Hope is not an Effective Financial Strategy

shangaijimmy

£8.51 overpaid this morning with great thanks to nationwide's 5% current account. 2 tsb current accounts to follow.
To coin a phrase, every little helps!
That's today's interest covered with a few pence to spare.

shangaijimmy

£6.96 overpayment kindly donated by TSB 5% current account.

£15 Halifax Rewards also received from 3 accounts waiting for Tesco Savings Direct Debits to get them before they get thrown at the mortgage.

shangaijimmy

Not much happening this weekend MSE wise. We plough on with total house decoration though and have sorted through what seems a mountain of stuff for the ebay, charity and tip piles! Our motto is "be ruthless" in our de clutter quest! Moved a bit of furniture around to different rooms so we all ready to get our eldest rooms decorated next weekend and that will finish the middle floor off. Then we can move on to our bedroom.

eBay wise we have approx 40 things either currently listed or drafted and awaiting a free listing weekend. We also have another bag of clothes to sit through so that number will inevitably grow!

newgirly

Hi, thought I'd pop in and have a nosey around your diary best of luck with the overpaying , we are in a very similar place mortgage\wages wise, except our three kids are older now. The cashback\ halifax rewards and even surveys do make a difference over the years , it adds up but also helps stave off the temptation to spend a bit more I think.

lippy1923

Wish I could be ruthless on my declutter quest. Unfortunately I have a husband to-be who is a bit of a hoarder and cannot seem to let things go, no matter how old, busted or useless they might be lol.

Started saving in one of those tins you have to open with a can opener. Will be putting in any decent change/notes I have lurking to save a bit extra for when I can start overpaying in September! Can't wait

I have worked out that once I start OP £500 from September I should hopefully be able to get my mortgage balance down to under £100k by end of 2016.

That's my mini goal :j

shangaijimmy

Hi Newgirly and thanks for popping in. The instant e-mail alert to say i've had a visitor really helps for motivation. This diary in turn helps us to keep our spending in check!! You're quite right about the little bits adding up, as that is what has got us to our current position after 5yrs of little bits. We're now in a strong position to go at it with big payments, and we'r still in the mindset of spend little!! (does that make sense?)

shangaijimmy

Lippy - i must be honest the de clutter with my wife has been a slow process (we've had a very good pram for 5 years just sat in the garage!). My tactic has been for 12 months to do absolutely nothing to tidy the house and its now got to the stage that she agrees on declutter anything not touched for 1 year!

I've found the tin very good, though i've gone for an openable one and every time i get £10 i overpay (part of my bank attack strategy) so i don't ever have to pay interest on it again. This tin thing will become as addictive as the spreadsheets!

Great target for under 100k. Sadly for me we'll only hit that goal in March 2018! Make sure you post on here when you get there!

shangaijimmy

I've signed up for text alerts from our mortgage and i get a nice mini statement every Sunday morning. It's been great for looking at and helps with a mini challenge of making sure there is at least 1 payment per week!!

Nice little motivator i think!

ourcornercottage

Great idea SJ that'll really motivate you.

The banks are really helpful nowadays if you choose the right one.

shangaijimmy

Just had my weekly text and nicely informed that our interest for the week was £51.90. At first I was excited as I thought my daily interest calculations were too high. But no its still £7.41!!

Still our overpayment this month should drop it by 5p for this coning month.

Small steps etc...