Mortgage free by 2021?!

lippy1923

knock knock. Found your diary I have subscribed.

hiddenshadow

Hi Lippy!

:mad: at Ips0s surveys - agreed to install 2 monitoring apps on my phone in return for ~£30 amazon credit. I did my part but they claim that only 1 app was installed so I get no credit. I wouldn't really mind except that thanks to those apps I exceeded my data allowance last month (thankfully I got an alert about it so it should have only cost me a few pence before I turned mobile data off). I had several issues installing the apps in the first place so I should have known it wouldn't credit, but...grump.

Not much else in MSE/MFW news - got our renewal quote for our pet insurance and it's rather :eek: - up £40/mo from what we've been paying. Shopping around to see if we can get the 3 younger pets on a new policy and keep the old guy on his policy (as he's now got pre-existing conditions and - so far - we've been "making money" on him as his monthly premium is less than the cost of his medications each month).

Arranged for theatre tickets using vouchers we got from my dad last Christmas - going to see 3 shows over the next 3 months will only cost us £23 I'm sure we could have gotten better deals if we'd prepped earlier but we spent a few months being apathetic about what to see, and then a few more being lazy about booking.

Have a bet set for tomorrow which should get a free bet on Sunday, so that'll take care of the pesky 63p on my MFW goal as well as help towards the house savings amount.

Busy weekend as DH and I are both volunteering tonight/tomorrow - will be (mentally) tiring but it's a good cause (encouraging women to learn/pursue technology) and we'll be fed. Hoping for a quiet Sunday though.

hiddenshadow

Made the mortgage goal. DH bought another set of books in USD so that's £9.93 out of his allowance. 63p sent to the allowance to bring the balance to £161,800.00.

Home improvements: £616.55 / £690.25 (£73.70 left to find)

Ali-OK

Well done on reaching your goal :T

Pet insurance is so expensive, hope you come up with a good deal

hiddenshadow

Thanks Ali!

We've opted to move the cats to a separate (lower coverage) plan, so our cost should only go up by about £3/mo. Thought we'd get £21 cashback but it's tracked as £42, presumably because we're insuring two pets? Either way, that's 29% of the annual cost for them, so that's a double-win.

edinburgher

Have just read my way through your entire diary, a good read

• I like the fact that you mention 'sunk costs' like a pro
• I like the fact that you live like super frugal skint people despite earning great salaries - seriously pondering my career choices at the moment - sometimes think I am too lazy!
• I recognise a kindred spirit with all the side income coming in (although I abandoned surveys years ago)

hiddenshadow

edinburgher wrote: »

Have just read my way through your entire diary, a good read

• I like the fact that you mention 'sunk costs' like a pro

Thanks Ed.

I got into personal finance geekery several years ago and still find it really interesting, though I'm in a bit of a middle ground between knowing all the budgeting/lifestyle/basic economic things but not getting too heavily in the investing side (plan to once we're MF though). We are putting ~30% of our pre-tax income into pensions, so there's a bit of investment going on there - not much control on our parts, just hoping that the magic of compound investing works in our favour!

• I like the fact that you live like super frugal skint people despite earning great salaries - seriously pondering my career choices at the moment - sometimes think I am too lazy!

Haha - I lived the lavish life for a few years in my 20s (doing horsey stuff). I'd love to get back into it, but don't want the debt that came along with it. Adulthood has been a bit of a crimp as well, between working a real job, commuting, upkeep on the house, etc - don't have nearly as much free time as I did a decade ago. Hoping that once we're MF we can cut back on work (and ideally eliminate commuting entirely - that'll be heaven!) and then I'll have free time and money to spare.

But yes, at heart I am a skinflint. I can spend money on things I'm interested in (books/crafts/horses), but otherwise I hate shopping so try to avoid spending money where possible. I think DH is much more willing to splash the cash, but he's happy enough with the more restrictive budget (compared to his lifestyle before we met, anyway) given the MF-and-beyond plan.

Definitely contemplate the career change - I was lucky in that I did my about-face in university (originally wanted to be a veterinarian). I realised about halfway through that I liked the knowledge behind veterinary medicine, and the animals, but not the rest of the lifestyle (crazy hours, crap pay, super competitive to get into school). Since I was also interested in computers I went in that direction as it has better hours, far better pay, and no further schooling required. (I do ponder going back to school for a vet degree down the line, just for kicks - not sure if I'd want to do all that school again though!)

• I recognise a kindred spirit with all the side income coming in (although I abandoned surveys years ago)

Survey income is crap, but it fits in nicely with my regular workday where I need a mental breather for a few minutes. I'll probably scale back on it next year, though, as I've got other side projects that I should work on (even if they might not bring in any money).

hiddenshadow

+£3.02 from MB - was meant to be £7+ but only part went through, still movement in the right direction.

Home improvements: £619.57 / £690.25 (£70.68 left to find)

edinburgher

In play bet? Because the outcome should be known before you start.

hiddenshadow

Yes, but the lay bet got cancelled after matching only half of it, and I didn't notice until after the match. Not a huge deal as I still made a profit, just not as much as I could have if I'd noticed and laid the bet elsewhere.