XSpender Speeds it Up - £0 to £60k in 27 months

XSpender

I re-read my old diary recently and realised how much things have changed for us financially in the last 12 months. My old diary didn’t seem to fit the bill anymore so I have started a new one.

Old diary here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4624903

Bit of background:
We have lived here nearly 10 years and have an IO mortgage. Despite being on the SVR for the last 5 years we have only OPd a few hundred pounds due to redundancies, a mountain of debt (now paid off) and other excuses.:o There has always been a niggle at the back of my mind about only paying the interest, even when we couldn’t afford to do anything else, and when our circumstances changed for the better and we really would have liked to move house we couldn’t because we had no equity/savings.

Last year I was made redundant (again), took a planned 6 months off and started a great new job on double the salary I had before. We started saving a little, had some great holidays and did some small but much needed improvements to our home. Unfortunately there has been some lifestyle creeping going on and we have not saved anywhere near what we said we would, our original plan was to save all my income!

Our Goal is to save/OP £60,000 by the end of 2017:
We are undecided if we will move house or extend. Without the money saved to do either our decision is still no decision. At the moment we are leaning towards staying/extending as we love where we are and have great neighbours but do not have enough livening space. An additional £60k of savings/equity would provide us with a good deposit on our next home or fund the extension and reduce our mortgage.

We do have a small secured loan and credit card balance outstanding. The loan is so near to the end of the term the monthly payment is just about all capital coming off each month. I will chip away at the CC (with bonuses) and this will be cleared by 1st Feb. I have realised to make headway and to keep DH motivated we need to keep growing the savings balance, clear our remaining debt but still be able to save to pay for the holidays. My biggest motivator is starting to pay proper mortgage payments like a grown up.

Plans:
We are planning to live on my income (which tends to be the same each month give or take £20) and use all of DH income (which fluctuates due to bonuses) to overpay the mortgage, pay for holidays, Christmas and save towards the move/extension. There is some wriggle room in my half of the budget so we can still have the odd meal/family day out, activities for DS and a few small treats. Everything is budgeted for using YNAB.

Steps Completed since September 1st:

• Made full capital and interest payments to our IO mortgage to clear it by the end of the original IO term (16 years) approx. £610/month OP.
• Set up a regular saver for the maximum allowed per month
• SO to ISA
• SO to holiday savings account (1st deposit made October)
• Savings for Christmas put aside
• Reduced Christmas budget/number of people buying for
• Funded small emergency fund (no big emergency fund as mortgage overpayments can be drawn down in 3 days and I would rather the money was working while there is no emergency). This has been in place for about 4 months and not touched so far.

XSpender

1/9/15
Mortgage Overpayments by 31/12/17 £20,000 currently £605
Savings by 31/12/17 £40,000 currently - £692 (regular saver & ISA)
Holiday #1 including spending money- 3%
Holiday #2 – 0%
Christmas 2015 – 20% saved
Emergency fund – 100%

1/10/15
Mortgage Overpayments by 31/12/17 £20,000 currently £1,376.85
Savings by 31/12/17 £40,000 currently £1,140 (regular saver & ISA)
Holiday #1 including spending money- 18%
Holiday #2 – 8%
Christmas 2015 – 47% saved
Emergency fund – 100%

1/11/15
Mortgage Overpayments by 31/12/17 £20,000 currently£1,391.85
Savings by 31/12/17 £40,000 currently £1,540 (regular saver & ISA)
Holiday #1 including spending money - 30%
Holiday #2 – 0%
Christmas 2015 – 75% saved/or spent of budget
Emergency fund – 100%

1/12/15
Mortgage Overpayments by 31/12/17 £20,000 currently£1,391.85
Savings by 31/12/17 £40,000 currently £1,540 (regular saver & ISA)
Holiday #1 including spending money - 30%
Holiday #2 – 0%
Christmas 2015 – 75% saved/or spent of budget
Emergency fund – 100%

Luckyinlife

Great goal 60k lump sum payoff :]

What does the EF stand at ? would you use this to pay off mortgage then start saving an ef agine ?

