Searching for Security: Our MFW Diary

Goldiegirl

I love your cakes!

Bluefire

Goldiegirl wrote: »

I love your cakes!

Thank you! This is a better photo of the whole display:

Luckyinlife

I know a friend sells a lot of cakes and makes more on party cakes than the fancy ones she does

Looks fantastic should be very proud indeed

Fantastic your 99% there as well so close now :]

Bluefire

*sneaks back in after a six month absence*

Hello! Long time no update I know, but rest assured I have not strayed too far from the path. The last few months have been a mix of depression and busyness (the good holidaying kind of busy thankfully) resulting in most of my focus being directed to keeping on top of the finances, rather than updating our diary.

Lots to talk about, but the big news is we're now in a position where we have less than £2500 to go! Technically we could afford to wipe it out now, but as tempting as that is I know the money is better off earning interest at the moment.

We'll be done by the end of the year, and have booked a night in London on New Year's Eve to celebrate. Six months to go... :j

Bluefire

I thought I'd post an update on our current budget compared to last year. With our determination to try & get the mortgage paid off this year we started what we were calling our 'emergency budget' only without any real emergency - the threat of DH losing his job has been hanging over our heads for a couple of years now but fingers crossed it doesn't look like that's going to be happening any time soon. Still, if it ever does then being mortgage free will be a huge relief!

Wage wise, nothing much has changed. I applied for the marriage tax allowance which has given us a little extra each month, and currently DH has a temporary promotion which unfortunately comes to an end this month. Hopefully we should find out this week if there's any plans to extend it. The £300 extra each month has come in quite handy!

So, outgoings...

• HSBC Mortgage - £250
  No changes here. Last payment will be in December!
• Energy - £62
  Down from £133.86. We moved from Co-Operative to Flow, Flow to British Gas.
• Council Tax - £104
  Up from £97. Not much I can do about that though!
• Union - £0
  DH left the Union this year as it wasn't really the best fit for his job type these days. No plans to join a different union as far as I know.
• Life Insurance - £6.32
  Down from £6.48. Swapped companies, raised the payout, got £101 cashback & saved a few pennies!
• Family Debt - £300
  This payment will remain at £300 p/m until December when it will drop to £250 for the next 3 years until cleared.
• Grocery Budget - £200
  No change here. Most months we have a bit leftover but that generally goes towards a meal out.
• DH's spends - £100
  Up from £90.
• Car Savings- £90
  Up from £50. After the surprise 1k+ car bill last year we decided it was best to start putting more away for future repairs.
• Water Bill - £18.76
  Down from £23.48. All the shared showers are doing the trick! As did the broken pressure washer probably.
• Phone & Broadband - £17.40
  Currently with Sky so we're just paying the line rental. Awaiting cashback & a M&S voucher which we'll sell on.
• Petrol/Spare - £300
  Down from £400. Every month £300 is swept into a monthly saver from which withdrawals can be made. This is just to allow for anything unplanned that crops really. DH's commute comes in at around £100 p/m. The majority of the time we have £200-£300 left, which we now save.
• Holiday - £150
  Last year we had no holiday budget, now we're saving for trips next year. It'll be our 5 year wedding anniversary, so we're planning on touring Italy for a couple of weeks.
• Australia/Car - £150
  DH's sister emigrated to Australia a few years back - she has children now so DH wants to be able to visit at least every couple of years. This fund is to cover both that and to allow him to purchase a new second hand car every 4 years or so.
• Home Insurance - £10
  The only bill I hadn't been putting anything up towards. It's good to know everything will be covered in advance from now on.

Other income

Rental income is £575 p/m. £156.28 goes out to cover the interest only mortgage, the rest at the moment is saved.

SuperSecretSquirrel

Bluefire wrote: »

We'll be done by the end of the year, and have booked a night in London on New Year's Eve to celebrate. Six months to go... :j

You're on the final straight, very exciting :j Well done! :beer:

Bluefire

:j Less than 2k to go! :j

Bluefire

Our stooze is on the move! £5000 transferred to the no fee Barclaycard 21 month 0% interest card last night, with a nice little £30.30 Topcashback bonus thrown in as well. The long term aim is to pay off the stooze using the interest we earn on it. Unless of course fee free transfer cards disappear again, we'll just wave goodbye to stoozing altogether if that happens.

Bluefire

Just had confirmation through that our tenants have signed up to stay for the next two years. Although in some respects they've been quite demanding, it's great to have the guaranteed income, and a relief to have broken our run of tenants who only stay for 6 months or so. Our BTL mortgage is a tracker, so we should also be saving an extra £15 or so next month thanks to the base rate cut.

Bluefire

Two letters received from HSBC last week informing us of our new standard payments following the base rate drop. Our residential mortgage payment now stands at a whopping £8.56 a month! :rotfl:

DH suggested we cancel our flexible payment & drop to that, so that's now been done. The plan is still to pay it all off by the end of the year, but it's my hope that having to come up with the ~£1950 will motivate me to start earning/decluttering again. Paying down debt is just so much more exciting than saving isn't it?

Still, the money we would have been paying towards the mortgage is only going into a savings account, so it's there if we need it!