Time to be FREE!

Frugalwannabe

shangaijimmy wrote: »

Just read your diary, so a belated welcome to obsession club. You'all see soon enough what I mean, especially once that payment is set up to mortgage account (I do it using the sort code and account number with faster payments).

Thanks so much for your message and welcome. I'm going to give it a go now :-)

Frugalwannabe

It worked!

I just paid £10.02 using the account number and sort code and it's showing on the mortgage statement woohoo!!

Ok any advice from you seasoned MF'ers on how to set targets/the best ones to begin with. Also I'm seeing a lot of people mention spreadsheets? I'm awful at these so please help!!

TIA

Oh also made £4.98 on ebay :-)

hiddenshadow

Frugalwannabe wrote: »

Ok any advice from you seasoned MF'ers on how to set targets/the best ones to begin with. Also I'm seeing a lot of people mention spreadsheets? I'm awful at these so please help!!

TIA

Oh also made £4.98 on ebay :-)

Glad the OP worked.

I use a spreadsheet (happy to send you my template; can also use an online tool, just google) that gives me a full amortisation schedule for my mortgage. Then I look at those numbers and see if there's any "nice" number that's a stretch goal for me to work towards.

For 2016, my planned OPs have me ending in December with a balance of £134,500.30 as it currently stands. So I could "cheat" and have my goal be £134,500 which obviously isn't that hard. Or I could stretch to £134k, or go crazy and shoot for £130k. Using a spreadsheet I can play "what if" by playing around with various scenarios (if DH gets a bonus in March and we OP that, what do the numbers look like; if we skip a month of regular OP due to random life events what does that look like, etc).

You'll need to figure out for your budget what a sensible number is - can you try and make/save an extra £50/mo on top of what you're planning to pay/overpay already? An extra £100? £500? Whatever seems comfortable, go with that - if you end up ahead of schedule you can always add a secondary/bigger goal later, but I've found it's much more depressing to have to adjust a goal "backwards" (e.g. planned to OP £5,000 but only managed £3,000).

Frugalwannabe

hiddenshadow wrote: »

Glad the OP worked.

I use a spreadsheet (happy to send you my template; can also use an online tool, just google) that gives me a full amortisation schedule for my mortgage. Then I look at those numbers and see if there's any "nice" number that's a stretch goal for me to work towards.

Hi HS

That would be amazing thank you. I honestly have no idea where to begin with spreadsheets!

I like the idea of mini goals and breaking it down. It's all well and good to have a target to strive towards but to make it unachievable would be demoralising.

I'm going to sit down and write a proper budget an locate everything.

Thank you :-)

Frugalwannabe

Wow Epic Fail!

I had an operation a few weeks ago and was so focused. Whilst recovering I've stayed off here and gotten caught up in online shopping, have gone WAY over budget and now feel rubbish.

I need to check in here daily I think. It needs to become a habit for me to be able to maintains this as I'm generally an all or nothing person.

Time to reconnect and catch up on so e of your diaries for inspiration :-)

bexster1975

Hello!

Sorry to hear you fell off the wagon. This is the time of year for it though so I wouldn't give yourself too hard a time.

MFW is a marathon not a sprint! Staying connected here will help

Bexster

Frugalwannabe

bexster1975 wrote: »

Hello!

Sorry to hear you fell off the wagon. This is the time of year for it though so I wouldn't give yourself too hard a time.

MFW is a marathon not a sprint! Staying connected here will help

Bexster

Thank you for your message and it definitely helps to connect on here! x

Crumpets

Hi Frugalwannabe,

I've just read your diary and wanted to say hi and good luck. I also have 3 children so i'll be interested to hear how you get on with frugal ideas for them. Certainly don't give yourself a hard time about falling off the wagon, it's definitely a difficult time of year to be frugal.

Anyway I hope you have a wonderful christmas :xmastree: