Mountainlioness' diary: the MFi3 journey

mountainlioness

Hi Trying to be good. I've bought Money 2005, the standard version, but have just noticed that in the small print it says 'internet-based services are available for two years after activation of MM or September 1 2007, whichever is earlier...' Worried now this means my brand new bit of kit won't work!! Or is it fine just entering everything manually??

And thanks for the plum-based tip GN!

Trying_to_be_good

ML

Don't worry - they've extended the internet-based services bit until Dec 09 at the earliest - hopefully there'll be a new version out by then, or they'll extend it again. I checked this out earlier today, as it'll affect me, too. You'll want to set aside a good couple of hours to get everything set up right - it's as addictive as this site is!

mountainlioness

Hmmm, yes, have realised that 3 hours in!!

BTW is there any way to add mortgage accounts to monitor them as interest is added and payments made?

mountainlioness

Just found it - doh!

Well just a quick update from me - hope to have some proper news later when our electricity useage meter thingy has done its thang (ordered through Quidco naturellement!) Of course, it will probably mean a new fridge or freezer but with the bills the way they are it'll pay for itself pretty sharpish. It will hit our 'pot' for next month as whatever we buy this month on the ole credit card will have to be paid from next month's salary (though we will get cashback) As we didn't make our £300 target this month I'll be a bit disappointed if we end up 'failing' again...

Have started to set up our Microsoft Money programme and input everything. I'll probably try to do a new budget every month as I try to factor in covering CC bills and other expenses that vary monthly, plus DH is on commission so you never quite know what you have to play with.

Our Pig As Yet Unnamed has had his first feed, with £18 from the £2 savers jar and the spare change from my purse. I can practically hear his tummy growling though so will have to give him another one soon

Am picking up a Freecycle slo-cooker later - v excited. DH is confirmed stew and pie man so am hopeful he will take charge and produce slo-cooked (and Martin-friendly) wonders...

Anyway, back to work, will update later if we have a culprit identified...

mountainlioness

AAARGGGHHH! I just spent AGES typing in my report and the site just suddenly closed :mad: :mad: :mad: Lost everything!

Well, anyway, in brief... it's not the fridge or freezer. 0.03kwh for an hour's consumption or only 5 a week each...

I checked the boiler next and it came out as 3 times more demanding, 0.09 for an hour yesterday evening and standing at over 6kwh this morning (10 hours' worth) Not really sure how a gas-fired boiler only one twice a day for hot water only can cost so much electricity... any ideas?!?!?

So basically am at a loss... there aren't any other appliances that are on all the time. IS there anything else I can do to sort this out? Hubby said in a suspicious moment he thought we might be paying for the electricity of one of our neighbour's but how the hell to sort that one out without major aggravation?! Any advice on any of this welcome!

on a more positive note, thanks to Trying to be Good, I now have our mortgages set up on Microsoft Money :T . With out target overpayments of £300 month we will be clear of our smallest and most expensive mortgage in 7
years! And the whole lot 6 years early in 2024. OK, I know by a lot of you guys' standards that's not that impressive but we have a HUGE mortgage so every little helps Speaking of which, it seems there's only a couple of us with such high balances ... are the rest of you more 'mature' or did you buy when the market was lower? live in a cheaper area? or are you just more savvy and dedicated MSErs? Just wondering :cool:

Anyway better go for now...

cazmanian_minx

Sounds like you're doing really well :beer:

I've got MS Money from 1999 (or it might even be 97!) and it still seems to tick over OK - we find it very, very useful for keeping track of things. OH, who used to be a confirmed head-in-sand kind of bloke when it came to finance, now gets really stressed if he doesn't update his the moment he's home and has savings for the first time in his life!

On the electricity front - do you have an attic? And if so, have you left the attic light switched on? I'm *terrible* for doing that!

As for mortgage size - I live in Croydon and I bought in 1999 when the whole place was being dug up for the Tramlink and no-one wanted to buy. I paid £58,500 for this 1-bed flat, £25,000 borrowed from my Mum, bless her, and £33,500 on a mortgage, so mine's never been very big. (I know my starting point at the beginning of the year was £37k+, but that's a long story involving my ex-husband :mad: !!)

Caz

~daisy~_2

we bought our house 13 yeas ago for 48k - added 4k on to add a conservatory a few years later

paid that off in full about 2 years ago and re arranged all our bits of mortgage into one repayment mortgage of approx 40k at that time

as of yesterday our current balance is £32,199 and something pence

so yes our mortgage has never been high - we were lulled into the security of never paying more than around £300 a month for years and kind of felt we missed the windows of opportunity to move up in stages. now any move would mean increasing the term and payments of over £1000 a month to get something not a huge lot better than we have.
its only the last 2 or 3 years we have been comfortable enough to pay bits off and was only in march this year we discovered we could over pay !!! so have been doing so and have seen the balance drop approx 4k in as many months due to this !!

its nice * said in cheesy borat voice*

edit - im 38 and hubs 42 so not mature !!

mountainlioness

Thanks guys

Hmm I wish DH would end up so committed to monitoring our finances! At the moment it's definitely my domain. Which I don't mind generally but it would be nice to feel this is a genuinely joint project - for our future. HE would say that he's fully signed up, but it's still for me to make the running...

I've gone from a 50k mortgage on a £150k 2-bed terrace 2 years ago in north essex (thanks to some inheritance) to a £260k mortgage on a 3-bed terrace now :eek: This is mainly the location - Hertfordshire is eyewateringly expensive and I suppose we do live in a "nice" area, whatever that means :rolleyes: . OK I now have a DH but a doubling of salary on a 5x increase in mortgage is not easy! I suppose although we're ok at the mo we would like to start a family in the not too distant future. I do want to carry on working but it would be nice if we could both cut our hours slightly to have more time as a family, hence the MFi3 challenge... sometimes I wonder if we should have just accepted that the area was more pricey and settled for a smaller place but the costs of moving are so high (fees, stamp duty, estate agents) we figured that if we just had to move again when we had kids it would be a false economy. Who knows! BTW we are 30 and 27 so I guess we have time to make inroads.

taka

Hiya!!

I just started early!! Got my 1st mortgage while I was at uni on a 3 bed flat and had a couple of flatmates while I was at uni and subsequently working which more or less covered the mortgage. I then moved and rented the flat out (it was in a different city) then finally got round to selling it almost 5 yrs ago. Edinburgh is so much more expensive that I'm now in a 1 bed flat which needs lots of work :rotfl: I wouldn't be able to afford to buy it now so I'm very lucky! My mortgage now is so small as this was the max I could get on what I earned at the time!! Its actually a wee bit over 48k now but I am including my loan (for flat-related work) for the MTi3 challenge. I am 32 but have had a mortgage for just over 13yrs!! My aim is to pay off my current mortgage before the date my origional mortgage would have been paid off (IYSWIM) so I've got till summer 2019. If I keep up my current levels I am around 6 months short of this so hopefully its possible to bring it even closer

~daisy~_2

yes area comes into it alot i think

herts can be expensive - st albans harpenden etc - we are in a fairly sought after area as we are on the thameslink rail line into london with 1bed maisonettes going for around 150k - madness !!

our house - 3 bed end of terrace bought for 48k 13 yrs ago is now valued at 210k but i wouldnt pay thattfor it !!