Getting a Grip and Saving towards the mortgage

gallygirl

All the usual things happening and everything is on track to achieve the savings target this month. I just can't quite believe that when I started my first diary in January 2015, I started by setting up a standing order for £200 a month into savings. This gradually increased over time and last year I was working hard to put £1000 a month into savings. This year I am comfortably saving £1500 per month. We havent had that much increase in earned income in that period ( around £250 per month) But I think this shows that it does take time for all your MSE efforts to kick in, and this becomes a way of life so that you have got your outgoings down to a minimum, and you have increased your passive income by making your money work hard.

It is amazing isn't it? Just wish everyone on here was allowed to choose one or two people and switch their lightbulbs on for them!

Well done to DD on ditching Mr @. Sounds like she's learned a lot from it.

shangaijimmy

Totally with you on that one. Its amazing how much money can flood out the account if you're not careful. And just by budgeting and being disciplined you can get such control on finances, make it work harder and improve mental health as it reduces background stress/anxiety. We've also noticed how we probably live better, in that we don't miss out on holidays, have managed to keep house decorated, new furniture etc, and have days out. Plus we've added to more little un's the one we had!

Busy_Mee1

Thanks Gally and Jimmy. You are both absolutely spot on - I want to shake some people for the way that they waste money and just wish I could turn their light bulb on.

Although mine has flickered over the years, it has never turned off completely, because I really don't like waste of any kind ( brought up by frugal grandparents who had lived through the war). My problem has been a combination of bringing the kids up - expensive childcare and then 7 years of university between them and then building the house. We probably have more disposable income now than at any other time in our marriage ( pre kids we had a 15% mortgage). I think we have got more careful and focused with our spending over the last couple of years and that has made a huge difference. I hadn't thought about it until Jimmy pointed it out but it has definitely reduced my worry list as I don't lay awake worrying about how to pay the mortgage off any more ......the plan is working and it has actually improved my mental well being

Busy_Mee1

A long weekend and the weather forcast is set to be good. It feels quite odd because we don't have masses of things planned and because we have been so busy lately I am almost wondering what I am going to do with myself for three days :rotfl: I am sure it won't pan out like that at all.

So this week has been busy at work, with lots of tricky meetings. I can't believe it has been so busy through August. I now only have the four days next week to work and then I am on holiday for a week. We have booked a cottage and DD and our friends will be joining us at various points of the week. I am praying for decent weather but the latest long range forcast isn't looking too good in that part of the country. I have just paid the final payment on the cottage, so just some spending money to find now. Hopefully it won't be too expensive, we tend to take food with us and have a cooked breakfast, and don't bother with lunch ( probably just take a few snacks out walking) and then go out for a pub meal in the evening. There isn't much to spend money on where we are going.

I need to spend some time on our US trip this weekend, we need to make the final payment on the villa and book the car.

I am trying a new approach to fitness this week. I have had leave my gym ( due to the " bad stuff") so rather than join a new gym, I have decide that I am going to run at least a couple of time a week and then just pay for one class a week at the local sports centre. This will save me money and should mean I will be fitter and lose weight :A I will miss the social aspects of the gym though.

Our grocery shopping was back on track last week and I need to get back into tracking spends when we come back from our week away. I am finding that buying things in bulk when they are on the weekend deal in Lidl is working really well for us. I have stocked up on a number of things over the last few months that have really helped with the budget. Things like, dishwasher tablets, fabric conditioner, olive oil, butter, sausages, bacon and cheese. I have been a bit tentative with the quantities I have bought and wish I had bought more at the time. We have just run out of cheese ( which was lovely) and I hope it will be on offer again soon. I am not going today though - I can't face the bun fight for the 6 bottles of prosecco for £20. Next week they have champagne and chorizo. I might get a bottle of champagne for £7.99 as it good to have it for an emergency gift and we use a lot of chorizo to spice up various dishes.

