Getting a Grip and Saving towards the mortgage

Busy_Mee1

I thought I would just document the numbers for 2017, as it helps when reading back over my diary:

December 2016
Mortgage £252,175.48
Savings. £42,014.30
Savings offset mortgage to. £210,161.18

December 2017
Mortgage £241,181.35
Savings. £60,016.00
Savings offset mortgage to: £181,165.35

Mortgage has reduced by £10,994.13
Savings increased by £18,001.17
Total impact on mortgage. £28,995.83

I am so pleased with this, this has been our best year ever and our mortgage now feels at a more “normal” level. This has been achieved with low effort MS activity because I have been so busy at work, so:

Interest and Rewards £75 per month
Cashback from topcashback, Barclaycard, Santander lite
Vouchers from M&S credit card
Bank account switch to Nationwide £200
Cashback from opening S&S ISA Nutmeg £200
Brewing a further £500 for switching to Clydesdale x 2

We now have 13 current accounts:

Tesco x 4 3% interest on £2000 each
M&S. 5% regular saver
Barclays. £12 per month Blue account
Santander Lite. c £7.00 rewards per month
Halifax £3.00 reward per month
Nationwide x 2 5% on £2500 x 2 and 5% regular saver
TSB. Waiting for a switch
Clydesdale x 2. Waiting for 2 x £250 switching bonus

I have failed miserably on what I would call high effort MS like surveys, eBay and MB

In addition we have a fixed rate cash ISA (3%) and a Nutmeg S&S ISA. Any excess savings are sat in the mortgage offset account.

We have got to a point where any spends are well considered and we don’t waste money. We live quite frugally on a day to day basis, but have enjoyed three holidays abroad and two UK cottage breaks. We have also bought new garden furniture, a new fridge freezer and had the fireplace fitted. All of these things feel like money well spent

Obviously I know we are very fortunate to have good earnings, but this will come to an end in 2 years time when Mr Mee retires. We now need to make the next two years count and my target is to save £20,000 towards the mortgage in 2018.

The first target will be to have £70k in savings by End June, so £10k in 6 months. This should be relatively easy because we can continue to save £1500 per month and the interest on the regular savers and cash ISA will more or less make up the short fall. However the second half of the year will not be so easy as my earnings will drop by £300 per month ( temp promotion role will finish) and there will be no additional income from interest, so I need to try and smooth this over the year.

I am going to try and aim step up our saving to £1600 per month and see how we go :eek: so time to pull in the purse strings again :rotfl:

EatingTheElephant

Fabulous end of year figures BusyMee :T

LadyGnome

Great work. Despite all the trials and tribulations you have managed some fantastic results.

try_harder

What an amazing year you have had Busy Mee1 you have excelled yourself ,i love reading your updates they really spur me on and motivate me you work so hard in all areas of your life so truly deserve it well done and keep up the good work .
I am so pleased you enjoyed Christmas with your family in spite of other worries and Happy New year to you all .

michelle09

You've done incredibly, Busy Mee. I hope we feel our mortgage is more 'normal' in a couple of years. It's great to see people managing to save but still have a good life on top of it.

themadvix

Amazing figures BusyMee! And I don't think you need to worry about the high-effort MS things - you're doing fine without and I imagine your higher salary probably more than compensates for amounts you could make from them.

Happy New Year!

Busy_Mee1

I really love the feeling of a fresh start that New Year brings and this morning I am back to work,on the diet and have been out for a walk already. It feels great to be back to some semblance of normality. I feel really positive about this year ( well just glad the last one is over really)

In Moneysaving news I have bought wrapping paper (50p a roll), tags (25p a pack) and Christmas Cards (50p a pack) from S@insbreeze, so all set for next year.I also bought a new coat for one of the elderly parentals as a Christmas present in the M&S sale ( weren’t seeing them until NY so decided I could wait for the sales ). I have been through the fridge and made sure all the leftovers were safely stashed in the freezer. I have bags of chopped turkey and gammon ready to make into pie or something later in the month.

I cooked up all the remaining veg last night and made parsnip and lentil curry for DD for lunches and vegetable and coriander soup for my lunches. I am going to try and get through January with a £200 budget, we have quite a lot of stuff in so hopefully this should doable.

I also had an unexpected cheque turn up in the post this morning for £41.96 and I am going to have a little trip to the bank at lunchtime to pay that in, along with £80 in 20p coins.

I think I am going to stop saving 20ps now as it is taking too long to get a reasonable number, we hardly use cash now and therefore don’t get that much change. I will continue with the copper jar and 50ps as the 50ps are very handy for parking.

I think that is all I have to report, I really ought to do some work but in fairness it is very quiet today ( lots of people still not back ). Happy New Year to everyone x

themadvix

Couldn't agree more about the fresh start for a new year - I've managed exercise and healthy eating every day so far this year!

try_harder

A great start to the year all round Busy Mee1. I wandered round a few shops but couldnt find anything to put away for next Christmas sadly.

Busy_Mee1

So work is still very quiet, lots of people (obviously the ones that create work) are not back until Monday, so I thought I would do a cheeky update in between teleconferences.

I seem to be ticking quite a few jobs of my list:

I have sorted a couple of problems out for the elderly step-parent or I will have when I go to see him at the weekend. I know what I need and have the right people involved.

I have played the annual game of chicken with Sky....”I would like to cancel my package because I can’t afford it” managed to get it down from £80 per month to £46 for 18 months

Paid £80 in 20 p coins to bank along with refund cheque. Also got a £156 refund from cancelled Peter Kay tour.

The leftover concoctions of parsnip and lentil curry and veg and coriander soup worked well. ( leftover concoctions are always a bit touch and go :rotfl:).

I made ham and leek baked risotto last night ( one of Fortune’s Good Food recipes) to use up cream cheese, diced Christmas gammon and a lemon. This is a firm favourite in our house and really easy.

I have also booked a bargain winter sunshine break at the end of Feb to visit some friends

The Christmas decorations are down and the diet is going well .....well it is day 2 :T

I am doing the 16:8 diet which suits me well. It means I am only eating between 10 and 6 and fasting the rest of the time. Hopefully a couple of weeks will help shift the Christmas weight. I also need to get back to the gym but finding it hard to motivate myself.