My Mortgage Free Mountain - A 7 year expedition to climb to the top

craftingmad

Morning all.

I feel like I achieved  quite a lot yesterday but my list says otherwise  
I managed to sell something on FB Marketplace for £8 yesterday which I have had listed for ages so that is a bonus and I have transferred that money into my OP savings account. We are so close to having the cash to pay off our first BTL mortgage when the fixed rate expires so that is more than enough motivation to keep me going  

My printer decided it wanted to play up yesterday and kept stopping printing black ink. I have a horrible feeling that it is about to pack up on me but my fingers are tightly crossed that it can last at least a few more months. I really don't want to have to buy a new one in the same month as we bought the camper van. I don't think my spreadsheet could cope!!! Although every time I walk past Cathy camper she puts a little smile on my face so it's not all doom and gloom  
 
I'm hoping my birth certificate arrives today so that I can start the onboard process for the jobs I have been offered but if not then there is nothing I can really do about it so I will just have to be patient and wait it out. I still have not decided which offer to take so I need to sit down and have a good think.

I've absolutely nothing planned for me today apart from working on orders, decluttering the house and trying to grow my business so that should mean lots of opportunities to add some more money to the pot today I'm so rock 'n' roll 

So today I WILL:-

1. Play on Mistplay (126 points target) - 57 points so far  
2. See if I have received the email with my £25 voucher from Mistplay and cash in - DONE added to Amazon account and transferred £25 into OP savings account  
3. Make up proof of sewing planner - DONE
4. Design address labels and thank you stickers and send proof - DONE  
5. Post off 2 orders and the item sold on marketplace - DONE actually sent off 3 orders and FB item as got stickers printed as well
6. Get out meat from freezer for next two days meals - DONE meatballs for tomorrow and sausages for Thursday
7. Finish designing wedding / christening items for friend of a friend and work out cost to charge
8. Post in three FB groups to hopefully get more orders - DONE fingers crossed I will get one more sale on Etsy before the end of the month to reach my target I set myself  
9. Comment on In search of posts to hopefully get a few more orders 
10. Write social media posts for February and schedule - 18 days worth written. I will hopefully write more later and schedule them tomorrow  
11. Make a pros and cons list of the job offers to hopefully help me decide which one to take - DONE and still none the wiser. I think I will have to wait for the formal offers to come through and check the benefits of each one  
12. Look for Scan and Shop booklet and scanner
13. Read through make £5 a day thread and see if I can get any ideas on new money making opportunities
14. Take photos of receipes from one cook book from library ready to return it
15. Action one new thing from my MFW list
16. Action one thing from my business growth list
17. Create a new craftsuprint listing 
18. Take a survey on Prime Opinion - DONE 43 points earnt - I'm getting close to another £5 voucher  
19. Carry out searches on Inbox Pounds
20. List board games we no longer play on FB Marketplace along with necklace found during decluttering
21. Check free postcode lottery, winadinner and freeemoji
22. No heating on until at least 4pm - DONE  
23. Sort more of craft room
24. Declutter 5 things from the house
25. Scan CD's and see how much Webuybooks will offer me 
26. Take a course from one of my memberships
27. NSD - DONE will transfer £5 into the OP savings account  

That should keep me out of mischief for today!

Cornish_mum

Regarding the jobs decision I wonder if looking at who your day to day line manager would be and if you think you would like working with them might be the deciding factor? Good boss = nice life in my experience. 

Congratulations again CM

craftingmad

Cornish_mum said:

Regarding the jobs decision I wonder if looking at who your day to day line manager would be and if you think you would like working with them might be the deciding factor? Good boss = nice life in my experience. 

Congratulations again CM

Thanks Cornish Mum. I really like all three of them in fairness so I am still none the wiser and no closer to making a decision I'm hoping it will be made easier when all the official paperwork comes through detailing exactly all the perks available with each one and the hours I will be working. I really hope so as I still have to clue which one I should take,  

craftingmad

Well I feel like I worked really hard yesterday but don't seem to have much to show for it! At least I managed to add a small amount into the OP pot though so that can only be a good thing. I'm not looking forward to seeing our figures after our campervan purchase when I do the spreadsheet tomorrow so at the minute every penny will help us. 

I'm going to lose around two hours of my day today collecting son from college and taking him to work so I'm going to have to really knuckle down and get on with my tasks in hand - I seem to be lacking motivation today but I need to find it quickly!! 

Other than that nothing exciting at all to report so I'll just get straight on with my list. 

