ATB's £171k quest begins.... NOW!

atypicalblonde

Hi MummyEm thanks for popping in

Good morning friends. I have been quietly getting on with things here. No grand savings being made as our income is still quite low, but I have been doing small challenges to save money. This week is eat from the fridge & freezer week, we will have some creative meals that's for sure!

We have had several things to pay out for recently - a 30th & 40th birthday in the family, nursery fees & replacing a broken appliance. DD is 3 in two weeks so there will be some expense there too.

I haven't had a response from our mortgage provider yet to my letter, hopefully that will come today. It's not quite as satisfying stashing money in my isa as it us paying it straight off the mortgage for some reason :(
Have lovely days all xx

Watty1

atypicalblonde wrote: »

I haven't had a response from our mortgage provider yet to my letter, hopefully that will come today. It's not quite as satisfying stashing money in my isa as it us paying it straight off the mortgage for some reason :(
Have lovely days all xx

I agree with that - but - hopefully the interest rates are a lot better! Am on a SVR so I can overpay directly as we are in the homeward throws and it is very satisfying seeing the real balance fall but if we had a larger mortgage I'd be doing the same as you with the ISA stash.

atypicalblonde

Watty - you're in the 20s!!! Wooohooo! I really must catch up with everyone's diaries x

atypicalblonde

Good morning friends,

The sun is shining here in Yorkshire, DS is having a nap and DD is at playgroup so I'm having a catch up online. Having just read back through my diary I realise I set myself a £3k target by the end of July, which I had forgotten about :o

I'm pleased as I work much better with targets Work seems to be picking up which is great news. We should hopefully have a nice little chunk of money to add to the pot on Friday

It's DDs birthday in two weeks, I can't believe our baby will be 3! I was very poorly after I had her and doubted myself so much, it's lovely seeing her grow into a lovely little girl.

Right I'm off for a cuppa before DS wakes up x

diamondsonly

Hi AT. Your diary is fab and I am using you as inspiration to OP. I have 2 small people like you so know how much of a juggle it can be. I had something similar when our DD was born. It took me a while to get on my feel whilst my DH had taken to parenthood fantastically I was playing catch up.

Your mortgage amount is similar to mine so I am now wondering if it will be possible to pay it off by 2020 instead of Dec 2022 like we plan. I look to you for the motivation and help

atypicalblonde

Hi Diamonds, thanks for popping in it's always nice to *meet* new friends on here.

I feel like life is a non-stop juggling act sometimes. I am very very lucky to work from home but being at home all the time brings its own challenges! X

atypicalblonde

atypicalblonde wrote: »

My MFW job for today is to write to our mortgage provider and ask them to confirm in writing just how much if any remains of our 10% OP allowance for this year.
I am fairly certain we have already hit it, but I just want them to confirm if there is any left

Hello friends, me again. Ok, I am ridiculously excited. As noted above I wrote to our mortgage provider. Basically, at the start of this year we were on their SVR so had no OP limit. Then when our new deal kicked in on 1st April, so did the 10% limit. Erring on the side of caution I assumed that all OPs made January-1st April would have also been factored into the 10% OP allowance although we were on SVR at the time.

I was wrong! So they have only factored in OPs made since 1st April, which leaves us a marvellous allowance of £9,602.29 of this year's allowance to OP! Woo hoo!! ATB is back in business!

The mortgage balance as at today's date is £154,600. To keep on track with our MF in 5 challenge we need to be in the 30s by next March. New goals are as follows:

- Pay off £9,602.29 by the start of October when I have an.. ahem... big birthday.
- Have £8,000 in Savings by the end of December to start January's OPing nicely

Woohoo I am so happy! Off to make an OP, will be back in a sec with updated signature... x


ETA - £800 OP made, signature updated, all is well!

atypicalblonde

Hello friends,

I'm just popping in to say a quick hi and bye before we head off on our jollibobs for a week :):) we are going to North Wales, we are very lucky that some family have a holiday home there so it's a free break aside from food and spends :):) We are planning on lots of beach days, walking and generally pottering in, hopefully, some nice weather.

The car is fuelled up and we are packed so all that remains is for me to draw our spending money out for the week in cash tomorrow then we are all set.

I'm trying to work out what is a reasonable amount for the week - we need to buy our food but there is a Lidl locally so we will stock up there. We want to do a couple of trips that require an entry fee, then there are the obligatory ice creams and a few beers in the sun I'm sure. Wemight even treat ourselves to a meal at the local 'Spoons one day :)

I was thinking £250, for our family of four, but would appreciate any thoughts from my MFW friends :)x

ETA I've just paid a £100 OP, off to update siggy x

PrincessLou

I would say that £250 for a week in N.Wales sounds about right.

Your previous post made me smile - I could just feel the excitement bouncing out of the computer screen Glad to see new targets planned for the rest of the year - I'm sure you'll smash them as usual. :j

MummyEm

Posting quickly as on way out.

Great news re the OP limit. £250 sounds good to me too. Have a great holiday.