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Future Proofing my life: Deposit saving then MFW journey in under 13 years
Comments
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I'm starting to think being a brand ambassador for YNAB is LaPlan's side hustle, she mentions it so much and in so many places 🤣!Mortgage start: £65,495 (March 2016)
Cleared 🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️!!! In 5 years, 1 month and 29 days
Total amount repaid: £72,307.03. £1.10 repaid for every £1.00 borrowed
Finally earning interest instead of paying it!!!10 -
Well done in getting through 3 plus years of a mfw diary and yet still not bought ! Hope it was not too dull .....debtfreewannabe321 said:Morning @LadyWithAPlan I have read through your diary over the last week. I was holding my breath hoping you'd found your new home this morning as I got to the house viewing....sorry it didn't come through but like yourself I believe that there is the right one out there for you, perhaps it's not ready yet....
Your talk of YNAB is making me want to sign up and try it again, perhaps now I am more focused it might be worth trying one last time
I moved out of London so I could afford to live comfortably and buy a home, so I totally get you wanting to perhaps underbuy and go smaller to keep the mortgage do-able. I think looking at 1 & 2 beds is a good idea.
Now I'm all caught up with you I will pop in to cheer on the flat hunting and money saving ventures
DFW321 
I am getting my Mortgage in principal next week - I could borrow far more than I plan to - I just need the discipline to not overspend on a home - and get carried away - ultimately a bigger home is just consumption.. it’s just me - but I know I need a large balcony or better a garden whilst also being easily connected in London.
I had a fabulous old skool night out in Soho last night - saw lots of friends - wandered back and forth between a few private members clubs - every time I turned around I saw someone I knew - I love Soho, I love London - I always want the option of being able to be part of her vibe. Could have carried on til much later - friends ended up in Gerry’s but you know it’s gonna get crazy when that’s where you go .. so I got on the bus home
I am actually shocked at how much YNAB has got me focused - given I have done monthly budgets for decades plus has virtual saving pots and sheets ! The missing links is the accountability, the dashboard and up to date correct picture of where one is mid month etc and it uses cc in a way that makes it v clear its debt
I now spend maybe 1 min a day checking it plus the beg of the month recon and decisions ..and I love when I get income in so I can assign it.
Watching the Nick True on YT video helps and I even set my YNAB up step by step whilst watching his beginners guide 2022 so no thought required - there is a 34 day trial so i suggest you start on the 30th of a month
I have my SIPP and House savings as tracking accounts - but I can look now and see on the dashboard all my pots and where I am under /over goals .. plus seeing how much money is in my tax accts and next months money.DON'T BUY STUFF (from Frugalwoods)
No seriously, just don’t buy things. 99% of our success with our savings rate is attributed to the fact that we don’t buy things... You can and should take advantage of discounts.... But at the end of the day, the only way to truly save money is to not buy stuff. Money doesn’t walk out of your wallet on its own accord.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6289577/future-proofing-my-life-deposit-saving-then-mfw-journey-in-under-13-years#latest6 -
Oh I love your account of your night out, it's times like those that really bring it home (literally) why it can be worth paying the premium of living in London
Preferably not this much of a premium though 😂https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6466032/an-in-between-phase
Books read 2025: 59
Hey! Use my code GW7II3 on Eureka Surveys and unlock a short 80p survey just for signing up! https://eurekasurveys.page.link/do9nSyy8u4nikx6r64 -
Glad you enjoyed your night out.Achieve FIRE/Mortgage Neutrality in 2030
1) MFW Nov 21 £202K now £171.8K Equity 36.37%
2) £2.6K Net savings after CCs 10/10/25
3) Mortgage neutral by 06/30 (AVC £27.9K + Lump Sums DB £4.6K + (25% of SIPP 1.25K) = 34/£127.5K target 26.6% 10/10/25
(If took bigger lump sum = 60.35K or 47.6%)
4) FI Age 60 income target £17.1/30K 57% (if mortgage and debts repaid - need more otherwise) (If bigger lump sum £15.8/30K 52.67%)
5) SIPP £5K updated 10/10/253 -
😂😂 madness how much indeed I see it’s helping me track and be aware .. given I always budgeted - but rarely did I bother taking time to review my monthly spending - whereas YNAB makes it effortlessSouth_coast said:I'm starting to think being a brand ambassador for YNAB is LaPlan's side hustle, she mentions it so much and in so many places 🤣!
