Plan B to being mortgage free

jenni_fer

BravingSaving said:

we're at the 'wait for Santa's letter' which slows me down a little!

We're at the hope they don't change their mind stage!    I've found having the money to one side has helped so much this year though.

Good Luck!

BravingSaving

Whilst in lockdown I opened a savings account for any cashback/lottery winnings/bank reward money to go into. I've checked the balance today and there's over £600 in there  this is all money that usually would go into the current account and get spent without thinking and usually we'd have nothing to show for it. 

birdofpassage

BravingSaving said:

Whilst in lockdown I opened a savings account for any cashback/lottery winnings/bank reward money to go into. I've checked the balance today and there's over £600 in there  this is all money that usually would go into the current account and get spent without thinking and usually we'd have nothing to show for it. 

That is such a great idea! I might borrow it

BravingSaving

@birdofpassage go for it! We're just in the process of changing gas and electric suppliers to any amount owed to the old supplier will be getting paid out of this money as well so it feels like free money (kind of )

BravingSaving

I'm not quite sure where the last few weeks have gone. 

The food budget is still a struggle last month we went over by £15 so I'm counting that as a win. This month can still go either way!  

The mortgage went down to £93,100.66 so I took money out of the cashback savings to pay the £100.66 off. Seeing £93,000.00 is so lovely.

Work has gone fairly quiet so theres some gentle belt tightening happening- taking lunches to work and having cost effective treats at home etc. Our current favourites are some simple dumplings made without a packet mix and a microwave sponge pudding 😂 I've not worked out just how much they cost per portion but its definitely a lot cheaper than pudding a cake from the shops. 

Weight loss is still going well up to 10.6kg lost so just over half way to my first target.

BravingSaving

Still all quiet on the money front here waiting for pay day next week. I opened a Free Trade general investment account today so now have fractional shares in some big companies 

Child 2 is having to isolate due to the class bubble popping so we're currently home schooling again until the end of next week - not ideal as I've just started a micro credential course with OU but certainly a lot easier than the beginning of the year.

The food budget is spiralling again, since changing to getting it delivered I keep forgetting to add items or not taking into account that it needs to be a week in advanced when I do the ordering. I'll get there eventually just have to find something that works for us. 

Christmas presents are all bought (with the exception of one) just need wrapping now, not looking forward to that! 

BravingSaving

We made a decision about the food budget - we're struggling to stay under it every month, so have decided its unrealistic as we're currently having shopping delivered. Going to the better value supermarkets would save money but at the moment we really like having it delivered; so we've upped it to £600 a month - hopefully we'll either now be able to stay under it or at least have plenty of food in. Three kids at home more frequently has left the cupboards bare on more than one occasion!  Next year when life is (hopefully) a bit more back to normal we might get back to doing the shops ourselves but for now its worth the cost. And, at least if its budgeted for I don't feel like I've failed every month! 

ruby_eskimo

I think we're all just trying to get through this year so relaxing the budget a little bit means you aren't stressing as much then that's a good thing.  My parents usually shop in Aldi but obviously can't get delivery from there and don't want to risk going out so are getting a mixture of deliveries from Iceland, Morrisons and a local farm shop.  It does mean that they're food spend has gone up but they know it's just temporary and are ok with that.

BravingSaving

Its the year for doing whatever we need to just to get through it. I do miss going to Aldi but not enough to go shopping 

BravingSaving

Doesn't time pass quickly - I knew I'd not posted for a while but didn't realise the last time was November. Like everyone else we've had so much going on - school bubbles popping, the youngest being able to go to school then having his place revoked, Christmas, completing an OU micro credential, eating too much, trying to exercise more etc etc.

The £600 shopping budget is working out much better for us. This month is only a 4 shop month so hopefully we'll have a nice lump left over to transfer into a savings account.

I've paid £8.30 to the mortgage today which takes it to a very nice £91,990.00 - I'm very tempted to do another £90 but due to work being extremely quiet I'm trying to maximise the cash we have in the bank until things pick up.

OH and I were talking the other day about me potentially finding a part time job elsewhere just so we have more than one source of income, then the next day I received an email from a charity group, which I have a member of since DS got his autism diagnosis, with three vacancies at their office which is a 20 minute walk from home. So long story short I've applied for a part time term time job - the closing date for applications is this Friday so I'm hoping to hear back from them early next week. Quite nervous at the prospect of my first interview in over 8 years! 

I'm trying to get £50 from cashback sites/surveys site each month - so far I'm at £21.66 for January.  My thinking is the £600 will pretty much cover our Christmas, go towards a small holiday or something of that nature - a free treat essentially. 

I gained about 1.5kg over Christmas which I can live with as we had lots of treats. Weighed in on Sunday and I'd lost 0.5kg so pleased with that as I'm now at home with all 3 children doing our best with home schooling, trying to get some fresh air everyday and not letting the house look like a complete dump. 

Hope everyone's keeping safe and well!