So today I WILL:-

1. Play on Mistplay (126 points target) - 107 points today  
2. See if I have been paid for website order and if so transfer into savings account - not been paid yet - fingers crossed it will arrive tomorrow  
3. Pay in £21.15 cheque from Royal Mail for lost order using banking app - DONE will transfer when cleared
4. Transfer money left at end of month into OP savings account once wages received - DONE £1260.13 transferred into OP savings account I'm pretty chuffed considering we had to pay for oil for central heating (£667) and also used £2k from account to pay for camper van  
5. Renew FB Marketplace listings - DONE 4 listings renewed
6. Make up two wish bracelets and a jewellery planner proof for order received on website - bracelets made and proof sent to customer for jewellery planner  
7. Finish designing wedding / christening items for friend of a friend and work out cost to charge
8. Complete paperwork received from National Trust and return - DONE  
9. Post in three FB groups to hopefully get more orders 
10. Sign up to free two month readily trial before offer expires - DONE who doesn't love something for free  
11. Comment on In search of posts to hopefully get a few more orders - commented on one so far
12. Write remaining social media posts for February and schedule
13. List heart hugs on Etsy
14. Look for Scan and Shop booklet and scanner
15. Complete survey on Scan and Shop (email invitation) - DONE 1000 points added  
16. Read through make £5 a day thread and see if I can get any ideas on new money making opportunities
17. Take photos of receipes from one cook book from library ready to return it
18. Action one new thing from my MFW list
19. Action one thing from my business growth list
20. Create a new craftsuprint listing 
21. Take a survey on Prime Opinion - DONE 3 surveys completed for a total of 125 points  
22. Carry out searches on Inbox Pounds
23. List board games we no longer play on FB Marketplace along with necklace found during decluttering
24. Check free postcode lottery, winadinner and freeemoji - DONE not a winner  
25. Sort more of craft room - DONE two small shelves sorted and organised
26. No heating on until at least 4pm - DONE  
27. Declutter 5 things from the house
28. Scan CD's and see how much Webuybooks will offer me 
29. Take a course from one of my memberships
30. NSD - did buy bread and donuts but counting as a NSD in my head  

craftingmad

Good morning and Happy February. January seemed to fly by so lets see how quick this month goes shall we?

I've decided I'm going to do monthly updates this year to try and keep me motivated so:-

January progress=

 BTL Mortgage 1 balance 1st January 2024 £40504.02 - balance 1st February £39667.32

 BTL Mortgage 2 £81,644.71 + £140.19 

 BTL Mortgage 3 £77,497.02 - NO CHANGE

TOTAL AMOUNT OWED:-  1st January 2024 £199,505.56 - 1st February 2024 £198,829.05 

Total amount paid off mortgages in January 2024 = £836.70

Savings added to OP savings pot in January 2024 = £3387.63

TOTAL AMOUNT FOR JANUARY 2024 =  £4224.33 

That's not so shabby is it  

craftingmad

I'm so happy to see that the little things I am doing really do seem to be helping us on our mortgage mountain journey. Sometimes it feels like we are getting nowhere so hopefully writing down each month's progress will really help me to stay motivated and celebrate the fact that the balance is going in the right direction

I'm hoping my birth certificate will arrive today as I want to get the new starter information for Burger King/Haven through asap so I can make an informed decision about what job offer to take. The original chippy contacted me yesterday and offered me 7 hours a week starting from March . The boss does seem to have mellowed in the time I have been away and he even apologised for the way he was last season and assures me he has grown up and changed his management style plus the golden child had left so that is another job to consider too now as well. The decision is supposed to be getting easier not harder!!!

I've absolutely nothing planned again today so I'm just going to crack on with my list and see how much I can achieve today   I am also much more excited than I should be about the new series of The Apprentice starting tonight so that will give me something to look forward too The more I keep this diary, the more I realiase I need to get a life!!!! 

