It's a Whopper - need to pay it off!

Grass_Roots_2

Thanks @greenbee some wise advice there.  And you are right salad does weigh very little!  

greenbee

I also have 2 nest thermostats - upstairs goes on first so it's warm when I get up, and then is off most of the day, going on after downstairs has switched off. TBH it rarely goes on in the evening. And in spring/autumn upstairs is switched off while downstairs is on as I'm working from home.

South_coast

Could you take a small wheeled suitcase to work instead of the rucksack? It wouldn't need to be every time, just when you want to move anything heavy

Grass_Roots_2

@South_coast good plan.

Testing out today my new revised MFW commute and spending plan as it’s Tuesday and I’m back in the office.  Taken breakfast and 2 x diet cokes with me in my rucksack.  First Tuesday of every month is our team lunch, but it’s at a very subsidised company club where a fish finger ciabatta is £4.50 so happy to pay that and important to join in the team event.  And finally my cunning plan - I’m picking up a £2.80 Too Good to Go bag from Cafe outside the office at 5.30pm and will put whatever delights I find inside back into the work fridge for lunch tomorrow!   So - aiming to keep those as my spends for today and tomorrow which is a massive improvement. 

QueenJess

Hello, just found your diary.  I also had an enormous mortgage when we bought our house in the very expensive South East 6ish years ago.  Frankly the amount scared me and whilst I had the spare cash (pre children), I paid as much as I could early on as every time we re-fixed it meant the monthly repayments went down.  Fast forward 6 years and we've paid a huge amount of it off and our mortgage is now about £860 a month compared to about £2,200 when we started! 

I definitely feel a lot better about it, although now I'm concentrating on more on emergency funds and upping my pension whilst juggling two very young children.  I realise you are starting in a different position, but just showing you are not the only one with a large mortgage and it is possible to get it down!  My rationale also was that paying more early on saved me more money and in theory as the monthly repayments reduced I could ease off and reassign my cash elsewhere (although life is never that simple!).  For the first couple of years up to the first fix end I threw everything but the kitchen sink at the mortgage to get it down.  It felt a bit of a slog for a while, but then it became normal and suddenly I looked back and realised quite how much we had repaid.

That food bill is terrifying!  I think if you picked out the main issues in that, you could reduce it dramatically.  It would be useful for everyone to eat the same thing.  I have young kids so it isn't the same, but could you maybe agree on a menu each week and then buy based on that?  It might not be everyone has their favourite thing everyday, but there must be enough everyone will eat together?  I think that will reduce the number of shops and the expense pretty fast and then you could reassess if there is anything else you want to amend food wise.

Grass_Roots_2

Thanks @QueenJess for sharing your story.  Very inspiring and gives me motivation to really attack this monster of a mortgage.  

The food bill is nuts I know and if I can conquer this it will make a huge difference.  This will continue to be my main focus.

powerspowers

Completely agree on getting the kids involved in the food prep. I run youth groups and even large groups are capable of coming to a consensus if you give them some boundaries/ a budget! 

Good luck with your mf journey 🙂

L9XSS

Just to echo @QueenJess points albeit from a different perspective. At the highest point my Mortgage was £1650, I was overpaying chunks of cash periodically to reduce the term and increase the monthly payment.......then I lost my well paying job......The last 8 years have been challenging but was back in work and managed to steady the ship. Good luck with your journey to becoming MF.

Grass_Roots_2

Thanks @powerspowers and @L9XSS for dropping by - appreciate the encouragement.

End of a very long day at work and only just getting train home. It’s days like this where money saving goes out of the window… and I go into survival mode.  I fear the 3 kids (who are not really kids at all - they are young adults) will be waiting for me to confirm what dinner is when I get in!  My husband has been really tired last couple of weeks and he’s texted me to say he’s already gone to bed.  So it could well be a dash to the shops for ready meals….. I am so busy with work there is no time to plan. Tomorrow and Friday I’m wfh so at least no wasted commute.  Tonight I’ve got to prep for some meetings tomorrow so can’t even get ahead with what we’re eating then…..

Full of bloody excuses aren’t I!  Willing to be held accountable ;-)

greenbee

Can you text the kids to tell them what you need them to start cooking? In fact, it sounds like you need to get them organised to do the cooking on the days when you're in the office so there is food ready for you when you get in.