Buying a little piece of Middle England; Manifesting my way to mortgage free.

debtfreewannabe321

Sold three items on FB mp. I've nothing left on there to sell now. £20 into my purse. Debating sending it to a savings or overpayment pot but might keep hold of it until I know we've made it to the new month now.

redofromstart

Great update.

mr Redo and I did a vague picture of our house in excel with blocks of varying value- and coloured them in as we ticked them off. It lived on the fridge. Always motivating to colour a square in rather than have a bad takeaway.  We started with a 1% aim, then 10% and then got carried away with lucky circumstances. 

debtfreewannabe321

beanielou said:

Blooming awesome. 🤩 Be proud. 

Ah thanks @beanielou ❤️☺️

debtfreewannabe321

redofromstart said:

Great update.

mr Redo and I did a vague picture of our house in excel with blocks of varying value- and coloured them in as we ticked them off. It lived on the fridge. Always motivating to colour a square in rather than have a bad takeaway.  We started with a 1% aim, then 10% and then got carried away with lucky circumstances. 

Thanks @redofromstart I really think a visual aid will spur me on so glad I came across that little tip on one of the diaries (still don't remember which one though 🙈)!

Lauraebrad

debtfreewannabe321 said:

I've been inspired by other diaries to do a visual goal reminder / progress chart to show where I'm at. Colouring in is not my strong point 😆 but here it is in case it inspires someone else to do the same. I got the idea off another diary but I've read so many I've forgotten which one 😦 so if it's your diary I've stolen the idea from please feel free to claim credit! 
Here's my savings, MOP and rainy day fund tracker

I have one of these too! It's very motivational and I love it .... so if it was mine you saw I'm very happy that you decided to draw one too

debtfreewannabe321

@Lauraebrad YES!! I just checked, it was you! Thank you for the inspiration I can't wait to colour more in. DP sold something on MP yesterday and after seeing that each little square of the house was only £20 to buy to colour in he gave me £20 from his sale He said he didn't think he could afford the garage or the conservatory though

debtfreewannabe321

Morning all, yesterday didn't turn out as expected I decided last minute to meet my colleague and fellow supervisor in town for a cuppa along with the old supervisor. Big mistake all they did was reminisce about old stories that have been told a thousand times - not funny ones but sad, depressing and make you want to cry ones. UGH... Thankfully DP rang me mid way through so I got to excuse myself from a very sombre conversation going on. DP had just had his interview and wanted to catch up with me, it all went well and he was really happy with it, they have more to interview, but he found out it had been whittled down from 60+ applicants to just 4. His appointment was an hour and he was in there an hour and half chatting, he had prepared a presentation too which the interviewer liked and they cut off conversation because another applicant was waiting to be interviewed himself, so I think that was all good signs. But you never know so we're not getting our hopes up too much. DP wore his new shirt and jacket to impress and said the interviewer was dressed much the same so he was glad the other interview the other week had been cancelled so he could smarten up a bit in the mean time
I didn't spend any money on the tea yesterday but after we had finished I only had an hour before work so I grabbed a meal deal from the co-op for £4 so not a NSD. 
I also cut my fussy little doggies hair yesterday, he is not only fussy with food but fussy with having his hair cut and he cries when anyone else does it seriously..... so I saved a fortune there doing it myself but it take up most of my morning. 
Work was okay, I left the new person to the job and just supervised yesterday rather than helping, just to see if they could remember everything and get it all done, was a pretty boring shift because of that, I prefer to help and be busy it goes by quicker then. 
I made dinner when I got back because I had been busy all day yesterday and it reminded me why meal prepping and frozen batch cooking is such a wonderful idea good to have a reminder eh.

I've been paid as has DP, he had a small annual payrise added too so an extra £100 after tax. I have told him to keep the extra as a float, can you believe he went into the overdraft yesterday- the day BEFORE payday!!! ughhh... because he had to buy parking in Manchester and it cost over £25 (WTH!) so he ended up a few quid into the overdraft. So he will have that £100 as a float now. He gets it paid back in the wages but still...

So we've had a quick shuffle of some money this morning but it hasn't all been moved yet. We've added the £250 to the EF this month though so we now have over £750 which was my goal for this month. The TT and PAD will all go to the MOP instead now. I can't pay the £300 to the savings account for the MOP because we need to wait until March 1st for that one so that can wait. I will wait until my maintenance is in and then I will fill the other pots like clothing, health (opticians this month), Christmas and birthdays so they aren't done just yet. 

Today I am baking a banana loaf with dried fruit to use up two bananas, then walking the dog, and then de-stressing, I should have been elated last night after DP interview went so well, but I hadn't stopped all day really and as I was cooking dinner I burst into tears (am sure the energy vampires are somewhat to blame too but then it was my fault for going) DP blamed the full moon too, I am emotional around a full moon it's true what they say about the crazies and a full moon lol. 

So not sure if it's a NSD yet but it should be we don't need anything. Dinner is ratatouille from the freezer for DP & I and pizza and chips for DD as she needs to eat early for air cadets and she can cook that herself. 

debtfreewannabe321

Just checked my emails, I have my £25 & £5 amazon voucher in there ready to spend! Not bad for a couple of hours work on SB

debtfreewannabe321

Before I update my signature with EF this is the end of Jan-Feb for us

2024 Mortgage-free wannabe #17
Overpayment straight to mortgage - 157.86/ 2,520
Mortgage OP savings account 600 / 3000 to be paid later this year
Mortgage balance Jan 1st 2024 £99224.13 Feb 1st £98,833.72

Emergency fund £504.67/ 1500 34%

Cleaning products & bathroom essentials 2024 £72.09/ 150

Personal Toiletries 2024 £49.86 / 150

Food Budget - JAN 484.44/500, FEB 488.59/500

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6496485/buying-a-little-piece-of-middle-england#latest

debtfreewannabe321

Banana loaf made (all old bananas used up now)...it tastes delicious 🤤