XSpender

Hi Luckyinlife

The EF is only £500. I have instant access to my OP pot and savings if I need them and we could live comfortably on one salary if the need arose as we did last year when I was made redundant.

XSpender

I used to find the to do lists really helpful on my old diary so I am making one for tomorrow. We have set this weekend aside to catch up on housework/laundry and a few other jobs. We have done quite a few already but my list doesn't appear to be getting any shorter:eek:

• Help DS finish his school project - Done
• DS homework and reading Done
• Clean and clear out inside of car in preparation for delivery of new one (co. car not buying one)
• Long run Done
• DH to go to gym while I am supervising DS project Done
• Walk doggle Done
• Clean living room Done
• Mop kitchen floor
• Clean bathroom
• Dust and vac DS room and change sheets
• Finish washing - [STRIKE]whites,[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]towels[/STRIKE], small coloured wash
• Vac stairs, landing and [STRIKE]hall
  [/STRIKE]
• Iron everything washed and put away
• Defrost chicken breasts Done
• Do a comparison to compare gas and electric as deal has come to an end (using TCB)

Meals planned

B - Protein porridge with berries pre run/gym - cereal for DS
B#2 - Peanut butter on 1 slice of GF toast, banana post run
L- Jacket potato with cheese and salad, apple and grapes
D - Chicken with leeks and bacon, new pots, carrots and green beans then strawberries and yogurt for pud

newgirly

Happy shiny new diary xspender, that's a whopper of a target, best of luck

XSpender

Thanks newgirly. I work for an outsourcer and this is the biggest salary I have ever earned so I always worry my job wont last. I am aiming high, but not unrealistically so, if we miss it we will still have made good progress and got into the habit of paying interest and capital each month. Making this payment to the mortgage is a non-negotiable for me now and we would have to be in serious doo doo for me to cancel or reduce that SO.

DS's paper mache model head is dry so it is all systems go on the model painting and final construction this morning! Breakfast and run first though.

DH has found a tall boy at Ik3a to replace my bedside cabinet (same range so will match his) that may help a little with our storage issues as we have a small fitted wardrobe and 2 small bedside tables and no room for anything else! Need to decide if we spend the £79 today or wait until next month, DH is keen to get it sorted today as he has done a massive declutter and deep clean of the bedroom this week as the dog has taken to sleeping under our bed when we are out at work and it was beginning to smell like a dogs basket:eek:

Goldiegirl

Hello there, happy new diary.

It's a chunky target, but while your earning power is at it's highest, now is the time to go for it.

Good luck!

XSpender

Hello GG and thanks

Got through a fair bit on my to do list but still some things to catch up with this week and some will have to wait until the weekend as I am away Tuesday and Wednesday with work and will be squeezing in a swim at the gym tomorrow night. No time to use the gym at the hotel this trip. The good thing about been away is that, with a lunch and evening meal allowance, I never spend a penny

We did decide to buy the tall boy from Ik3a and DH has put it together but I haven't had time to transfer my stuff over. He is now after one for his side of the bed but I am not sure he would get much use out of it as the drawers are not big enough for his t-shirts and what not.

Pearla*Merle

Lovely to see you back, XSpender

Looking forward to following all your MFW tales as you blitz the £60k, good luck! :T

XSpender

Hello P*M :wave:

I spoke too soon about no spending when I was away. I was early for my first appointment today so popped into Mr T for a wee and bought some tights, a mag, an exfoliating glove, 2 ys GF flatbreads (one I have just scoffed for my tea:o:o) and a couple of bits to eat for breakfast tomorrow as I have a long drive and an early start.

I have been to the gym for a swim as planned.

No MSE/£60k news but DH has received an offer from SW for 12 weeks for the price of 10 (and I will get the free Christmas cookbook that comes with it;)) so a tenner will be saved there that I will pop over to the mortgage when I am back at the end of the week.

I have a big piggy bank full of 1p - 20ps and a camper money box with £54 (I think) of £2 coins that I will bag up and pay in to the bank and also pay off the mortgage on Saturday. Will keep DS busy for a bit too.

I need another £300 or so paid off the mortgage on top of the new monthly SO payments by the end of the year to knock off another £2k so this will be my first mini challenge I think