Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Busy_Mee1

Hi Kittenkirst just popping in to say hello - I am just trying to catch up on a few diaries after being missing in action for a while. It is great to see you so settled and happy in your new home and I am impressed and inspired with your focus on money saving. I feel like I have lost a bit of focus because I have been so busy, which means a lots of the little savings have dropped off....need to try and get back on to it all : )

Kittenkirst

Hey Busymee! Nice to see you

We're definitely trying to get the balance between money saving and enjoying life & our new home too! This evening we talked ourselves out of going for takeout (KFC) & instead had Birdseye chicken chargrills with oven chips and gravy...still a naughty tea as not the most calorie friendly but far cheaper than the naughty chicken place!

Kittenkirst

Dear diary, I managed to avoid the siren call of Starbucks on both the journey to Manchester & back! I took breakfast with me however didn't get a chance to eat it so had to wait until I got home for any foods

Had a nice jacket spudwith half tin tuna and the last few spoons of sour cream dip (hurrah, the last of the fresh leftovers from the housewarming last weekend!) I was starving by 4pm!!

Other than buying a colleague a coffee (£1.09- he was in a different office so didn't have a canteen card, not seen him for several years so didn't mind, was nice to catch up) I didn't spend anything....I'm pretty pleased with that!

I sat playing with my bank accounts tracker app yesterday and have a dilemma...once I pay the £5.21 cashback when it clears, there is an odd £4.17 stopping the balance from being an even £188,900 (before interest applied on 1st)

Sooooo do I move £4-17 to round down the mortgage, or do I move more to keep my joint account at an even number? decisions decisions....!

Nothing else of interest to report I'm afraid, off to read some diaries for inspiration!

newgirly

Move to the mortgage of course

themadvix

Sorry to be the boring one, but didn't you mention something about building an emergency fund?!

AFAIK Kittenkirst you can have 20 free listings a month on Ebay these days - you don't have to wait for a FLW to list things that are more than 99p. Hope that helps!

Kittenkirst

Themadvix- you are right, the emergency savings are building up I promise: £300 paid in on payday (13th) and another £300 into regular saver on the 8th...so I could possibly squeeze a few small token OPs in....? Maybe.

Oooooooh 20 free listings a month...guess I'm scheduling some listings on eBay on Wednesday night whilst the gf is away then!

Kittenkirst

So today was a spendy day. Popped to sainsbobs at lunch to get gf some lunch and ended up buying some clothes in the sale: £26 later I walked out with a work tee, work jumper, navy smart work trousers and a gorgeous tartan skirt.

So whilst this is a bargain for what I got I probably don't need these and am trying to reduce and declutter.
Will try them all tomorrow night and check fit etc.

In MSE news though I signed up to Onepoll last night & am already at £5.10 & I received a pinecone survey but managed to lock my account (grr). Took breakfast, lunch & coffee into work today so avoided food spending & snaffled a free banana from the work fruit bowl.

Dinner tonight was given by gf parents neighbour- he makes fab Indian food and often over cooks and shares it (gf's parents return the favour too) so we had scrumptuous chicken biryani & taiga so popped some oven chips in to go with.

Small op made today as only one bill came out not the expected two so there was some change which was swept over....looks like I won't have the dilemma I thought I would!

To hit our OP target for the year we need to move £180 a month but not sure at the mo we can OP that much.....

It looks like gf's flat has a new tenant lined up so we won't need to cover the mortgage whilst it's empty. Keep fingers crossed the prospective tenant passes the checks! This means money won't be as tight so we can possibly sweep a little more than planned in Jan/feb. Will have to do some number crunching!

Kittenkirst

Oh and I made an appearance at the gym this evening planning to go again on Friday & Saturday to get my 3x a week in andmaking most of membership. Car park for gym was chaos so had to park further away at a Starbucks (& not go in!)
I've also smashed steps today at 15,979 steps!

themadvix

Kittenkirst wrote: »

Dinner tonight was given by gf parents neighbour- he makes fab Indian food and often over cooks and shares it (gf's parents return the favour too) so we had scrumptuous chicken biryani & taiga so popped some oven chips in to go with.

Is this what fusion food is all about then?!

Great news about your girlfriend's flat - fingers crossed it all goes smoothly!

Kittenkirst

Yes definitely fusion food- we are the height of of food fashion over here

Gf is away tonight with work so helped the parents with cashing up, now haggis, potatoes and swede are on for supper tonight, with parsnip & apple soup bubbling on the stove. Washing is also on and have sorted through a few pairs of shoes for charity shop/eBay and the bin so I'm feeling rather productive!

Off for visit with supplier tomorrow and lunch should be provided however not sure what this will be like...emergency wotsits & coco pops bar are already in the car and will take a coffee in travel mug for journey. Will potentially have a Starbucks dependent on traffic and he quality of lunch provided ;P

Off out for dinner tomorrow with friends that's been booked in for two months...really looking forward to it and have budgeted £25 but hoping to come in under that!