Getting a Grip and Saving towards the mortgage

Busy_Mee1

Hi Savingcraving and welcome to the slightly obsessive community that is MFW. I am really pleased that my ramblings have helped someone else, I find it really useful to record my financial shenanigans. It keeps me focused and sort of makes me feel accountable to the folks in here. It is a really supportive virtual community and you can 'fess up to your more compulsive money saving activities that people in real life just wouldn't get.
There are all sorts of different approaches and you just need to find a way that suits you, you don't necessarily need a spreadsheet - a notebook, pen and calculator works just as well. I would recommend reading as many diaries as you can and just pick out the bits that work for you, start your own diary and try and post regularly......go for it......hit the new Thread button x

LadyGnome

Hi Busy
What an amazing difference a couple of years of focus make. It takes away so much stress when you have your finances under control.
I bet you are looking forward to your holiday. You can always use up veg in soup and freeze it in portions.

Busy_Mee1

Morning all, it is a bit grey and drizzly here this morning after such a beautiful day yesterday. We went walking in the Pennines yesterday and the weather was perfect, bright blue skies and sunshine. The blossom on the trees was beautiful and it was of those days that makes you feel really happy.

We finished our day at the local Italian that does 2 for 1 on pastas and pizzas on a Sunday. With starters and a bottle of red it came to just under £40 for the two of us. We are trying to find the best deals on eating out without compromising on quality. If you look restaurants often have deals for certain days of the week, early bird menus etc

I did the final grocery shop of the month and spent £55.39, so a total of £254.80 for the month. Again I was slightly over budget by £4.80 but I can live with that :rotfl:

The disappointing news is I spoke too soon on the mortgage front, when I checked again the mortgage was standing at £248,514.76. This means that our savings won't offset the mortgage to under £200k until next month :mad:. I checked our mortgage account too soon, they seem to deduct our payment but then a few days later add on next month's instalment. I looked in between these two transactions so thought that the outstanding mortgage was lower than it is.
Never mind I am still really pleased with progress, it is really amazing the difference having a diary has made:T

themadvix

Sounds like things are going really well at the moment BM! It's a pity about the mortgage figures, but it's not a drastic problem

Glad you're pleased - it's so important to take stock of progress!

Busy_Mee1

Morning all, I am doing an early update on the April figures because we will be on holiday at the month end. In any case all accounts are "tidy" and there is no more financial activity expected.

So the round up for April is as follows:

Saved in April. £1488.34
Total savings. £47,518.34
Mortgage. £248,514.76 :eek:
Savings:Mortgage. 19.12% ( creeping up but very slowly )

Savings offset mortgage to: £200,996.46

I am really pleased with the amount we have managed to save in April, this has been as a result of some extreme "Tilly Tidying" whilst shuffling accounts and also keeping grocery and other spends under tight control.

Just looking forward to next month, I am expecting around an extra £400 in interest from our fixed rate ISA. This along with our target £1250 into savings, should push our savings totals over £49k and our savings will offset our mortgage to below £200k :j.

We look to be on course to hit the magic £50k in savings in June

See you in a couple of weeks :cool:

try_harder

Morning Busy Mee1.Fantastic numbers and great work ,what a difference staying focused makes .I will miss seeing you for two weeks but have a great holiday you certainly deserve it you have worked miracles.

Busy_Mee1

Since I posted my April update yesterday I haven't been able to stop thinking "what if ?".......What if I went really hardcore in May?.......could I hit the £50k by the end of May instead of June ?

I would need to save £2500 in May:
If I slightly exceed April savings. £1500
Interest on ISA. £450
N@tionwide switch bonus £200

Total £2150

I would therefore need to dig out another £350 from somewhere, which would mean being totally hardcore through May. The good news is by the time I come back from holiday there will be only 3 weeks left of May, so it is a short month. This does rely on the extra interest and switching bonus being paid and nothing unexpected cropping up.........so watch this space :eek:

themadvix

Sounds like a plan BusyMee! We're away at the beginning of May, so I'm hoping that helps with the budget for us too

Good luck!

tinkerbel

wow hardcore may does sound hardcore but I'm sure you can do it! Sometimes making things like this into a game/challenge can make them work (especially if only for a short amount of time!?)

try_harder

I know you can do it and will do it. £50000 is such an amazing amount to have saved in such a short time .