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

thewalrussaid

So we are now in the tricky part of the month, all major DDs have left the account and there is nothing to colour in or log on my spreadsheets!

Oh well, time to focus on other things. Two workouts done this week and no alcohol since Sunday. I don't want to jinx myself but for some reason I am feeling much more switched on this year - long may this feeling last!!!

Lots of change at work - not necessarily bad (some of it possibly very good) but the secret squirrel nature of management is unsettling me.

Hey-ho it's nearly Thursday - yay! :j

thewalrussaid

So it's the weekend - hurrah!!! :j

DH out getting the groceries and new blades for the car at the moment. Car spends out of the car pot and groceries carefully meal planned. We are away next weekend so trying to keep spends down this week - worst case scenario is tuna pasta for lunch everyday in the final week of the month :rotfl: (I am determined to stick to ALL budgets this month!)

Also spent time on the phone to @m@zon this morning, for my birthday I used a sh0p and sc@n voucher (plus cash) to buy a phone case, the first package I got was empty and when the replacement arrived I realized I had ordered a 6+ case and not a 6 I felt like a total liar asking for a refund especially after the first package was empty - I am sure they probably think I am lying! Anyway after sending back the wrong case they only refunded the P&P fee so hopefully after today's second phone call I will get the full refund (inc gift card on account) so that I can buy the correct case. More haste less speed next time.

Other than that I am about to start the ironing - glad to be doing it today and not tomorrow. Making a big batch of chilli tonight for dinner and the freezer and then roast chicken tomorrow for lunch and Monday night dinner

I hope everyone has a great weekend

thewalrussaid

Hello all,

Well 3 hours of ironing done on Saturday (oh so boring, even listening to the radio on ipl@yer didn't help too much) and chilli made.

I am really looking forward to having Friday off and going away for our wedding anniversary which is this week. I am hoping my mindset is gradually changing as I have booked a low cost cottage (er I should possibly correctly describe it as a 'fancy large shed in someone else's garden ) I am taking dinner for the Friday night (hence the chilli) and we are going out to the local pub on the Saturday night. Therefore apart from the cost to rent it everything else is being covered by our usual budgets.

I listened to a radio program about money and relationships over the weekend and it was very interesting, e.g. the way money represents different things to different people (e.g. power or security or love or status etc). I think, for me, money used to represent love and status - as in showing love to others through spending money on gifts & buying things to make up for low self esteem. Whereas now I am curbing the status side of it and moving more towards security by hoping that money will buy me freedom and choices but ultimately give me security. The program also mentioned how people react to their parents attitudes - this definitely struck a chord with me as my dad has always been very frugal (probably due to growing up very poor). I could never understand why he would literally drive 10 miles to save 2p on a litre of petrol (which is probably false economy) and my reaction to these ways drove my spending in my 20s.

Anyway my point was that having grown up in quite a frugal home and seeing that it really didn't make that much difference to quality of life I wonder where my expensive tastes came from. I guess a combination of a reaction to my parents and advertising (i used to be a sucker for adverts).

So that was a long post! To summarise I think I have done a complete 180 and realise that I would do better to emulate my parents.

Oh and finally - I realise that not a lot of overpaying is going on here - but I am laying the foundations for the overpyaments honest! I just want to get my savings up first.

Have a great start to the week everyone

Firegirl

Sound like an interesting radio programme.

I used to spend to look good for nights out-makeup etc. Now I try to spend less on stuff and more on experiences.

I think the focus changes depending what stage in life you are!

thewalrussaid

Hello all!

Countdown to payday! :j

Our break in the country was very relaxing, where we stayed was almost silent apart from birdsong and the tapping of woodpeckers. The cottage was equipped with a wood burner and, having never used one before, I found it enthralling! It was very satisfying building a fire in the morning, much more interesting than flicking on a switch. The weather was a bit damp but we got a good walk in (5.5 hours including an hour lost :eek:) and it was most enjoyable to be outside enjoying nature.

We spent £95.00 on Saturday night dinner (including a decent tip) and a £10 on drinks on Saturday lunch. Dinner was more expensive that I thought it might be but we did have a few drinks and three courses with steak being the main. Apart from that we took our own food and everything has been covered out of standard budgets.

Groceries purchased yesterday for £39.00 so my aim now is to spend nothing un-budgeted until after pay day.

I hope everyone is having a good start to the week.

thewalrussaid

Hi all,

Patiently waiting for my pay day tomorrow, DH's is on Monday. I have meal planned for the coming week and have booked for the groceries to be delivered on Saturday morning. I have some batch cooking planned for the weekend along with many chores as I am somewhat behind due to being away last weekend.

