FinancialBliss: My mortgage free journey…

financialbliss

Nice to see a few more diaries starting up. :hello:I'll try and say "hi" this evening when I've got more time... I do read quite a few, but I must try and post occasionally.

Car. Booked car in for an annual service at a local independent garage. I’ve had this garage recommended to me by a friend, plus they’re on the local council safe traders list. Booked in for Thursday. Got in last night and the dealership I purchased the car from sent me a get your car serviced for £99 flyer.

Are these deals ever £99 / have I done the right thing? I’ll report back on the service I get, plus the cost come Thursday evening.

I’ve also purchased a 12 month road tax disc on-line – this is required from 1st October. Pondered over using credit card, but in the end used the debit card due to a £2.50 credit card charge.

FB.

financialbliss

financialbliss wrote: »

Got in last night and the dealership I purchased the car from sent me a get your car serviced for £99 flyer.

Since posting that a short while ago, I've had a telephone call from the dealership I purchased the car from. So that's letter, text message, flyer and phone call. Guess they're keen to drum up business!

Was talking to a colleague, who got his BMW serviced at a main BMW dealership. Nothing particularly wrong with his car, but it cost him over 900 quid! He now uses an independent garage.

Have I done the right thing? I'm hoping to keep this post 2012, ie hold until the mortgage is complete. Due to depreciation, I guess as long as I am getting it serviced, the difference between the price using an approved Nissan service and a service at an independent garage is going to be negligible by that time.

FB.

financialbliss

I was sitting at work today and wondered…

If I could apply all of our net income to our mortgage, when would it be cleared by?

So, starting the calculation from 1st October, and with a net monthly income of about 2,250, I’ve estimate we’d clear the mortgage in March 2011, which is when our 5 year fix ends

Clearly, this would never happen as we all need to be clothed, fed, kept warm etc etc, but curiosity got the better of me.

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abouttimetoo

lol, I bet you are not the only one to have been curious, perhaps you are just the only one brave enough to admit you've done it! So far I've resisted the temptation but must confess I've wondered......:D

I guess we all do the 'what if' scenario, I've lost count of the number of permutations I've put into my PS (pretty spreadsheet):rotfl:

financialbliss

DawnW wrote: »

I belong to Pine Cone Research, and have found them very good. The surveys are not that frequent, but each one pays £4 in luncheon vouchers (or i think you can have PayPal now if you prefer). They keep you in touch and well informed. I also belong to YouGov...

Further to a post a few weeks ago from DawnW - part of it quoted above, I joined YouGov yesterday.

I don't expect to get rich any time soon off these sites, but any money received is going... you guessed it, straight to the mortgage account.

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financialbliss

Tripped up on my mobile phone charging lead today - was charging the phone at the time!. The end that plugs into the phone smashed. As the phone was past it’s best, dinted scratched, battery not holding charge etc, I decided to splash out on a new one.

Just to put you in the picture, my last phone was 29.99 with 5.00 of call time. I’ve had it almost 3 years. It did amazing things such as be able to make calls, plus send text messages. Probably a few other functions that I never ever used.

I’m not huge on mobile phones / don’t spend much on them. I think I had a Siemens A65, but can’t be bothered to trot downstairs to check. Oh yes, I’m into phones that much that I don’t know what model I have :rotfl:

I thought I’d up my game in looking for a replacement. Logged onto Virgin mobile website and spotted a Samsung C300 on sale for 14.99. Got a 10.00 discount as an upgrade allowance. Taking into account delivery at 3.99 gives a grand total of 8.98.

Just before ordering, I checked ebay and a few other sources to see if I could get a brand new one cheaper. Nope. So, I ordered it and I’ve had an e-mail not long ago saying it will get delivered by courier tomorrow (20th) between 08.00 and 18.00. Crumbs – that’s quick.

Just done a google search for a review and two made me laugh:

“What a bummer this phone does NOT have Camera, Card slot, HSCSD, 3G, EDGE, Bluetooth, WLAN, Infrared port or USB”.

"It's a phone & doesn't pretend to be anything else".

Ticks all the right boxes for me. I can make calls and send texts. And it only cost 8.98 – more than a tenner less than my last phone. Think I did ok.

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EssexHebridean

That really made me laugh! Are you sure you're not my OH?!! I must admit barring picture messaging occasionally (but not often - as a part-time photographer I find the quality of the size of pics you can send via the system vaguely insulting!) I don't use my phone for much more than you do. Samsung phones seem pretty decent anyway - my last three or four have been Samsung and I've been happy enough with them.

financialbliss

Phone turned up at 09.11 this morning via UPS signed delivery – about 12 hours after I ordered it :eek:

Think the 3.99 delivery was pretty good value. There again, 4.99 for a mobile isn't bad either.

It's currently on charge. Haven't really had a chance to look at it. Perhaps later!

FB.

gallygirl

Wow, that's some service!

Remember to check all the mobile phone sites to see if they want to buy your old one (or maybe a museum will ), if not you should at least be able to send away free to have it recycled.

My phone (work one, have never had to own my own yet ) has a camera I've used twice, video I used once by accident, internet access I've never used & the facility to pick up work emails I use only when stuck in an airport & ran out of things to read. Apart from that it's emails & messages - and most folk who have all singing all dancing ones only use the phone & messages also if the truth be told. I am however planning on working out if I can take photos of receipts with it then upload to laptop - I could then do more mystery shops when away from home :j.

financialbliss

Quick update this evening as it’s late...

Heroes. Dropped off the radar for a few days – been watching season 2 of Tim Kring’s Heroes – has entire season 2 of Heroes plus Heroes Unmasked on our PVR which was taking up hard disc space. Started on Saturday – finished this evening. Good timing as season 3 is starting next week on BBC2 (we’ve just freeview – no Sky!).

Mobile. Done a few searches on various mobile cash back sites and the consensus is that my old mobile is worth nothing. :rotfl: Will just have to recycle ethically. Also valued “new” (well yes new to me – know it’s not a hot of the production line model) mobile and that came up at a massive 2.38.

Car service. Done last Thursday and very happy with company plus service received. Total cost was as follows:

Oil and old oil disposal charge – 34.70
Filters (oil, air, fuel) – 26.00
Motor / diesel flush – 22.00
Odds ‘n’ sods – 4.10
Labour – 65.00
Total = 151.80

Suspect this would have cost much more via a main dealer. When I’ve used main dealer in the past, the first question was always - what time do you want the car back. Here it was – are you aware of any problems with the car and is there any area in particular you want us to pay special attention to.

Company belongs to the good garage scheme too. Seemed more interested in what I had to say, rather than just get car in and our and take the money. A small company – I was dealing with the owner. Would I use them again – yes, I think I would.

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