Mortgage free in Forever Home :-)

Cheery_Daff

Gosh, definitely don't feel useless after all that!! Crikey. Each one of those things is bad enough and easily enough to derail good financial plans, let alone all of them!

KajiKita

Cheery_Daff said:

Gosh, definitely don't feel useless after all that!! Crikey. Each one of those things is bad enough and easily enough to derail good financial plans, let alone all of them!

Good thing I'm a bit stubborn then, eh ...?

Suffolk_lass

Hello KK, I just found you via Cheery's diary too. I reduced our grocery spending (including everything pets, cleaning toiletries and cosmetics) from over £700 to under £200 a month over a number of years (clearly a slow learner) and we are now debt and mortgage free, and have reached the age between giving up paid work and drawing our state pensions. We do both have modest occupational pensions in play - anyway - I feel my experience on here might enable me to chip in with suggestions from time to time.

Thing one, plan your meals from what you have in. Unless there are things you can't live without, stop paying the SM to store their stock for them. Write a list of just the things you need to finish your meals and only buy those things, not the "we always have x in" (beyond a few essentials, which for me are cheese, butter, yogurt, milk and some fresh and frozen veg).

Thing two is Tilly-tidying your currant accounts down to a round figure. When flush this is the next £50 for me, but more often £10 or even £1 - with well over £20k shifted to pay down the mortgage in this way, I can recommend it

Good luck (subscribed)

KajiKita

fannyadams said:

Hi KK.
Welcome (I lurk on Cheery's diary so went hunting for yours and here I am).
One thing that I found useful with regards to fuel for vechiles is to look at the Petrol Prices app/website to see if there's a cheaper fuel station you could go to on your way home from/to work. I saved about 3p/L by doing this.
That, and shopping at Aldi (although their click and collect price is a bit <blueshrieking emoji>.

HTH

FA

xx

Morning 

Bit tired last night so am catching up now.

There is a real lack of fuel stations round here (rural) and between where I work  but have downloaded that app to see what it suggests    I set it up to give me local fuel stations both at home and at work and I will get in the habit of checking it periodically. Is it worth collecting the points (doing the reviews and such like) or is that just a gimmick? 

KK

KajiKita

Suffolk_lass said:

Hello KK, I just found you via Cheery's diary too. I reduced our grocery spending (including everything pets, cleaning toiletries and cosmetics) from over £700 to under £200 a month over a number of years (clearly a slow learner) and we are now debt and mortgage free, and have reached the age between giving up paid work and drawing our state pensions. We do both have modest occupational pensions in play - anyway - I feel my experience on here might enable me to chip in with suggestions from time to time.

Thing one, plan your meals from what you have in. Unless there are things you can't live without, stop paying the SM to store their stock for them. Write a list of just the things you need to finish your meals and only buy those things, not the "we always have x in" (beyond a few essentials, which for me are cheese, butter, yogurt, milk and some fresh and frozen veg).

Thing two is Tilly-tidying your currant accounts down to a round figure. When flush this is the next £50 for me, but more often £10 or even £1 - with well over £20k shifted to pay down the mortgage in this way, I can recommend it

Good luck (subscribed)

Good morning @Suffolk_lass
We've always done the meal planning thing (largely so hubby knows what he's going to be eating every day - one of his little quirks ) and after Christmas we realised we had freezers bulging with foods so we are eating those down before buying any more  
Can I ask how often you 'tidy' your balance down? (I love this idea btw  ) - is it a once a month thing after payday or every week? I will add this to my monthly review actions, once i have a full month's pay from my new job  (Getting so excited for that now!!  ). 
KK

fannyadams

KajiKita said:

fannyadams said:

Hi KK.
Welcome (I lurk on Cheery's diary so went hunting for yours and here I am).
One thing that I found useful with regards to fuel for vechiles is to look at the Petrol Prices app/website to see if there's a cheaper fuel station you could go to on your way home from/to work. I saved about 3p/L by doing this.
That, and shopping at Aldi (although their click and collect price is a bit <blueshrieking emoji>.

HTH

FA

xx

Morning 

Bit tired last night so am catching up now.

There is a real lack of fuel stations round here (rural) and between where I work  but have downloaded that app to see what it suggests    I set it up to give me local fuel stations both at home and at work and I will get in the habit of checking it periodically. Is it worth collecting the points (doing the reviews and such like) or is that just a gimmick? 

KK

Ach, I just use the app/website. I never bothered with the points as I just saw it as, you rightly say, a gimmick.

Porridgecat

Another semi-curler who has followed you over from Cheery's thread.
It sounds like you've got a good plan going after a rough time. 

redofromstart

happy new diary ( from another lurker ;-) ) and good luck with your challenge

KajiKita

Today's doings:
- Batch cooked a vegan sausage and lentil casserole - looks proper tasty  3 portions have gone  to the freezer ready for being exhausted when I start my new job. 
- Downloaded petrol prices checking app and added my home and work locations to it
- Tried to confirmed our address to Aviva for our life insurance policy but their phone lines are closed - will try again tomorrow online after I have located the policy documents .... 
- Activated the pre-paid 'Shop Local' card that the local council (Herefordshire) have sent me - a free £15! 
- Pressed my tofu using a WW2 25lb-er anti-tank shell .... there has to be some benefits to living with a WW2 nut!  and made an edible baked tofu and salad
- put the Sarah Raven, Landsend Sale and JW Parker catalogues straight in the recycling without even looking at them! #go_me!
- Watched 3 episodes of Call the Midwife and the 2020 Christmas special - bawled my face off at the episode where Nurse Dyer's Grandma dies ....

Now waiting for hubby's goulash to do it's thing in the oven before I cook some rice and greens to go with it and my casserole 

KK

KajiKita

redofromstart said:

happy new diary ( from another lurker ;-) ) and good luck with your challenge

Thanks @redofromstart

Go'on do a thread ....  You know you want to ....   

KK