Officially declaring myself as a mfw - here goes!

Supadupa

Hello all,

Like many of you before me I have been lurking for some time and am now finally taking the plunge at starting my own diary as an extra push to reaching the elusive position of being mortgage free.

So a little bit about me first - I'm married with 4 children :eek: aged from 7 years old down to 9 months old and we also have two dogs. In contrast to all the people that did well out of the property market rising, DH and I were the losers! We had a property each when we met and we went off travelling for a while and rented out our properties. They dropped in value and we rented elsewhere. Earlier this year, some years on we managed to sell both the properties for a loss but somehow managed to pull together enough funds to buy a house in the right location and the right size for our family (at the moment, I suspect my children sharing a room might object when they get older).

So for the figures-we borrowed £176k over 20 years. I would like to get this paid off in 8 years, that's my aim but its aspirational rather than realistic! We are currently on a two year fixed deal so my first goal is to overpay to get that down to £143k at the end of the two years - again not sure how I'll manage that but I work better having something high to aim for. We have some credit card debt due to having to buy flooring for the whole house and to do the garden but fortunately it's all on 0% and I'm putting away savings each month to pay it off when the 0% comes to an end. I believe any overpayments can also be claimed back at any time so that's also my emergency fund.

I have made some overpayments already this year, some of my work bonus back in March and for the last couple of months I've paid in £20 a week. At this point you'll probably decide I'm a complete fruitcake! I decided I would like to employ a cleaner but I also wanted to overpay the mortgage and as I couldn't really afford to do both I decided to pay myself as a cleaner in my own house! So twice a week for an hour, I blitz the house and then pay myself £10 which goes straight towards the mortgage. I have never been so motivated to do my housework! I've also just recently decided to wash my own windows so I'll be overpaying what I normally paid the window cleaner and I'll be washing my own car and paying myself for that too.

In case anyone is still reading my other plans are-:
1. To increase my hours at work, I am currently part-time but with three children still at nursery I need to ensure it balances out with the extra fees.
2. I am also very keen to try matched betting but I need to spend more time getting my head around it. I thought I was quite clear until my DH asked me to explain it to him and I struggled to do so - more reading required!

My DH is very much on board with the idea of being mortgage free but not so much with making the sacrifices that go with that :rotfl:He occasionally has a light bulb flicker but has a more 'live for today' type attitude so together we are very well balanced. He ensures we keep some funds for fun whilst I do the scrimping and saving.

As at today our mortgage is £173,250 and we're off! If anyone is with me then enjoy the journey, and if not hopefully my dear diary will keep me on track!

Wish me luck!

Happier_Me

Welcome Supadupa

You sound very motivated. I really like the idea of paying yourself to do work around the house. Might have to try that one myself.

You're DH also sounds a little bit like mine. Up for the mortgage free thing as long as it doesn't impact his lifestyle too much. He's a willing passenger on this journey of mine... until we can't afford something he wants😀

Getting a balance is really important though. It does get easier when the children are at school and the dreaded daycare fees fall to sensible figures too.

Good luck on your journey.

juststuff123

Good luck to you. I really like the idea of paying yourself to clean. I may give that a try.

lulabelle1

Best of luck!!

Another one where DH is on board, but a very silent passenger for most of the journey!!

amycool

I normally reward my cleaning with biscuits. I love that idea though of paying yourself!

You sound very motivated and clearly full of energy so I'm sure you won't need it but I will wish you well on reaching your targets.

Watty1

Love the idea of paying yourself to clean. Suspect I'd forgo the payment though if I tried it on me

Supadupa

Thank you for the warm welcomes - you really are a lovely lot and I'm so pleased you are on board with my paid cleaning job and haven't decided I'm just a crazy lady!

I had quite a successful weekend. On Saturday we were invited to a barbecue in the afternoon so free food! We took the kiddies for a beach and woodland walk near home in the morning and the children were keen to pick some wild flowers to give to our friends who were hosting the barbecue. I found a spare vase, we added some nice pebbles from the beach, the wild flowers and created a rather nice freebie present for our hosts. I quite fancy some for myself so we'll need to go back soon. We also found some wild apples growing so I have some to turn into some apple pie like creation - that's a task for this week.

