making hay while the sun shines (by freshcotton)

SuperSecretSquirrel

freshcotton wrote: »

Its days like this that remind me how little money you can actually live on to still enjoy life.

Its the first sunday afternoon in April and when I ask myself, what is it that I really want, I can think of nothing apart from wanting another day off work. I suppose with my obsessive overpaying, working less is exactly what I am buying.

I have a good career which took a lot of time and effort to get and its not like I ever want to stop working, however 5 days a week just is not for me. I also think that everyone should work less in order to improve mental health and hapiness.

I am really enjoying this MF journey, as above all, I think its changed who I am and made me realise what I really want out of life.

Love this freshcotton I have pretty much the exact same feelings on the subject. Simple things make me happy, and I've shifted from thinking about retiring early to maybe working less hours while the children are young. Seems ridiculous that we tend to retire after our children have flown the nest when you think about how much fun you can have together in the earlier years!

A bucket and spade, a football, a home made picnic, and a fiver in your pocket for ice creams. A trip to the beach and the nearby adventure playground is a fantastic day out for next to no money!

The sun is shining, and I'm on my way to work. It feels so wrong. Today could be so different...

freshcotton

Well I have hit my limit with overpayments so the extra bits are now going into a seperate savings account, which is never as fun. But my fix comes to an end on 31st July so I guess its not long.


Managed to 'overpay' £2,900 which is good. I want the balance near to £45k by August, then its a 12 month count down. I have done the maths and it is almost impossible to be MF by August 2018, but thats the aim (as my mortgage started in August 2013).


From Aug the plan is to overpay by £3000 each month. I am going to have to be as smart as ever with money to manage.


My mortgage will be on the SVR which is higher, but works out cheaper than paying fees to move for the sake of one year.


On payday I will make the £3k overpayment and basically we will have to live on whats left. We can make use of our credit cards (that will of course be paid in full the next payday) should we need to.


I will probably have to do more call outs than I would like to increase my pay a bit, but I am so up for the challange.


anyway, its a bank holiday now so all is good. I am on call this weekend but its been dead so I have had a lot of pottering around at home which I like.


Hope everyone out there is doing well

Moneyfordreams

you have made amazing progress :T:T:T: I am in awe

freshcotton

Thanks moneyfordreams - I appreciate your support.


I had an idea last night. As you can now get all these 'no interest for 30 months' credit cards, I could get one of these and do all my spending on credit card and only make the minimal payment each month. This means that I can throw even more into the mortgage when I'm the STV of 3.74%.


I could pay for everything on it, even Christmas and car insurance etc and then pay the credit card off after the mortgage is cleared, which will be well within the 30 month period.


This will undoubtedly save money on interest

freshcotton

I'm waiting for the 0% credit card to come through. Its going to feel weird having a credit card that is building up each month, but will certainly give it a try.


The only possible concern is that I hope we don't end up spending more on it. I will try and stick to a budget and review the statement each month and work out where the money is gone. I have also requested a limit of £4500. All spending including petrol, groceries, gifts, eating out etc will go on the credit for the next 12 months which gives a monthly amount of £375.00. If I can stick to that, then all will be good.

Moneyfordreams

cc spending is weird when you don't normally. I'm doing that this month and next to ensure
I have enough cash to give to our daughter for her mortgage deposit. bitten nail time

Numbercruncher_mfw

Just stopping by to say I really love this thread, it's refreshing to see other people have a similar philosophy to me regarding money.

I also love the idea of paying off the mortgage early, saving for a few years and then travelling. Have you had any thoughts on where you would go?

I'd love to recreate the scene from Yes Man where Jim Carey and gf just turn up at airport and pick a country they'd like to go to and get on the flight

freshcotton

Hi MFD, I think its probably a good idea to be over cautious with CCs as they are designed to be a trap, but its all about turning the tables on them - like we are doing.


Hi numbercruncher - Thanks for posting, I know exactly what you mean about travelling, just going out into the world and moving on when I am ready. We have thought about starting in Europe and moving on to Asia, it would be nice to maybe get some temp work on the way to support us, not only to help financially, but I actually like the idea of working in another country and doing something different for a few months, maybe something ocean front. Clearly its all just a dream at this stage. I have started a scrapbook so whenever I see a nice place - for example in a film or on the internet, I write it down and stick a few photos and notes. This also helps with motivation.


How you getting on with your journey?

Numbercruncher_mfw

My mfw journey is just starting, I bought my first flat earlier this year. I'm on a 30 year mortgage atm but aiming to knock at least 15 years off :money:

freshcotton

Hello friends, hope everyone is getting on ok. Not a lot to update, we got the 0% credit card and spending all on that which is allowing extra payments. I revert to the SVR in August so want the balance reduced as much as possible.

Bad news was that I lost my wallet this weekend. No major damage as it had no cash and cards were cancelled in time, it's just things like the driving licence that will be a pain, but in the grand scheme of what's happened this year in the U.K, it's a non issue.

Confession time. We spent £500 this weekend (this is on top of needing a new washing machine). Partner and I were feeling a little worn down over the last few weeks and we have been very committed so needed a release. We got a few bits for the house including a peice of art and very happy with it. But very much back to normal now. We don't feel guilty as it's such a small fraction of how much we have been overpaying.

Payday this week, will do a quick balance update once I know the figures