Mortgage free & able to live the dream!

SWSEGirl

How is it Monday already? As I've been finding the past couple of months - there seems to be far too much month at the end of my money....I need to look back over my last few bank statements to try and understand why.

This week I'm determined to take my lunches into work - I actually have a voucher for somewhere today - it pays to complain on twitter!

I need to do some batch cooking this week, in order to avoid the temptation to buy lunches after payday.

I've got a couple of birthdays coming up which I need to budget for. And Christmas of course.

When it comes to January I'm going to excersize the power of saying no...I need to reduce the number of social engagements, drinks, dinner etc that I go to!

chelseablue

Hi, I'll cheer you on!

My mortgage is quite high, currently £221,000. Its quite comforting when I find people with a bigger mortgage than me

My last property was a 2 bed flat and when we moved the mortgage was down to £92,000. How I miss those days!

spendinglikemad

Hey there - nice to see your update and big mortgage here too! Lots of economising to do here with lunches for work (usually leftovers but now trying to eat a bit healthier) I need to get through this week without buying anything non essential!!!

SLM

SWSEGirl

So it's payday - and I'm resisting the temptation to spend.....!

I have a couple of big expenses this month, my Mum has a big birthday coming up, and I have my brother's family coming to stay (5 of them in my 2 bed flat!!!) So I have done a big food shop to keep us going while they are here & invested in a few air beds. My best friend is due to have her first baby any day - so I need to get together a gift for her.

I've also had my husband's family to stay over the weekend - so that always results in additional food & wine spends.

One good piece of news - my husband got a pay rise at the end of last week, so that will be an additional £300 per month that we could throw at the mortgage - I just need to make sure we do & it doesn't get frittered on the everyday - I've actually worked out that we will be £1000 a month better off than we were at the beginning of the year - this is a combination of pay rises & both of us having paid off debts & student loans. The odd thing is I don't particularly feel any better off, or that it's any easier each month...even though I know we are incredibly lucky. I guess our debts are significantly reduced & our savings have increased, but even so, I'm sure we could be more financially efficient.

I think it's certainly true that you learn to live to your means - and both my husband and i can be very complacent - our savings currently make about 15p a month, so we really need to change this!

One thing I am determined to do is reevaluate our finances every time our circumstances change - we need to be far more mindful of where we fritter funds.

My targets for this month are as follows:

* 2 NSDs a week (minimum!)
* Schedule in batch cooking
* Say no to expensive plans!
* Start Christmas shopping (I've been putting £60 a month in a saving account for the past couple of months, so this is budgeted).
* Make a £500 mortgage OP
*Confirm bank account switch

SWSEGirl

So I finally got round to doing an SOA....and now the full horror of our frittering has hit me.....
We do generally put around £1400 per month in savings/ towards mortgage OP's - but we could do better. Much better!

Here goes:

Household Information

Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 2839
Partners monthly income after tax....... 3139
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 5978

Monthly Expense Details

Mortgage................................ 1110
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 160
Council tax............................. 128
Electricity............................. 35
Gas..................................... 35
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 32
TV Licence.............................. 11.66
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 12
Internet Services....................... 29.17
Groceries etc. ......................... 350
Clothing................................ 45
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 192
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 25
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 81
Haircuts................................ 40
Entertainment........................... 250
Holiday................................. 208
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 2850.83

Assets

Cash.................................... 10000
House value (Gross)..................... 380000
Shares and bonds........................ 4000
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 394000

Secured & HP Debts

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 322999...(1110).....2.24
Total secured & HP debts...... 322999....-.........-


Unsecured Debts

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................2420......200.......0
Total unsecured debts..........2420......200.......-

Monthly Budget Summary

Total monthly income.................... 5,978
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,850.83
Available for debt repayments........... 3,127.17
Monthly Unsecured debt repayments....... 200
Amount left after debt repayments....... 2,927.17

Personal Balance Sheet Summary

Total assets (things you own)........... 394,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -316,999
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,420
Net Assets.............................. 74,581

SWSEGirl

I've bought lunch out 2 days in a row now - it really annoys me when I do this! I don't enjoy bought lunches any more than bringing in leftovers - so it's just money being spent for the sake of it. The problem is being able to get organised - I tend to get home around 8.30pm - and I've got people staying with me for 2 weeks, so after I've catered for them and had my dinner there doesn't seem to be time to make myself something.

I'm trying to make plans for my brother's family coming to stay this weekend - I've booked them theatre tickets & we'll probably do the Tower of London or the Aquarium...although all these things serve to remind me how expensive London is for families!

I also need to do a big clean of my flat - when I get home so late I just don't have the energy to do it - I must get my act together tonight!!

In other news, I've started putting out the feelers for different jobs within my company - with the potential to increase my income by £600 per month. We'll wait to see if the opportunities come off, but I'd love to be able to commit £1000 a month to a mortgage OP!

Welshlassie

Hi SWSEGirl
How much of the £2927 do you actually have at the end of the month??

Sounds to me like you need a budget - have a look at YNAB. It's completely revolutionised our finances in the last 4 years. There's a 34 day trial but it will help you give every pound a job and allow you the luxury of buying lunch out everyso often if that is a priority for you whilst also knowing you are saving for those irregular necessities like presents, insurances and the not so necessary but still occuring, haircuts, clothes etc and putting money towards savings and overpayments. It's a change of mindset but we wouldn't have been in the position we're in now without it.

We're just about to extend our mortgage back to £200,000 to extend our house so understand where you are coming from.

SWSEGirl

Hey Welshlassie!

Thanks for your reply.

So we try to put a minimum of £1200 into savings/ mortgage OP's - and up to £1500 - although this still leaves a sizeable surplus, which seems to be frittered.

I did use YNAB & loved it - but I couldn't work out how to set it so a monthly cycle started on the 23rd (my payday) - and then it became very confusing to me, my monthly budget seemed to be wiped on the 1st, and I couldn't work out how to override this! I'd love any tips you might have, because I'd like to start using it again.

I do have a loose budget & an excel spreadsheet, but it's not a budget that assigns a job for each pound like YNAB, and I suspect the devil is in the detail, and that's why I'm mindlessly frittering!

xx

chelseablue

Can I be nosy and ask what jobs you both do?

Merchandiser2367

SWSEGirl wrote: »

Hey Welshlassie!

Thanks for your reply.

So we try to put a minimum of £1200 into savings/ mortgage OP's - and up to £1500 - although this still leaves a sizeable surplus, which seems to be frittered.

I did use YNAB & loved it - but I couldn't work out how to set it so a monthly cycle started on the 23rd (my payday) - and then it became very confusing to me, my monthly budget seemed to be wiped on the 1st, and I couldn't work out how to override this! I'd love any tips you might have, because I'd like to start using it again.

I do have a loose budget & an excel spreadsheet, but it's not a budget that assigns a job for each pound like YNAB, and I suspect the devil is in the detail, and that's why I'm mindlessly frittering!

xx

I've always found a simple excel spreadsheet with 2 volume and a few auto sums is the easiest to view and update for budgets.

I find all these fancy budgetbplanners to detailed and overloads me.