On Sunday hubby was dispatched to pick up some slabs that someone was giving away for free that will help finish our garden off. We reckon we saved around £200 there so I'm very pleased with myself. I would have liked to overpay the mortgage with the saved £200 but unfortunately I don't have it to spare right now and if we'd had to pay for the slabs then that would have had to wait. Then another free afternoon with children and dogs at the beach. I did manage to transfer over £11 last night to the mortgage from my housework and window cleaning job :T

My baby is on the move - help! I really need to get stairgates now - I think I could get away with just one at the top at the moment as he doesn't seem to be attempting to climb just yet. Here presents a minor dilemma - I have some vouchers for Toyrus so could get a 'free' stairgate but I have also seen a second hand one advertised for half the price. Do I use my vouchers now and get a free one or fork out the money for the secondhand one and then get the 'free' one when I need to get it for the bottom of the stairs? Decisions decisions......

I've brought my lunch into work today so another small saving there but I couldn't resist buying some porridge when I arrived in, its not a huge spend but if I was more organised I could have made it at home - must do better!

Have a great day all.

Supadupa

Well, it would appear my stairgate dilemma is no longer and I will need to buy two gates immediately. I swear I turned away for thirty seconds this morning and my baby boy managed to crawl out of the living room and was eyeing up the stairs like he was about to conquer Everest:rotfl:
Happier Me and Lulabelle-I am quite relieved that your OHs are the same as mine. We'll just have to support each other and drag them along with us!

Happier Me - I am looking forward to the childcare fees coming to an end one day but I suspect I'll just end up spending somewhere else child-related. I do appreciate that my kids are quite happy to be entertained with a trip to the park and a picnic and they are blissfully unaware that Playstations exist! I also hear from my friends that teenage boys never stop eating so I won't be able to scrimp on the food budget forever. I may end up with three children at university all at once in the future so I'll be happy to get rid of the mortgage in plenty time to save up for that. Or we could send them out to work instead to give them time to save up for a nice nursing home for DH and I

I suddenly remembered yesterday that I hadn't been paid for a mystery shop that I did ages ago. I logged into my paypal and lo and behold there was £21.34 waiting for me so I immediately paid that to the mortgage before I thought to spend it elsewhere :A

So has anyone employed themselves as a cleaner yet? Amycool- I quite like the idea of rewarding myself with biscuits too!

Right, I'm off to read some of your diaries for some ideas and inspiration.

Supadupa

Well it's been a mixed day for money saving today.

I sold two items on Ebay last night that came to £85 but that was spent today on DH's outstanding parking ticket-seems such a waste! I then discovered I had an £8 fine at the library-again totally unnecessary. I'm feeling very annoyed with us!

On the upside I bought the stairgate with my vouchers so £17.99 saved there and today was my cleaning day so that's another £11 to the mortgage.

I managed to entertain the kids all day spending only £2 on a bouncey castle, the ice-cream van drove away just as we got there. Disappointed family but we got some ice-cream at home instead free of charge :rotfl:

Off out with the girls tomorrow night so we'll see how the spending goes!

Supadupa

I can't believe it's been a week since I last posted!

I think I've found a way to make my target overpayments a reality rather than an aspiration - I've been offered a new job! I've been thinking about increasing my hours for some time but it's tricky balancing this with childcare costs and as I have a long commute drop off and pick ups can be difficult too. My new job is full time but with compressed hours and as its field based I will no longer have a commute to the office - hurrah! My full time equivalent salary will be the same but as its more hours that makes a huge difference plus I'll get a company car so I can sell on mine and save on tax, insurance etc. I am a bit nervous about leaving my current job because I really like the work, the people and the company - I've been there a long time. My boss offered full time hours too but not with the flexibility of the new job so I've decided to jump ship and hope my new work, colleagues and company are just as nice!

Not much more to add for overpayments - just two small housework payments. I'll rework my numbers for the new job soon and put a plan in place to increase the payments and get this mortgage free journey underway properly.

Spending this week has been good for food shopping and entertainment but the fuel budget as gone completely out of the window with ad hoc days out to entertain the children. I am determined to keep things on track so we'll see where else I can steal money from the budget to survive until payday.

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Many congratulations on the new job! It sounds great, and will no doubt help you to achieve your mf ambitions. Good luck,

Squirrel x