Staying on track to be MF and ready to support my daughter at 18

ElmoR

:TChugging along with mainly NSDs for the most part.
We did have a mini blow out of £15 for some houseplants at the weekend. I potted up a few spider plant babies as well though.
Not much else going on, DD is on her half term break (read - mooching on sofa in PJs) but I'm still busy with work. I am hoping to take Thursday and Friday off though, which is needed after working a 6 day week last week. :eek:
I'm enjoying reading about everyone's days as they start venturing outside and back into the gardening, surely it must mean spring is coming soon :j

ElmoR

Two days annual leave today and yesterday and that has given me a chance to get on top of a few financial jobs.
We had an excellent result on the utilities front :j. Last year our central heating boiler died and we had to have a new one installed, which was fair enough because it was the original boiler that was put in when the house was built and over 20 years old. You have to hope it will be more efficient too. So a big outlay at the time but part of house maintenance. We also took advantage of a free cavity insulation scheme, getting our walls and loft space filled with little grey balls. Still finding them everywhere including the garden though. Just did a leccy and gas meter reading and sent it off to our provider. We have slashed our bill this year (compared to the same period last year) down to 67% (elec) and 62% (gas), wow!! We were hoping for savings, but this is much more that I would have hoped for . Monthly standing direct debit is now reducing by £30 a month too. Not sure it'll make it into overpayments though since the council tax and water bills are going up in our area.
Did a bit of extra work over and above my normal work and earned £170 that has already winged it's way into an O/P.
I'm trying to find another £230 before the end of the month...if I can find it and O/P it then I break a £1000 boundary one month quicker on my spreadsheet...
Setback in that our ancient guinea pig has an eye infection = £30 vet bill plus meds.
Where to find that extra cash...:money:

ElmoR

:eek:crawling to the end of the month and running on air (even the car is running on petrol fumes)...trying not to dip into the savings pot. Just one more day to go...

ElmoR

It's been a short while but nothing newsworthy has been going on. The NSD habit seems embedded now and incidental spending has been cut right back. Most lunches are brought from home. Food no longer builds up in our freezer. Habits hopefully ingrained
DD started Duke of Edin again, so that comes with a hefty cost split over the next 5 months. Forgot about the boiler service this month too. Both will eat into any possible O/Ps at the end of the month but I don't mind too much. Still on track with the MFW2019 challenge, so happy

ElmoR

Another plodding along week without much to report. Still taking packed lunch into work every day and that makes a huge difference to the incidental spending that can trickle away each month.:money:
One bold step that I did take was to close my DDs Child Trust Fund (it was a UK FTSE100 tracker). I had been putting regular payments into there for the past 15 years,starting with the Government payment when she was born, and it has grown really well. But she may want/need that money at 18 and the way the politics and markets are going in this country right now worries me that there might be a stock market tumble and it wont recover in that 3 years. So I took the whole lot out and put it in Cov BS Junior ISA with a rather good interest rate. Now I have peace of mind that it'll still be available in 3 years plus a modest bit of interest on top.
Mortgage is almost under £35K, if I can only find an extra £170 at the end of this month then it will break that boundary, 3 months early. It's my current goal to aim for...:j
Thanks for reading

ElmoR

Well this month went rather well. It helps if you don't have those one off incidentals like dentist, boiler issues, pet trips to vets, school trips that pop up unexpectedly. March seemed to go smoothly in that respect. It meant that I was able to make considerably more O/Ps this month.

With my eye on a target on my mortgage spreadsheet of getting under the £35k boundary, we got there!
Very pleased with our progress in March. Let's hope for a good April...


Thanks for reading, ElmoR

Kat78MFW

Just popping on to say Hi as your reasons for being a MFW are the same as ours. You are about 2yrs on from where we are currently. My DD1 also moved her CTF to the Coventry building society cash JISA. We did it about six months ago. It's good to know that it can't go down in value now. I will continue to follow your diary with interest.

ElmoR

Hi Kat78MFW
Thanks for stopping by and it's good to know there are several of us in the same boat. Sometimes I wonder if we are being overly obsessive about squirreling money away for our DD because I don't know of any other parents doing the same. Maybe they are but don't talk about it?


While I started out a few years ago on another forum group just trying to rein in my spending while adapting to some big changes, this MFW focus has really changed quite a lot of our habits and we are wasting a lot less money now. Wish we'd started a few years ago like you guys!
Does your DD take any interest in finances? Mine just just says 'whatever' in true disinterested teenage fashion. How do we get them to think sensibly about money?! :eek:

Kat78MFW

I think a lot of parents hear about the huge loans that students end up with and think that covers their living costs. I only found out that we would need to spend a considerable amount supporting our girls at uni through listening to Martin.

DD1 is very interested in finances, DD2 not so much yet. We have never given them pocket money but they get plenty for birthdays and Christmas from relatives. They mostly choose to save the money and I have always talked to them about the interest rates on their savings accounts and regular savers. When DD1 was younger and heard about the debts involved with going to uni, it really put her off but we listened to Martin talking about it together and now she definitely hopes to go.

I sometimes wonder whether I talk to the girls too much about finances. I think they have a good understanding of how much things cost, how much we spend on bills, food and mortgage (and on them!) each month. They know that we are trying to pay off the mortgage to help them through uni and then to allow DH to retire early.

My girls are both into maths and like charts and spreadsheets so I sometimes show them what I'm working on. Don't know if that would interest your DD? Have you seen the Martin Lewis money text book that he has published for use in secondary schools? You can download a free pdf version online. Would your DD watch any clips of Martin talking about student finance? He makes it really relevant and accessible.

Kat78MFW

Thanks for subscribing to my diary. I have just subscribed to yours. :beer: