Setmefree's Diary: MFi5 journey

evab_2

ooh I wish we had a real xmas tree, ours is about 2ft and currently doing an impression of the leaning tower of Pisa!

Seasonal Greetings Ev

setmefree2

DECEMBER 2007

Christmas has come in on budget:j and despite having to pay out for the plumbing still managed to overpay Mortgage by £1k in December:T.....so current balance is £162,827.

At 31.12.2007 balance was £186307 balance today £162,827. Paid off £23,480 in 2007. Just Under £2k per month !!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't know how we'll get on in 2008.Me & Mr SMF need to save up for a "replacing the car fund" Our old jallopy is working fine but we should have some money in place to buy a new one if we have to...need a savings account with a nice high rate of interest;) Something to look into in the New Year:rolleyes:. Also need to start decorating in the NY as kitchen, hall stairs landing, lounge all in need of new lick of paint. I can do this, I'm quite good with emulsion but find gloss abit tricky! However, we still have those American shares to sell and that might well bring a tidy little 5 figure profit sometime in 2008 (well I can Hope!)

..one of my small aims for next year is to try and read books I have in the house and not buy any new ones. I've done this with clothes this year and have managed to buy little new.


Happy Christmas:xmassign: fellow mortgage-free-wannabees

taka

:xmastree: Merry Xmas SMF! :xmastree:

LouiseJ

:T Well done Setmefree2:T

Wishing you all the best in your MFW journey for 2008

Have just started my own diary so will look for inspiration here and in other MFW diaries.

Its month one for me as I have only just left DFW land so its nice to see someone who has managed to keep the momentum going, hope I will be able to also

xx LJ

setmefree2

JANUARY 2008


Hi,

It's the last Friday of the month and pay day is here!:money:

Sadly, no overpayments this month...xmas, the plumbing, etc etc....

BUT I have achieved the following:-

1) At New Year we went to Cheshire Oaks outlet village ( whilst visiting relatives in the North West. Mr SMF got new Jaeger suit (half price:j), etc for work and I kitted eldest son out with lots of trendy, cool clothes (Vans, Billabong, etc) at knock down prices. Bought cheap trainers, football boots, etc

2) Booked our summer holiday flights to the Caribbean....and they were (nearly) FREE.:money: Used BA miles. So the cost was just airport tax £650....haven't booked hotel yet. Hope to also use some air miles this year taking kids to Paris.

3)My "little" challenge to myself is to buy zero books & clothes this year. However, I bought one Ben Elton book for £3 in the sales:o, couldn't resist.:cool: The clothes challenge is a little bit of a cheat as I have a £100 next voucher fron Next which I got as a Christmas present from my hubby. Never did get a reply from M&S so used the £15 credit note they gave me..spent £15 and no more:p. Now have socks, etc to get me through the year and help me on my zero spend challenge.

4) We were given "theatre tickets and a meal" experience for a present. So went to a West End show and had a great time. We were given the best seats in the house.:D

5) Had a NY clear out and took 11 bags of "stuff" - mainly toys - to Charity shop. And 2 hold-alls full of books (again mainly kids) to Oxfam charity book shop. Feel good about this as they will raise lots of money. (We also do a monthly donation to Oxfam through payroll)


6) Also, Mr SMF has given up drinking through January. I couldn't quite manage this so I'm just buying a bottle of wine on Saturday:beer:....so far so good on that front.

So all-in-all not to bad a month. Hopefully, we are back on track to make an overpayment in February. I like February:D - no council Tax & Water rates :Dand it's a short month.:D

Good Luck :money:

evab_2

HI smf,

How good are you! excellent news on holidays mmmmmmmmm Barbados would be lovely *returns to reality with a bump*

I love Cheshire Oaks as well, it's not too far from me so great to get the odd thing. The Helly Hansen shop is brill got a coat for my dd in there last year for £20 and still going strong.

Feb and March are great as not only do we not have the CT to pay for but dh gets his bonus (although not confirmed how much yet) and I get back pay from August as it always takes ages for the lecturers to agree the pay rise!

Well done on the over payments, I hope we can plow some money in this year.

Ev

setmefree2

Hi Evab,

Some off the best days of my life have been spent on the East coast beaches, (Brighton, Bournemouth, Hove, etc) with my kids when they were small. Hot sun, sand castles, bumpers cars, ice cream..If life had a rewind button I would go back there in a heart beat....

..Don't tell my kids though cos I don't want them to feel guilty for growing up and need EXPENSIVE therapy as adults ...
..... in the mean time we'll have a great time (I hope) in Barbados. We are going when school breaks up in summer, so hopefully we'll be there before the hurrican season starts:eek: Hope your pregnancy is going well....

evab_2

Yep all good, no sickness and got piccies from scan yesterday - very clear. 24 weeks till maternity leave!

setmefree2

http://www.fool.co.uk/news/property-home/mortgages/2008/01/29/beware-the-discount-mortgage-trap.aspx?source=ioowftxt0010011

Found this interesting Article on Discount Mortgages Vs Tracker thought I would share:money:

jamesd

For extra confusion there are some tracker mortgages that track a bank's base rate, Barclays is one if I recall correctly. No guarantee that their rate moves with BoE rate so they can increase their profit at any time by changing their rate. Same problem as the discount problem, but with the extra confusion factor.