Thanks Mum this is for you...single gal, a pony and a mission to beat the mortgage

Baldybear

Good morning

So lovely sunny evening last night so rode my hoss, bah to getting dark early but managed a little while in the school and just to the end of the lane and back, there was a moment she didnt want to walk out of the gate, but lots of bravery from me and pushing her on and she did it fine As on my own took cheesy reflection picture in my car!



So money wise £11 odd received from mortgage (rate changed and took out old payment) so that has been sent to rental fund so now only £120 shortfall, slowly slowly being made back up.

Need to get some fresh bits so off shopping shortly, have £10 gift voucher to use so that helps

smallholdingsister

Fab photo. She looks very inquisitive.

Baldybear

smallholdingsister wrote: »

Fab photo. She looks very inquisitive.

Thank you, she is nosey but definitely improving each time I ride her

So spent £44 (after gift voucher deduction) on lots of fresh bits for home, plus a few beers and chilli products for bro in law as his birthday yesterday and his main present hasnt arrived yet, much appreciated by him

Baldybear

Good morning

So ex came round thursday night and finally took all his stuff, all gone, so pleased, just left one old xmas tree and some golf clubs - these are in the loft - will get them down and sell on facebay, not worried about price but any pennies to get for them will be a bonus

Friday had a day off, just a bit fed up with work at the moment, still not sure whether have job or not just everything up in the air at the moment Not really motivated, could try harder I think my teacher would say. Roll on christmas break, I have (including today) 61 working days left, but also 6 days holiday still to take so not too bad. Still planning a week away sometime so thats 5 days of my holiday plus another day as needs be.

So friday didnt start as planned, planned to do the hoss and tidy up a bit down there first, put hoss in field, after the storms of thursday there was a massive puddle and mud by the gate, she leapt the puddle and then span as another hoss came to say hi, knocked me over, face flat in the mud :cool: so had to go straight home to get changed as everything (underwear included) was muddy :rotfl: Lots of my friends laughed at me, least no-one saw my fall!

I did come home and be productive, I completely emptied my wardrobe (KM style) and put things back so much better and also have a massive stash for cash4clothes. Need to do shoes and coats, try and do tonight, and then can take tomorrow for some pennies. So much more organised now. Also tided and hoovered my dining room which is now very spacious after ex's huge sofa has gone. Would like another sofa in there, just need to have a think about where it could go and have a slight re-arrangement of furniture. Also spent a few pennies as ordered hoss hay and bedding, popped to tesco so buy some badges for friends birthday.

Saturday woke up with a cold bah, probably from my mud escapade, so did hoss and went back to bed for a while. Friend round in the afternoon then picked up sis and bro in law and headed into london for a friends 40th. Dinner and then ghost bus tour, great fun and super fab evening all round

Yesterday had a lie in (Yard owner did hoss) and then wrapped up friends pressie and took it round to him as too big to take sat night (3 A1 canvases of original star wars poster - 2 friends and sis all contributed, very much appreciated). Stopped off at co-op to get some bits for dinner and friend fussy and then off to do hoss and chill.

Ebay item ended yesterday and have withdrawn £53 (profit after fees) and item ready to be posted today.

So on Sains CC have £45 from bedding ordered, £32 from bro in law pressie, £80 on hoss food, £21 in tesco, £24 in co-op. So approx £202 to find.

Had £95 in current a/c, £20 owed to Yard owner so have left £5 in account and sent £70 to card. Also £9.60 received from bank rewards so that has been sent to.

So £123 to find. Expenses due at the end of the month is £54 so £69 to find, have approx £11 in survey money due so £55 to find. Need to whack some more items on ebay or up the survey money somehow so dont need to break into the budget for next month. Watch this space.

Baldybear

Good afternoon, back again! £20.40 spent in shop, £20 for yard owner and 40p on bread roll for lunch, filling and easier to get cashback then drive ages to find a cash point

£10 amazon voucher received from survey site, £20 sitting ready for christmas (probably!)

Watty1

Found your diary. Great read. Subscribed

Baldybear

Watty1 wrote: »

Found your diary. Great read. Subscribed

Thank you for dropping by, hope my waffle not too boring then

So last night productive again and sorted through a massive box of paperwork that bought down from loft, still lots of bits to go through but progress made and a big pile out for recycling.

So have £5 now to last till payday (should be friday), no need for anything, plenty of food in for me and the horse, fuel in the car.

Need to go pick some more runner beans, they have been great this year, still eating my way through them and have stacks already in the freezer. Strawberries again are doing great so are lettuce. Carrots look ready to be harvested soon. The sprouts were a waste of time as they just got decimated by bugs, just have stalks in the ground so need to sort and dig those out.

Baldybear

Good morning!

Apologies in advance if this turns into rambling.

