Stop coasting and get serious!

FacelessNumber

I have read a few diaries on here and I think that having a record of my goals might help me. I have tried a diary before and not been very good at updating it but we have some big goals and I need a way to stay accountable to them!


So here's the deal - mortgage currently stands at just over £183k - we have been overpaying since the second month of the mortgage and are currently 11 months in. No problems there.


We have a lot of planned expenses coming up in the next year and although some of it will be planned debt on 0% to spread the costs, the more we can save up in advance the better. This will require some focus on our part which is where this diary comes in!


The goals:
1 - £210 for house insurance - this is in savings but I need to take it into account to make the numbers work. Will be sorted this week.
2 - £2250 towards our wedding (the rest is paid for) - we have saved this already.
3 - £5000 towards the honeymoon of a lifetime - £220.87 saved so far.
4 - £2700 for my university fees for the next year - this will go on a 0% card and will be aiming to save most of this by the time the 0% deal runs out. This is a goal for me only, whereas the rest are joint goals.
5 - £10000 for house renovations - this will not be going on credit, this is our final savings goal for after everything else is sorted out - looking long term with this one!
6 - Get mortgage to 80%LTV by the time it's up for renewal (August 2016). This means paying off a total of £9990, we have currently paid off £5666.07.


That's a lot of goals for now! Next post will be the plans for the next month, and where we aim to be with this at the end of July!

FacelessNumber

One of our two areas to work with we have initially identified is to reduce food spending. We are going to try shopping in Lidl and try to reduce takeaways, buying lunches etc.


The second area is utilising TopCashBack better - everything will be bought through TCB if possible. OH has started using it and he can use it when paying for things that will be reimbursed by work so win win! The vouchers we can get from this will go towards wedding items, such as suits, thank you gifts etc and this will free up money from the wedding fund to go towards the other things.


Selling - we do have a few things we can potentially sell, I need to crack on with getting things advertised.


Potential pitfalls - the house - we are working on the house and although we have slowed this right down we do have a pile of wooden flooring waiting to be laid so we need to find the money for this, on top of the other stuff.


Plan for this week:
1 - Packed lunches every day.
2 - Move money around on payday and update figures.
3 - Get some stuff listed on gumtree.

Alchemilla

You won't regret shopping at Liddly. I am a convert. And there's a song about it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RKsGKERivTQ

Mrs_E_3

I'm another one in favour of Lidl. It's amazing how much we get for a fraction of the cost from one of the bigger supermarkets

ourcornercottage

I'm an aldi fan with an occasional trip to lidl, tesco and Asda to get other bits and bobs.

The only thing I'd say is with aldi is that some are better then others, I live bang in between a city with 3 aldi stores (at least) and a town with 1. The 1 in the local town is LOADS better than the ones in the local city. Better stock levels, fresher everything, better store environment great staff and always very busy. The others in the city are okay but if there's a few local to you try them all out :-)

FacelessNumber

Thanks guys! I don't really know why we haven't tried it before, just habit I guess. Going to work out how much we've been spending on food on average over the last 6 months and then see how much we spend this month to compare the difference!

Runders

Good look with your journey FacelessNumber! Where are you planning on having your dream honeymoon?

I am trying to reduce the food spending as well, I'm a guilty M&S food shopper. Alchemilla and Mrs_E do you find the quality to be good at lidl?

Alchemilla

Yes the quality is good. Not waitrose but better than t, a and s. Waaay better than m.

My Ma is the world's greatest food snob and she can't tell the difference.

Miss_Moneysaver

Hi,


Good luck with your journey.


We have just returned from Germany and I was VERY impressed with Lidl over there. I am going to start shopping at the Lidl we have in town but it across the other side of town from my house. Hope they build another closer.


What are you doing at Uni?

FacelessNumber

Hi Runders. We are planning 3 weeks in New Zealand. Not got further with the plan than that!

Hi Miss Moneysaver, I'm actually doing my Masters in Manual Therapy (specialism of physiotherapy). 2 more years to go!

Right I'm definitely ready to shop at Lidl. Will be making a list tomorrow ready to shop on Wednesday!

ourcornercottage

FacelessNumber wrote: »

Hi Runders. We are planning 3 weeks in New Zealand. Not got further with the plan than that!

What time of year are you going as that can shape your plans. About this time of year is winter sports there, Christmas time is hiking and outdoor stuff. I went about 10 years ago in June (ish) for a month and did lots of snowboarding, went on a glacier walk etc on South Island. More sightseeing etc on North. but it was chilly! I'd say similar climate to UK but more altitude equaled more snow on South Island!

It's fantastic there though. Pick your stopover wisely. Singapore is very expensive. bangkok is great for shopping, I go there on business a couple of times a year and always stock up :-)