MF in 10 - no ifs buts or maybes

Maybe_its_because

Another month gone and happy with progress.

Paid the extra £200 off the mortgage from the secret stash and pretty much spent to the last penny on the JA balance. so paid a total of £700 OP for March.

Don't know if that's sustainable but will try. It'll only be a £500 OP this month I suspect.

I calculated that this year's standard payments plus £6500 from the MFW thread will mean (if successful) we pay £19,454 off the mortgage. So will see if we can throw a little more at it to pay £20k of payments in 2015. Might be a bit too optimistic but may as well give it a go.

Got a mortgage balance last night and we have a current balance of £218,739 so down in the £218s (missed the £219s completely!):j

Have signed up for another 9 NSDs this month. Off work a few weeks (office closed for Easter plus my PT hours means a big break) as is OH so there's going to be little structure for the next couple of weeks. I find it hard to predict our spending as we never have a plan during school holidays. I don't really want one either

My folks are coming to visit at the weekend and have plans for our garden. I know this will include costs for equipment hire and some turf. Have factored that into the monthly budget.

Also managed to get OH as a cardholder on my 123 CC account. so whoever does the shopping gets the cashback ;-)

Last day of work today. Better get on with it

MIB x

jodles16

Hello! Nice to meet another NSDer over on these boards! Sounds like your doing a great job on the mortgage and have some great aims!

Best of luck!

Jodles

Maybe_its_because

Weekly update time.

As expected, a busy Easter involving a bit of spending - most planned or from the associated pots, some not planned but necessary.

We spent the whole weekend completely landscaping the garden so it's DD proof. Manual labour and help from family did most of the work. Plus a few trips to homeba£e in their 15% off everything, vouchers and nectar points usage.
Also decided to paint the fences so used their bogohp deal on fence paint!
No NSDs but nearly managed one on Saturday. (Un)fortunately spent a tenner in the pub buying a round of thankyou drinks to the (otherwise free) workforce :beer:
It looks absolutely amazing, all for less than £250. I must have burned off hundreds of calories in ground clearing, trips to the local dump and shifting patio bricks.
The last of the cleared bricks are going on freecycIe so hope that's the last of it.

In other MSE stuff, another £500 OP reported on the mfw challenge

Next up is doing a thorough reccy of mine and DDs clothes to see what we do and don't have for our holiday next month. Then use some of our vouchers & current sales/deals to fill in the gaps. Hopefully won't be too financially traumatic. Still waiting on £97 from TCB but not sure that'll pay out in time.

Still another 4 days off on our Easter home/staycation before going back to work so planning a couple of days in the park and local free museums to keep the spending down and enjoying this lovely weather

MIB x

SavingRaven

Hi MIB,

You are going great guns with your OPs and your gardening - looks like me and you were doing exactly the same thing at the weekend (fence painting!)

What colour did you go for?

Amazing work on the NSDs and budgeting too. Going to try and get onto your diary more frequently as you've given me the kick up the backside that I need!
Keep up the good work!

SR x

Maybe_its_because

Thanks Saving Raven for the support and the virtual pat on the back.

Must've been the weekend for garden based activity as there were loads of people at work comparing notes about their weekend of gardening.

We went for the R0nseal harvest gold. At first I thought it was too yellow (but didn't dare change my mind after OH had finished the 2nd panel and I'd bought 2x5Ls of it! Hehe ) It looks fab, but makes the decking look really shabby. I fear another trip to Homeba5e is on the cards. (Waiting for the next round of vouchers!)

You're doing ever so well, especially on powering through your challenges.
Like you, I have got the balance of a girls weekend to pay out but have temporarily borrowed it from savings cos, unlike you, I don't get "paid" on the 24th ;-)

Hope you have a good week full of NSDs

MIB x

SavingRaven

Harvest Gold sounds lovely. We went for black, which has come out a blacky/green colour but looks nice. Also used the Ronse*l deal.

Where are you off to on hols?
SR x

Maybe_its_because

Hi SR

glad you're happy with your fence colour - I suspect we'd have been happy with any colour - it was always going to be an improvement on the before pics :-)

My girls wkend is a hen do in the west coast of Ireland where I've never visited so looking forward to that. OH has just had the stag do invite so we've both got some pocket money spending to do ;-)

We're also going to Spain late next month but my folks are coming with us so that they can [STRIKE] look after [/STRIKE] spend time with our DD. Hopefully the 4:1 adult:baby ratio means there'll be some holiday time for everyone.
We'll need to replicate the arrangement for her other g-parents over the summer but I know the inlaws will want an activity based hol, not beach one. Fine with us and have put enough money in the holiday pot to cover it all.

I was thinking about your aim to overpay. Once your BTL pot is saved have you thought about splitting your £4k across paying your sis back and your mortgage. £1000op would mean paying your sis back in 13 months instead of 10. Or are you more a 1 thing at a time kind of person?

Maybe_its_because

Should've put that on your diary - not mine;-)

SavingRaven

Hi MIB,

Holidays sound lovely, especially if you get to have a little break from the wee one. Where is West Ireland are you off to? It's a beautiful part of the world.

And hooray for free babysitting!

Re OPing, I have been the sort of person who does one thing at a time but I don't know if it's the right way to go to be honest. I like you're idea of £1k a month to mortgage and £3k to my sis - I hadn't thought of splitting it up like that and now you've kindly done the maths for me I can see that it's not going to drastically extend the time I pay my sis back in.

You've given me a lot to think about. Thank you! SR x

Maybe_its_because

Quick update for the week.

It has been another week of drip drip spending so very few NSDs but spending was all from allocated pots.

Family were visiting at the weekend which was lovely but hard to stick to any NSD aspirations.

Back on the wagon today and hopefully the next couple of days too.

Good news is that OH has done some overtime so that's £60 (and another possible £60 to come this week). Have put that in the holiday pot as we're only a few weeks away from our trip.

Also, I've been selected for a market research session tomorrow - so £45 coming my way, plus gave away some bricks on freecycIe and the lady gave me £20 for petrol for dropping them off (it wasnt a £20 trip!) Am going to hold onto it as I need to renew our travel insurance and our family rail card. That £65 will more than cover them both (with TCB, clubcard vouchers usage etc).

We've managed to get rid of some other clutter via FC so all going in the right direction.
Not sure a full spring clean will be reached but going to keep sorting out as much as we can while we're in the mood.

No more OPs but there's still a bit left in the joint account so there might be a last minute OP sweep.

MIB x