Jan 2015 / 14yrs left on mortgage. MFW, time to make a serious dent and be MF

PopcootMFW

clarew wrote: »

Another one here with similar aim...13 years and some months left to go but want in done in 10 so 2025 is the aim. Our maternity leave days are done but they seem to get more expensive as they grow especially the food bill...God help us if any of them want to go to uni..!

Will watch with interest how we all do

Hi Clarew
Encouraging to find another person in a similar position. I don't feel so lonely out here on the forum. After reading the more recent threads were folks have a few years left to go my 10yr dream feels a long way off lol.

Oh and hats off to you guys with four children, bet they keep you busy and on your toes! We are stopping at two after we've had our March baby

PopcootMFW

helmetbetty wrote: »

Sounds like you have it all worked out in your head - Good luck with it all! We went for a 10 year MF journey (just over 9 years left now - time flies!)

We've found cost cutting to be easier than we thought it would be - its just about getting into that routine. Once your used to it, it comes as second nature to look for cheaper alternatives or question the purchase of a non-essential item. Just make sure to treat yourselves occasionally too - and not feel guilty about it!

Good luck with it all, and your march baby too.

HB x

Thanks ever so much. Great to read you have another similar aim with a 10yr MF. I guess the first few months are trial and error whilst getting our head around a new way of managing our finances. I keep reading other threads to try and learn new things. Every little bit of advice helps

PopcootMFW

Have been busy, declutter the study room aka dumping ground lol. Scanned lots of old DVDs / CDs for MusicMagpie and old books for another online site my husband found. Rather impressed because for stuff we would have dropped off at a charity shop it has made us some money. About £55 for the books (old uni books helped to boost the figures high) and another £60 for the CD/DVDs. There's a lot in boxes to send but hey we I really don't have the time to upload each and every single one on ebay or Amazon, but I am now one big bookcase free on old items that were in that room for 6yrs and had never been looked at or used.

Today I am going to open the 'piggybanking' accounts online (just an online saver attached to my current account do I can view it easily online) and set up different saving pots for our car/caravan costs, birthday/christmas, holiday and emergency home fund. Hoping that'll help us spilt our money up more and stuck to our budget. Plus, I can then see what we have left each month and transfer any remaining money for OP.

PopcootMFW

Managed to phone sky today. Said we were looking to cancel and go elsewhere. We have been given - free broadband (£7.50 saving), line rental down from £16.01 to £9.99 (£6.02 saving) and 10% off the Sky TV package for 10ths and told to call back at the end of that discount period for it to be reviewed again...which, by then I'll only be on statutory maternity pay. Today's result! Total sky package reduced from £58.00 to £39.00

PopcootMFW

Also did my first online click and collect grocery shop. Had £15 off £60 spend for Tesco for the weekly shop. Thought it seems a good discount and if I stick to online shopping I can't be distracted by in-store offers! Crikey, it took me about 2hrs just to do it! Found myself looking for the cheapest / best value for money on EACH item. Budget is £75 and came in at £49 although, hubby popped out earlier this week and spent £25 at Saunsburys but this included a lot spent on lemsips, lozenges and flu tablets. So technically we are at our £75 week budget

After this shop, for next week I am going to try Aldi or Lidl and see how that price comes up.

clarew

Ha ha we are similar....I've one of those codes from tesco and thought it was a good deal..am waiting to use it and plan to stick tight to a shopping list too!

PopcootMFW

Well it's been a funny old week, had a few NSD's which have been fab but then also had a big spend too! It makes me feel really excited about how much we are watching our pennies though rather than just throwing money around.

Having spent £49 at tescos on the weekly shop, we didn't need any more last week so under weekly budget by £26!!!! (that's if we don't include the £25 spent on flu medicine and bits and bobs at sainsburys)

Saying that...have spent £650 on a new double pushchair. Our current one will not be suitable for when March baby is here and walking into town / local park with my little girl who really does not like walking far at all. Bonus is I have managed to sold my old one for £195 to help balance out the cost. Still need to buy a new car seat...ouch! The one I have seen is £165 from an ebay shop (rrp £210!). Why oh why are car seats so expensive!?!

Hubby has just been paid and we have been through the budgeting / piggybacking pots tonight. What an amazing feeling to see all the money going to the right pots and to see how much is left over! It's so exciting knowing we can get these OP's made.

Cap1 card have given us our annual cashback = £210.....!!!!!!, just must how much have we spent in 12mths to earn that much cashback?!? Very nice though, thank you cap1, that'll go towards offsetting my 'new pushchair' purchase.

Money made so far in January:
£195 - pushchair
£25 - sofa bed
£20 - pushchair car seat adapters
- awaiting money from music magpie

New shopping budget starts today, will be trying out aldi/lidl tomorrow and aim for £60 and under.

Oh and the most important part, so far £300 OP made to the mortgage. Looking forward to the end of the month when we can make another OP.

PopcootMFW

How exciting....after all the budgeting and accounting yesterday we have discovered that we can OP again. So today I OP'd £700 taking grand total OP to £1,000 for Jan!! This still leaves the option to OP again at the end of the month when it's my payday.

PopcootMFW

Aldi weekly shop - £42.13 pretty impressed with that result! Have some nice meals planned too. Salmon with puy lentils, beef & ale casserole, chicken breasts, mince for lasagna and spag bol.

Bread maker has been on twice this week and it's gone down a treat with the homemade soup I have been batch cooking. Yum yum.

More ebay sales: £103.05 for hubby's old iPhone 4s, £23.23 for the iPhone waterproof case, £10.48 for hubby's psychology book (20 more psychology books to sell, at £10 a pop each could have a potential £200:rotfl:). We still have several other items to list on ebay/gumtree and that should keep a steady little flow of money trickling in. Looking forward to getting them up!

Anyone an ebay expert in selling?? What's the best way to sell?
-Start bid at £0.99 or
-Start bid at £10 if that's what you were prepared to sell it for at the lowest price or
-Start is with reserve £10
Not sure which is the cheapest way as a seller to get the best price(hope I'm explaining myself right) i.e. to avoid ebay fees etc what's the difference?

Need to fill up the car with fuel tomorrow, first time in January, will Google where is cheapest place for diesel. Shame we don't have any money off vouchers for fuel

debtfreeoneday

Hello,

Popping in here to say hello and subscribe! Congratulations - not long now till March - do you know what you are having?

I have 4 year (just) old twins and they keep me busy and encourage me to spend more money than I should!

Re Ebay, I'm no expert, I do things at 99p if I don't mind if they go for 99p, otherwise, I start at a price I'd be happy to sell them at.. which usually doesn't cost anything from a fee point of view.

You've done so well with your OP so far, well done.. makes my £40 overpayment look measly this month! :-)