I really really want to be........mortgage free!

ourcornercottage

Forgot to add, went to gardens with 30 mins to spare and it was lovely. Had a biscuit and a coffee and admired some smashing hedges.

Wrote a few blog posts just lately inc. a good one about tesco. In case you don't get the MSE newsletter there's some free cooking classes for kids and little OCC is on one! Link to blog is in profile info. I should be 3000 page views very soon too, will do a little cheer! Am hoping to work on the layout as soon as poss when I've got time.

Will open BF's S&S ISA tomorrow as I haven't had time as yet.

Cream_Tea

I've started the process of registering with p2p lending. I think we will go with Funding Circle after a little research it comes up frequently with reasonably good reviews and if I remember correctly it's the one you're with. Any advice before I go any further?

CT

ourcornercottage

Cream_Tea wrote: »

I've started the process of registering with p2p lending. I think we will go with Funding Circle after a little research it comes up frequently with reasonably good reviews and if I remember correctly it's the one you're with. Any advice before I go any further?

CT

I will write a list!

1. Don't use autobid!
2. Invest what you can afford to loose just in case (although I've had no defaults as yet)
3. Invest the minimum of £20 in each company thereby reducing risk.
4. I now choose only A and A+ rated companies, I personally prefer shorter terms of 36 months or less and don't go lower than 8%.
5. I always scan the financials and if anything strikes me off I don't bid on it.
6. You may miss a few whilst working out how to get the best percentages without missing out. You miss out on less if the bidding is ending soon. I'm usually within 0.2 of the top rate now but that's taken a bit of practice.
7. Try and do a mix of types of business and loan reason, some loans are 5 years and it will reduce risk if one sector collapses (I'm mainly thinking property on this one) in this timeframe.

That's what I can think of for now, you could look slso in the p2p thread and ask the same question. Good luck :-)

ourcornercottage

Not loads to report today on the mse front. I did discuss s and s ISA with BF and decided as he has no traditional pension provision (we do have a successful business that we will sell) it'd be best to open a SIPP too. Started with £80 per month but will up this every few months and add a s and s ISA later. BF is not great with money so the SIPP he won't be able to get at no matter what.

I have sent BF secret birthday party reminder emails though and have a plan of action now in place for the weekend!

Was thinking of upping my regular OP which is included in my monthly repayment on the variable part of my mortgage. Maybe just another £20 per month for a few months then review again. I'm sure I can easily fit this into my budget every month.

In other news I'm 5 away from 3000 views on my blog. So close!

ourcornercottage

Yay over 3000 now! Must finish my half finished posts! In other news I had tesco and Morrisons both tweet me in one day! I love Twitter it's great!

ourcornercottage

TCB payment of £55.14 straight into my mortgage, the £0.72 payment from TCB has completely disappeared due to technical glitch! Yay I've made an OP this month.

Haven't rang bank yet to up the regular OP yet. Must remember to do that.

Really really stressed about BFs birthday party as my niece as home back on her agreement to babysit and its this weekend so now son is going to have to come and I'll have to leave when he is tired. So I've organised a surprise party, spent about a grand and I won't even be able to stay although I will have to go back and clean up at the end! I'm really cross about it but tbh I can't be bothered to argue. Decided wanted her friend to come who I don't know so I'm not happy with it. I don't like strangers in my house and 2 14 year olds can be quite stupid. Not happy. Also my parents failed to tell me they weren't picking up my son from school today like they usually do. That I'm totally mad about. Luckily BF had left work at lunch time today so was at home. You can't pick your family eh.

ourcornercottage

Had a day off work today for no reason at all which is unlike me. Have been out to lunch and garden centre and dossed around for the afternoon! Now watching a bit of tennis.

Just got the money out of the bank for the band so account is a little bit sad but this is all factored into the monthly finances. In other party news one of mini OCC's friends mums is having him over on night of party so will take him home with them. Panic averted! I seriously owe her one though.

Had an email from Royal Mail re shares but totally didn't understand it!!! I reinvest everything at the moment and this is a long term investment so I suppose I don't need to understand it right now!

Had a blowout in the car so had to replace both front tyres at a cost of £230 after looking around and negotiating a discount. It's still too much in my eyes. This month is getting too spendy now!

On a good note they had some fantastic kids presents in Aldi today and got 4 for a total of £14.00. They are lovely toys that would usually be about this much each so well chuffed. This covers all of the upcoming kids birthday parties and I'd usually spend about £10 per present for something not as nice.

ourcornercottage

Today I've received a letter saying that I did indeed have a DC pension with my previous employee. As the company has been taken over but the new company don't look after the DC pensions so I have to write to L&G to find out what (if anything) I have.

I have looked through a couple of old payslips I found that don't have any personal contributions on the ones I found but my company could have made them for me right? This was a 'proper' job, a proper career, good salary etc so they could have done I suppose.

Will send letter off to L&G Monday to find out! Ohhhh exciting. I worked there for about 8 years and left about 12 years ago so I honestly just can't remember what I had in my contract.

In other news the BF's 50th party is tomorrow, it's very exciting and I'm getting a bit nervous. Fingers crossed it goes well!

Next week it will be back to being a MFW properly!

Cream_Tea

Good luck tomorrow! I'm pleased everything got sorted with mini OCC so you can't let your hair down. Have fun!

CT

katep23

Glad mini OCC is sorted so you can enjoy the party and grrr to people letting you down. Hope you have a fab time!