Can definitely do better! 20 February 2016 at 7:53PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Mortgage-Free Wannabe 105 replies 14.1K views

new_mortgageeee

OPs (£700) are looking healthy for January despite a whopping council tax bill (from Oct; they've only just managed to get my address details/account set up as I moved into a new property) - I knew it was coming so was sort of prepared... but £350 each for Jan and Feb to pay ... Ouch!!

Nearly on target for MFW 2017, hopefully a cheap remainder of the month will leave £140 lying around somewhere! Looks good for now providing I don't have any unexpected outgoings.

I've meal-planned this week with a £30 shop on Monday, and have mostly stuck to it. Didn't quite manage to make lunch today (ran out of time this morning), so had to buy a salad, but tomorrow's lunch is already in the fridge. So tomorrow should be a NSD. MUCH better already than a normal week. Dinners are ready for the next few days (cooked a ham yesterday evening so that'll do a couple of lunches/dinners with some veg, and then basic pasta/pesto/veg until the weekend).

Out with (new - eep!) OH on Saturday and his friends, so it'll be a lunch out - I'll aim for a salad to keep the cost down! Also being Coeliac a salad is normally the safest option.

In other money news, I finally decided that I wasn't going to do anymore matched betting after dabbling with it in the Autumn. I used up all the introductory offers I could find and do easily, but the ones that come through now and again seem too complicated/time consuming to interest me, so I've cashed out all the accounts I'd set up. I was £405 up :j so just waiting for that to be returned (3-4 days apparently) then I'll split that between savings and OPs.

Big expense for custom made bookcase/storage unit due to go out this month, so that'll knock my savings a fair amount (£1700) but it should be beautiful and functional (and very necessary storage) so looking forward to it my house-moving treat!

Kittenkirst

Oooooh new OH!! Sounds all exciting :heartpuls

new_mortgageeee

Kittenkirst wrote: »

Oooooh new OH!! Sounds all exciting :heartpuls

Haha yes! Also unusual for me; am fiercely independent. But it's fun will see!!

Another £200 OP today - got a cheque through from some freelance work :j will update MFW2017 later. Was going to do £140, but £200 gives me another "brick" on my "house" (must find out how I can post a pic) so I was weak-willed and gave in! Will make up with additional £60 to savings next month

NSDs yesterday and today (all being well...) :T. WFH today so have done some chores first thing which feels good. Chilly though - tempted to light the fire, but currently using hot chocolate and my cat to warm me through instead - much cheaper than logs!

new_mortgageeee

Things have been pretty quiet on MSE front... just about keeping to food budget, but have one more day of pasta for dinner to go!

Great news in the post this morning; the council tax VOA agreed my appeal of my council tax band, so along with the 25% single occupier discounts the original £700 bill (since October) is now £350!! :j

Due to early Christmas payday it feels like forever since I was last paid, and it's another week away! Don't really need the money assuming there are no big spends, but I'm missing moving it around

Lots of freelance work still, to the point that I've even started subbing some out to an old colleague. Which is all great for the OPs but I do worry about my work/life balance. Does anyone else work for themselves? How do you balance it? It just seems to be dead quiet or full on madness with me.

Still, a beautiful day today, and I managed a walk to the beach at lunchtime (though have had to make up the hours this evening)! Looking forward to spring/summer in Devon

new_mortgageeee

A bit of a spendy week I'm afraid - had to stock up on the more expensive things like cat food and cleaning bits and pieces, as well as a number of staples (pasta etc.) which had run out. Weekly shop was £58 rather than the normal £30...:undecided Had a few days WFH which were NSDs though, and the other days involved lots of work driving which will be claimed back as mileage. Had my brother's birthday gift to buy and post too, so another £30.

Payday finally, so I pre-paid one of my Feb OPs (£290) on Friday so that when my regular payment comes out on the 1st I'll drop down into the £116s :j:j!!

10 mile walk by the sea in the lovely sunshine today, treated myself to a cup of tea and a gf brownie at the beach (£4.55 :eek:!!) but it was so glorious out, and I'd totally earned it!

Lots of work to do this evening and tomorrow, but looking forward to invoicing this month (start of next week) - should be pretty healthy. I'm splitting freelance income 50/50 between OPs and savings at the moment. At some point I want to properly "save" for a new deposit though; long-term I'd like this place to be a holiday let/holiday home and live somewhere larger. It's good to dream :beer:!! Off to do some surveys before starting work... tiny steps!

new_mortgageeee

Oooh! Just playing with the MSE OP calculator and it looks like my OPs to date (£2790) have knocked 12 months off my mortgage!!!! Yay.

wildcherry

Hi
I've just subscribed to your thread. Its very inspirational!!

SuperSecretSquirrel

Another subscriber here Excellent progress in such a short amount of time, well done! Loving the SoA £1k+ monthly excess available to save/op, especially as you are on a very good but not obscene income, so doubly well done!

new_mortgageeee

Ah thank you for the lovely comments!

I don't feel that inspirational at the moment! Have been having a heck of a time with work - my main job, freelance work, and study have all culminated in some pretty awful deadlines around this week, and I've definitely been overdoing it - to the extent that on Monday I finally succumbed to some kind of virus and have spent the past three days in bed!! Still, feeling much better for the hiatus, even if all the work hasn't actually gone anywhere... making slow and steady progress though!

Just a quick stop in as not much MSE news. Haven't spent much this week as haven't really eaten!

Have just OPd £200 from my current account. Not much left in there now, but no planned payments now until after payday :j that brings me up to date with Feb's MFW2017 target.

Did have to fork out £150 last week for a new car exhaust (back box and central section) - have found a great little garage near me who seem to be absurdly cheap, but it means I'll keep going back to them, so must work out for them in the long run. Managed it out of current account which was nice, though less into savings overall this month due to paying off Jan's cc bill (which included most of Christmas/NY food).

Will have a little (slow - still feeling a bit enfeebled) walk around the garden before getting back to work this afternoon.

NMx

new_mortgageeee

Have been doing a few surveys whilst stricken - 0nep0ll now at £10.05, pr0lific now £5.60 but cashed out £56(!) a couple of weeks ago so that's sat in PayPal account. Will OP I think when I get round to extracting it from PayPal (don't think I've ever done that before?!).