So today I WILL:-

1. Play on Mistplay (126 points target) - 57 points today 
2. See if I have been paid for website order and if so transfer into savings account - DONE £30.64 transferred  
3. See if £21.15 cheque has cleared and transfer into OP savings account - DONE
4. Pay in £5.90 cheque from Royal Mail for lost order using banking app - DONE will transfer when cleared
5. Transfer money from paypal account into OP savings account - DONE £100 added  
6. Complete business accounts for January - DONE I made just over £300 profit last month - not much but at least it is still something  
7. Update spreadsheet with January figures - DONE apart from one mortgage figure which I cannot get through on the phone to find out - I gave up after 56 minutes so will try again next week  
8. Renew FB Marketplace listings - DONE 11 listings renewed
9. Read MSE weekly newsletter - DONE may have found a puffer coat son will like
10. Make up jewellery planner for order received on website and post off along with bracelets
11. Finish designing wedding / christening items for friend of a friend and work out cost to charge - DONE all designed - waiting for approval before printing. I quoted £55 which is nearly a 50% discount but will still cover my costs and it will give me some nice photos and portfolio of my work as I want to get more into wedding stationery this year  
12. Post in three FB groups to hopefully get more orders 
13. Comment on In search of posts to hopefully get a few more orders
14. Write remaining social media posts for February and schedule
15. List heart hugs on Etsy
16. Look for Scan and Shop booklet and scanner
17. Read through make £5 a day thread and see if I can get any ideas on new money making opportunities
18. Take photos of receipes from one cook book from library ready to return it
19. Action one new thing from my MFW list
20. Action one thing from my business growth list
21. Create a new craftsuprint listing 
22. Take a survey on Prime Opinion
23. Carry out searches on Inbox Pounds
24. List board games we no longer play on FB Marketplace along with necklace found during decluttering
25. Check free postcode lottery, winadinner and freeemoji - DONE not a winner  
26. Sort more of craft room
27. No heating on until at least 4pm - DONE not turned on until 8pm for one hour only
28. Declutter 5 things from the house
29. Scan CD's and see how much Webuybooks will offer me 
30. Take a course from one of my memberships
31. NSD - DONE  

Heck that's a long list for today. I better get cracking

craftingmad

Two posts in one day but I wanted to share our exciting news - Hubby got a tax rebate credited today so we now have enough money in our savings OP pot to pay off our first BTL mortgage when the fixed rate expires on 1st July 2025

Any money saved now will be being put towards BTL mortgage 2 - we are actually making progress - 2 down and 2 to go   Sadly the two remaining are the biggest mortgages but I'm feeling optimistic that we can actually achieve our dream  

Thank you all for supporting me - you have kept me going when I just wanted to fall apart x 

Baileys_Babe

Well done with how much you have paid/saved for the mortgage over 10% of BTL 1 in January. 

Going forward are you going to add a line to the end of your progress report with the total amount for 2024?

craftingmad

Baileys_Babe said:

Well done with how much you have paid/saved for the mortgage over 10% of BTL 1 in January. 

Going forward are you going to add a line to the end of your progress report with the total amount for 2024?

Thank you. To be honest I haven't even thought that far ahead But now you mention it I might well do or I might just give monthly progress reports and an extra year end report in December so I get a nice surprise to keep me motivated  

Remind me closer to the month end pretty please can you x

craftingmad

Morning all. 

Short post from me today as I'm feeling pretty sore after falling down the stairs yesterday. Luckily no bones seem to be broken but I hurt pretty badly and think I'm going to be black and blue in a few days. I'm struggling with my left arm and back which seem to have taken the bulk of the brunt but my ankles, wrist and hip don't feel that good either so I'm planning on resting and taking it as easy as I can today and hopefully normal service will be resumed tomorrow. 

I'll stick a list up of things I really need to get done today but if I don't then I'm not going to beat myself up over it - the stairs done that to me yesterday  

So today I MIGHT:-

1. Play on Mistplay (126 points target) - 157 points today
2. Book dog in for neutering (not very MSE but at least it will save me worrying if she is pregnant) - DONE I will be a nervous wreak on 13th Feb   
3. See if cheque has cleared and transfer into bank - DONE £5.94 transferred into OP savings account  
4. Provide bank details to wedding stationery customer - DONE
5. Make up jewellery planner for order received on website and post off along with bracelets
6. Make up proof for nail planner for Etsy order received today - DONE  
7. Email other customer regarding proof sent last week for her sewing planner - DONE
8. Post in three FB groups to hopefully get more orders 
9. Comment on In search of posts to hopefully get a few more orders
10. Write remaining social media posts for February and schedule - one more post written and posted for today
11. List heart hugs on Etsy - DONE
12. Look for Scan and Shop booklet and scanner
13. Read through make £5 a day thread and see if I can get any ideas on new money making opportunities
14. Take photos of receipes from one cook book from library ready to return it
15. Action one new thing from my MFW list
16. Action one thing from my business growth list
17. Create a new craftsuprint listing 
18. Take a survey on Prime Opinion
19. Carry out searches on Inbox Pounds
20. List board games we no longer play on FB Marketplace along with necklace found during decluttering
21. Check free postcode lottery, winadinner and freeemoji - DONE not a winner  
22. Sort more of craft room
23. No heating on until at least 4pm - DONE not on yet and I'm nice and warm in my oodie snoodie
24. Declutter 5 things from the house
25. Scan CD's and see how much Webuybooks will offer me 
26. Take a course from one of my memberships
27. NSD - DONE not been anywhere and not been tempted by online shopping so all good today  

Lets see how much my body lets me get done