On the money front we are waiting for payday now, which is not until next Thursday ( it has been a loong month). I have just cashed in £21.21 from Topcashback and still have £60 tracking. Mr Mee is doing well with using Apple Pay ( a bit too well actually :rotfl:) to get 5% back from the Santander Lite account. I reckon we should get about £50 back on this in November.

I think that is all our news. I am now off to do Park Run for the first time this year - wish me luck!

Busy_Mee1

The weather has been beautiful this weekend. I did my Park Run on Saturday morning and thoroughly enjoyed it. I just love the whole ethos of Park Run, a real community spirit with families doing something really healthy together. In the sunshine on Saturday morning it felt great.

I got chatting to a lovely lady whilst running, who encouraged me to carry on running up what is affectionately known as cardiac hill. She is 10 years older than me and not one of the oldest runners by some way. She regularly volunteers at Park Run and it got me thinking that this is something I could do quite easily on a Saturday morning. I am going to look into it when I come back from holiday.

We visited MIL on Saturday afternoon for her Birthday with DD and BIL and his partner also turned up so a lovely family afternoon.

Yesterday was food shopping and we managed to get the bill under £70, which I was pleased with, as it included a lot of groceries for next week while we are away. I then did lose about 3 hours of my life sorting out stuff for our US trip and other admin. I have booked the Car Hire and airport car parking, I still have ESTAs and excess insurance still to do.

Mr Mee also ordered new glasses through Gl@sses Direct and paid £141 instead of his usual £400. We went through topc@ashback for everything and all in all, now have another £70 tracking:D. It was all a bit time consuming but we made some good savings.

I made a lemon drizzle cake to use up the super 6 lemons from @ldi and have frozen it so that we can take it away with us next week.

We are going walking this afternoon with friends and then having a meal at theirs, but it won't be a late one as I have to get up early in the morning to head down to London. I have bought her some roses from @ldi ( their flowers are excellent) and we will take a couple of bottles of wine.

We have a few more days left until pay day on Thursday but I still have cash in my purse, so there shouldn't be any more withdrawals.

Enjoy the sunshine

EatingTheElephant

Just caught up with all your recent happenings. Lots of great things going on and great support for DD.

Have a wonderful time away, it sounds fantastic, cooked breakfasts, long walks and pub dinners.

wildesavings

Cor I like the way you go about things!!! Hope you have a lovely break and enjoy your friends company xxx

Busy_Mee1

Hi ETE and wildesavings, thanks for popping in. Although I do this diary for myself because it really helps me to keep focused on saving to pay off the mortgage, it is nice to think people are reading along.

I have a routine health check this morning, so I have to have a fasting blood test, so I thought I might as well do my monthly update to take my mind off food :rotfl:

Monthly savings £1,634.65
Total savings £54,732.25
Mortgage £244,855.07
Savings:Mortgage. 22.35%
Savings offset mortgage to £190,122.82
Average monthly savings £1589.74

So another decent month of savings and the trusty spreadsheet is forecasting that I will hit the £60k savings target comfortably in December.

I have a little niggle in my mind again thinking that if I go hardcore again I could hit £60k in November. However we have our trip to the US coming up and I don't want to spoil that. So the plan is that when we come back from the week away in the cottage, I am going to have a really frugal few weeks up to the US trip to get some spending money together, and then when I get back see where we are in terms of savings and then maybe go hardcore through the rest of October and into November.

When I do this update it just reminds me although the savings totals look good they are only a small percentage of the mortgage total. Still the plan is working and next month our savings should offset the mortgage into the 180s :T

Have a good day

wildesavings

Loving your number crunching! I may magpie this for my monthly updates in my diary too. *Magpie is what my children call 'pinching a good idea' rather than calling eachother copycats

Well done for being a smidge away from the 180's... that going to feel good next month! xxx

Busy_Mee1

Hi wildesavings - I hadn't heard that expression before, but I like it. We often say "pinch with pride" at work. Feel free to "magpie" anything you would find useful. I probably "magpied" it myself !