Coffee Cup's Journey to a Guilt Free Latte :)

Coffee_Cup

I LOVE a latte but lately I have been having a few too many and when I realised just how much I (we really as Mr Coffee Cup is more of an offender than I am) could be saving by abstaining from them and all the other lunches and meals out we have it was a light bulb moment. We spend a ton of money every month on eating out and that is one of the first things we are going to stop. A couple of weeks ago we had a great day out at the beach. We took a picnic so it could easily have been a NSD but on the way home Mr C said do you want to go out for tea. I am easily led so of course the answer was yes. Off we went and a couple of hours later we came out £70 worse off (there are three little Coffee Cups too so there is no such thing as a cheap meal with five of us to feed). Yes, it was a good meal but no it wasnt worth it when you consider how else that money could have been spent. If it had been a one off that would have been fine but we eat out a lot and I would guesstimate we could easily spend £300 per month on needless meals, lunches and coffees out. :(

So, this week I sought out these forums (I had previously toyed with trying to be a MFW a few years ago then we built a house so it was forgotten) and I found myself inspired by peoples stories and I want in!! I have done some basic number crunching and am amazed how easy it is to cut years off your mortgage. I have been playing around with a spreadsheet and just by paying an extra £200 a month we could cut six years off. Then I played around and entered an additional £5000 a year and it cut even more years off. Then I changed that to an additional £10k per year and was amazed it said we could be mortgage free in just NINE years!!! WOW!!!:j:j:j:j:j That would be before I am fifty!! So, I broached the subject with Mr C very, very carefully. He worries about money so I didnt want to panic him (I handle all the financial stuff and he has no idea how much money we have etc). We have our own businesses and I dont think he has ever really felt settled in the knowledge that we have to pay our own salaries each month. I think he liked being employed in that respect. Anyway, to cut a long ramble short, he listened (he had a minor panic when I first brought up money) and agreed that it sounded great and he wondered if we could really go for it and try to do it in seven years!! That would be before he is fifty I would love to be able to do that but not sure if that is a step too far just yet. A bit more thought and number crunching required but at least he is on board. He is a spender though and at any given point he may decide he wants a new car etc so we will have to wait and see how committed he is in the long term.

Anyway, the littlest cup is whining so I had best give her some attention. I am going to get together some figures and goals and will post back when I have thought it all through some more. Thanks for reading the first of my what will hopefully be many rambles

t-rexcellent

Welcome and good luck Coffee Cup! Isn't is amazing how when you sit down and work out all those little transactions just how much extra you could be putting in the mortgage!

I'm looking forward to following your progress!

Goldiegirl

Hello, welcome to MFW


I had to look at your post, as I like a nice latte myself!


To help mitigate the cost of coffees, you could look into finding free coffees


As part of the M&S Premium club, I get vouchers for free coffees, and as part of the Dobbies (gardening) loyalty scheme I get coffee vouchers. You do have to pay to be in these schemes, so it's best to see that the other benefits make the scheme worthwhile.


I've just joined the John Lewis loyalty club, no charge, and get a free coffee and cake each month.


I've also got a Costa loyalty card, and every so often get enough points for a free coffee.


Good luck with your MFW quest

Coffee_Cup

What a great idea Goldiegirl!! I have a Muffin Break card where you get a muffin and coffee in your birthday month but February is a LONG time away. I will need to take a look at the others you mentioned too. I live in a small town so most of my coffee drinking is done in the local cafes so I am going to cut back on them but not cut them out entirely. As a mum of young kiddos it is my social life

On a money saving note I had budgeted £200 a month for our electricity bill and the meter reader was here for our first reading this afternoon and I am pleasantly to find it is only £65 per month!! Result!! I know it will go up in the winter but its a great start.

Watty1

Waitroses give you a free coffee every day! You just need one of their free loyalty cards. I love sitting there having a cuppa when I've done some shopping.
run my own business too - good luck with the journey

Coffee_Cup

Watty1 wrote: »

Waitroses give you a free coffee every day! You just need one of their free loyalty cards. I love sitting there having a cuppa when I've done some shopping.
run my own business too - good luck with the journey

No Waitrose near me unfortunately. That would have been lovely. All the chat of the loyalty cards though makes me think I need to check out all the places we regularly go to and see what they offer.

Just been reading some of your diary Watty. You are doing so well and one post caught my eye in particular about MFW not being a DFW so we dont have to be quite so strict. Totally paraphrased that but it made sense. On that note I think I will pop out for a latte - just kidding So far I am managing a NSD as it is raining so hard hear I just dont want to venture outside.

Goldiegirl

Coffee_Cup wrote: »

Just been reading some of your diary Watty. You are doing so well and one post caught my eye in particular about MFW not being a DFW so we dont have to be quite so strict .

That's a really good point.


With credit cards and loans it's easy to get sucked in to spending without thinking, and the amount owed can rack up really quickly, at very high interest rates.


With the MFW, it's more of a discretionary thing, you can do as much as you can afford to, or want to, and sometimes suspend the overpayments altogether.


This summer, I've been enjoying reading the diaries of people with young families, who are having a brilliant summer, alongside being MFW. I'm sure you'll find those diaries, and it'll give you lots of ideas

Coffee_Cup

I agree Goldie you have to live too and enjoy living. I was just saying to Mr C that one thing I am not giving up is my weekly lunch with a friend and her little boy. My littlest goes to school next August so I am going to enjoy our last year of freedom and if that means lunching with friends once a week then we will do it To be honest the place we take them is a church run cafe so it is as cheap as chips so all in we spend about £6 for lunch for the two of us. Where Mr C & I go wrong is just about every wednesday we go out for lunch (I work that day so the boys are at school and the little one is at a friends) at the really nice local cafe and we are lucky if we get change out of £20. It is nice and we do enjoy that time out together but I think we should reign that back to once a month or so.

On another positive note I just got an email from Quidco to say that my £80 fee for installing BT has been paid so I will transfer that into my Mortgage Overpayment Account I have set up. Cant pay direct to the mortgage as yet as I havent worked out how to do it. Am speaking to them on friday to change our product so will ask all these questions then so for now I will stick money into a separate account.

littlegreenpeas

Hello and welcome.

Few tips about eating out is that some of the local sandwich shops in my area have a loyAlty cards for free sandwiches after you have bought 5 and the pubs do deals where you can have 2 meals for £10. You have to pick and choose the nice places but sometimes the food is really good.

You can also check for discount vouchers, have a free taste card on a months trial and use club card vouchers.

Subscribing to the restaurants you like on Facebook or email is a good way of getting free stuff.

Good luck

Lgp

Coffee_Cup

Thanks LGP. Will keep my eyes open and see what's on offer locally. I don't mind the money for eating out when we make a conscious decision to go out but I do hate when we end up eating out when I have already bought something in for the tea! I think Mr C sometimes hears what's on the menu and decides he doesn't want that so suggests eating out instead.

littlegreenpeas

Mr Lgp does this as well