Plan B to being mortgage free

Tahlullah.H

Yes, I kept my £5.00.  Really pleased with myself.  Wage into the bank and the money shuffle done.

BravingSaving

I think nearly everyone's plans have changed due to covid. 

I know I feel fortunate that we're able to make an alternative plan and still eventually get to where we want to be  - as long as work continues to come in we won't have any real problems. If the biggest issue is the mortgage takes the full 26 years to clear its not the end of the world just disappointing.

Just shuffled all the money around and checked the interest rates on the various savings accounts which was shocking! I knew they'd gone down but hadn't really paid attention with everything else that's been going on. Looked to see if there's one worth swapping to and they all seem as bad   with the remortgage coming up in April we don't want to lock anything away not that the rate improves anyway.

DH did well with the shopping anyway - £58.08 there's a top up shop through the week but we should be well within the £100 budget. Now the tricky bit making sure that goes somewhere instead of being swallowed up in to nothingness and having nothing to show for keeping to the budget! 

Have a lovely weekend guys!

ruby_eskimo

Interest rates are shocking at the moment but I was offered a new savings account through one of my current providers which had a 1% interest rate compared to the 0.1% I was getting on the existing savings account I had with them.  Only caveat is you have to pay in at least £50 a month to maintain the rate which is doable on that account.  Might not add up to a lot but it's certainly better than what it was.

BravingSaving

@ruby_eskimo absolutely - I was looking at possibly the same one, the down side was if you made any withdrawals you lost the "good" rate of interest. I should open it regardless and just put the £50 in better to get 1% on something rather than nothing.

Hoping for a few NSD's this week - I managed to get some toiletries yesterday that were on offer so spent £24.74 instead of £33.70 and they should last a few months   The freezers are bursting so MUST do a reverse meal plan at the end of the week so this weeks shop will hopefully be minimal. Although the top up shop is already quite lengthy....

I've re-downloaded a calorie counting app and feeling determined but hungry! (and its only day 2  ) If I can stick to it I should be at my target weight for Christmas though so that's an incentive.

Looking forward to seeing the mortgage payment go out with the OP this week - I always like to record the new slightly lower balance left *small pleasures*

A new bed has just arrived for DS which will be assembled today hopefully without too much swearing! 

BravingSaving

Regular savings account and LISA opened - I don't think I'll be able to pay much into the LISA but I'm getting close to the max age for opening it so its worth doing, right? Then if we don't move to another house we can start paying more into it. 

try_harder

Food is the thing we spend the most on every month of all our bills including the mortgage ..In July we are aiming to cut right back , its going to be difficult but its got to be done as it has crept up and up over the last two or three months as it has for most people I guess

ruby_eskimo

@BravingSaving That's the same thought I had, better to get some interest for a little while than practically nothing at all.  Well done on opening the LISA.  I only opened mine this year but wish I'd done it a while ago to make the most of the government bonus, not that I probably would have been able to max it out before now.

@try_harder I've noticed that I'm not buying any different in the supermarket compared to what I would usually buy and the cost each month has definitely gone up.  Guess it's due to problems in the supply chains having a knock on effect.

BravingSaving

@try_harder food is our biggest spend area and the only area that we can improve on - I shop around for insurance/internet etc yearly. We're off to a good start this month the budget is £100 a week and we've spent £73.77 I've just moved the £26 into a savings account so we can see the benefit at the end of the month.
@ruby_eskimo the account is up and running now and with the first £50 in! When I looked at my budget I realised that I've got just short of £50 budgeted to save up for the kids uniforms each month so when the year is up and its time to buy all three sets everything will coincide nicely hooray! I do love it when a plan comes together - now to keep it up!! 
I've not noticed we're spending more on each shop - but then again its not often we manage to get everything we've put on the list. We've definitely got more of a "make do" attitude over the last few months. Which I'm hoping we'll keep going forward. I certainly do not miss going to the supermarket every day (or nine times in one week earlier this year!!)  

try_harder

£73.77 is brilliant well done ..I am going to do the same I think this month and aim for £100 a week .Over the past weeks we have been spending around £120 up to £150 a week so I am going to try to bring it right down again I love a challenge so lets see how it goes ,love the idea of saving the difference every week if that doesn't motivate me I don't know what will

BravingSaving

This is the first time I've moved the money consciously and its a nice feeling I'd recommend it!