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Castles in the Sky - making reality out of the dream

After perusing the boards for many years I have decided now is the time to start a diary of my own;

Back Ground last year I moved into my own perfect home – it is a new build and exactly what you would expect from this. It is small; boxy with a small garden; and I absolutely love it!!

To achieve this I part exchanged my home through the builders scheme and in all honesty was offered a fair price for my previous home – this did mean a massive loss on my initial investment but I was able to have enough for the deposit for my new home.

I have loads of ideas of how I am going to magically cut my budget and start my over-payments……………………… none of which I actually ever follow through with hence the title :o


So this is my beginning of learning to budget effectively – it may get messy and I may fall at points but I am determined not to have a mortgage for the next 20 years- which is the current term of my mortgage :eek:


To my shame I need to sort out what I actually owe on my mortgage – I know the original amount was for a very scary £111714.

Right off to read others dairies and start my journey x
Mortgage Owed: Sept 14 - £107398.20
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Comments

  • Watty1
    Watty1 Posts: 7,200 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Welcome to diary land. I found my own diary to be a key in helping with motivation, sticking with it and so much more besides. It has become a journey and one I am loving.
    Made it to mortgage free but what a muddle that became

    In the event the proverbial hits the fan then co-habitees are better stashing their cash than being mortgage free !!
  • tylersbabe
    tylersbabe Posts: 309 Forumite
    edited 13 September 2014 at 6:55PM
    Hi and thanks for the reply x - just looked at your signature Watty1- amazing decreasing figures go you

    At the moment i have loads of grand ideas with absolutely no idea of how I will achieve them lol :D

    So I have started writing down my daily spends and will use this to give myself a monthly food and personal allowance after all fixed expenses have been paid out.

    I am now the proud new owner of a finance file - well small beginnings and all that - it is not where we start but where the journey takes us that matters.

    Now I am off to work out how to post photos on here cause have not got a scooby-doo how to :rotfl:


    Have a lovely money saving day everyone x
    Mortgage Owed: Sept 14 - £107398.20
  • Well today has been a figure crunching day -

    Where I am at the moment; I live alone so only me to pay all the bills ;) and I am in a job that I hate and due to this am at best I am mediocre at :(. I am also going through a very difficult time at my current place of work.

    So I have took a leap of faith and gone out and found another job - it pays less but hopefully I will be happy and inspired again!

    Luckily thorough years of perusing this site and the amazing "mortgage free in three" I have been living within in my financial means - JUST but nevertheless within my wages. Therefore I have no debt other than my mortgage and a small amount saved in an"emergency fund"

    This means that I can hand my notice in and effectively pay myself for a short time until I start my new job - as I have no start date yet due to various checks that must be completed prior to employment - cannot wait to have a set start date though.

    As a result my figures are somewhat hazy at the moment - obviously my fixed expenses cannot be changed - but everything else is open to drastic cuts. Now I just have to make sure that these cuts and the funds allowed are workable - there is no good setting myself up for failure

    Oh and I also worked out that if I managed my money really well and pay off the maximum I can afford my mortgage can be cleared in a mere............................... 10 - 12 years :eek: WOW that sounds a long time but better than current 20 I suppose

    Guess I am going to be around here for a long time to come then :rotfl:
    Mortgage Owed: Sept 14 - £107398.20
  • tylersbabe
    tylersbabe Posts: 309 Forumite
    edited 25 September 2014 at 6:03PM
    Operation - cutting costs has begun :cool:

    Over the past two days I have reviewed and changed energy provider - which should save me approximately £70

    I am moving broadband provider giving a massive yearly saving of £170 (ish) - this being "ish" as I am currently with BT who are putting their charges up so I would be charged an increased rate from December !

    I now know how much I owe on my mortgage and will update my signature when I remember how to do this.

