MF by 30!

StrawberryJam132

Hi All,

So this is my second attempt at being MSE... *hangs head in shame*.

This time last year I was determined to be MF by 30 (2020). But after a few weeks I became bored and 12 months later I'm 6k in debt and not made a single OP! :eek::mad:

So long story short, if I write everything down in a diary, hopefully it will help me keep focus on the end goal.

It's almost impossible for me to become MF by 30, but half the fun is trying! It will be achievable if I work hard, be self disciplined, and curb my horrendous spending habits!

I'll post a breakdown of my finances later, and also fill you in a bit about my life.

Please wish me luck. It's time I get my life on track!

Thank you for reading:beer:

StrawberryJam132

My financial breakdown (Dec 2014):

Mortgage (4.12.14): £53,372.59

Monthly Incomings:
- Work: £1,216.39.
- Overtime: Fluctuates. Roughly £100-£200pm.
- Other income: I usually make roughly double on my work expenses. (£100-£200pm).

Single occupancy home with two crazy cats and a spoilt doggy :happyhear

Monthly Outgoings (this is a trial run at the moment, will probably need tweaking):
- £600 bills (inc. £270.70 mortgage). This is about £100 more than needed, but I have a 'sweep' on my account that moves any money left at the end of the month into my 'big bills' account.
- £100 spending money (inc.food - I love cooking cheap job lot meals).
- £200 paying off debts (bank of mam & 0% APR credit card).
- £100 holiday fund (saving for a holiday in America with family).
- £216.39 Mortgage over payments.
- CC for petrol, paying off in full every month using expenses from work.

Any money from overtime or expenses goes into either debts or mortgage overpayments.

Accounts overview:
- Bills account: £600pm, anything left (roughly £100pm) swept into 'Big bills' account.
- Big Bills account: (Also working as mini emergency fund) Currently: £800. Big bills include insurance etc, also car insurance and M.O.T. I'll be adding a bit more to this account from expenses when it's time to M.O.T. I tend to pay my insurance etc upfront and will use this account to do so.
- Spending account: £100pm. I take this out in cash so I can visually see how much I have left. Fingers crossed this works!
- Holiday fund account: £100pm. This is my family's dream, so we're all saving £100pm and keeping each other motivated.
- Credit Card: Using for petrol and work expenses. I get this back every month and pay it off in full.

Thanks for reading

StrawberryJam132

Day 1 of following my dreams.

So today I took Sugar-luga, the oldest of my cats, to the vets for a post-op checkup. I fostered her for Cat Protection League and ended up keeping her. She's 14, black and seriously overweight (I found her eating the dog's biscuits once :rotfl:). The vet check was free as this all happened while she was still in foster.

I made the petrol I used worth it by popping into Farm Foods on the way and getting my months supply of meat (£20) and lentils/fruit/milk etc to last me almost to the end of the month. Total spend: £28.37. My aim for this month is to make all my meals in bulk and say no to take-aways.

December Totals so far:
Food spend: £35.12.
Personal spend: £2.48.
OP's: £100.

Homemade chicken casserole tonight. I made a enough for three meals last night and froze one. I'm making beef and ale pie tonight (slow cooker) without the pastry (trying to be healthy - will have veg and potatoes instead). That usually comes to four meals, so will freeze three and have one tomorrow.

I'm currently sharing freezer space with the dog at the moment. He's had to change to a RAW food diet. It works out at £1.20 a day (I cringe to think of that) but he needs it as he's allergic to everything. It was costing me £75 every few weeks to take him to the vets for medication that wasn't working. Fingers crossed the RAW food seems to be working. No vets in a month WOOP!!:T Money saving in the long run.

Anyway that's enough rambling from me. Back to work I go.

StrawberryJam132

p.s. How do you guys store/archive your receipts? Do you keep record in a spreadsheet and throw them away? I can't decide what's best to do?? :undecided

StrawberryJam132

Day 2 of following my dreams.

Just a quick update.

Last night I created a spreadsheet for all my grocery/personal expenditure. I'm also looking into investing in a bread maker. But I have a rule (as I'm an impulse buyer). I 'review' the item a week later and see if I still need/want it. I don't technically need a bread maker.... But I would love to learn to bake.... Hmm....

December Totals so far:
OP's: £100.
PAD: £10.
Food spend: £36.71.
Personal spend: £4.48.

