The "Grand Plan" - Phase One well underway!

evab_2

Found it on multimap, it's in the north no where near to where my family are from in Katowice (south). Hope you go next year, it's a beautiful country.

frazzmunch

i think you are doing amazingly well....:j i love reading these diaries...it really helps to know that others are on the same journey....:D

EssexHebridean

A bit more progress today - as I said I'm finiding it tougher at the moment - I think once I pay off the loan and start saving money which will stay with me for a while (and for which I'll see something solid at the end - ie a car!) it'll get easier. I love saving but hate having to spend it out, this is the trouble!

Been off work today - I've been fighting off a rotten cough/cold for several months now - it just keeps coming back and back and this time round I thought I'd done rather well - not had any time off in spite of feeling totally rubbish last week until I got up this morning with blocked and terribly painful ears. I'd probably still have gone in if it hadn't been for the fact that it was affecting both my hearing and balance - in fairness I was probably safest not to drive wasn't I! Anyway - having spent a good part of the morning steaming my head over hot water I'm feeling far better now and decided I should make some progress on the MFW quest!

Another £10 has been added to the mortgage DD - we're now OP'ing £105.60 each month, which amounts to 16.7% - nice to see progress written down in black and white like that isn't it! I've also just transferred another £270 into the ISA - only £260 more and it will be full, but that's OK as I'm well on course to pay off the loan in December as planned now I think. That will be a nice christmas present to me!

We've re-thought cancelling Sky Sports for the winter as we've just realised that the Rugby autumn internationals aren't being shown on terrestrial TV. A bit irritating that, but no point in making ourselves miserable just to save a few pounds here and there. Might cancel between theend of those and the start of the 6 nations though! We hope to trim the electric direct debit down a little more yet too so there may be another small increase in the OP to come from that direction. I ordered another £10 Boots voucher from Pigsback which arrived last week - I can't see me getting much more from that source without competition wins but you never know. Anyway, it's totalled £50 I'd not otherwise have had and will certainly help towards christmas.

StuartGMC

EH
Sounds like you should see a Doctor for a recurring issue like that, sinus problems perhaps not "just" a cold?

Well done on the OPs, and as you say getting data on the % overpayment and similar is a real incentive. BTW does your spreadsheet also show the % against net and gross salaries for petrol, gas & electric, groceries.... omg, I need help!!

Whilst Sky or cable is a luxury, there are times when that can make a big difference to your mental state when thinking "what are we doing all this for" and especially in winter. I've often noted in Spring that we should drop or reduce TV package but never "quite" get round to it....

Hope the health improves.

shopgirl2512

You may feel like you're finding things tough - but it still looks to me like you're doing a grand job! It does make me think that I could be doing better.

Hope you feel better soon!

EssexHebridean

You're probably right Stuart - I keep saying "If it comes back again I must go to the Doctors" but haven't quite got there yet. I shall make the effort to take my vitamin C and echinacea tablets daily for a while and hopefully that might be enough to see it off once and for all. If anything I suspect it's a chest infection as I'm fairly prone to those - I certainly want to make sure that I've got it well under control by the time the winter kicks in properly though.

Shopgirl - thanks for your kind comments - it makes such a difference that people think you're doing well doesn't it!

evab_2

Well done EH your over payments and savings are great, I agree about Sky we keep the basic just for the Simpsons as you can't get it on Freeview. Need a bit of light relief during the winter.

setmefree2

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Another £10 has been added to the mortgage DD - we're now OP'ing £105.60 each month, which amounts to 16.7% - nice to see progress written down in black and white like that isn't it! I've also just transferred another £270 into the ISA - only £260 more and it will be full, but that's OK as I'm well on course to pay off the loan in December as planned now I think. That will be a nice christmas present to me!

Well Done with that:T:T:T

setmefree2

EssexHebridean wrote: »

We've re-thought cancelling Sky Sports for the winter as we've just realised that the Rugby autumn internationals aren't being shown on terrestrial TV. A bit irritating that, but no point in making ourselves miserable just to save a few pounds here and there. Might cancel between theend of those and the start of the 6 nations though!

We have a virgin media package which we all love - especially with all the on demand stuff we get now. FWIW I would only get rid of our package if it wasn't being used....;)

StuartGMC

SMF2
I concur, we're on Virgin too and the system does get used, dd for example for a couple of the "good" kids' programmes she would miss when in after school a few evenings and us trying to "catch" a few things worth watching.

At the end of the day, we all need something of enjoyment too, otherwise all we have is subsistence.