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Merchandiser2367

Betterthanever wrote: »

The other benefit of batched cooking from scratch is that you know exactly what is in it. I wouldn't return to jars, and I can vouch for the fact that it works out cheaper.

Things like shepherd's pie, chili's, stuffed peppers, spaghetti Bolognese......all done from the same base of one massive pot of mince/tomato/onion base....then portion off and add the extra bits that are specific to that particular dish eg chili, garlic, peppers, potatoes, kidney beans etc.

Thanks for this, I'll have to put it on our to do list and compare to what we normally spend. I know it will also be healthier as you mention so is another reason to try it

Merchandiser2367

Afternoon All

Been a little while since I posted but everything is ticking over, well mostly!

My action plan of new current accounts for switching and high interest savings accounts are still on hold until I have the new mortgage confirmation in my hand. It has all pretty much gone through, we have signed the physical document and sent back, just waiting for the 100% green light, better safe than sorry by affecting my credit rating in case it is needed!

Bit of bad news that my wife's department at work has been affected by redundancy announcements. It only seems to be middle management currently but could affect her level at some point so there is a bit of uncertainty there that is never great but that is exactly why we saved the £10,000 emergency fund I guess! We are going to continue with our overpayment plan unless we hear something in the future that does affect her.

Some good news, we made our first over payment of £380 yesterday! Whoop! Less than originally thought but needed to get the emergency fund to the £10,000 level, we also spent quite a bit on xmas decorations this year as our daughter has turned 3 and want to have some half decent ones we can add to each year now Hoping to overpay around £1850 next month and continue at around that level for as long as possible.

The matched betting seems to be going ok as well.....a lot to take in at first but slowly getting my head round it all. With anything that is new, takes a while to get used to all the different aspects and terminology etc + it needs to be tracked 100% all the time as very easy to get lost with what bets are on and where, what balance you have at certain bookies etc but I think it will get easier with time once i'm into a proper routine and actions are second nature rather than having to think about each and every action as totally new to it all. If I can make £100 profit a week, I'd be very happy with this.

Anyway, hope everyone on MFW is doing good and smashing that mortgage!

greent

Great news re first OP! - fab start

Merchandiser2367

greent wrote: »

Great news re first OP! - fab start

Thanks GT, APPRECIATED!! :j

Betterthanever

It's all looking mighty fine from here!!

Merchandiser2367

Afternoon all,

It's been a while since I last posted and a few ups and downs!! Was made redundant just before Xmas so was a bit of a black cloud hanging over the Xmas period which was not great but we still had a good one.

All the time it was in the back of my mind......if I am out of work for 'X' number of months.....will delay the mortgage free end date!!

But luckily have managed to find a new job on nearly same wage so all is ok - also no gap in employment so end date not affected as yet

Good news on the mortgage front, we have over paid roughly £6k since November 1st when we got our new 5 year fix so we are going stongly even with the job issues.

Hope everyone else's MF journey's are also going well

Merchandiser2367

OP of £1251 today! With a further £450 end of month, that will be it till end of next month. Slightly under our £1900 monthly OP target but booked 2 holidays this month (Butlins and haven from the Sun) so was always going to be a bit down but got 2 great little holidays to look forward to now which we saved loads on than If we booked direct

Took us 4 years to pay off £23,000 of the mortgage....started overpaying in November 2017 and will have paid off almost £10,000 in 3 months!!!! Is amazing what you can do when you focus in something!!!

Merchandiser2367

Sold a couple of things on eBay today, extra £60 paid off the mortgage. Also made around £40 from matched betting over last couple of days, also paid on the mortgage.

Keep chipping away here and there, currently at £136, 850, happy with the progression so far.

Some times I think if it is worth living on such a tight budget when we could be comfortable withnpaing the mortgage but I have to remind myself of financial freedom and all the extra things we can do with no mortgage payments. We have been budgeting pretty tightly since when we started saving for our house 10 years ago.....so when we get the mortgage paid off.....we Will be able to spend money without having to save/budget/plan!!!

I can't wait.

angelicious

Hi Merchandiser

Just wanted to pop in and say hello:. You're doing brilliantly, £10,000 in 3 months is AMAZING:T!!! We've a bit more to pay off than you and we're hoping to do it in 7 years.

Best of luck on the rest of your journey xx

Merchandiser2367

angelicious wrote: »

Hi Merchandiser

Just wanted to pop in and say hello:. You're doing brilliantly, £10,000 in 3 months is AMAZING:T!!! We've a bit more to pay off than you and we're hoping to do it in 7 years.

Best of luck on the rest of your journey xx

Hi Angelicious!

Thanks for commenting! Not many people do as my journey is so boring!! lol

Making OP's does become a bit of an addiction......we planned to do around £900 a month OP but we just kept playing with the OP calculator on MSE and said to ourselves....'imagine paying it off in 3 1/2 - 4 years'! And then we thought, lets do it!

We keep all in-goings and out-goings on a spreadsheet as do a lot of people on here and then looked where we could make savings across the board........fingers crossed, we will get there on schedule!

Good on you for starting your journey! It does seem very daunting at first but once you get going and you see the mortgage decreasing.....it spurs you on!!


Good luck, i'll be keeping an eye on your diary to see how your getting on!!