It won't happen overnight. But if I do nothing it won't happen at all. (MFW diary 5761)

carboot_karaoke

@seventh88 said 

Next steps

1. No further overtime this month, it's not available - but actually I'm quite ready for the break!
2. Celebration as above once I hit 3k!

Congratulations on your overpayment milestone 👏.  

Enjoy your well deserved treat 😊

seventh88

Thanks for your support and cheerleading @carboot_karaoke ! I’m looking forward to it  

seventh88

Hi everyone,

I hope July is being kind to you so far. Here’s an update from me:

I usually do a ‘challenges/successes/what next’ format for my updates, to help me reflect on the past month. But as I’m prone to not celebrating my successes enough, I’m taking over this months' reflection with just pure success!

Successes

1. I have officially hit and surpassed my 3k target for mortgage OPs this year! I’m currently on £3289

How do I feel?

A bit stunned, if I’m honest. I didn’t really know if I’d make the target by the end of the year, at all, let alone this soon into the year. I’m still letting it sink in. Taking the time to pause and write about it on here helps.

If you’d have told me five years ago (when I had just paid off my 8k debt and had £74 in my savings account) that I would now not only have an emergency fund, not only still be paying my mortgage solo, but I would have overpaid by 3k, I don’t know if I would have believed you, I think I would have said ‘how?’

What has helped me get to this point?

1. Setting a clear and achievable goal at the start of the year

2. Making a plan for how I was going to achieve that goal. For me, this was putting aside £250 a month by direct debit

3. I think it also helped that at the start of the year, I took the pressure off by telling myself that these OPs were a ‘nice to have' (and I was certainly sticking to the DD), but that if life threw me curve balls, and for some reason I completely had to stop the DDs for emergency reasons, it was OK and not a personal fault - life happens. This has made it feel like much more of a bonus.

4. Putting extra, unaccounted for money (e.g. overtime, gifts, refunds), mostly towards the OPs, with a little going towards fun stuff too so that I don’t feel burnt out/resentful/and to challenge my scarcity mindset. It’s these extra bits that have helped me get to the milestone sooner.

5. Challenging some of my spending habits. Do I really value that coffee out? Do I really need that extra thing on the food shop? Is that social event going to make a difference? Aiming to spend on things that I truly value has freed up funds that I was spending on things I didn’t. And I don’t feel like I’ve cut back really.

6. Joining this forum and posting once or twice a month to help keep me accountable

7. The absolute kindness of strangers on the internet, of all of you, who have given their time to read/comment/like my posts and support me in that accountability and encouragement

How am I celebrating?

I’ve booked my celebratory peace-and-quiet weekend away to read, browse, take long baths, using a voucher for a hotel chain that I’ve got.

What next?

Before setting any more goals or thinking any further ahead, I know that I just need to pause and enjoy this and celebrate where I’ve got to.

THANK YOU ALL!!!!!

beanielou

Well done 🤗

South_coast

Great post! Enjoy your trip 🩷

carboot_karaoke

seventh88 said:

Hi everyone,

I hope July is being kind to you so far. Here’s an update from me:

I usually do a ‘challenges/successes/what next’ format for my updates, to help me reflect on the past month. But as I’m prone to not celebrating my successes enough, I’m taking over this months' reflection with just pure success!

Successes

1. I have officially hit and surpassed my 3k target for mortgage OPs this year! I’m currently on £3289

How do I feel?

A bit stunned, if I’m honest. I didn’t really know if I’d make the target by the end of the year, at all, let alone this soon into the year. I’m still letting it sink in. Taking the time to pause and write about it on here helps.

If you’d have told me five years ago (when I had just paid off my 8k debt and had £74 in my savings account) that I would now not only have an emergency fund, not only still be paying my mortgage solo, but I would have overpaid by 3k, I don’t know if I would have believed you, I think I would have said ‘how?’

What has helped me get to this point?

1. Setting a clear and achievable goal at the start of the year

2. Making a plan for how I was going to achieve that goal. For me, this was putting aside £250 a month by direct debit

3. I think it also helped that at the start of the year, I took the pressure off by telling myself that these OPs were a ‘nice to have' (and I was certainly sticking to the DD), but that if life threw me curve balls, and for some reason I completely had to stop the DDs for emergency reasons, it was OK and not a personal fault - life happens. This has made it feel like much more of a bonus.

4. Putting extra, unaccounted for money (e.g. overtime, gifts, refunds), mostly towards the OPs, with a little going towards fun stuff too so that I don’t feel burnt out/resentful/and to challenge my scarcity mindset. It’s these extra bits that have helped me get to the milestone sooner.

5. Challenging some of my spending habits. Do I really value that coffee out? Do I really need that extra thing on the food shop? Is that social event going to make a difference? Aiming to spend on things that I truly value has freed up funds that I was spending on things I didn’t. And I don’t feel like I’ve cut back really.

6. Joining this forum and posting once or twice a month to help keep me accountable

7. The absolute kindness of strangers on the internet, of all of you, who have given their time to read/comment/like my posts and support me in that accountability and encouragement

How am I celebrating?

I’ve booked my celebratory peace-and-quiet weekend away to read, browse, take long baths, using a voucher for a hotel chain that I’ve got.

What next?

Before setting any more goals or thinking any further ahead, I know that I just need to pause and enjoy this and celebrate where I’ve got to.

THANK YOU ALL!!!!!

Wonderful post 🥰

seventh88

Thank you for reading and for your kind words of encouragement  

sunshineli

A huge well done on achieving 3k in mortgage OPs. What an impressive achievement. I enjoyed reading what helped you get to this point and I will be keeping some of these tips in mind. Not putting too much pressure on yourself and also making sure to treat yourself every now and again is great advice, to ensure you get to enjoy life at the same time. 

seventh88

Thanks, I think the latter (making sure I allow myself treats) is something I’ve been better at lately thanks to encouragement on the forum! Bit by bit I’m learning more about what works for me on this MFW journey. 

seventh88

Well, this post marks the 100th comment on my diary! 

Here's an update from the past few weeks:

Successes

1. Amazingly, I've been able to save another £616 this month towards the MFW goal, and that’s with setting some aside for fun things too
2. I had the weekend away that I promised myself to celebrate reaching my 3k OP goal, and had a lovely time it felt like a proper treat and good to slow down and mark the occassion.
3. I'm still posting on here and keeping that accountability! This is incredible, I wasn't sure if I would keep it up, but here I am apparently!!

Challenges

1. I'm working towards my goal of living with less fear around money and being able to enjoy spending it on fun things in life too. Bit by bit, I'm getting there! It's a continual work in progress, but I've made good strides this month, especially with the weekend away. 

Thanks as always for all your support and cheer leading, this forum makes such a difference in keeping me on track and successful.