Project Mortgage Neutral Begins

ajmoney

Once I have made a slightly larger OP in the new year from a maturing RS account my total mortgage will be back below £100k :j

Suffolk_lass

That is very impressive - so quickly.I track the interest I am saving over the life of our mortgage, rather than the total of our OPs

ajmoney

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

That is very impressive - so quickly.I track the interest I am saving over the life of our mortgage, rather than the total of our OPs

I track my daily interest, I have a target of OPs but the total I aim for on the MFW thread is normally underestimated. I have no idea what I thought I was doing with the MFiT challenge target...maybe trying to meet the total I had set myself in our house before I moved. Not expecting to be able to achieve it at all but it is a challenge. Once the larger OP has gone in the new year I am going to start targeting mortgage neutral again as it is a good interim goal.


Santa run this morning, I saw someone from the triathlon club there to chat to plus I talk to any randoms before we start. A strange atmosphere that I didn't necessarily enjoy while feeling in a strange place in relation to Christmas. I am helping out at a cadet Christmas concert tonight so it is either going to get me in the Christmas spirit or send me into hiding :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:



Going to head out soon and see if I can find a solution for my Christmas tree issue. I can use the ground spike with my twig tree outside if need be although need to find somewhere to run the power lead.

ajmoney

The start of my two weeks off today :j:j I bought another tree the other day, a pre-lit one so I am going to put that up today and see if I have enough decorations to get by this year. I will look for some nice ones in the sales.


I am quite nervous about the next couple of weeks but I have things to do on most days and I am deliberately not going to do too much around that as I need to get used to spending time alone in my house and also I just need to rest after a very busy few weeks with work.

ajmoney

What percentage do you all put into savings or OP? I need to get a hold on things (I know I have said this a couple of times over the last month but the run up to Christmas is tough) and am looking at better ways to manage and plan my money. I have dipped into my ISA a lot and will need to still to get me through to the end of the year.

Radish72

I have borrowed a jigsaw from my mum, and once all the christmas present have been wrapped and removed from the dining table, I am then spending a morning or afternoon (maybe both) were I just drink huge mugs of tea whilst doing the jigsaw and just zone out for a few hours

Radish72

I'm currently debating saving 25% next year (and hopefully every year after)


If I can do this, each years saving should give 6 months of my retirement date


This is still work in progress though

ajmoney

I was thinking about starting one of my many jigsaws, just need to find somewhere to do it where it won't get in the way. I want to use my dining table as much as I can so I don't feel like I am doing meals for one on my knee but I can maybe use my coffee table if the puzzles aren't too large. Just in from an hour walk, regardless of any other exercise I do I am aiming to walk for at least an hour a day to give me a daily focus over leave. I made an effort to say hello to everyone who passed me...not everyone returned my greeting.

ajmoney

Not quite sure what to do with my time today. I have done everything I need to do in the shops/supermarket, house is tidy, all ironing is done. I am going swimming at 1pm so thought I would sit down and try and muddle through my finances but I don't really know where to start. I have had a look at my monthly spreadsheet which is definitely covering everything, I think maybe I should total the Christmas present shopping so I can budget for that over the year and then I will count up what extras I have spent on during December and my petrol costs as I think these are what are draining my bank balance.

ajmoney

So I spent more on Christmas presents than I realised. I am going to put £25 a month aside for next year's Christmas presents and that should cover it.
It is too difficult to see the extra spending as I had so many work spends that were claimed back and in general my spending was out of control. I have budgetted £160 for fuel and £200 for food shopping in January which I think should be enough. The fuel will depend on where I go swimming and how often and I am driving to my mum's and Aberdeen once each so it may be tough but the food budget is more than enough so can move across. This should leave about £391.37 for anything else which is a lot but I am going to keep a better track of my spends and see what is going on. Safe to say I need to stop buying other stuff, I'm not sure quite where my money is going but it is not bringing me joy so it needs to stop!!!!!!!