Future Me & the Rabbit Hutch House

Peaches113

So in the midst of that mid month no money coming in wilderness, counting down the days till payday. I've fallen into the classic MFW/DFW starting the journey over zealousness. Managed to squeeze an extra £85 in mortgage OPs since I last updated. Spent literal hours staring at YNAB moving pennies and checking goals but now only I have £13 for food shopping until 29th But! have meal planned for this week and sure I can live on pasta if necessary next week. I'm well practised in eating the same thing every night (the problem is that those meals usually revolve around cheese, not good for the waist line!) So that means so far this month I've managed to hit £210 overpayments which is my best single month yet. From next month I've scheduled £200 OP's and £100 into savings. Ideally I'd like to put an extra £100 into savings and £50 into OP's so will use that as my goal. One thing I've seen from reading these diaries is that a stretch target pushes motivation so I'm hoping this will be the case for me! But if I can hit this goal I can get under £120k and £10k savings by remortgage in 2 years which feels like a pretty good place to aim for. 
In other news spent what felt like a full day yesterday trying to put up a SHELF. Ergh. I hate DIY. To make matters worse it is the smallest shelf in the world (but the one pot and one plant that fit on it do look nice ) I think it took me so long because I kept having to take 10 minute time outs on the sofa when the frustration became too much! I think at one point I actually stamped my feet...

South_coast

Ooh, I am very impressed with your shelf-putting-up 😀 I don't think I would trust myself wielding a drill!

Well done on the OP's too, I've just siphoned off an extra £2.63, so can relate to the need to squeeze every penny 😂!

longway2go

This time of the month sends my mind into overdrive of the possibilities and options. The other day I had a proper toddler tantrum banging my legs on the sofa, sometimes it's a must to stay sane... She says lol

Peaches113

The drilling was the easy bit, it’s the screwing that’s hard 😂😂

South_coast

* restrains self from making a "Carry On" style comment....*

kaycastle

You're doing really well - really enjoyed reading your thread. 
You mentioned being interested in a OH to have more money to pay bills I think I'd be the same if I was single. But have you thought about getting a lodger? If you have the space and are comfortable with it that could be a handy addition for OPs and savings

[Deleted User]

Popped in to cheer you on! 😉 I  can completely empathise with being impatient and the quandary of Op's vs. EF - I struggled with the same things! 🙈
Our situations are different as I had dh's income too (not necessarily his support though which threw up its own challenges 😉) - I also had a number of children, dogs, long periods of one income etc and getting rid of the mortgage and getting internal renovations done took around 10 years from when I first decided to do it! 
I don't think that there is any 'right' way to do it - the best option is to be honest about what makes you comfortable (I never had more than 1 months EF - still don't as I'm still sorting the external renovations! 😂) and being flexible. In the times of 1 income/lots of kids/other things taking priority, I found that even if it was just a couple of quid I would still make an OP.....tilly tidies (taking the odd few pence/quid from your bank balance to round it down and putting it to the mortgage) were a real bonus as I did them weekly so felt I was always making some progress; I set budgets for my variable expenses (mainly groceries and fuel) and set mini-challenges for myself to come under them and pay the surplus to the OP - however long the road is, every op really does make a difference 😁 
Anyway, I'll stop rambling now!! 😂😂 Good luck with your journey and I'll be cheering you on!! 🙌

Thick_n_Thin

Well done on squeezing out another overpayment, the middle of the month blues are awful.. once that initial overpayment has been made it’s torture waiting for the next opportunity to make another payment! Well done on putting your shelf up! Impressive! 

Peaches113

kaycastle said:

You're doing really well - really enjoyed reading your thread. 
You mentioned being interested in a OH to have more money to pay bills I think I'd be the same if I was single. But have you thought about getting a lodger? If you have the space and are comfortable with it that could be a handy addition for OPs and savings

I had thought of a lodger whilst looking at houses but having lived on my own now I don't think I could give it up. Plus the rabbit hutch doesn't leave much space for another person, it really is quite compact! But I have started investigations into whether I could rent out my garage as storage, saw a company called St@shbee off a service a bit like sp@reroom.com where people can find available storage space near them. However first I would have to empty said garage of all the stuff my whole family have stored in there. I think I have a single box in there the rest is taken up by parents and siblings storing their stuff! I've started making a few noises about people getting their stuff so give me oh 1-2 years and maybe it'll get cleared That's another reason I couldn't have a lodger, if I hated them I wouldn't be able to tell them to move out, am not good at the whole confrontation thing.
I have got myself back on prolific and it's being quite lucrative (for prolific!) at the moment. Lots of £1+ surveys so I have £7 odd cashed out which will go to an OP. Mortgage is currently ending in £15 which I would like to get to 00 before next payment but will have to be creative as have already cut this months budgets to the bone. So £8 to find by next Friday, easy peasy

Sistergold

Peaches113 said:

kaycastle said:

You're doing really well - really enjoyed reading your thread. 
You mentioned being interested in a OH to have more money to pay bills I think I'd be the same if I was single. But have you thought about getting a lodger? If you have the space and are comfortable with it that could be a handy addition for OPs and savings

I had thought of a lodger whilst looking at houses but having lived on my own now I don't think I could give it up. Plus the rabbit hutch doesn't leave much space for another person, it really is quite compact! But I have started investigations into whether I could rent out my garage as storage, saw a company called St@shbee off a service a bit like sp@reroom.com where people can find available storage space near them. However first I would have to empty said garage of all the stuff my whole family have stored in there. I think I have a single box in there the rest is taken up by parents and siblings storing their stuff! I've started making a few noises about people getting their stuff so give me oh 1-2 years and maybe it'll get cleared That's another reason I couldn't have a lodger, if I hated them I wouldn't be able to tell them to move out, am not good at the whole confrontation thing.
I have got myself back on prolific and it's being quite lucrative (for prolific!) at the moment. Lots of £1+ surveys so I have £7 odd cashed out which will go to an OP. Mortgage is currently ending in £15 which I would like to get to 00 before next payment but will have to be creative as have already cut this months budgets to the bone. So £8 to find by next Friday, easy peasy

Hey there
Welldone you! 
00 at end of balance is the best “high” I have had and I think I will do it very often! 

Xx