FinancialBliss: My mortgage free journey…

gallygirl

financialbliss wrote: »

Quick post while I'm updating the MFiT-T2 thread. One for the number crunchers...

Mortgage daily interest being applied has pushed the mortgage just through the £18k barrier, at £18,000.09

Taking £9k of ring fence mortgage savings into account, that's £9,000.09 as of today.

FB.

Here FB, have a couple of day's worth on me

financialbliss

I’m hating this week and it’s only Tuesday.

Since it’s an age since I posted and I’m waiting for some glue to dry (more about that if you’ve not twigged in a mo), here’s the run down as to what’s going on in the financial bliss world at present.

Car.
It’s an 05 plate, so not the newest of models, but it’s been doing well until last weekend. It’s a Nissan and has an integrated Nissan Anti Theft System (NATS). There’s a chip in the key and that “talks” to the electronics inside the barrel that receives the key and once a happy banter has been established, the car security is then disabled and can be started. Or something like that. I'm no car expert.

Except our barrel has become somewhat loose. We took it to the Nissan dealer rather than our local independent dealers as it’s the car security system and it’s likely that the two bolts and a bracket inside the steering column have either worked loose or failed. The bolts are just over £2 each and Mrs Bliss didn’t catch the price of the bracket, but I expect a similarly low price, but the garage have estimated at 3 hours labour and have gave us a bill estimate of £174. :eek:

It’s booked in for tomorrow (Wednesday). But when you think of how much electronics and cables (we have an air bag and CD player controls too) must be in and around the steering column, I'm not that surprised it’s that expensive. Here’s hoping we only get billed for 2 hours of labour.

Bike.
Ride home this evening started off grey and dull. Was chatting to a cyclist at the bike lockers who had a puncture, offered my assistance and said "you don’t want to get a puncture on a night like this". Started off home and got about 5 minutes into the commute when the heavens opened. Had to put on coat and over trousers. Got about a half a mile from home and got a puncture. Couldn’t be bothered to change it there and then, so pushed it home in the rain. Giving the glue a good hour to really set before I put back together. Also got a puncture just last Thursday.

Also having problems with bike. On the front cog there are three sets of cogs. The bike won’t change into the lowest of the front gears. Got it looked over during bike week and the guy suggested it wasn’t worth repairing and I should invest in a newer bike. Haven’t got it fixed, not have I invested in a new bike, but I have been looking.

Post office savings account.
I opened one of those at 3.17% during the double bank holiday week and I hear they are no longer available. I’ve put £2,000 in there and this is our last ditch emergency fund, which I’m hoping I can leave sitting there and forget about.

Mobiles.
We have both been keeping a closer eye on our pre-pay mobile balances with the intention of switching to giff gaff once the balance is zero. I’m approaching a balance of £2 and intend to request a SIM once I get to £2 (on ASDA mobile).

Florida.
Now this is the thing that’s been taking up a stack of my time over the last two or three weeks. We’ve gone from “next year” to deciding on a firm date (May 2013) and have been working our the pros and cons of booking a package via a travel agent or booking separate items individually.

Agent.
They do the leg work – we can relax
Offers a deposit and staged payments
Offers inclusive £20kg of flight baggage
Offers a free car if car hire taken
:mad: Is more expensive

Individually.
:mad: We need to do the leg work
:mad: Flights need to be paid in full up front (£659 each :eek:)
:mad: Flight only (rather than a package) doesn’t include free baggage (£70 each additional cost)
We get to pick a precise villa / villa location up front
We get to save some cash

But, I estimate that we can save upwards of £1,200 - £1,500 if we do that extra leg work and sort things out ourselves. Hey this is MSE and we have pretty much decided to go down the DIY route.

Still got masses of stuff to sort out, but my aim is to book before the end of the school term – 20th July.

Ok. Now off to reassemble and test my bike. Dark outside, but at least it's stopped raining.

FB.

someday_soon

Hi FB

It would be DIY for me too.

Free car - isn't really free. We used Mr T vouchers £96 & £220 cash to get SUV for 3 weeks DIY.:T

Mr T vouchers to get avios points and then park tickets.:T

I'm sure you have found thedibb.co.uk Loads of tips on there.
Consider sharing photopass to save money. Groups of 10 forming paying a tenth of the price:T
And then there's the spreadsheet planner they have for members to use - fantastic.

Order free disney vacation planners through Disney and video. Seaworld and the others do it to. Sign up to restaurants in the area in the week prior to departure for freebies and vouchers. Sign up now with Cirque du soleil and blue man for members offers/cheaper ticket tempters nearer the time.

