The journey to financial independence.

ourcornercottage · 17 January 2015 at 11:44AM

Hey CT I've been reading your diary since it started and find the updates on your progress a real motivator, I follow a similar approach to you although you are much better at ebaying than me!

Cream_Tea · 18 January 2015 at 9:08PM

Thank you Ourcornercottage. I know I witter excitedly about getting on top of finances, so it's nice to hear it's motivating. I also subscribe to your diary. The funding circle is on the agenda once extension is started and finished and we have freed up some money. It looks like the return is worthwhile.

A few more bits sold on eBay which totals £20 after p&p. I've updated my signature to reflect that. Im waiting on the tax cheque to clear and we will be over £1000 in the extension fund!

Recently the diary is starting to look like a savings not MFW but I'm making my regular OP each month I reason. Once the extension is done and I will spend the rest of the year as a MFW.

CT

ourcornercottage · 18 January 2015 at 10:08PM

Good for you CT, it's good to save too as well as work on the mortgage. Even when I'm saving I put a few quid OP on the mortgage. Even if it's only £1 I try to do something every month. I am lucky that I can just transfer in unlimited OP's on my mortgage. I admire your ebaying I've been at it today but it depresses me.

Finding circle is fun and will hopefully make some money too. I am going to get together another 100 to put in so I can pick out some other companies to invest in that repay on other days if the month so I have regular updates to keep me interested :-)

Cream_Tea · 21 January 2015 at 11:10PM

Soo.. I've sent off all the eBay bits and all money received. I've returned some dresses I didn't end up wearing for a party recently which felt good money back in the account not out!
One more day at work then 2 weeks annual leave! Im off to visit family up north for three days then I'm going to spend it organising but most importantly relaxing. Lots of long lazy mornings on the schedule.
Looking forward to DH pay day on Friday and mine on Tuesday. I'm getting really bored of January now I'm ready for February! Any body else feel like this is dragging a little?!
Eating home cooked meals is working well and actually my sweet cravings have dropped to record low. In summary eating food from home three meals a day is good for waist line in more than one way and bank balance.
CT

Cream_Tea · 23 January 2015 at 1:12PM

DH has been paid today so topped up the joint account to the £300 we want at the beginning of each week and then each of our personal account so we have our £100 buffer which left enough to add some to the extension fund. We now have 19.2% of our extension fund! I suspect we will be short this month of my 33% goal I set by the end of January but we still have my monthly pay day and DH has another weekly one. So can everyone have their fingers crossed!

In our house we have always done it that my pay covers bills and OPing because I'm monthly and shortly before they all come out and DHs is for savings and spending money each week. I am hoping I've earned a little more than I expected this month and so will be able to add to the extension fund. Again fingers crossed for me!
CT

Cream_Tea · 25 January 2015 at 10:56AM

Slow week on eBay. I only managed to put two items on so fingers crossed they both sell today so I make some money!
I've decided not to be disappointed we will miss the 33% extension target but pleased we are so far. It's way more than we would normally have saved in a month and shows us how much we can do. I'm actually very excited at this rate by the end of the year we will have extension, and emergency fund completed plus paid off all debt and have OP more than we have ever achieved before and have savings spare (hopefully for a rental property in the next 10 years.)
CT

Cream_Tea · 26 January 2015 at 9:21AM

This is getting silly! I feel like I've been waiting forever for my pay day and I still have another 24 hours. It's been 5 and a half weeks since my last pay and I'm seriously bored of waiting.
In brighter news £10 profit on eBay this week and I had a lovely weekend up north with the fam a lam and a great catch up. I now have a week and a bit of annual leave left so relaxing, meeting friends and organising the house.
I will update tomorrow once I see what I have been paid.
CT

Cream_Tea · 26 January 2015 at 10:35AM

Busy morning .....

So I received my uniform and subscription rebate for 2013-14 the other week. They wrote and requested P60 for 2011-12 which of course I cannot find a single one of so payroll kindly issued a statement for them (which I felt proud of because the old CT would have given up because it involved more than the initial call). I called again today to check why I've heard nothing about 2012-13 and It turns out I need a P60 for that too so back on the phone to payroll to get a statement about that. Hopefully by the end of next week it will all be sorted and I will have cheques in the bank.

Contacted Apple regarding a repair they did back in July, (this is a prime example of the old CT) 3 are not happy with the invoice provided as it did not have a IMEI number on it so won't refund the £200! The new invoice will be here in 5-7 working days so a little more money coming in the right direction after that!

Received my gas bill today and THEY OWE US! A momentous occasion. I have called this morning and asked for the £172.26 to be refunded so it can sit in our account not theirs.

I've recently started a to do list on my phone so nothing slips through the net. It involves things like call about gas refund, post eBay items, call HMRC etc etc. The list always seems to be about 7 items long but we are constantly making progress. It focuses me in the morning of my day off. All jobs stay on the list until the money is received or job completed so I don't forget to chase things up like the rebate for 2012-13 which would otherwise have been forgotten.

Soppy as ever.... I'm feeling really great. MSE forums have changed my home life and accounts for the better. Money and bills are not something we put off talking about and actually now DH won't put off the conversations because now they tend to be positive rather than complaining we won't have enough. We joke in our house that the reason I am doing all these things now, where before it would be left for months if done at all is just so I have something to write about in my diary:rotfl: