making hay while the sun shines (by freshcotton)

freshcotton

Had a trip into town today with a friend, which was nice, cost £22.50 for food etc, however avoided buying any rubbish. Saw a nice peice of art in a gallery (slight soft point for me) - I think it was about £300! - I dont mind buying art as much as I dont count it as clutter as its stuck to the wall and can be an investment.


Anyway - the idea is that if I can build up enough in my current account after overpaying £2500 then I can buy what I want, guilt free (well thats the plan).


New years is at a friends which should cost no more than a bottle (which we have anyway in the house this time of the year). Of course, the best thing about January 1st is that I can make my overpayments for that month. We are then going for a walk at a local deer park on new years day which should cost no more than £2 in parking.

freshcotton

Happy new year

£2,624 overpayment today. Random figure to bring the balance just below 70.

Each to there own I suppose

freshcotton

Some new year money saving action points


1. Opened a M&S bank account for partner to get gift vouncher (to be used this christmas)
2. Opened HSBC account for me to get £100 reward
3. Opened Amazon Credit card to get £10 voucher (put towards a book I really want). Will cancel account once its been cashed in
4. Applied for partners tax releif on his union fees over the last 5 years.
5. Sky cancelled and changed internet provider saving £20 per month


We have been able to stay within budget during January ready for pay day next week so overpayment should be made as planned.

freshcotton

February update ....


Good month. My partner is a teacher so I applied for tax releif on his union fees which not only reduced his tax bill each month, but also gave us a tax refund of £162. This was great news. When the new tax calculation was sent, I noticed that there was somthing called 'benefits in kind' on his tax account which reduced his personal allowance by £750 each year. We questioned this and it appears to have been a mistake so we were given a further refund of £572, So thats an extra £734.00 this month from the HMRC.


So we overpaid on the mortgage an extra £600, giving a total overpayment of £3,100.


Apart from that, nothing more to report. Not spending alot as throwing as much as we can at the mortgage at the minute, although partner isnt as keen.


New mortgage balance is £66,455.54.


The mortgage was £145k at the start, so im working towards £45k as my next target.

Moneyfordreams

Oo thanks for that, I have hmrc allowance for uniforms and professional subscriptions. Not sure about union fees... I'm off to check
Fantastic ops. Blasting through :T

freshcotton

And so the hay making continues. Put another £100 into the mortgage to settle my nerves. I'm approaching the year limit now so have opened a Tesco account to benefit from the 3%. My fix ends in August.

Iv opened the M&S credit cards to get vouchers, and still doing the bank switching stuff to get free money.

Going out for a meal tonight, haven't done that for almost 6 months! And a purchased 2 items of clothing thanks to the Zeek voucher offer that was on the MSE email (saved £20 from a £55 order).

I realised this week that all being well, Iv only got 21 mortgage payments left if I continue to be a MF extremist.

freshcotton

Should get £100 of expenses from work in a few weeks so will overpay that. This has given a good start to 2017.

Purchased a lampshade. First saw one in John Lewis for £50! Then found one that looked similar at homebase for £15.

Meal out cost £50! Not sure if it's the 6 years I spent in Yorkshire in me, but how much !!

I Would have had just as good a time at home with a £18 takeaway. No wonder it's a once in a 6 month experience for me.

Anyway, got in laws over this weekend and trying to keep spends under control till month end, even another £25 final payment would be nice.

chumpy45

Have just finished reading your diary from the beginning and am so impressed and motivated by your progress. I have been neglecting my own diary this year (although not my MSE efforts), but you have inspired me to keep logging in and get going again to keep myself on track. Good luck with the rest of your journey. Will keep checking in if that's ok

freshcotton

Thanks for stopping by chumpy!

Iv had the last few days off which has been nice, wanting to get the garden in order but it's just not warm enough yet.

Iv made a bit of money too on overtime at the police station as the clients insisted I attend, could have sent a colleague but thought I'd make a bit of money whilst taking it easy.

Partner and I are currently discussing money matters, he wants to purchase some stupid peice of technology for the home which I can't stand. I hate unnecessary objects, money aside, it's just clutter !

freshcotton

I dug out all my mortgage statements and calculated how much interest Iv paid to date and how much I'm expected to pay over the next 20 months till it's paid off.

I then worked out how much interest would be charged on my mortgage over the full 25 year term where no overpayment are made. I have presumed the rate of interest will remain as it is.

So the difference and therefore the saving I will make in interest is by my overpayments ......

£37,250.00

That pleased me a lot. And of course it will be more as eventually rates will rise (surely).