    I know this will be a slow process but my beginning has begun :cool:

    I have a potential start date for my new job so hopefully can move on from previous job which has left me quite frankly traumatised - but onwards and upwards now to a hopeful new future :cool:

    Forgot to add that I have gone via quidco to change broadband provider so there could be £90 cash-back too - if this comes though it will go into my new sparkly mortgage overpayment tin
    Mortgage Owed: Sept 14 - £107398.20
  • Not much to report today - have been making courgette relish as have been given some courgettes from my friend :cool:

    Will be making Christmas Chutney tomorrow - all this is in the hope that I can give a few friends (who will appreciate them) home made hampers for Christmas hopefully saving some money along the way.

    Not sure about the relish though - never made this before and think I reduced it down too much - ahh well you live and learn :o
    Mortgage Owed: Sept 14 - £107398.20
  • Welcome to the board Tylersbabe:hello:

    You sound nice and organised which will really help. Congrats on your new home too!

    Good move using quidc0 and try and look on there or TCB before you make any purchases or even just 'doing' things on line e.g even opening bank accounts, credit cards can get you CB

    You'll get loads of support on here and wait till the chef'ers get wind of your relish too ;) as better ways to food shop and cook get a lot of focus here too as part of managing costs
    Good luck with your plans

    Regards
    ATT
    MFW Start Date 1.4.08. Updated 23.1.18. MFW date 1.8.18
    Original Mortgage o/s £187,643 / £71,904 (-115,739)
    Repay o/s £92,661 / now £55,900 (-36,761)
    Int Only o/s £94,982, now £16,004 (-78,978)
    Total daily interest £1 [a) £0.77 b)£0.23
    Total OP's:2018 target £TBC YTD £1,995
  • Welcome, tylersbabe.

    I've just started a diary today, but have been MFW for a few years now. 10-12 years sounds really good - I'm sure you'll get there; especially with the great advice from the other MFWs on this forum.

    I'm going to subscribe to your thread so I can keep up to date with your progress and get some good ideas :)

    Tim
    Old Mortgage: [STRIKE]2009:£78500 2010:£76951.71 2011:£74414.49 2012:£71961.35 2013:£67813.54 2014:£64375.16 Current: £55,480.27[/STRIKE]

    New Mortgage: 2016: £92795 Current: £
    87999.99
  • Hi abouttimetoo and TimmySaver :D

    I take no credit for the relish I got it from http://mortgagefreeinthree.com/2014/09/sweet-courgette-relish/ both her and "the Frugal Queen" are my current inspiration :cool:


    Thank you for subscribing TimmySaver - not sure about the ideas though more like a learning curve with roller coaster drops :rotfl:

    Today has been a spendy day; my local coffee shop made a nice profit from me. It was worth it though as met up with a friend who has helped me [STRIKE]keep my sanity[/STRIKE] loads while I am going through a difficult time.

    One admission though - I am pants at keeping a spending diary - I have three days of updating to do already....... best get a wiggle on then x
    Mortgage Owed: Sept 14 - £107398.20
  • Hi Tylersbabe,


    I keep a spending diary / spread sheet. Best to set aside 5 min's each day to note your spends or you'll forget all the little 20p packet of biscuits you bought at work or the £2 you put in for someone's leaving present at work & it's these little bits that add up to quite a bit over the year.
    GOAL:- £400k in Savings by March 2026 SAVINGS: – £385,758 COMPLETE GOALS - Debt Free, Mortgage Free, £350k Savings Save 12k in 2025 #41 = £19,280 / £25,000
  • Hi juststuff123 - well diary is now upto date - not as bad as I thought considering I went out for coffee.

    Like you say though it is about knowing where and how you are spending your money though. So I am currently tracking where I spend my money and hope to set myself some mini saving targets over the coming few months.

    Today is a "meeh" I day woke up with a sore throat so am not a happy bunny.The best I have achieved today is taking my hounds out for a (short) walk and the Christmas Chutney is now on the go.

    At least feeling sorry for myself has meant that I have not been out so it has been a no spend day lol.

    Right off for hot honey and lemon so I am better for tomorrow as I have a lot to do.
    Mortgage Owed: Sept 14 - £107398.20
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