MFi3 & before I am 40 + my MB journey

abouttimetoo

Hi TG and very best wishes to you for 2010 - it can't be long now before you are MF?

I bet it was lovely for you bumping into your friend in the street, was she suprised, did she already know you were in denmark?

By the way, I saw you mentionin another thread that Danes celebrate Christmas a day early - very interesting, I didn't know that

Floxxie

I thought most Europeans celebrate on Christmas Eve or is it just the countries I've been to?

Tesco_points_addict

Hi Tallgirl

I've started an AF challenge within my thread here:http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2176037
if you are interested.

Hope you're ok

TPAx

TallGirl

Thanks for all the messages it was so lovely to log in and see them when I got back last night. You are right I do believe it is the English influenced world that celebrate on the 25th and the rest of Europe of Christmas Eve. I had a fab time in Denmark all in all nice to see the family and I also managed to see a friend when we were in Copenhagen so that was not bad incl the one I bumped into in the street.

My friend is the same age as me and they have a 1 year old. They bought a half share flat just outside Copenhagen but it is just too small and now they cannot sell it for what they paid for it. She also told me they are planning to have a second.

Now that we are in 2010 I thought I would look at what I wrote as my aims for 2010 and here they are. I have added in red my own comments from this year.

TallGirl

From my diary 01.01.09:
House expenses for 2009
New front door is needed it is so drafty but my friend can fit it so I don't think that will be a lot. Nothing else needs doing and I can't see anything that I shall fancy having done.

We did have a new front door and spent £300 on new lights in the bedroom so not far over what I had expected really.

2010
Would like the lounge painted and the rest of the ceilings in the house re skimmed so that is another £2000 I reckon to do all of that.

Holidays:
Need my holiday but they are usually paid for by airmiles, any cashback from Quicdo etc, Amazon sales or ebay sales.

I only have 20 days leave so need to use them carefully. Already have 3 golf breaks in the UK booked at a cost of about £700 or a bit more. That takes away 4 days leave. I will need a week in Denmark in the Summer but Airmiles should pay for that. We have spending money in Denmark and my investments pays out a small amount in April which should cover it if we don't go shopping mad.

So we are now left with 11 days call it 10. My ideal would be to go to South Africa in December (if I dont get pregnant) as would give us nearly 4 weeks down there. BIL has 2 holiday homes plus we can stay with him. I think the flights will be about £700 each.

If we don't do that I think we will go to Spain for 1 week and play golf, will cost about £1500 plus lots of spending money.

Well the crisis did hit my husbands company so it was just as well we did not book to go to South Africa. Trip to Denmark cost £100 I think in Summer and £200 this time with Airmiles. We did not go to Spain either only me to see my uncle which was £80 so not a lot spent on holidays this year. On top of that a few weekend breaks for golf but all in all not much spend.

2010
Going to spend Christmas in Denmark this year as DH told BIL he was happy with that. Guess not a good year to go to South Africa anyway.

2 weeks in Denmark again really cheap as we are going to rent a large summerhouse for the whole family and I think my other uncle is paying the bulk of that.

Mortgage & Loan
I paid off £500 on the bathroom loan yesterday so we start the year with

£3500 loan

£14,000 mortgage.

If I continue to pay off £1000 a month on the mortgage plus any interest added so about £50 extra maybe less now that the rate has dropped. That means the balance will be down to £2000 on the 01.01.10 that is a bit scary isn't it.

As for the bathroom loan I shall have that cleared in no time but maybe I should set some kind of targets. I need to pay off just under £300 to clear it in 1 year. We are not paying any interest on it as it is offset against some money my Mum wanted into £ instead of Kroner. (Bad choice really).

Well 01.01 we owed £1330 so quite spot on however that was largely due to mum giving us £4500 and us dropping our payments from £100 to £450 to allow DH to take a pay cut so actually not that bad. The cut in interest rate also helped a lot

2010
Will be MF by March as per the MFi3 but might pay it off sooner as I have finally decided to bring over my money from Denmark. Its the money my Gran left me. It is at rate 102 which makes a profit and at the current krone pound rate they are worth just over £18k. My mum is going to the bank Wednesday to ask how much to cash it in. I shall leave about £1200 in Denmark for future spending. Feels strange to cash them in but it does mean we can fill our ISA allowance for this year and have a good start in next years. Also can clear the mortgage asap. Really exiting times.

