flutteringby

Well its been a busy time since my last update. Baby boy arrived on 28th September so we have had a busy few weeks adjusting to life as a family of 4!

I finished September as expected on £337.13 payments, so smashed the £250 minimum target! So far for October I've managed to move £263.17. THats a mix of budget, spare change, and a couple of ebay sales. Hoping to find a little more before the month is out but its hard to find the time to make/save at the moment. Will be happy if this is it for October, and November will be full steam ahead again. I really need to work on my grocery budget I think, which will help.

All this means that the Mortgage balance has dropped below £40k :j:j

Its now £39,989.45

amycool

Congratulations on your new baby and also on somehow moneysaving at the same time! Great news that you are below £40,000 and you're making great progress.

Goldiegirl

Congratulations on your new arrival!

gallygirl

Congratulations from me also :T

Flutteringby

Thanks for all the congratulations! I'd forgotten how time slips away when you have a newborn to care for! He is 7 weeks old now, and I can't understand where the those weeks have gone!

Quick update on where we are. At the end of October we managed to hit £452.62 payments, leaving the mortgage sitting at £39,800 (yes I made a last payment to give me that lovely round number ).

And November is going really well too, with the current payments totalling £314.61 and hopefully more to come over the next couple of weeks. This was helped hugely by £100 Quidco Cashback for ordering my FIL a new Apple computer and accessories. He ordered it while at our house (hubby is the family computer expert) and as he has no idea (or interest) in cashback etc we took advantage! There have also been a couple of good eBay sales which bumped up the payments.

Outstanding balance today stands at £39,485.39. Hoping to be sub £39k by year end.

Flutteringby

I've had a few things floating around in my mind this week so I thought I'd get them down here.

First, while we are very keen to pay off the mortgage as soon as we can, we also have some upkeep/improvements that we need/want to make to the house so I need to free up some cash for that. These include a new kitchen (a want but would make a big difference to our comfort here), new carpet in lounge, new gas fire and some work on the trees outside. Oh and a new sofa! I need to do some thinking on how to balance paying for some of these with paying down the mortgage in the New Year.

I've been feeling quite overwhelmed lately and the feeling isn't going away. So I think a big aim for next year will be to simplify. I want to simplify my life and the house so I can concentrate on the things that are most important to me. I've already started by deciding to close my eBay shop. I've been selling kids clothes and toys, but this year its not been so profitable and is taking up a lot of my time/space in the house. So I've decided to sell off my remaining stock and free up the space. Already got a couple of bulk lots on eBay so will hopefully see some cash coming in over the next few weeks.

Flutteringby

Happy New Year :beer: !!

Just had a look at the mortgage balance at end of 2014 and it stood at £39,328.85.

If I manage my £250 payments each month, by end of 2015 I should be at £36,328.85. Really hoping to beat this, but it could be an unpredictable year as we need to do some things to the house.

The current projection shows us being MF in June 2027, so hoping to knock a few more months off this year.

Flutteringby

Hey its been an age since I last posted. Its been a tricky few months and the finances have suffered a bit Since my last post we replaced our kitchen which has put us back a bit but made a huge difference to our comfort and happiness here so worth it I think. I've also taken on a franchise business, so there was an outlay there but I'm loving it and have made a great start so that should start to pay off later this year.

The finances have had to be rearranged to take all this into account. So the Mortgage is now standing at £47,409.18 and we have a kitchen loan of £14,043.50 (in the One Account so its a paper loan to ourselves). Target one is to pay off this loan amount asap. I've just sat down and organised the finances for the first time in a while(!) so I'm really keen to crack on and see the numbers fall this month.

Flutteringby

Well its been a crazy few months and I have completely fallen off the MFW waggon We have been spending like crazy but now its time to draw a line and focus again. I've been playing about with the spreadsheets this evening and have got us back on an even keel, so its all systems go for August. I've had a couple of big items to add into the budget - private speech therapy sessions for DD and her 121 swimming lessons too. This totals £200 per month (eek!) but we will continue with them for a few months as they are both really important for her. The therapy sessions in particular are having a real impact on her which is brilliant (she starts school in September and I want to know I've done everything I can to help her before then).

All money is being thrown at the Kitchen 'loan' which currently stands at £13,712.62. My spreadsheet forecasts it to be paid off in October 2018 but there is no way I still want to be paying it off then.

Our summer project is moving the bedrooms around upstairs. DD was in Bed3, and DS in the box room while Bed2 was set up as a spare room with king size bed! We realised that this was a big waste of space for the few weekends a year that we have visitors so are moving DD into Bed2, DS into Bed3 and turning the box room into an office. This will free up some space downstairs too and allow us a playroom which will be fantastic!

I've been selling furniture we won't need on Facebook and Gumtree, along with some baby equipment we no longer need and have got about £200 so far. This will go towards the new wardrobe we will buy for DD (looking at a large Ikea Pax with a combination of shelves and rails/drawers so it can house some of her toys too and cut down on clutter. We had a decorator in today to give a quote for redecorating her room but I have money set aside for that. Then once the upstairs moves have happened we will need a sofa bed for the play room (again looking at an Ikea one) which will be the other main cost. It will all be worth it in the end though and will make the house much more comfortable for us all!