SLLM (Single Lady Large Mortgage)

becksport

Accountant_Kerry said:

Hi, 
Some absolutely amazing stories on this thread and really inspiring. 
I share custody of 1 DD 50/50 with her Dad so neither of us pay the other maintenance.
I am in total awe of how much people must 'earn' in one way or another. How do you do it? 
is it extra jobs, massive salaries etc? x

I didn't receive much maintenance and it was only paid when he felt like it so I never relied on it and I certainly haven't got a massive salary but I did the following:

Used cashback sites - TCB/Quidco etc - buy everything through the sites and took advantage of the bingo offers etc (do no put anymore money in than required). I have earn't more than £13,000 through these 2 sites.

Did bank switches - never switch your everyday account - open token accounts and use those. You could make a few thousand by doing this.

Took out life insurance offers - buy a life insurance policy for £5 a month, pay 3 months and get a £100+ voucher etc, receive voucher and cancel direct debit. No effect on credit score etc. I used these vouchers for presents etc.

Use food shopping cashback apps - Checkoutsmart/Clicksnap etc. Buy products and get the money refunded, usually a full refund or a percentage.

Do surveys - Onepoll, Pinecone etc. Market research and mystery shopping,

Ebay - sell anything you don't need or buy items cheap to sell on for a profit. Be careful not to be classed as a business though.

Use Tesco Clubcard vouchers for days out, cinema, restaurants etc. I bought things when Clubcard points offers were on that product and made more than I paid.

Do not stay loyal to one supermarket - I buy the product from where ever is cheaper, This may not be as easy for the people that work full time. It was easier when Asda did the APG and Tesco did the Brand match so you could target your shop but they no longer exist.

I also check my bank every single day and know exactly where every penny is spent. I don't buy coffee's or lunches out etc as they seriously mount up. If you know how much money you have and are organised then things are so much easier.

Hope this helps.

Accountant_Kerry

Thanks both. 

I could certainly be better on the money saving front but I am pretty good. Shop at Aldi, buy lots of second hand things as I’m a bit of an environmentalist.   

I work full time and primarily from home even before the pandemic so don’t have a lot of travel expenses or lunches etc. But I don’t look at extra ways to earn money although I’m pretty minimalist so do sell stuff I don’t need regularly on fb mainly these days. 

I’m working to pay off my current mortgage which sits at 79k at the moment and then will be looking for a £250k mortgage to buy my next home which is in the south east probably Hertfordshire, I want a 3/4 bed, semi detached or detached with a good sized garden. 

Sistergold

Accountant_Kerry said:

. I’m working to pay off my current mortgage which sits at 79k at the moment and then will be looking for a £250k mortgage to buy my next home which is in the south east probably Hertfordshire, I want a 3/4 bed, semi detached or detached with a good sized garden. 

You have a good plan going there! Really exciting looking up properties for sale! 

Sistergold

@becksport
you had a lot going on to generate income welldone!  

Sistergold

Reflections for today 
The financial squeeze.
It was truly a lovely weekend with lots of sun and just bits of little rain here and there. The rains over last week helped the garden but I still had to water the flowers yesterday as it looked dry still. 

From last month I started the financial squeeze. As I mentioned before I don’t really budget and could not really tell you now how much I spend on what. All I know is I can not say I am very wasteful but I must confess I do waste I should suspect? Otherwise why don’t I budget? Is it just I can not be bothered, don’t want to know the true reality of my wastage, don’t know how to budget or all of the above who knows?

Anyway even with all that I now want to waste a bit less and instead of worrying about a budget for now I just decided to make myself “broke” every payday and so far it has worked. 

When money comes I have now not been leaving money in my current account. I straight away send it either to savings or OPs, and I have now assigned one of my accounts for all my grocery money and and entertainment money. This month though I think I over did it or did I? I now find that in my main account I will be overdrawn by about £600 by next pay day. The whole plan is that I can not or will not be topping up my account from saved money so it means I have to let my account be overdrawn and when payday comes that will cover the overdraft. At the moment the bank is not charging any interest on upto £500 arranged overdraft.

This system of operating my bank accounts is really helping me spend less as I am finding that because I am so committed now to OP I genuinely don’t keep topping up my regular account and once there is no money I just don’t spend. This month I have had to tell the children a few times that we can not do something as I don’t have money. I am now thinking about each spend rather than just buying it. 

The reason why I am overdrawn is I made that extra £1k OP which was not planned for but I just wanted to go through the process so that I see how the bank handles it and how it affect my mortgage. So I am now waiting to get the OP paperwork and see how the mortgage payment will have gone down. 

Due to this change in my handling of my finances I decided that I can afford to, from next month, increase my OPs to £400 per month as direct debit to go with mortgage and also have now increased the weekly standing order from £85 to £115. This will mean I will OP £850 one month and £975 another month depending on how many weeks in that month. 

I feel like adhock OPs will be good but am afraid that one day I could get distracted and go without doing it and so I have set the above so that at least that much is going out. I am also hoping that I might just manage to psychologically get used to this OP as a regular expense and it will naturally reduce what I think I have to spend on other things. 

With all the above financial management I have also been able to save an extra £3000 a month from last month. I now save before I do anything else rather than spend for the month then see how much there is to save. I did have standing orders already for savings and those will just continue. 

I am hoping that from next month I will be able to trick the financial squeeze strategy so that I it works better as I don’t want to leave nothing at all for me to spend as now lockdown is lifting and there should be a bit more to go out and do and also I can not be denying myself and the children the way I have done for these two months. It was nice though being disciplined and sticking to the plan. But all savings and no spend make life a big too struck!

Let’s drink 🍸 🍷 to a more financially organised future, a future marked with Overpayments and Good Savings! 

Sistergold

Hey ladies
How are you all? I hope you are all doing well with sorting out emergency funds and OPs? 

Mortgage came out yesterday! Balance moved from £472225 to £468848, yeee 🧚🏾‍♀️👯‍♀️🥳!  So now moved from the four seventies to the four sixties! Well have done my little dance and looking forward to four fifties! 

Happy days for sure! 

HelloB

@Sistergold Congratulations! That's definitely worthy of a celebration!

I thought I had hit submit on a response typed up, clearly I hadn't.

To sum, I'm learning so much from you and other ladies. 

Accountant_Kerry

@Sistergold Excellent news.

Sandyra

Great stuff! 👍🏽

Sistergold

@HelloB
@Accountant_Kerry
@Sandyra

thank you ladies
🤹‍♀️