LJ's Mortgage free road to early retirement

EssexHebridean

Hi LJ. Nuts? Well, yeah, but in a nice way!!!

setmefree2

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Hi LJ. Nuts? Well, yeah, but in a nice way!!!

LOL - Good to hear you are back on board. Good Luck:T:T:T

LouiseJ

My income has now changed to the following (Net amounts)

Salary = £1100

CB + FTC's = £160

Total Income = £1260

Financial Commitments

[strike]Stocks & Shares ISA = £300[/strike] I have frozen this as I need to be able to have instant access to any cash I save.
kids regular saver = £80
Other savings/Xmas/holidays/car maintenance etc = £305

Total Financial commitments = £385

Surplus = £875


The plan is to
A. Build up 6 months of OH salary equivelant into an instant access savings so that if the worst should happen then OH will have redundancy money and 6 months worth of Salary to give us time. He will only get the statutory amount regardless of whether the company goes bankrupt or not.

B. Overpay as much as we can on the mortgage as if his place of work manages to keep going then we want rid of this debt as soon as we can.

I know that this may not be the way others would approach this but we have talked about this at great length and we both feel happy knowing that we are building a safety net and paying off the mortgage. I will also add that the overpayments on the mortgage can be taken back at any point so should we have a total catastrophe then that money is available.

LouiseJ

I am going to have a good look at where we are with the savings and budget over the weekend and re calculate the mortgage overpayments taking into account the recent rate cut.

Not many mystery shops about at the moment but that should pick up around Christmas time. I have 1 for next week for £10 Woo Hooo:rolleyes:

firesidemaid

i like people who are nuts - i feel at home here....

i have just read your thread all the way through - don't know why i haven't seen it before as i spend enough time on here:rolleyes:, but can usually be found on the MFi3 thread. anyway, that is why i am still sitting in my PJs;).

i too want to 'retire' asap ie. pay off the mortgage so i can work at what i want to, rather than for the money!

a couple of thoughts occurred to me whilst i was reading, don't know whether it helps at all. when it comes to going out/takeaways/alcohol etc me and OH have a set budget - we know how much it is and when its gone it's gone, and we decide between us each time we spend. it has ultimately helped us to reduce our spending, but it is difficult to balance overpaying mortgage (for future benefits) vs having fun now.

also, don't know if you still do the lottery? but have you considered switching to premium bonds? £8 a month is just under £100/year, which is the minimum amount for a purchase of PBs. you are currently getting 8 'chances' a month every month, but with £100 of PBs you will get 100 'chances' a month - you can check out if you have won on-line plus at the end of it all you get your money back!

looking forward to reading more of your journey x

LouiseJ

Oh thanks for that lovely post firesidemaid:D Nice to have a fellow nut job around.

I have been given the green light from my boss to work from home today so I intend to finish off one of the 3 remaining clients accounts and return them.

Sorry to talk about Christmas at this point.........

I have savings of £550 + £40 in vouchers for Christmas Pressies and I also have £160 tracking via quidco which should be paid before December too.

So thats £750 towards Christmas............I have absolutely no intention on spending all that thank you very much so my mini challenge for myself is to see how I can get everyone left on the list (I have made a start already) lovely, thoughtful presents while keeping in mind that anything I dont spend can go into the overpayment pot.

I dont want to get all Bah Humbug but want to shop smarter:D

Any ideas or thoughts are appreciated.

jinky67

well Lou
I would be quite with with what you sent already

LouiseJ

jinky67 wrote: »

well Lou
I would be quite with with what you sent already

Yes I dont think it would be a good idea to list who I have bought for and what they cost:D .........never know whos lurking.

I have set my budgets for November.........

Food - £200
Work expenses - £30
Petrol - £180
Treats - £27 (days out or OH cigars:rolleyes: )
Take aways - £15 (We can have 1 a month just for a treat)
Nights out/Drinks in house - £80
Lottery - £8
Kids Pocket Money - £40 (£5 each per week)
Clothes - £30
Other Stuff - £40 (Includes £13 every 2 weeks for guitar lessons)

So thats £650 for the month............surely we can manage to stick to it!!!

firesidemaid

just some thoughts and ideas (that i have gleaned off this site anyway).....

if you shop at tescos/collect points then the annual magazine subscriptions are good value.

i also check out the www.hotukdeals.co.uk website daily not only for bargain xmas pressie ideas but for money-saving in general. also if you don't already use it i find www.find-dvd.co.uk invaluable for getting the cheapest prices for dvds, books and cds (plus quidco of course).

there is a thread on here for making 'hampers' - all sorts of ideas and can be for anyone and themed / tailored to them or to treat them - cars, film night, pampering, gardening etc. you can do a great/looking gift for less money. i spend the months before xmas buying bits each week to make these up as i see them. i also did a great organic one with everything bought from asda (but not asda brand) as they were reducing massively all their organic lines and an m+s food one with all those things that were on offer - bought hampers are overpriced and don't always have what you want in them.

also watch quidco for good deals - they recently had a great for for christy towels. there was a 70% sale on with 20% quidco and free delivery over £25. if you had lots of folks to buy nice towels etc for (or make up hampers).

ooh, i'm getting excited about xmas now:D

LouiseJ

Thanks for That firesidemaid, I am making a hamper for MIL (I know that she doesnt lurk here). I saw one on the Lakeland site that I am trying to copy but I bet mine cost alot less than the £48 they were charging.

I have also bought things to make smellie gift sets up with gents showergel/deoderant etc in.