Excited to try and be mortgage free

chumpy45

I will keep everything crossed for you MFD, normally I love everything about FD and their service is second to none, but I do feel they were a little bit "jobsworth" about this. Hey ho. Feeling very virtuous after making the Christmas cake (combined effort of mum, me and DS4! - although tbh mum could have made it with her eyes shut and both hands behind her back:rotfl:) and after pickling cabbage which is looking very pretty on the shelf in my pantry. My next target is to make choux pastry - have never tried it but want to have a go at eclairs nom nom. Had a premium bond win of £25 (I know :money: is not a fan, but I have had a few since I was born and am not going to cash them in ) that has been paid to the mortgage together with some TCB of £5.00 and some TT of nearly £5.00 so nicely rounded up to £35 :T Am also trying to keep control of my CC spreadsheet where I enter amounts spent and move the money to savings. I keep getting in a muddle as I am buying christmas pressies for my mum to give to people (and she always pays me back with cash) and am also ordering my own pressies. All I am managing to do is confuse myself :rotfl: the spreadsheet stand no chance

chumpy45

So a spectacular start to the day as my hair dryer made a strange noise and a serious smell of burning filled the air :eek: It has served me well, but alas it is no more. This took bad hair day to a whole new level as I had to try and style damp hair with straighteners :rotfl: lots of hissing and steam and a rather unusual look was created. Even more worryingly, no one at work even seemed to notice !! So a bargainous hair dryer was purchased today in haste from Sainsbobs but it was reduced by £12 so not too painful. I found £1 in the drum of the washing machine and 5p on the floor at work so that made up for it just a little bit. I am continuing my sentry duty in turning off lights and turning down heating much to the amusement of my family. We are having some estimates for plastering. The hall, stairs and landing will require skimming before we redecorate. Think it may be more expensive that I am anticipating. Should hear tomorrow. No other news today, early night beckons and some catching up on diaries

chumpy45

Just back from the local Christmas light switch on - lovely evening with DS3 and DS4 but it did make me nostalgic for the days when they were all tiny and we used to fight our way to the front so that we could see Santa arrive in the sleigh and be part of the countdown. This year we had to stand "away from the crowd" and jokes were being made as Santa arrived! Still we had fun and the advantage of them being older was they didn't want to have a go at any of the little stalls or buy a light up sword to wave or have a turn on the bungee thingy. Managed to escape lightly with 3 hot dogs :rotfl: still secretly a little bit sad though. Other than the hot dogs it was a NSD. Now at home having a lovely cuppa and relaxing after a long day. Its nearly the weekend :T:T

chumpy45

Seem to have been AWOL again, however, have been working hard behind the scenes making sure I keep to budgets and look out for deals. Managed to get a couple of genuine bargains on the famous Black Friday - actually things I had listed to look out for rather than things that seems too good a bargain to miss! Felt very smug. A good piece of news in that I arrived home from work last week to a letter informing me my position at work was to be made permanent from 01.12.16 :T It's a christmas miracle - have only been waiting 5 years for that letter :rotfl: Was slightly miffed that my manager didn't take the trouble to let me know personally, however I am very pleased with the decision. I still have 6 hrs/week on a hourly paid claim only contract above my permanent 0.5 contract, but it's all progress and I feel very lucky :j

hiddenshadow

Congrats on the permanent job! Very odd that your manager wouldn't tell you in person, seems like that's the sort of meeting managers love to have, nice and pleasant!

chumpy45

Thanks HiddenShadow - I do agree, very odd not to want to tell me in person. I do wonder whether she even knows!! Perhaps I should tell her and see what her reaction is :rotfl:

chumpy45

Having been AWOL again for a little while, I just thought I would pop in and update my figures for the end of the year. Have made OPs of just under £4000 over the course of the year which I am really pleased with. Outstanding mortgage balance is £38,140.00 with daily interest down to £2.34. So exciting to be in the £30ks and would love to see that daily interest drop below £2 asap. A combination of being careful, TCB, bargains and voucher codes and just adopting the financial savvyness that this forum teaches us all. It certainly becomes an addictive way of life. Have enjoyed a lovely Christmas with all the boys home from uni. No exciting adventures, but some lovely fun evenings and memories made playing board games and the rediscovery of our dart board :rotfl: House all tidied up ready for New Year's Eve, again an evening at home but looking forward to it. The prosecco is cooling as I type :T Looking forward to continuing the challenge in 2017 and wishing all my fellow forum members a very Happy New Year _party_

hiddenshadow

Well done for getting into the 30s! I'm sure you'll be in the 20s in no time.

Hope you have a nice NYE/start to 2017.

chumpy45

DS2's 21st birthday today, so a day of celebration and merriment and yet more fizz _party_ Not really the frugal start to 2017 that I had planned, but for a very good cause and the money was all saved up ready for the big event :T. Certainly need to start being frugal with the calories as the pounds I had lost before Christmas seem to have sneakily snuck back on when I wasn't looking :rotfl:. Still, back to work tomorrow :eek: so normal routines will resume. Here's to shiny new spreadsheets and money saving ways in 2017. Good luck everyone back to work tomorrow.

PurpleFairy26

Just read your diary from the beginning. Very inspiring well done on permanent contract, good things come to those that wait

Hope DH is better and DS new uni is better than the first and he's more settled.

Amazing progress on the mortgage, I can't wait until we're in that position. We too have a FD mortgage and I love their banking but had a shocking experience when trying to refix a rate. The woman I spoke too was so difficult and she didn't like the answer to one of my questions, which was simply fact and she kept saying 'there must be another reason...' me: no, I don't actually know what you want me to say :rotfl: she turned us down for some additional lending which when I called back another advisor told me was wrong and I could have it :mad: even now I'm not convinced they've been taking about £5 too much and when I queried it they said the amount is estimated, which I found odd as I was never told that and as they work everything to the penny why wouldn't it be spot on. They then called me back to day they had recalculated it and it had gone down by £3. I asked them how when it was fixed for 2 years? They said it was because I asked - go figure?!?! I'll definitely be switching out in 18 months when our deal ends. I find it frustrating I can't see my balance on line, when they are an internet bank :eek:

Sorry slight hijack there, I'll subscribe to your diary, I really enjoy your updates. Best of luck for getting the mortgage gone in 2017 when that dividend pays