FinancialBliss: My mortgage free journey…

*Jellie*

Great new avatar! Looking forward to hearing how the hybrid goes

financialbliss

*Jellie* wrote: »

Great new avatar! Looking forward to hearing how the hybrid goes

Jellie, thanks for the avatar comment. It says "Best number cruncher in the world" in case it's a little difficult to read.

FB.

financialbliss

Managed a 16 mile cycle this evening - just got in around 9.30pm. Was cold (4c) and stopped to chat to a bloke whose car got stuck in a flooded road who commented I must be stupid at that time of the evening...

Logged as per below:
13. 31/12/12 - 16.04 miles / 1h 11m / 13.4 mph (agv) / 33.1 mph (max)

and that just about completed my cycle part of my 2012 challenge.

It's been a good year for me - mortgage free, but not quite debt free. One more year while I concentrate on the debts.

Thanks ever so much for the support, the feedback and comments and even the people who just give the occasional "thanks". Much appreciated and has kept me on the straight and narrow.

Hope you all can realise your dreams and goals in 2013.

Off to find a beer :beer:
Thanks again,
Financial Bliss.

elantan

Yay we have you for another year

*Jellie*

Congratulations on finishing your cycling challenge and for being MF this year. Happy new year FB :beer:

financialbliss

Roll on 2013:j

For any diary newbies I may have recently picked up, it may seem strange doing an aims for 2013 when I became mortgage free in September 2012, but I’ve still masses of debt.

This has been achieved through credit card stoozing and it’s been the building up of debt at 0%, paying off just over the minimum value and utilising the freed up cash for savings or overpaying the mortgage that ultimately allowed us to become mortgage free.

So, with a rather short 2013 list of objectives, here we go…

-=oOo=-

1. Clear all credit card debt in 2013.
2. Build up some savings.

-=oOo=-

1. Clear all credit card debt in 2013.
This is comprised of three credit cards – all currently at zero percent with varying expiry dates for the zero percent. I’ve listed them in the order they need clearing. As of today, the card balances are:

• Tesco – Outstanding balance: 4,750.00
• Nationwide – Outstanding balance: 8,684.06
• NatWest – Outstanding balance: 4,029.97

Total debt: 17,463.03

Overview: (Opening Balance: 17,547.02)
Month / Spending / Payments / Difference / Balance
January: 1,042.91 / 2,250.00 / -704.02 / 16,843.00
February: 1,793.15 / 3,000.00 / -937.14 / 15,905.86


Tesco Card (Opening balance: 4,750.00)
Month / Spending / Payments / Difference / Balance
January: 0.00 / 1,500.00 / -1,500.00 / 3,250.00
February: 0.00 / 1,500.00 / -1,500.00 / 1,750.00


Nationwide Card (Opening balance: 8,684.06)
Month / Spending / Payments / Difference / Balance
January: 503.07 / 184.06 / +319.01 / 9,003.07
February: 269.71 / 103.07 / +166.64 / 9,169.71

NatWest Card (Opening balance: 4,112.96)
Month / Spending / Payments / Difference / Balance
January: 1,042.91 / 565.94 / +476.67 / 4,793.30
February: 1,246.28 / 1,396.93 / +396.22 / 4,986.15


So this can be tracked, I’ve created a credit card debt sheet, which I’ve been tracking and logging once per week since I became mortgage free last September:

Credit card overview:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnhcWfGMRVgddFcwSGh5cW9ITTFzaHlZY3piTDNMM3c&hl=en_GB&single=true&gid=0&output=html

Credit card graph:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnhcWfGMRVgddFcwSGh5cW9ITTFzaHlZY3piTDNMM3c&hl=en_GB&single=true&gid=1&output=html

I'll be updating these weekly.

-=oOo=-

2. Build up some savings.
I’m running the Mortgage Free in Three – Take 3 challenge (MFiT-T3) and I won’t get out of the starting blocks unless I also get some savings behind me this year. Haven’t really decided on what is achievable – this is very much secondary after the credit cards. Once I have, I’ll update this post and put a specific objective in here.

-=oOo=-

Cycling.
Still a money saving solution and should help with ‘1’ and ‘2’ above, but I’ve not logged as a formal objective this time. I’ve created a cycle 2013 sheet as per below:

Cycle commute stats 2013:
Summary:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnhcWfGMRVgddHJyVnE2eGRoX0tIODdxVHpSMzdCb1E&hl=en_GB&single=true&gid=2&output=html

Detail:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnhcWfGMRVgddHJyVnE2eGRoX0tIODdxVHpSMzdCb1E&hl=en_GB&single=true&gid=0&output=html

Again, I'll be updating the cycle sheet daily as and when I get the chance to commute to work by bike.

That’s about it for now. I’ll update as the year unfolds…

Thanks,
Financial Bliss.

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Happy New Year Financial Bliss. Good luck with the saving/paying off stoozing cards. Do you think once you are backing the black, that you will continuing stoozing to help you save?

Looking forward to your cycling stories, at least the weather has been fairly kind recently so safer for cycling.

Best wishes Tilly

*Jellie*

Love the spreadsheets!

gallygirl

Phwoar, spreadsheet !!!!!! .

Good look with your aims FB, am sure you'll achieve them :T.

*Jellie*

gallygirl wrote: »

Phwoar, spreadsheet !!!!!! .

:rotfl:
Great phrase!