Just wanting to say hi!

StuartGMC

atypicalblonde wrote: »

The five year dream I mentioned above would need an additional OP of £700 per month, being £8400 extra a year! So I don't think it is wholly feasable, although it sounds great in theory. I think that if I just keep paying off small chunks as well as the standard OP on a regular basis I could get some way near this, but maybe not quite reach it.

ATB
If you have a baseline plan with the standard OP then you can also monitor anything above this. I would agree it is far better to plan realistically then you can aim for a target which is achievable whilst still a challenge; an unrealistic target would likely result in a negative reaction upon "failing" to achieve it.

Apologies for a slightly rambling post - I am typing as I am thinking! x

Well, that is far better than typing then thinking..... :rotfl:
Best wishes for the 2009 targets

gallygirl

StuartGMC wrote: »

ATB
Well, that is far better than typing then thinking..... :rotfl:

What - like the rest of us you mean

atypicalblonde

Hi guys, thanks for the comments. I have today made an online OP of £100, and so I have reached my original 2008 target of £2500, which I am very pleased about.

Stuart - you are absolutely right, I don't want to set the bar at an unrealistic height and feel disappointed if I don't reach it. I have amended my signature to show my 'as and when I have the spare money' OP target, so I can see the extras building up when I make the payments. Have great evenings everyone, here's to a fantastic 2009 x

Martinslovechild

ATB,

Very well done on hitting your target for 2008. You're absolutely right in setting an achieveable target. What we did was to set a target which applied a moderate amount of pain in allowing us to achieve it but was achieveable none-the-less.

Look at doing other things to save money which can be used towards your mortgage:-

1. Convert Tesco Clubcard points into Air Miles which can be used for completely free (i.e. no taxes or other fees) flights. People generally poo-poo this idea as they believe that they'd never save enough Air Miles to go anywhere decent, however during the 4 years we spent focusing on clearing our own mortgage, we took two holidays to Los Angeles and also a trip around the world - all paid for using Air Miles & Qantas Frequent Flyer Points.

2. Consider using a Credit Card which offers 0% on purchases for 12 months (Tesco have an instore leaflet, it's not available online). Do all of your normal shopping on the card, then instead of paying off the balance each month, simply pay the minimum balance (usually somewhere between 1% and 3% for most cards) and pay the remainder into a savings account or Cash ISA. At the end of the 12 months, withdraw your savings to clear the balance and any interest you've earned on the savings in the meantime can be used towards your mortgage. As a bonus, you'll receive Tesco Clubcard points on all of your purchases (including non-Tesco ones).

3. Sign up to cashback websites (TopCashback, eCashback, GreasyPalm etc) and remember to use these before making purchases online - it's staggering how much you can earn - it's not impossible to earn £300 a year on purchases you would have made anyway (e.g. car insurance, home insurance, shopping, credit card applications etc).

4. Sign up for loyalty cards (e.g. Nectar, Shell Drivers Club, Boots Advantage Club etc). Again, it's surprising how they can accrue.

5. Buy Christmas Presents during the late Summer/Autumn - they're generally cheaper than just prior to Christmas itself.

That's all I can think of right now.

Best of Luck in 2009 and onwards.

MLC.

atypicalblonde

Hi MLC, thank you for the message and the excellent tips. I am going to spend an hour this afternoon writing down all the 'money jobs' to be done immediately in the New Year, including looking at things like this.

Happy New Year to you all, here's to some mega mortgage busting! xx

atypicalblonde

Good evening all,

I hope that you are all having a promising start to the new year - there seems to be a lot of positivity on the boards at the minute. The £100 OP that I made to hit the 2008 target was made through online banking - does anyone know if the lender will write to me to confirm they have received the payment? I know that they did this when I made an OP in the branch before..would just like to have the confirmation that the monies reached them okay. Anyhoo, if I haven't received anything by the end of the week I will give them a call. My MFW jobs for January are as follows:

1. Cancel existing car insurance (have found a cheaper policy elsewhere);
2. Cancel a random insurance that I found lurking in our bills account, making us £6 per month better off;
3. Check all the accounts are in order at month end due to above changes;
4. Make (hopefully) a £250 'spare cash' OP on the mortgage;
5. Raise enough on ebay to clear the pesky £100 that has crept onto my (0%) credit card ; and
6. Bag up all spare change and pay it onto the mortgage (or the CC if I can't raise enough on ebay).

Oh, and although not strictly MFW related, I am going to try and keep positive about work - I have let it get me down too much lately.

xx

iwilldoitthistime

Hi ATB

Just thought Id say hello - I will follow your story as you are doing what I would love to do, but just dont have enought cash to do at the moment! I will aim for £100 a month, and use some of your tips to do this. Its a while since I did a clear out for ebay and I know I overspend on food etc every week. There are always savings to be made somewhere!

Good luck!

Kaz2904

Hello there, you seem to be doing very well with your planning. Something about getting into scary debt at an early age seems to help some people.
Don't want to put a downer on you and hope you read this before you take action...... the car insurance, just check that you won't lose your no claims bonus for the year so far. It doesn't tend to make a huge difference when you get to full no claims but having seen your age I thought I ought to mention it for you. HTH, Kaz.

baffcat

atypicalblonde wrote: »

Good evening all,
My MFW jobs for January are as follows:

5. Raise enough on ebay to clear the pesky £100 that has crept onto my (0%) credit card

Hiya

I lurk a lot, rarely posting on the MFW board, but read most of the posts.

Just a thought. If you're using the 0% card for stoozing, then the £100 that's crept onto it, even if you pay it off in full, will be paid AFTER your 0% debt, meaning you'll be paying interest on that £100 until the cards cleared in full. It'd the reason stoozing cards NEVER should be used for absolutely ANYTHING but stoozing.

Of course, if you aren't using it for stoozing, why would you have a 0% card?

Happy New Year & good luck with your OP this year.

Baff

atypicalblonde

Thanks for the posts guys.

Iwilldoitthistime - I have listed a couple of bits on ebay today, every little helps! I have also spent the day batch-cooking so we have meals for the week, I find it so easy to say let's just get a takeaway sometimes, but if there are HM ready meals in the freezer then the urge for a pizza goes away!

Kaz - thanks for the support and for the advice. Fortunately I won't lose anything by changing, as I have just reached my next year of NCB. It is still quite high but this is just something that I have to grit my teeth about as a young driver. It is one of the things that will get cheaper as time goes on though.

Baff - thanks for the message. The 0% card is not for stoozing - I got it to make a large purchase that we made a while ago due to the protection paying on a CC provides. Stoozing is something that I do intend to look into in the future.

When I check the accounts at the end of the month to make sure that all is in order, I am going to see if I can tweak the budgets so that as of 1 March I can make a £450 OP instead of £400.

Have fantastic Sundays everyone, xx