I've also been trying to figure out ways to increase my income. I've been studying towards Diploma 3 in Health and Social Care. To be honest, my assessor has had to drag the workbooks out of me. I just haven't been able to find the time. But now I think of it, as soon as I finish it I'll get a pay rise... TIME TO START STUDYING!! Maybe I'll start tonight... An hour a day shouldn't be too hard, right? :dance:

Also (please don't laugh), as cliche as it is from a English Literature graduate, I've always wanted to write a novel. Now I know it's virtually impossible to get something published, and even then you don't get much at all. But hey, it's a dream. So I'm turning my dream into a goal and making a deadline. As I'm terrible with organising my time, I'm aiming for 1,000 words a week. Hmm.... I'll keep you updated if this materializes:rotfl:

I'm a big believer in 'Create a habit in a month' idea. For those who don't know what that's about. Check this quote out:

On average, it takes more than two months before a new behavior becomes automatic -- 66 days to be exact. And how long it takes a new habit to form can vary widely depending on the behavior, the person, and the circumstances. In Lally's study, it took anywhere from 18 days to 254 days for people to form a new habit.

I've been doing it since October and kicked one nasty habit. My next goal was to break the habit of spending. Hence why I'm back on MSE as of December 1st But now I've decided that I need to create another habit in order to be happy with my life. (ambitious taking on two new habits?) But this new habit will be making the most of my time. No wasted hours watching a film every night. No leaving the washing up till the next day. No spending hours roaming the MSE site (Sorry MSE:rotfl:).

Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. Hope you're all well and enjoying your Friday!:beer:

2tort

Loving your diary StrawberryJam132 and have subscribed :d


Good luck with it all, it's coming to that time of year when we all set new years resolutions, I hope that will help me stick to my spending and saving goals too as we're just starting out in the world of house buying/mortgages!


As for your comment about the bread maker I would definitely recommend it! I'm the same and don't like to splurge on appliances like this unless I'm sure I'll stick at using them. I got my bread maker back in September and haven't bought a single loaf of bread in all that time! I've bought the occasional French stick if we've had people around and I've prepared a particular meal and this is only because my oven isn't big enough to make my own baguettes but the bread makers are fantastic for loaves and the dough settings are great so you can bake them in your oven once the dough is ready


Look forward to reading your updates, hope the kitty cat's vet check up went well!

newgirly

Hi strawberry, welcome and good luck with your new diary I think a bread,aker is a good idea, but could you source one from free cycle or even cheaply on eBay? It's the sort of thing people buy and then don't use ? Approved foods also do cheap flour and bread mixes quite often, but be warned warm homemade bread is seriously addictive

MissionMoney

Hi Strawberry! Good luck with your plans!
I have a friend who's dog is on a RAW diet too. He gets his from a farm and saves lots that way as they send him out his in bulk, not sure if you already do this?
I am one of those people with a breadmaker that never gets used... There's no room for it in our new flat so it's stuck up in the attic

StrawberryJam132

Day 3 of following my dreams.

Hi newgirly and MissionMoney :hello:

Thank you for your comments I still can't decide, but I'm siding towards getting a bread maker heehee.

MissionMoney - Getting RAW from a farm sounds like a great idea. There's a few farms around me. Hmm. It's worth looking into. Thanks for the tip

So last night I spent five and a half hours putting a wardrobe together. It's been in the packaging since July because I couldn't make heads or tails of the instructions... I had to take the doors off twice to get them straight :mad: However, I saved money by not getting a handy man to come and do it for me Bad news is there's a second wardrobe I have to put together now......



This morning I put the Christmas decorations up:xmastree:Not feeling that festive though.

Last week I had a surveyor come out (insurance sent him) because my washing machine broke and has lifted all my hard wood flooring :mad: He reckons the floor will *fingers crossed* go back down on their own. He was a lovely bloke and he told me that my 'for show' fire place is actually a fully working fire place. Therefore I'm having a chimney sweep come out next week (money out of big bills account:o) to do a smoke test and tell me if it's okay to use. I'm so excited!! It means a log fire at Christmas!!

Anyway, lunch time I was spring cleaning the house and a piece of furniture (I can't figure out how to describe it. Solid oak, tall and pointy), fell on my bare foot... The blood stopped flowing about two hours later and the nail of my big toe is black and no longer attached to the toe So now I'm very begrudgingly sat on the sofa with my foot elevated and a bag of frozen peas on it. There's nothing on TV *sigh*, so Harry Potter it is... I had so much planned for today. But instead you've all had a pointless update on my life :rotfl: Sorry guys!

I'm now off to find some MSE recipes. Hope all your weekend's are going well!

racing_blue

I was mortgage free by 30. That place was very small though. Moved south and had kids. At 40 my mortgage is £360K! :mad:

StrawberryJam132

It's always the way isn't it racing blue. Become mortgage free and then save/sell to get a bigger place :rotfl: I'm assuming that's what you've done? Got a bigger place/your dream home?

I love my house (although it's nothing fancy) but the location is awful. An hour from any city *sigh*. My plan is to move once the mortgage is paid off and let my mother live here. There will only be bills then and it will mean she won't have to worry about rent.

So that means saving for another deposit once I pay this place off :rotfl: Just getting out of debt in order to get more in debt :wall:Surely there's logic there somewhere??:(