Nope I was bought loads of drinks by various friends - only spent £13 plus tube out bus backPennysIntoPounds said:Oh I love your account of your night out, it's times like those that really bring it home (literally) why it can be worth paying the premium of living in London
Preferably not this much of a premium though 😂
I tried to spend more but buying more drinks always failed as in they insisted etc
@savingholmes. Tx hope your packing id going wellNSD yesterday so think that’s 12/13 !DON'T BUY STUFF (from Frugalwoods)
No seriously, just don’t buy things. 99% of our success with our savings rate is attributed to the fact that we don’t buy things... You can and should take advantage of discounts.... But at the end of the day, the only way to truly save money is to not buy stuff. Money doesn’t walk out of your wallet on its own accord.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6289577/future-proofing-my-life-deposit-saving-then-mfw-journey-in-under-13-years#latest7 -
NSD 12 out of 13?! Awesome 🤩 👏 You were struggling with these not that long ago - you have moved so far in such a short time 😊
Glad you had a good time 😊
KKAs at 15.10.25:
- When bought house £315,995 mortgage debt and end date at start = October 2039 - now £229,702
- OPs to mortgage = £12,345 Estd. interest saved = £5,863 to date
Fixed rate 3.85% ends October 2030
Read 59books of target 52 in 2025, as @ 18th October
Produce tracker: £426 of £300 in 2025
Watch your thoughts, they become your words.
Watch your words, they become your actions.Watch your actions, they become your reality.4 -
Huge congrats on the NSDs.
Packing is going slowly but it's going. Not huge amounts left to do - but motivation has unfortunately dropped accordingly. DD just returned her key - and took a box of medical info I'd collected for her.Achieve FIRE/Mortgage Neutrality in 2030
1) MFW Nov 21 £202K now £171.8K Equity 36.37%
2) £2.6K Net savings after CCs 10/10/25
3) Mortgage neutral by 06/30 (AVC £27.9K + Lump Sums DB £4.6K + (25% of SIPP 1.25K) = 34/£127.5K target 26.6% 10/10/25
(If took bigger lump sum = 60.35K or 47.6%)
4) FI Age 60 income target £17.1/30K 57% (if mortgage and debts repaid - need more otherwise) (If bigger lump sum £15.8/30K 52.67%)
5) SIPP £5K updated 10/10/255 -
Hey lady
How goes it?...you have seen somewhere that might be an option in very north London?
Soho is the liteal business. But i did like being able ti walk home when I was in Brighton and having a night out.
First Pint or 2 as a Burtonian, beer is half the price!Signiture dated 23/09/2025
3-month emergency fund (Cash ISA and PBonds): £5,382/ + £1,500 = £6,882 /£7,500 (Target 1)
Stocks and shares ISA: £2,232.94
Additional pension contributions £0 (target £450pcm)
Overpayment on mortgage: 1% at a time (£1,518)
Big Renno...and appliances. Front of the house, fridge freezer, dishwasher and washing machine)5 -
@DrCarrie how are you enjoying the new home? Are you nearly unpacked yet ? I can imagine loving the cheaper col !@KajiKita @savingholmes swinging in with a NSD yesterday 13/13
I did pay (but not counting essential travel re nsd) for travel tube return as saw friend yesterday and helped him with his taxes - he had more of a mess than I thought possible - he had done things to the software I don’t know you could do !! Had to delete, add in new and resort every invoice plus most expenses .. still a great friend and I don’t get stressed - I like fixing maths puzzles (I realise I am weird)
I am not a chartered acct nor do I ‘do’ accountancy as a job - though I easily could but it’s not my LaPlan life plan - though I am actually quite looking to file my own ltd company accts now I am clear with the balance sheet - knowledge is power
he had provided crisps and coffee whilst we worked and then we had 2 drinks out which he insisted on buying for my help - I could have got a cab/uber home as gone 10pm but it was £13 and it was a cold but dry night so tubed it and didn’t pop into Sainsbury’s as I passed it
I think the YNAB 2 lazari alarm that goes off every time I spend money in YNAB is v helpful
- saying 3 lazari as it’s all budgeted for vs a 25 lazari one when I overspend a category (GO ref)
just £14.03 in my January grocery and £25 in bulk left - I could survive on freezer stuff but I do want to buy a FR chicken from Lidl which will also get me up and beyond spending £7 to the free coupon
feeling like a roast then a chicken curry and soup is what’s needed
want to get back to have hm soup on the stove - I normally batch freeze most of it
Today I want to complete and file my SE taxes, and close my lLTD company ones, help on taxes for a family members today, chanting plus need to do some billable work and pop to gym first so a busy Sunday
happy Sunday allDON'T BUY STUFF (from Frugalwoods)
No seriously, just don’t buy things. 99% of our success with our savings rate is attributed to the fact that we don’t buy things... You can and should take advantage of discounts.... But at the end of the day, the only way to truly save money is to not buy stuff. Money doesn’t walk out of your wallet on its own accord.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6289577/future-proofing-my-life-deposit-saving-then-mfw-journey-in-under-13-years#latest9 -
Nearly unpacked. Pretty exhausted today, Binge watched Queereye!Signiture dated 23/09/2025
3-month emergency fund (Cash ISA and PBonds): £5,382/ + £1,500 = £6,882 /£7,500 (Target 1)
Stocks and shares ISA: £2,232.94
Additional pension contributions £0 (target £450pcm)
Overpayment on mortgage: 1% at a time (£1,518)
Big Renno...and appliances. Front of the house, fridge freezer, dishwasher and washing machine)5
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