But don't be late with the next MFi3 update. You have been warned:rotfl:

Someday Soon

RosieTiger

FB take a look at Slyme filled inner tubes for your bike, supposed to work well at self sealing punctures. More resistant tyres also work well. Both together bomb proof!

JonnyBravo

Tut.
Where's the month end update?
I hope he's been on the pop/had flu and not riding recklessly.

financialbliss

JonnyBravo wrote: »

Tut.
Where's the month end update?
I hope he's been on the pop/had flu and not riding recklessly.

Went away for a short two day break over the weekend. Anticipated being away from home internet and took laptop but didn't get a chance to locate any Wifi hot spots I could use.

But, I have the mortgage figures as of the 29th and the 1st. The interest changed by 2.46 - so that's 1.23 per day, so I just need to post figures.

Will do so this evening.

FB.

financialbliss

Month end interest stats for June. Haven't got a suitably internet enabled smartphone, so could not update while I was away last weekend. See, I need to treat myself! :j

Opening Balance: 23,172.41

Overpayments in Blue.
Interest in Red.
Balance in Green.

Month: Payment (Std / OP) / Interest (day) / Net reduction / Balance

January: 900.00 (887.41 / 12.59) / 47.36 (1.53) / 852.64 / 22,319.77
February: 900.00 (887.41 / 12.59) / 41.14 (1.47) / 858.86 / 21,460.91
March: 900.00 (887.41 / 12.59) / 43.71 (1.41) / 856.29 / 20,604.62
April: 900.00 (887.41 / 12.59) / 40.56 (1.35) / 859.44 / 19,745.18
May: 900.00 (887.41 / 12.59) / 40.07 (1.29) / 859.93 / 18,885.25
June: 900.00 (887.41 / 12.59) / 37.02 (1.23) / 862.98 / 18,022.27

Totals: Payment / Interest / Net reduction.

Minimum: 900.00 / 37.02 / 852.64
Maximum: 900.00 / 47.36 / 862.98
Average: 900.00 / 41.64 / 858.36
Grand Total: 5,400.00 / 172.77 / 5,150.14

Balance outstanding: 18,022.27

Ring-fenced mortgage savings: 9,000.00

Net mortgage: £9,022.27

Tesco CC @ 0% : 5,040,00
Nationwide CC @ 0% : 3,867.44

Total CC debt: 8,907.44

Thanks,
FB.

beachie

financialbliss wrote: »

The bolts are just over £2 each and Mrs Bliss didn’t catch the price of the bracket, but I expect a similarly low price, but the garage have estimated at 3 hours labour and have gave us a bill estimate of £174. :eek:

I hit a animal once. i took it into the garage and they told me the parts would be £200 while the labour would cost £500! :eek:

I looked on the Internet, carefully went through the instructions online and managed to get it fixed in 2.5 hours thus saving me £500.

gallygirl

financialbliss wrote: »

Net mortgage: £9,022.27

Well done FB, but surely you can find £22.28 from somewhere .

uzubairu

financialbliss wrote: »

Florida.
Now this is the thing that’s been taking up a stack of my time over the last two or three weeks. We’ve gone from “next year” to deciding on a firm date (May 2013) and have been working our the pros and cons of booking a package via a travel agent or booking separate items individually.

Agent.
They do the leg work – we can relax
Offers a deposit and staged payments
Offers inclusive £20kg of flight baggage
Offers a free car if car hire taken
:mad: Is more expensive

Individually.
:mad: We need to do the leg work
:mad: Flights need to be paid in full up front (£659 each :eek:)
:mad: Flight only (rather than a package) doesn’t include free baggage (£70 each additional cost)
We get to pick a precise villa / villa location up front
We get to save some cash

But, I estimate that we can save upwards of £1,200 - £1,500 if we do that extra leg work and sort things out ourselves. Hey this is MSE and we have pretty much decided to go down the DIY route.

Still got masses of stuff to sort out, but my aim is to book before the end of the school term – 20th July.

Ok. Now off to reassemble and test my bike. Dark outside, but at least it's stopped raining.

FB.

When we went to San Francisco in November 2010, we started off looking at hotels which met our requirements (long list).
The shortlist included some very nice hotels, but the prices were eye-watering, and neither of us wanted to be the one the make the final decision, just in case it didn't live up to the hype or justify the expense.

Found out about vrbo.com (Vacation Rentals by Owner) on MSE and gave it a look, and ended up renting a fantastic 2 bedroom apartment in the Noe Valley at an excellent price.
Way better than any hotel we have ever stayed in. :j
We saved money too (approx £500) and had much more freedom.
Well worth the effort.

We plan to go to the US later on this year and we'll be visiting that website again.