So there you have it a bit of a reflection on what I estimate we will spend in the new year. All of this could of course change if DH's company has a hard time or if I find that I am expecting.

Well DH had to lay someone off and we cannot go on holiday but he is going to advertise for someone part time really soon and is even talking about taking the other chap back. Would be fab so at least we can go to Denmark in Summer. As for the expecting part well that did not happen and we don't really talk about it. I did love spending time with my niece and nephew and so did DH. I was surprised that my friend wanted another at 39 but in a way it gave me hope that it might happen. So dare I write my goals for

2010

Mortgage Free by February

Pregnant by ?

Cut down on Alcohol

Loose weight - get back down to 11 1/2 st

Only gamble if risk free

abouttimetoo

Hi TG

Thanks, that was a great update! Wishing you the very best for your plans for this year

TallGirl

OK time for an update on the Money from Denmark

Mum has sold my bonds from Denmark and sometime next week £17,000 will find it way to me.

Plan is to open 2 ISA's with £3600 in them, likely to be Barclay's as we bank with them so easier and according to Martins Email they are second best. With the rest of the money I shall clear the mortgage and a credit card with £500 on it but the rest goes into a high rate savings account until I can top up or open two new ISA in April. Will then save the £420 be pay on the mortgage towards ISAs in future. Might also use some of it to get the ceilings done but we shall see.

DH had to come home from work it was just too bad down here. I have never seen so much snow in England really weird but nice as I do not have to go anywhere this week.

Diet and cutting down on alcohol plans:

I have never been on a diet and due to my low blood sugar I am rubbish if I don't eat enough. I have therefore decided to totally cut out my biscuits in the morning and crisp. Now that does not sound that radical but I am going to give up alcohol totally for January. From the moment I came back into the UK on Monday I have not had a drink. I am determined to do it as I know cutting down just won't work. Not even felt like a drink and so far I have slept better and have not had heart burn which I have been suffering with. Tesco Point Addict not sure if I will join your challenge yet might do in February when I plan to review things and maybe try to limit the amount I do drink to my old 8 a week. We shall see.

Hope you are all safe and not been stuck on the roads. I am staying in the freezer is full and I can bake bread. The fridge as not been restocked since we got back so it is very bare but so are the shops and I am not walking to Sainsbury 1 mile away in this snow.

Tesco_points_addict

Well done on all your achievments in 2009, you have done especially well considering OH business down turn.

I am very impressed with your plan for no alcohol for whole month - it's not something I could consider:rolleyes:.

Good luck with your plans for 2010 - you never know, this year could be your year;)

TPAx

setmefree2

Good Luck with all your plans in 2010. :T

TallGirl

Thanks TPA & Setmefree2 I shall need all the encouragement I can. I feel fine about not having a drink even when DH gets the white wine out at dinner. I think about all the beers I drank in Denmark and how my skin had started to come out in spots by the time we got back. I have still not had any heart burn and again I sleep much better. Makes me sound like an alcoholic doesn't it writing this but to be fair I did use to drink 2 or 3 glasses of wine a night or 1 or 2 beers at least 5 out of 7 nights a week.

DH is considering if he should go in today or not. His dad is not going to venture out and although they say on the TV our main roads are not effected our little road looks grim and he could skid straight into a parked car which is really not worth it. I think he should wait until the rush hour is over yesterday it took him an hour extra to get home during the day due to the snow.

Had a little look at IFA's yesterday as we do need to cancel the term assurance we pay £40 a month for. It is critical illness cover designed to pay off 1/2 mortgage per person if any of us cannot work. It has 10 years left to run so I think the cover is for about £40k now. I am sure life insurance would be better once the mortgage is paid off.

DH has two private pensions and I wonder if they would be better as 1 again something an IFA can look at. There are so many in our area using unbiased.co.uk but today I shall pluck up the courage and call someone. They might also have a good idea about the Isa's. Will of course up date you.

Eric is really not well again he is so skinny and last night he cried a lot before peeing on the carpets. Actually he very kindly stood on the newspapers and did it so not much damage. I think he thought the flap was locked or he could not face going out in the snow. I have put down a litter tray but doubt he will use it. Our old neighbors ut on their facebook page that they had had to have their 16 year old cat put down. She was lovely so it is a bit sad.

Anyway better crack on with it enough waffle.