Getting back on the MFW Wagon

Needhelpsaving

Good Morning,

Our house is in quarantine - there is a cold bug going about and I have been up for most of the night with DD2. Poor DH looked so tired when he left for work this morning, bless him.

Money is ticking along as planned, I have £100 grocery budget left to get us to the end of the month and we have plenty of bits to be used up/in freezer/in pantry.

Today's jobs;

- [STRIKE]Take parcel to post office[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Put DH suit in for dry cleaning[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Washing and ironing[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Make a list of upcoming birthdays and work out what cards we need to get. [/STRIKE]
- Photograph some items to go on Shpok (trying this out) and ebay - its been pretty quiet over the summer, but I will re-list some items one last time to see if I get any interest.

Needhelpsaving

This week has been interesting - very unproductive start to the week with LO's being unwell - lots of time spent giving cuddles though

We have been out and about today getting the last bits and pieces ready for school term in a couple of weeks time. With the exception of 1 item to be delivered, we are done :T

I did think of this forum last night though when OH came home from work and told me that he had overheard a colleague saying that they had paid off their mortgage early and had made an offer on their dream home - A rare conversation in RL, I have found that I have usually had looks of confusion/:eek:

Anyhow, OH came home very inspired and we had a long discussion, which ended in us agreeing to try to get the mortgage paid off in 5 years.

He suggested sending the Emergency fund to the mortgage - I like the flexibility of having money available should it be needed. The debate continues ... brain cogs are whirling and spreadsheets are being tinkered with ... to be continued.

Needhelpsaving

Good Afternoon :wave:

The debate over savings vs mortgage OP have ended and we are both agreed that savings that can be accessed easily are more valuable to our family at the moment.

Although, I won't lie, the temptation to knock £10k off the mortgage was very appealing.

We took DD's swimming today (free swim session), so no spends as yet. I will need to get some milk and potatoes this afternoon, but that's about it. I want to run the cupboards down as we head to the last week of the month/holiday.

I also need to end my procrastination and finish these ebay listings

earthgirl

We went down the savings route too, although mortgage neutral doesn't have quite the same ring to it as mortgage free. But more sensible!
Glad lo's are better

Needhelpsaving

Hi!

We're back from our holibobs and the washing is currently being run though the machine to get set up for the last week before school starts again.

We ended the last pay month with £30+ left in the joint account - this has been swept to savings. We have a new savings target for 2018/2019 as well as our attempts to be mortgage free. We have decided to start saving for our wedding - likely to be a couple of years away, but we want to start putting a bit by so it is fully funded ahead of time.

Currently have around 18 items listed online for sale, with the idea of clearing out the house and boosting the savings.

Other than that, not much to report outside of day to day goings on. Hope everyone well x

Needhelpsaving

Good Morning!

We are now into the last third of 2018 - this year seems to have flown by! We have had some slight deviations to our journey over the summer and I feel like I want to revisit my original 2018 goals to keep me on track/moving forward.

Needhelpsaving wrote: »

We will revise our target to get the mortgage down to £55k by 31/12/18 - now we have met our savings goal, we can send more money towards the mortgage from our usual incomes.

Goals for 2018;
- Savings Goal 1b - save £10,000 by 31/12/18 - ACHIEVED

- MF Goal 1b - Reduce mortgage to £55,000 by 31/12/18 - Currently £59,739.91, with Septembers monthly payment due to be taken in the next day or so.

- Re-decorate hall, stairs and landing by 30/09/18 (need to get a shift on with this).

- Buy new dining table and blinds for kitchen by 31/12/18.

So, the deviation . . . earlier in the summer, we found some rising damp on the back wall. After some investigation, it appeared that we needed our bathroom pipe and soil pipe replacing. We got a plumber in and while he was working he uncovered a split pipe that was running from under the bath to the outside pipe and the soil pipe underground had been leaking :eek: :eek: Thankfully, there had been no movement from the bricks, so subsidence was off the cards and no major internal leak - so essentially, I need to thank the rising damp for almost warning us of other hidden plumbing issues. Money well spent in my book and the lovely man didn't charge any extra to replace the other couple of bits of pipe, he just said he does the job properly and that's that

So the money being saved for the dining table and blinds was used for this repair and I have just had a window handle break, so will need a repair on this too. None of the repairs money has been taken from the emergency fund.

Time to re-focus on our goals and make further headway in achieving them before the end of the year :j

Needhelpsaving

The last couple of weeks has been spent getting back into a routine with school - a few tears and tantrums have been had (not by me I hasten to add :rotfl:) due to DD1 being over tired.

I have also found some free activities to do with both DD1 and DD2 in order to continue living within budget. DD2 and I have been going to a free parent and baby swim group and DD1 has been asking to go to the library after we had a few trips there in the summer :money:

Not much to report money wise - DH thinks he needs some work on his car, which will come in at around £500 :eek: and also the flurry of work leaving do's, work trips etc have begun, which means less money to the mortgage pot. Kind of feel like I can't really grumble, given that i'm at home on maternity leave, making minimal contribution money wise

I just need to be a big girl about it and keep going. So tonight I will be re-sealing the bath tub (what can I say ... I live life on the edge :rotfl:)

Jobs for the weekend
Plant spring bulbs
Re-seal bath
Usual household chores
Get ready for the week ahead

Onwards and downwards.

Needhelpsaving

Right, we're getting there ... I think.

Bank accounts have been checked and balanced - a few sneaky overspends that I have balanced from my personal savings - that will teach me to stop tracking properly. I definitely had a pang of guilt moving that money over :(

Last week before payday and I have enough stuff in the house for meals this week. Snacking has to be bought under control, so we are committing to eating up what we have and nothing else.

Tomorrow will be free swim session with DD2, a trip to the local school shop to get a refund on a cardigan I ordered (6 weeks ago!) that I keep being told they don't know when it will be delivered - awful service, need some nappies for DD2 and milk.

Needhelpsaving

Today, we're holed up inside the house - it's awful outside, but the garden will be enjoying it after the summer ... feast or famine huh?

I have put the time to good use by getting some cleaning jobs done and have spent some time going through last months bank statements to identify where I went over budget, so I can be more mindful in the month ahead. The answer - poor planning and being lazy - lot's of treat's and eating out coupled with buying bits for the house.

I am taking inspiration from Foxholes diary and am trying to do DIY jobs around the house ... although I'm defaulting to smaller jobs that can be done in the evening once the LO's are in bed.

Right, off to get lunch ready

Needhelpsaving

It's payday tomorrow! I know I have been too frivolous with last months pay, as i've been on countdown to the next payday

I will be withdrawing the cash for the first weeks spends tomorrow and have made the grocery list and meal plan for the week ahead (this includes the demands for money from the school - harvest festival goods, school fund contributions etc).

I must admit, I did have to laugh when they sent a letter home saying they wanted to celebrate the harvest festival and the hard work of the farming community, but wanted only tinned goods/pasta/long life goods, no fresh foods such as fruit/veg/eggs etc ... anyone know a baked bean farmer? :rotfl:

Jobs for the week ahead;
Grocery shop
Get a refund on an unused item
Continue with free activities to entertain DD's.