Mortgage free wannabe part 2

V3cash

ladysummerisle said:

Just had a read through and you’re doing really well. Just keep chipping away. I had reflux during and post pregnancy, which then shifted to gallbladder. A couple of years later the reflux is back 🙈  so if you can save money and avoid that pain, it’s a win-win! 

You’ve got me dreaming of holidays now..

Definitely diet helps but Unfortunately I think mine is related to menopause as well,  hormones have a lot to do with it, I was getting sharp stabbing pain in my gall bladder area , random pain, so strange, I’ve had endoscopy, colonoscopy and scan of gall bladder, all clear so it’s weird!!

V3cash

So it turns out it looks like joint accounts get 2x £50 payout from nationwide so I’ve just put £50 into PayPal, holiday balance now £150.
might be able to pay a bit more come payday as I’m not sure on pay, not sure if the overpayment I owe will come out of my wages this month or next months, so waiting to see what my wages slip looks like before paying more off.
Only got £490 left to overpay on mortgage to stay within 10% limit. Not sure this is achievable by May 12th but we shall see how it goes.
by overpaying Paypal my budget allowance has increased, so now we have £837 until 21/4
still have 1 week shopping, petrol and London day out, bh weekend to come off that.
holiday countdown:17 days 😊
£196 spent this month on food out, this has reduced from a terrible £300 and is being significantly reduced next month!
must keep track of this as it’s crazy!!
I’ve just read another wannabe diary @caeler post has 
inspired me to sort that s**t out 🤣🤣

V3cash

No spend day yesterday as at work and I had a good day, achieved loads and helped a work colleague out as I was so on top of things it allowed her to focus on her work rather than help with duty work.
it also helps it’s a long weekend 🤣🤣
Hubby sold an old poster for £20
put that towards holiday, now owe £130.
balance of monthly budget allowance now £843 (estimated as not sure how much wages i will get 😢, they are so messed up)
3 days til new months budget
looking forward to bh weekend, hopefully we should finish the garden fence this weekend, we should get half done as we have about 13 panels still to go, painted my raised flower beds a light green colour and I want to buy some green raised flower beds planers I’ve seen on Amazon.
but need to see what’s in budget 
15 days until holiday 😊
hubby will probably want to buy wood and trellises so this weekend we will have to be shop around for best prices, on a +ve note
daughter tells me she’s off to London to see her girlfriend so she said grocery shop will be less this week as i think she’s away 4 days in total.
im just getting up to clear fridge and sort fridge to see what’s we need for week, gonna see if I can do a make do week from things left in freezer 😛

LadyWithAPlan

Caelers MF diary is inspiring - you seem pretty focused yourself - she was next level for a short period 

as you say the eating out budget can really drain down savings/OPs - I rarely eat out now especially as I live in central london and it’s expensive 

V3cash

I try to keep focussed but I’m also aware that life is short and I try hard to find a balance and still try to have a good time and enjoy life.

London is really expensive isn’t it, we like to go there every month but it’s crazy
this month we will have had 3 trips to London so that’s expensive, probably won’t go in May 

V3cash

Just had a bit of an expensive weekend, forgot I had put my wedding ring and eternity ring in to be resized and trip to London has put a dent in budget, now I’ve just got £475 left.
hubby bought a few things too, he bought shoes and a bar b q chimney.
cant really grudge him as he hardly spends any money but he always chooses to get things at end of month.
knew London would make a big dent, nearly was bigger as missed train , we were at platform but we didn’t realise it wasn’t direct so it had a different destination, i found conductor on the next train and asked if it was okay, offered to pay difference but our tickets scanned ok and he said it’s generally ok if the train you are getting is later rather than an earlier one.
so we got away with that, it would have cost £74 to get new ticket.
phewie!
however now we will be home after 10.30 tonight which is a bit sucky 

V3cash

Easter Sunday and daughter off to London for week.
plan to cook leg of lamb on bar b, long and slow 
then I’m going to try and get 3-4 meals out of it.
lamb curry, maybe some in salad, stew of some kind or lamb taginne type thing and with veggies today.
hubby washed both cars yesterday and painted 2 fence panels whilst daughter and I in London (he’s a keeper ❤️)
so that leaves 5 more to do between us today.
can be doing that whilst lamb cooks.
aiming for £0 day today as we will be too busy.
Hub lost both his parents and mine emigrated so we won’t be hosting any family this Easter 😢 so a busy day instead!

I’m gonna aim for 3/5 no spend days next week as i have Petrol to get and my monthly massage next week. No more spending planned, gonna have a frugal week as daughter away.
I’m trying a new thing, charge phone out of bedroom and reduce screen time that way.
think that stops impulse buying.
2 weeks til holiday and 1 day until new monthly budget available 

V3cash

So we have finished painting the planned fence panels and just 3 left, these were painted in the 1st year of moving into our house but lots of ivy growing in between panels, might invest in some composite panels down side of house as it’s shaded and the panels don’t seem to get as much chance to dry so in 4 years the tops of panels are a bit knackered and will need replacing.
bar b is on and hubby used his new chimney gadget which worked brilliantly, so now lamb is on, wrapped in foil so it doesn’t burn to a crisp, so now to have a bit of a chill out, I have some sangria in cupboard so might sit outside and have some as we have worked hard today.
The garden is looking nice.
so rewarding doing panels as they look so fresh and nice.
this year garden project commences but with careful budgeting along way.
rejigged savings with a view to see how mortgage neutral we are, it appears we are 25%.

We have an aim to be mortgage free by July 2027 as that’s when our low fixed term ends.

V3cash

Just had a thought, my 1st mortgage was £65,500 so this one is nearly the same now. That mortgage took us 25 years to get rid of but this one is not going to be around for long, determined to get shot of it by the time it comes to remortgage July 27.
i wish I’d had the insight to OP back in the day but i retrained and was a poor student for a bit, actually extended term of mortgage when I was a student and my daughter had a very expensive dance passion which I don’t regret a penny, it shaped who she is today and gave her a killer confidence, but it’s interesting to look back and see where savings could have been made and learn from that.

V3cash

Last day off before back to work 
plan for today 
Nice country walk to next village with hubby.
cup of coffee and scone at cafe and back home.
usual ironing get ready for work week 
make large fish pie, enough for tomorrow too.
put lamb in freezer, definitely have enough for a couple of meals, maybe 3 at a push?
Fish pie today will be with veggies and Tuesday I’ll have it with beans 
Wednesday lamb taginne with couscous cous or rice.
Thursday salmon and baked potatoe
friday lamb curry 
shopping day Friday 
I don’t aim to spend anything more this week on groceries.
this week was £74.22 which is over our usual budget.
mind you there are now 3 of us rather than 2.
daughters still waiting to start work so we won’t be getting any board yet.

I managed to put the £5 bottle of red back when I was shopping as i remembered i had 2 cartons of sangria in back of cupboard so that saved a bit.
didn’t end up drinking any yesterday as it was a tad chilly when we finished painting so i just had a cup of tea instead. Still got the 2 cartons for another week.

Last night I made a microwave sponge with blueberries for desert which is so much better than shop bought and cheaper im sure.
i will also make some rolls for the week if my freezer stock is low.