In money saving news I was entering my meter readings and spotted a tariff that would save me £11 a month so we have switched. I know we could save more money on the electricity and gas but thus far I have never swapped providers, just tariffs. I suppose I think the hassle and possible bad service could be more hassle than the saving is worth.

I am really excited about bumping up the savings balance next month! Sad but true!

Take care all.

thewalrussaid

Hello,

I am still alive - just life and work getting in the way.

This month has included a couple of unexpected expenses (well they should be budgeted for but my budgeting skills need improvement ) the boiler was serviced and there were some gifts to buy. I set us a high savings target this month and so I ended up borrowing money back from savings (doh!). I think this shows I need to bite the bullet and do a "proper" budget that recognizes all our expenses, instead of simply winging it for some of the annual expenses!

A £58 OP this month to round the mortgage balance down to a tidy figure.

We've had lots of changes at work recently (an office move and merger) and this has prompted other changes in my routines - and well I suppose everything has been up in the air a bit meaning more spending :eek:

However there have been some positives - DH was given a small pay rise and a decent bonus and I have also been offered a promotion and quite a decent pay rise Following the news I did go straight onto my spreadsheets to work out the effect this would have on our monthly income and where the extra should be allocated, but I have reversed my changes. I've done this for two reasons 1. When I write down the new figures I then start acting like I have the money in my hand and think "we've got £X extra coming in next month so I will buy this now" and 2. when the extra is already allocated away you don't see that there is actually a difference and I think it would be helpful to actually see the change to the bottom line and then be prompted to allocate the extra where required (maybe time for that budget)

I realise that others might think it is best to immediately budget the excess into savings/OPs etc but this is what I usually do and it doesn't work for me. This way I can pretend that we still have our old salaries and then the extra will get saved, instead of seeing the higher income and feeling as though we can afford a few extra.s

So on the whole a very good month thus far. Once we have been paid bonuses (I think I should be getting one too) I will see where our post raise salaries end up at and then calculate how we can reach our goals faster!

Changing my job and actually feeling like I have the confidence of my boss and colleagues has really made a massive difference to my day to day levels of happiness. I am so glad I finally made the change.

Oh and final bit of money savings news, I got rid of our S@nt@nder 123 credit cards and replaced them with the @mex for the 5% cashback in the first two months, we are already up to £85 which I am quite pleased with. We pay off the credit card as we spend so we don't carry debt on it - my aim with it is simply to earn rewards or cashback.

Sorry this is such a long post - I will aim not to be away so long next time!

Take care everyone

thewalrussaid

Yay! It is payday! :j

It has been one expensive month, I always expect February to be cheap because it is short but not this month! I seemed to be out at least once a week, we decided to book a course of acupuncture appointments to iron out various issues between DH and I and I think once we started overspending it was hard to stop!

So all of that has left us with £1,000 on the credit card :eek: it was lucky that I did not allocate the bonus to various pots! Especially as I did not get paid my my bonus today apparently all these changes mean that our salary changes and bonuses will be paid next month - lets hope so! I haven't even seen my new job description yet.

DH's bonus will cover the credit card bill, the rest of his bonus is earmarked for presents (at upcoming family occasion for the celebrant and the kids of a family member who is coming from overseas), various items the DSD needs for school purposes, a school trip, new work clothes for DH, the guttering repairs and some new walking boots for me.

Hopefully if/when I get a bonus this can all go to savings.

I amnow looking forward to Monday when DH gets paid and i can do the money shuffle woowoo!

Firegirl

I've really picked up on 1 point you said- changing you job has made you happier day to day. I'm hoping I follow in your footsteps soon after I've been made redundant!!!!!

Good luck for your shuffle tomorrow:0)

thewalrussaid

Hello All :wave:

I haven't been around for ages but that's because there didn't seem much to say.

Mortgage now stands at £231,350.00 which is £14,640.00 off the capital amount since I started this diary in 2015. I would love to take credit for some fab OPs but in reality this first year has been about building up savings as our standard payment takes about £1k off the capital each month anyway. However every little helps so I am not unhappy.

Plan for the rest of 2016 is to ramp up the OPs and make a big OP from savings before the end of year. As the mortgage is with H@lif@x we can only OP 10% every calendar year.

In 2017 I think we will save the OPs and make 1 big payment once our current mortgage fix deal expires. Not so exciting but I think DH's job might be a little precarious so better to have some cash stashed in case he is unemployed for a while.