So thinking about my mortgage, current term is 20 years, will be paid off just after my 58th birthday. Now my aim is to retire at 60 (thats the ideal) so the mortgage term will be ok, but the whole point of being here on the MFW board is to beat that. So a quick play around with the overpayment calculator and have the following figures. If I pay extra:
£100/month - paid of in 16 years
£200/month - paid of in 13 years
£300/month - paid off in 11 years
£400/month - paid off in 10 years
£500/month - paid of in 9 years

So for me ideal is £400 a month as that would halve my mortgage term and would be mortgage free before I am 50

So plans.....

So looking at Dave Ramsays 7 steps:-
1. £1k emergency fund - in theory have completed this - but have misc savings a/c - currently at £300 (saving £100/month) so will use this account for this
2. Pay of all debt - done
3. 3-6 months expenses - worked out need £1400/month x 6 = £8,400 to save - currently have £2.9K in ISA, saving £100/month so on track for this
4. 15% income into retirement - worked out £225 to pay - currently pay £40 plus £80 from employer - so a long way to go on this yet
5. Save for kids - not applicable as just me
6. Pay mortgage early - plan in progress
7. Build wealth/become generous - work in progress

So my current plan is need £1400 a month for basic expenses - £400 from lodger plus £1k salary. Obviously I get more salary so currently able to put away £600/month into savings.

I think I would need to put away (after targets reached)
£100 - emergency fund
£100 - days out/fun/house do up etc
£100 - car/insurance
£50 - horse yearly bills

So in theory I have £200/month straight away I could put towards mortgage overpayments. That would take me to having it paid off in 13 years, so still saving 7 years.

So in an ideal world still need to find that elusive £200 a month so can pay it off in 10 years.

So as of today I had £133 on my CC, have raided savings once again, hate being in debt these days and dont want to get interest, so all paid off. My rental fund now stands at £73, should be £350 so £277 to find first.

Target 1 - £277

Target 2 - make an extra £200 a month!

So to make target 2 - a) ebay/survey/extra payments from budgets etc, second job.
Or to find a better paid job - now that maybe something that may happen sooner rather than later as my job definitely does not look secure.

In my current mental state of mind (and with redundancy pay covering expenses) then I would not start looking for a job until new year.

My bro in law, who has been looking after dad, has now got full time work so sister and I have worry about sorting dad's lunch. We have worked out I can do 1 day a week, she can do 1 and then she can leave cold salad for the other days for now. I do have an appointment to take dad to local alzheimers day care centre on friday, it is to be paid for but it could be good, in that he could do a few days a week, they would feed him lunch and also company.

Feeling very guilty about dad recently, its very hard, and the feeling of guilt about feeling if mum was still alive and dad had died life would be so much simpler (even if mum had alzheimers etc), the feeling of the wrong parent died and not wishing dad dead but it was the other way round is very hard to describe and absolutely horrible, my sister can empathise with me but I am not sure many people could. My mum was a lifeline and friend, confidante, dad has never been that way and the missing of everything like that is just so very hard. Yesterday picked dad up from his choir and had a while before dinner and thought it would be nice if he came to see the horse as hasnt for a while and be nice to see what I am interested in, seemed ok but not that keen, if it was mum she would have been glad to go and really interested in what I was doing. Maybe it is the alzheimers but the lack of interest there was really sad

Have put above as helps to describe my mental state and why if my job does go pear shaped then it would be good to have time out and just sit back and re-assess whats going on with life. I could also go sort dad for lunch everyday, if needed whilst I was out of work, so thats a family stress relieved.

Who knows at the moment its all just what if.

My redundancy, worked out it would be £5.5k, 3.5k tax free so around £5k. So if I stopped saving then that would last me 5 months, as lodger pays difference). Thats a great help, although bah to not carrying on saving but does give me some leeway if needed.

So back to boring everyday plans...

Yesterday pro-active again (mum's attitude in my head is definitely working). Did hoss and pulled out all her winter rugs and brushed them down, checked all ok, may need to put on to fit as may need to buy a few but all ok and 90% ready for winter now). I then came home and finished sorting my coats and shoes KM style. All loaded up in car ready to take to cash4clothes shortly.

So target 1 is £277 to find
Expenses put in today £54
Survey money due £11
Cash4clothes £??

Watch this space!

Baldybear

£12.80 cash4clothes, not a bad haul and my house/wardrobe is definitely more organised Will put the £12 aside for part payment of farrier next month, £25 in budget so only £13 needed so can transfer the money over to target 1 repay rental fund.

mfmaybe

Hi BB,

I've been reading but not had time to post. Sounds like there has been a lot going on a major things to mull over. But you're working your way through them and will make good decisions I'm sure.

Quick one on the redundancy - any reason why it wouldn't be 100% tax free? Pretty sure it's all tax free up to £30k regardless of salary. Just a thought.

Hope all is well with the horse and that the job situation ends up whichever way you'd prefer it!