Excited to try and be mortgage free

sweetdaisy

Congratulations on reducing the mortgage balance into the £40,000's. Your overpayments are impressive and you'll be mortgage free before you know it.

chumpy45

Reporting back after being a very bad MFW contributor!! Not enough hours in the day at the moment. November was an average month moneywise. An unexpected spend at the end of the month as DS3 who has just started driving, yanked really hard at the window handle in his first car on the first day of frost, and managed to completely break the mechanism. The garage managed to fix it with a little TLC and glue, but it still cost £57. However, as DS3 has also started his first job, he was also able to pay for it lol. Lesson learned by him - if you are late for work and the window is frosted up, try defrosting it before opening However, to redeem himself, his temporary Christmas job is with a very well known store and he has let me share his 20% staff discount as an 'appointed person' so I can't be too upset. Christmas pressies almost all sorted now, with a combination of vouchers, TCB, 3for2, and any other deal I can find, I am feeling quietly smug. I always save each month for Christmas, but even though the money is there, it doesn't seem right spending after trying so hard not to spend. About to make our third overpayment, staying on track so far, but our whole plan relies on DH, who is self-employed, remaining employed. Will just keep going for as long as we can. Have a nice TCB balance building up, so will hang on to it as long as possible to make just one claim. Only just found out you pay a fee when you claim the money. Have had another trawl through the account to see if any more money can be saved anywhere. My gym membership is looking questionable - mainly because I am not managing to go !!!! I think I may cancel it in the New Year, and maybe bike to work instead. I know it makes sense as I would save petrol and keep fit, but the thought of getting on a bike on those dark, cold, rainy mornings laden down with books and marking does not fill me with glee lol. Anyway, off to Sunday football with DS4, then roast dinner, ironing, lecture preparation and the list goes on ................ Enjoy Sunday everyone

hiddenshadow

Hm, I've never had to pay a fee when claiming from TCB, but I think it depends on what payment method you choose (some give bonuses). Some methods aren't available, but all the methods are fee-free from what I can tell.

Good luck with the cycling - I used to cycle when I lived closer to work and once I got into the routine the weather/dark didn't bother me so much, but getting over the initial "I don't wanna!" was a challenge.

chumpy45

Haven't updated for a while - never seems to be enough hours in the day. Made planned overpayment last month, such a satisfying feeling :j Have managed to stay in budget for all Christmas shopping using every voucher combination trick I can think of. My friends all laugh at me and my voucher fixation, but I have a sneaky suspicion I will be laughing the hardest in a couple of years when this MFW dream comes true!! Need to get DH under control in the New Year though. Although he is as desperate as me to get rid of the mortgage but he is not sufficiently on board and prone to very weird and expensive purchases. Makes life a little frustrating. Need to make it his New Year's Resolution!! Well nearly there, all pressies wrapped, cards and parcels delivered, just the food shop to do planned for very early tomorrow morning. Merry Christmas one and all. Let's raise a glass to more MFW success next year xx:T

diamondsonly

Hi Chumpy, Just read your diary, wow you seem to be doing so well. And OP of £2000 a month is fab. I will be following your journey and cheering you on.

Merry christmas

Diamonds xx

chumpy45

Thanks Diamondsonly - lovely to hear from you and deffo need some cheering on !! Have caught up with your diary too and subscribed - you have done so well with your OPs. There is something very contagious about this MFW site. Am off to revisit spreadsheets yet again, to see if I can shuffle things about any more and find a few more pounds of savings Onwards and upwards!!

chumpy45

A dull and dismal day with a few flakes of snow whirling around outside. Have been playing with spreadsheets and numbers (think I might add this to my CV under hobbies ). Have realised that when I opened a FD regular saver I ommitted to change the amount that was transfer to my Sandy123 account so am accounting for the same amount twice. If only I was better at maths, this journey would be a little easier :rotfl: This gave me approx £700 to access but unfortunately just opened a bill from the electrician for £650 However, it does mean I can pay the electrician's bill without touching the 'household maintenance' pot, so that one can stay healthy for a little longer. Have just joined YouGov survey scheme after reading about it on various posts. Quite a lot of surveys to get through to earn £50 but I have managed to invite quite a lot of friends via the referral scheme to double up my points on a January special offer. Will see how it goes. Some of the questions are a little random!! Hope to open a P.O. ISA this weekend online as the rate is better than what I am currently earning. I think one of the best things about MFW (apart from the obvious of paying off the mortgage) is the feeling of being in control of your finances. It's Thursday and the weekend beckons - can't be bad

hiddenshadow

Love your entire post. I should definitely add personal finance fiddling/obsession to my CV! "Spreadsheet fiddling" might require some awkward explanations, though. :rotfl:

chumpy45

Well, it has been a while since I posted and a bit of a journey Haven't managed to keep to targets with OPs due to variability of DHs self-employment. However, have put some money aside in savings pot which is designated for OPs once the work situation settles down. So disappointing, but not a complete disaster Have become a little demotivated as DH not really on board with this journey. Despite claiming to be desperate to be MF, he continues to be a spendthrift. It does seem a little pointless for me to be seeking out bestbuys, bargains and vouchers in the supermarket when he is buying game sausages from an expensive specialist stall on our local market. Not to mention the new road bike that was purchased without any joint discussion. I know I am not his keeper and if he wants a bike, obviously he has every right to buy a bike (he certainly works hard enough), but this was supposed to be a joint plan we were working at together. Anyway, rant over. I will just keep plugging away and transfer bits and pieces to OP pot. I have been reading through MFW posts for inspiration again this morning, and have found plenty :j I have added a new "Tilly Tidy" column to my spreadsheet and started it off with 37p :rotfl: Mighty oaks and little acorns and all that. I am really looking forward to seeing that figure grow. Have potentially picked up some more hours at work, will know for sure next week. This will help the finances and also involve some more happy hours with my spreadsheets jiggling figures. Have a TCB amount of £37 to claim, so that is also good news Just writing this, am beginning to feel the motivation flooding back. Will just keep plugging away and at least it will be an achievement for myself if some of that mortgage balance disappears. Another new target (well an old target which I am remaking) is to keep up with my diary

hiddenshadow

Does DH have a "fun money" amount? My DH is much more spendy than me but we each get an allowance every month that we can spend, no questions asked. (I usually don't spend all of mine so OP some but it makes me happy so why not?) I don't know how much DH was spending prior to the allowance going into place, but my guess is it was a lot more (he didn't have a budget and was only paying the minimum on a large CC balance, sigh). Anyway, we settled on a number that fits our budget (and allows for regular OPs) and still seems reasonable (not too stingy).

If your DH is as on board as he claims, that might help rein in his spending a bit. You're so close to MF, too - only 22 months of needing to bother with an allowance, and then you can spend as much as you please (or so you can tell DH :rotfl:)