13 coronacoaster weeks to Christmas 26 September 2020 at 3:14PM edited 25 October 2020 at 10:59AM in Mortgage-free wannabe 30 replies 1.6K views

ruby_eskimo

Love the sound of a symmetrical challenge and all seem to be achievable before Christmas really.  Here to cheer you on and see how you do.

birdofpassage

Thanks, you're right, most are achievable, but the only weak area is spending... impulse buying is one of my sins. As long as it doesn't happen too often, I should be fine! Logged in this morning as I'm feeling a bit down and energy-less, not sure why. It rained in the morning and I didn't go for a run, but should be able to do it at lunch or after work. Working from home all days can be so dull, especially when there aren't many calls. 

ruby_eskimo

Spending is my weak area too.  I just think "oh I have this extra money and I've been wanting this thing for a while and it will make my life so much easier / happier" and then off I go placing an order.  Have been gradually reducing the spending and hoping to have 20 no spend days in October at least.  I've almost bought all my Christmas presents so I have no excuse now   Hope you can get out for a run this evening, I've been going for a walk everyday after work whether it's rain or shine because I just need that time on my own to decompress after the day.

birdofpassage

Just logged in to say I'm really busy and I'm doing so-so... overpaid the mortgage and increased savings and probably lost 1-2 lbs (weigh in day is Saturday). All good there. However, I am not running enough (and no... rain isn't an excuse!) and I already overspent this week's allowance, as we ended up eating out last night. I need 2-3 NSD days now, that shouldn't be hard - groceries already bought and we are staying in this weekend. Apart from running and tennis, that is . Signature updated. 

bigbeff

Well done on the mortgage overpayment I have put £300 on CC... and £30 on mortgage! Probably lost nothing not being very good on diet front. Ran 10k though... so a start!

birdofpassage

@bigbeff 10K, that's great! I can only do 5K at a time

Today wasn't too shabby. Sold a desk on ebay and made £40 (less the ebay fees, no idea how much those are). Bought a dressing table for £20. My cafetiere broke this morning so I had to buy a replacement beaker for £9. And I won £25 in premium bonds for the first time since June (when I decided to move the savings to PBs). 

Weigh-in day tomorrow, I doubt I lost more than 2lbs, if that. 

bigbeff

You are keeping me on the straight and narrow at the moment with regards to money challenges, weight on the other hand, not so good!  
I'm in two minds where to squirrel away my odds - I bought some stuff to make soap and mum gave me half back because she'll be doing it too. I'd already spent it so need to put £20 somewhere (CC is at £3500 on 0% for another 18months i think, mortgage obviously has interest) question is I'll be saving money on mortgage in long run, but am I better off working at CC? Already putting at least £300 on that a month.... decisions decisions. Would I feel better once CC is gone? 

birdofpassage

I definitely felt better when my CC debt was gone and that is the biggest challenge I guess for me... keep CC debt at £0. I don't like CC debt, I really am stressed when I have any debt and the mortgage is more than enough, but that's just me. Hope you get to a good decision

Forgot to log in yesterday to update my weight, but I did lose 2lbs, so not too shabby (although, it might be the immediate effect of reducing sugar and carbs... ). On the running front, I am NOT doing well as I can't bring myself to run in the rain and yesterday afternoon I could have done 5k but didn't. My tennis got cancelled today and so I am quite annoyed and grumpy now

birdofpassage

Not much to report - well, apart from the fact that I'm spending too much on food/takeaways/eating out! Not good at all. Ran 5k today, but I'm a bit behind on running, need to do another 10K this week to get back on track. Lacking motivation, with this weather! Signature updated. 

I've been looking at my mortgage amortization spreadsheet, trying to figure out how/whether I can shave off a couple more years off the mortgage. There are 22 years and 8 months left on it, officially, but with the current level of monthly overpayments that's down to to 16+ years. Still too many years! I would like it to be more like 10 years. I'm not disciplined enough though, I spend too much and I don't properly budget - apart from my bills and committed expenses, which are listed on an Excel sheet. I need to look into budgeting tools... perhaps Money Dashboard or Emma or YNAB. YNAB sounds the best, although it seems a bit dated as it's all manual inputs. 

@bigbeff @ruby_eskimo @kaycastle @Ponylover how are you getting on? 

bigbeff

I'm not getting on bad thanks. Not great in the weight loss world, however I did go for a run yesterday - 10k through mud and fields, an encounter with an angry herd of cows and a couple of beautiful horses  
I also went christmas shopping and ended up buying myself a winter coat - a bargain, reduced to £90 from £150 and then I managed to blag another 15% off so £76.50 for a lovely warm winter coat, originally priced at nearly double that! 
So saving is not going as well as planned either  but start again today!
Good work on your 2lb!