OK lets do this.....24 payments to go

spendinglikemad

hidden shadow - I feel terrible about the amount of stuff we have in our house that we have bought over the years but at least thats slowing

Trying to cheer myself up by making some chocolate muffins - - they taste a bit weird though!! Its not quite hitting the choice spot!

SLM

spendinglikemad

So been good today and so far prevented hubby from spending any money (he wants a new compressor and a new car!) he took current car and it doesn't need the work doing on it that he was told he needed to pass MOT - so thats saved plenty!!! I really hate how much cars cost!!

DD had to go to school this morning (open day for perspective parents, she is at an independent school - scholarship !) I almost went to check out the second had uniform shop but decided against as she has sufficient uniform for now so it would just be extra spend we can do without

Good part was I was up early to get the shopping done at Aldi and got a few little treats and meal planned for next week (I have a couple of days in Austria with work so needed to make sure rest of family know what they are eating otherwise it might end up in takeaway heaven!)

Got some left over US dollars changed into cash - only £26 but better in my pocket as I won't need for a few years and I have around £100 on travel card to get paid back into bank account - so I can use this as additional O/P hopefully later this month, waiting till end of next week to make another O/P

Also went and pulled up some lovely beetroot and cut some squash at the allotment so some yummy roasted veg along with sea trout for dinner (on offer in waitrose this morning, I just get the stuff I can't get at Aldi plus my free newspaper and coffee!!)

Allotment looking a bit sorry for itself and needs some attention but there is a bit of broccoli sprouting which I hope doesn't get eaten by something else before we get to it!! still some spuds to dig up loads of beetroot and a few more butternut squash oh and leeks, rest just needs a good weed and tidy!! Start planning next years!!

SLM

hiddenshadow

Well done, sounds like a productive day all 'round!

spendinglikemad wrote: »

Got some left over US dollars changed into cash - only £26 but better in my pocket as I won't need for a few years and I have around £100 on travel card to get paid back into bank account - so I can use this as additional O/P hopefully later this month, waiting till end of next week to make another O/P

I keep going back and forth on what to do with my US money. I keep thinking of exchanging it to £ but it's handy when we do travel to the US (to visit my family) and we usually buy electronics while we're there. So for now I've been keeping it in USD, but it is tempting to change it over and OP the mortgage...hate seeing the number values drop post-exchange, though - if only $100 meant £100 towards the mortgage!

spendinglikemad

Just made another £500 O/P so thats £940.82 O/P of this month, just put in some work expenses and will have to wait until those get paid back into the bank to make a next O/P - was aiming for £1,400 per month but I guess every little helps!

Feeling bit rubbish today - very stressed with work as I have been in Vienna this week Mon to Thurs with full days of presentations and have to go back next week - just keeping up to date with home and work is feeling really difficult - hopefully next week will be a bit easier though away!! The only good part is that a litre of cordons gin was 12.90 duty free so got a bargain!! and hopefully will get some more next week (we already had the euros so I won't count in this months budget!!)

Was going to get my flu jab today but feeling under the weather so just going to get as organised as possible over the weekend and hopefully get some exercise which will hopefully make me feel better mentally

Next mortgage payment will take us under £52k and then hoping the daily interest will be under £5 a day as its £5.35 a day at the moment

Thats all for now

SLM

Sundaysgirl

That's a great OP, the mortgage will be gone in no time at this rate!

How is meal planning going, must be hard trying to get your family to stick to it while you're away?

Your interest rate seems quite high for the mortgage level - worth looking at that?

spendinglikemad

Thanks Sundays girl - I need to do a proper look and compare on the mortgage rate - there are various sub accounts - 4 in total all on different rates - in January we can get out of our fixed rate so no penalties for changing. I did consider a nationwide offset mortgage but there is a large fee so I need to probably consider more options
Luckily whist I was away the family stuck to my meal plan (first time every) I made sure there were easy meals to prep though!!!

Fridge and cupboards are looking a bit bare now

SLM

hiddenshadow

Well done with the OP!

I got the flu jab a couple of weeks ago - very easy compared to some years in the past. I was a tiny bit sore for the afternoon/evening but no other issues - previous years have knocked me out for 2-3 days and/or made me feel like I got kicked in the arm!

Hope the return trip to Vienna goes well.

spendinglikemad

Thanks Hiddenshadow might get my flub sorted then its done - I have been like you in previous years and felt rough for a few days after
SLM

spendinglikemad

OK been too busy to post this last week. Still sticking to my grocery budget but had car tax to pay this month and new brake pads (hubby does himself) and MOT so in total £700 on car stuff.

Getting a bit down work wise it feels too stressful at the moment - due to lots of travelling but just got to keep going I guess if we can get the mortgage paid off. Not sure work would be better anywhere else (better the devil you know eh!)

So standard mortgage payment made on the first of the month so aiming to pay £500-£1000 O/P this month - will have to see how it goes later this month in case there are any surprises finance wise.

Got some shares through (share save ) and usually these pay for a good Christmas and next years holiday but we may hang on to them and keep as as part of the emergency fund - see how that goes anyway - it would be nice to just use it as O/P which I guess we can do later.

Is there a thread for planning O/P in 2016? It might keep me on track more to join a group of O/P and have a target as at the moment but only tracking myself

Seeing as I am still feeling grotty and under motivated I need to remind myself of the key jobs to do:
1 - get back into the gym !!!
2 - allotment tidy/dig over (probably half a days work)
3 - eBay dd old mountain bike and playhouse kitchen
4 - pre xmas cupboard clearout
5 - Update finance spreadsheet and work out whats a reasonable O/P this month

Hope everyone has a good day

SLM

Sundaysgirl

Hey SLM, sorry to hear you're feeling a bit down, work travel really takes its toll.

There's a MFW 2015 thread (still time to join us!), and the 2016 thread will probably start early next month. I find that quite helpful for striving to meet my targets, the OP kindly dedicates a lot of time to maintaining a s/s showing progress against target on a month by month basis. I usually now track small OPs myself on a s/s and in my diary, then post my update in the MFW thread monthly to minimise admin for the OP.

Do you have the mortgage schedule calculator? I think Financial Bliss produced it, it's a great way of tracking how the OPs are reducing the term and the interest/capital split of repayments.


Sorry for the long post, but hopefully the above will help you track your targets and keep you motivated on the OP front