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

Maximum_Saving

Hello there. I liked reading about your plan which sounds like it is going to work. I used to own a house then sold it and took on a mortgage to get a bungalow.

Mortgage began: August 2010 £60,800
Now it is: £25,300
Mortgage free: September 2017

thewalrussaid

Happy New Year all!

I hope you all had a relaxing and enjoyable break. I have really enjoyed the last week off work it has been so lovely to relax and see family. Over the past week I have done some decluttering and taken it all to the charity shop. I also managed to finally shut some old dormant bank accounts. I am now trying to get all my CDs saved and backed up in the cloud so that I can eventually get rid of them.

I was planning on using this time to declutter anyway but since reading a(nother) blog, 'blonde on a budget', I have been spurred on to really get on with it.

So anyway goals for 2016 (financial ones first, obviously);

* Get savings up to £10,000 by the end of the year (I have been going backward and forwards on this but it needs to be done

* Stick to (my) OP schedule and get the mortgage balance under £217k by 31.12.16

Other goals (for January)

*workout 3 times a week
*no takeaways! (food does seem to be my spending trigger point - buying either takeaway for convenience)
*no alcohol from Monday to Friday

This all starts from Monday as it is my birthday this weekend :beer:

Have a great weekend all

Firegirl

Happy Birthday!!!! Enjoy your weekend before the behaving begins!!!

mortgage_girl

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday! Good luck with your goals for this year.

MGx

newgirly

Finally read your dairy! You are not he only one who reads frugal blogs and then books concert tickets/theatre shows/meals etc. but being careful about spending most of the time allows a bit more leeway for treats sometimes ( at least that's what I am telling myself!)

Oh and happy birthday :bdaycake:

greent

Happy Birthday - hope you're having a lovely weekend!


x

thewalrussaid

 
Hello All,

Thank you so much for your birthday wishes and the cake NG! :j I had a good birthday over 2 days with a meal with my family on Sunday and then a shopping trip on Monday before the dreaded return to work on yesterday! :eek:

I am (probably like everyone) feeling fired up about my new year goals. I need to get our 123 account up to £10k to make the fees worth it and to help with more cashback I am also going to start paying my council tax from this account by DD – up to now I have always paid online manually.

Aside from this I really want to curb my miscellaneous spending – looking through my spreadsheets this always seems to be things like food (don’t feel like packed lunch and end up buying an alternative/getting a takeaway or a ready meal on the way home out of laziness), skincare – here or there expensive anti ageing products really knock my budget out and just nonsense here or there – magazines and ebooks!

My ideas of dealing with these weaknesses are to;

1) Strictly meal plan and avoid alcohol during the week, if I plan properly I will have enough food for lunch that I actually want and not need to succumb to temptation, avoiding the alcohol will also mean that I am less tired and keep my resolve high
2) Skincare – I actually have quite a large stockpile of serums/masks/treatments/cleansers and so I am determined to use these up before buying anything else – plus making me use up the products is already showing me the products I like and would purchase again, my usual constant flitting back and forth just messes up my skin. I was also lucky enough to receive a £40 B00ts gift voucher and so this can pay for any desperate needs in the meantime
3) With the random purchases I need to avoid the shops and ads – I have “play money” every month but a few random purchases quickly exhaust quite a chunk of it so I want to be more mindful of using my cash sensibly instead of going from £200 to £125 after the first week and then playing catch up. To avoid the ads I am trying to unsubscribe from all sales/marketing emails I received to avoid the temptation.

I want to take everything a day at a time otherwise I end up trying to run before I can walk and everything falls flat. I budget every month and then a lack of willpower leads to my overspending and then needing to borrow from savings and then I am right back where I started. In this vein I have deposited all my birthday money into my savings account.

Re exercise I went spinning last night and am off for another session tonight, after this week I am going to go two times a week for 4 more weeks. These classes were not cheap but I go with a friend and it’s a good way to get into a routine. My third workout will be a run on the treadmill at home. After this I plan to join a gym (that work will pay for) and go with a work colleague. Getting into the habit of three workouts a week and getting £10k in my savings account are my highest priorities this year.

My final bits of money saving news are that I have applied for the @mex everyday spending card to get the 5% cashback bonus and I am going to cancel my 123 CC (the bonus on the @mex will match the majority of the cashback received from 123 in the past 12 months).

Other than that I hope everyone is well and having a good week thus far!

Firegirl

This looks like a great way to start the year!!!! Well done getting organised!

thewalrussaid

Hello all,

I hope you are all well - thank for the comment Firegirl - I need to get better at commenting on others diaries.

Well my dinner party went well but the food budget is going to be tight ish for the next two weeks.

I managed two spin workouts last week but did not fit in a run will aim to do better this week. i have spinning tonight and on Wednesday.

I did manage not to drink Tuesday to Friday and will trying for Monday to Friday this week.

Last night I sent off the DD mandate/request thing to pay my council tax by DD from the 123 account to up my cashback.

We have an electrician coming back on the weekend because since he came last time all our lights have been fusing, seems like he must have over loaded a circuit I have zero electrical knowledge but in my layman's mind this seems like a reasonable thought). My point in mentioning is that I hope that we don't need to shell out too much money - esp if he screwed up the first time around.

I did get a takeaway last night (pure laziness) it was a total waste of money! I wish I had either been bothered to cook or got some like sushi (which I can see the value of being something I cannot do at home).

Interest was added to my 123 account today, £4.48 earned this month after the fee. The decent-ish amout of interest being added is really motivating me to save so I am going with that feeling as I need to build up an emergency fund (6 months of costs for us are about £24k :eek:)

Other than that shopping is done for the week so I hope it should all be low spends.

Also sad to hear about David Bowie - a real artist and one off who gave so much to the world with his creations, RIP

Firegirl

Agree about David Bowie. Amazing artist.

The 123 account is really good if you have a lot of savings in there. I had my personal account that didn't have a high credit balance so I transferred it to another bank. Got £100ish cash back and they messed something up and gave me compensation for making a mistake that didn't effect me at all.

All they had done was forget to put the incentive money into my account- I called about it a few weeks later and bingo and extra few quid for the trouble- I hadn't even asked!!!