Getting a Grip and Saving towards the mortgage

try_harder

Wow ,that is an amazing amount you have saved this month really well done i knew you would do it ,i like my round numbers too and £65,000 is a lovely round number .

What a result too on the cars , we have both of our cars on the multi insurance but have never thought to add any one else what a great idea .Mine are both due for renewal in April.

I hope you are having a good day in London today and its not too stressful .The sun is shining here and its a beautiful spring day hope its nice there too.

Busy_Mee1

Happy Easter ! Not only is it a nice long weekend, but pay day too

Here is the round up on the March figures:

Monthly savings. £1727.92
Total savings. £65000 :T:T
Mortgage. £238401.35
Savings offset mortgage to. £173401.35
Savings:Mortgage. 27%

I am really pleased to hit the £65k target as it has been a tight month and the S&S ISA has dipped again this month. I am gritting my teeth and holding my nerve with the S&S ISA as I know I should view this as a long term investment, but instinctively I just want to pull out the funds and put them in something more predictable. I really do have a low threshold for risk.

The mortgage now stands as follows:
Repayment mortgage. £69401.35
Interest only mortgage. £169000.00
Savings. £65000.00

This means that within 2-3 months we will have enough to pay off the repayment part of the mortgage. We won't pay it off but that feel like real progress and a huge step towards financial security.

I did the normal monthly accounts last night and April is going to be tight. I have completely turned things around over the last year and treat my monthly savings as a priority outgoing and just managed with what is left .....which is not a lot in the case of April. Still the freezer is full and there will be NO shopping this week, so that should keep the food budget down.

Looking forward to a nice long weekend, going to the gym today and popping to M&S to return a couple of things. Tomorrow we are going away to stay with friends, which will be lovely and hopefully not too spendy.

On Monday I plan to do the end of tax year account shuffle and standing order changeover. This is the downside of having a lot of bank accounts and regular savers. Still all worth it....have I mentioned that we only have 24 months to work

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, only 24 months to work? :j :j Most exciting! :j also exciting that you nearly have enough to pay off the repayment mortgage :j excellent work! :j

shangaijimmy

Having enough to technically pay it off will be a huge mind shift, and I'm sure a significant pressure valve release. Well done you and yours.

One question though - round numbers? Where dos it end?? If my current account is tidy, my everyday TT saving pot isn't. If me TT pot is, my current isnt. And if my mortgage is then at least one of current account and TT pot isn't... The turmoil!!

EatingTheElephant

Well done on reaching 65,000 :T

Enjoy the long weekend

michelle09

I feel you on the risk. I'd pull out, but I also refuse to risk any form of capital. Far too much of a control freak on that one.

But 24 months is amazing!

Busy_Mee1

Wow it has been really busy round here this morning....it feels like a proper old fashioned village...with everyone popping in for a lovely chat

Cheery - you always live up to your name

Jimmy - it won't surprise you to hear I have actually laid awake at night thinking about the round number conundrum

ETE - we must have been posting on each other's diary at the same time !

Michelle- luckily we only have just over £3k invested and only pay in £100 a month, so not too much capital at risk. I have mentally earmarked this account as "wedding money" should either kids get married in the future. It might well be bread and jam for the wedding meal

Thanks everyone for popping in:T

try_harder

Brilliant work as always and so close mow to your first big target ,this must have been one of your best months yet especially considering the drop in your savings .

Happy Easter ,have a great day today with your friends.

michelle09

Haha, very nice. Well if you're prepared to give them £3k then they can be grateful for the bread and jam.

Busy_Mee1

I have decided to finish this diary on its 2 year anniversary, as it has got a bit long and rambling and we are moving into the next phase of our journey. We now just have 2 years until Mr Mee retires ( age 60) and I have will the option to retire early (age 56) if we continue with our MS saving ways over the next 2 years. This feels like an ideal point to close this diary and open a new one with renewed focus.

So what have we achieved over the last 2 years ?

Well we have really started to understand our spending and made choices about our spending ( and how low we are prepared to go:rotfl: )

We have learned to maximise every £1 that we spend and save, by shopping around and taking advantage of free money wherever possible, playing the banks for rewards and interest and generally budgeting well.

If you were to ask me what is the best way of saving money, I would say there have been a few of things that have made a big difference. The first is really budgeting for your grocery shopping. At one point I was spending between £130-150 a week by mindlessly shopping in Sainsbreeze and piling my trolley high without thinking about price or what we actually needed. By meal planning and switching our shopping to @ldi and H@mebargains, I have halved my shopping bill to around £65 per week. This saves a whopping £3380 a year :eek:

The other thing I have done is set up a couple of donor accounts and regularly switched to get the switching bonus. This has made over £1000 in the last couple of years, and in addition given us access to other rewards and higher interest regular savings accounts. Since the introduction of the PSA we have earned £1000 in interest a year.

These few things have gained us around about £5000 a year, which is astonishing

Over the last 2 years of this diary we have reduced our mortgage and increased our savings as follows:

Mortgage was £261,058.81 is now £238,491.35. A reduction of £22,567.46

Savings were £36,966.91 - now £65,000. An increase of £28,033.09

The total impact is £50,600.55 in two years :T

The final thing that has really helped us in this journey, has been documenting this in my diary and all the brilliant help, support and encouragement from all you lovely people. I hope you will all continue to follow me into the next phase ....THANKYOU