the time has come...to get the mortgage below £200k

Firegirl

Like that idea GG!

thewalrussaid

Hello all,

Not much to report MSE wise - although the new is looking quite hairy today :eek:

This is the 'boring' part of the month where my resolve starts to wane. Just as I was getting control of the food budget I have decided to switch things up by joining a well known weight loss club. I get the feeling this will make grocery shopping more challenging while I figure out a rota of meals which are 'plan' compliant :-/

In completely contrary fashion DH and I went out last night. Just to a local place that wasn't very expensive - I say contrary because it was definitely not 'plan' food but hey ho, we had a good time and it reminded me how little we do this kind of thing which I feel quite guilty about.

Payday is Friday which is excellent news, i am looking forward to doing the money shuffle and making sure my DDs and SOs work on the new 123 account. Oh and building up the savings! How could I forget!?

I am also thinking about getting rid of my 123 CC in order to avoid paying too much attention to the S@nt@nder account but right I can't see anything that has exciting rewards.

Social activities for the week include Christmas lights on Friday night and hosting a dinner on Saturday so I get the feeling the grocery bill will be high. I am hoping this will even out by spending the festive period and my parents (fingers crossed!!) and using nect@r points for alcohol etc.

Hope everyone is doing well.

thewalrussaid

gallygirl wrote: »

A bit late to the party but just wanted to say 'well done so far'. One thing that helped me curb my overspending (though to be fair I've never been one to go crazy) was to work out how much I needed to knock a month off the mortgage. As I'm a lot older than you and that coincided with me retiring it was easy to say 'do I want to work another x days to pay for this'. If the answer was yes I went ahead. It also worked on smaller things. For example, the souvenir you bought the other week - how many extra hours will you have to work to pay for that? Was it worth it (especially as it's probably already 'out if sight and out if mind')? If you can get yourself asking that BEFORE you buy it you should find that a good motivation :T.

Thanks GG - more MSE royalty on my diary! Thank you for stopping in.

I read your post a few days ago and I have to admit I am struggling to work out how much I need to over pay to get rid of a month.

Looking at a overpayment spreadsheet it seems that if I assume that my rate goes up to 3% after 2 years (for sake of argument) if I overpay £100 forevermore I will knock 14 months off the term of the mortgage, if I overpay £200 a month it knocks off 28 months.

To knock off 1 month in one overpayment would be thousands so I assume you don't mean this? or do you mean me to realise just how much money is needed to knock off a month - I am confused

I would appreciate any views as although I am not terrible with a spread sheet these mortgage overpayment ones do flummox me at times...

The hourly wage bit is useful, comparing my net hourly wage the price of products should put me off :eek:

thewalrussaid

Hello all,

I am still here, life is just very busy with Christmas.

123 account is up and running and I have just seen the first interest payment and cashback. V excited by the interest and it has motivated me to actually build up our savings now that a reasonable amount can be earned.

For this month I wanted to avoid putting a reasonable amount into savings and then "borrowing" it back throughout the month (my usual fail). Instead I decided to make an OP to get us down below a balance of £240k. I get paid annoyingly early this month (18th) so will make a positive of this and overpay another £400 to make sure we stay under £240k even when the interest is added at the end of December.

I also received £37 of cashback from £co so have turned this into an additional £40 OP.

OPing gives me a big psychological boost and much more motivation. Therefore I think that as opposed to saving for x months and then overpaying for x months I will split the total amount across both so i get a constant boost from OPing.

We are off to Europe to visit a Christmas market this weekend and I am really looking forward to it. Lots of nice food and beer! That was my moment to use the beer emoticon however it is showing as a link! Doh!


I hope everyone is doing well.

Firegirl

Great you got the 123 account up and running!!!! Let the cash roll in for nothing! Yay! You get cash back on mortgage dds up to 1k- pretty good!

thewalrussaid

Thanks Firegirl - is it any mortgage DD or just S@ntander mortgage payments?

Quick update, hmmm well the past ten days have been horrific for money saving - do bear with me and hope I learn from my mistakes.
Well they weren't mistakes but conscious decisions however as they might impact my MF goals they could be considered mistakes.

1) I spent too much money on our weekend away - I had a budget and I ignored it - this should be sorted out with excess petrol money (on the plus side 3/4 tank of diesel in France cost £27!!!) and money from the gift budget.

2) I purchased high costs concert tickets to see one of my all time favourite performers - as I rarely go to concerts anymore and this person is a legend I am putting this down as a once in a lifetime experience.

I think I will have to see how this all comes out in the wash - for which I mean what happens once I have frantically shuffled around money from all my pots and eaten noodles and beans for the whole of January (it won't be that bad).

I suppose I am annoyed at the fact that I constantly read about the "simple life" and minimalism but practicing what I preach is just not happening. But I just have to keep on trying that is all I can do.

In other news I have not sent any Christmas cards or bought all my presents. I just hate wracking my brains to think up a present that I know isn't really going to be wanted. I am much keener on buying things that can be consumed or experienced as I hate adding to other people's clutter but finding these things is not easy... back to the drawing board.

Will update my situation once I have updated my spreadsheets!

One good thing, shopping done for £57 this week.

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

It takes a while to get into the mse mindset and it is hard when you have pre booked things before deciding to go all out on the ops. I think making the op at the start of the month instead of putting it into savings is a good move as you can't borrow it back then.

Keep the faith!
Squirrel x

thewalrussaid

Thanks Squirrel you're right - I just feel bad when I mention my spending on my diary, I have left myself down and also feel like I have let down anyone who reads. I know that isn't the case and really it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks but I realise I am not coming across as a very serious MSEer or MFW

Luckyinlife

Nothing wrong with spending im not quite a full MSEer myself as i spend on ds/myself /family at will really but as long as your aware of whats going on youll be fine

only live once paying off the mortgage early should be enjoyable experience :] saving something is a load better than nothing

thewalrussaid

Thank LIL - I am just putting too much pressure on myself regarding my own anonymous online diary!!

We had some good news at work, due to good results we will all be getting a bonus which is definitely something to put a spring in one's step. It is the same amount for everyone and should work out at £600- £700 post tax, I am writing this down here so that I am bound to OPing it!

So tomorrow is the work Christmas party. I am feeling slightly anxious about it because I am much better at cultivating 1 on 1 friendships as opposed to being in a big group. i know I am worrying about nothing but after being in my last job for years and gaining proper friends it is a wrench to start again somewhere new. Also it takes time to make good connections and ultimately it is work - these people are colleagues and if they become more than acquaintances that should be a bonus. I am just slightly dreading it especially as it involves activities! Give me a dinner and drink any night but games!? No thanks.

I will try to be positive as i'll never make friends otherwise and this feeling of quiet panic is really putting me off my work which is the entire reason for being here. It's hard because if it was a terrible environment then that would at least be that but feeling a bit disconnected and lonely in a place full of pleasant people is harder to put my finger on. I will try to use tomorrow evening as a good chance to force myself to chat to new people, instead of giving off bad vibes due to my mindset.

(pep talk to myself over!)

I hope everyone is having a great day!