ZC's Aim for a little independence

zcrat41 · 13 July 2016 at 4:30PM

Hello.

I've been a regular on MSE for a long long time and have been a follower of many fabulous diaries on here. I've been thinking for a while that it would help me to have a diary as I do spend quite a lot of unnecessary money. Don't expect anyone to read - it's to help me!

So, DH and I are lucky enough that our family house is mortgage free. I had a house before I met him which is the mortgage that I want to pay off. The house is rented out. Here's the financials:

Amount remaining: £67186.98
Term remaining: 18.5 years
Monthly repayment: £429.91 (somewhere around 4.8%) fixed in for 4 more years.
I started with £81 000 6.5 years ago. I've made the odd o/p of £100 pounds here and there but with 2 mat leaves in this 6.5 years I've not got very far.

The rent I get is £575 pcm. I put the excess in an account to cover tax and repairs etc.

DH and I live out of our joint account that we contribute equally too for our day to day spends. It covers all our essential bills and essential living costs. I.e. it would cover jeans for day to day work but not a fancy dress that I want but don't need.

We then have our separate accounts where my excess salary goes and pays for the fancy dress that I don't need. My aim is to use as much of this as possible to overpay the mortgage. I tend to buy unnecessary stuff out of my own account. It's easy to get lax in the joint account to so I tend to sub it if I need to.

I'm aiming to start off with o/p by £80 pcm. This would pay off the mortgage 3 years and 9 months earlier. I hope to increase this significantly as my income increases as my children get older.

The reason I call this my independence diary is that both DH and I run family businesses' and our finances are very joint with parents. DH is extremely tight - which is a good thing most of the time as it's how he runs a good business. I want a little fund though so that if I want to go on a spa trip or a cruise I can! We both currently work hard and don't take much time off though and my salary is the one that pays for the nice little extras so I need to have a balance between o/p and nice experiences/things.

I'm not sure whether to save with a First Direct regular saver at 6% or just straight pay off the mortgage.

zcrat41 · 14 July 2016 at 7:00AM

Morning.

So today is the free church toddler group. Always a good one - it's easy to rack up the spends paying for stuff for the kids!
Then I'm off to the shops to return lots of clothes I ordered online. I'm also going to take back a dress to Debenhams that cost me £150. I wore it to my brothers wedding last week and the hook that keeps the neckline together fell off. Not impressed with that - it was supposed o last me a good 10 years at that price. There's pearls all over it which the threads are coming undone on already. Do you think I'll have any joy?

I'm still thinking of swapping my acc to first direct to access to 6% regular saver. I've had my acc for 23 years though so am loathe to do it as I know acc nos etc off by heart and I do have a good relationship with the bank.

zcrat41 · 14 July 2016 at 8:16PM

Win today! I took back a load of dresses I'd ordered online for a wedding. I also took back the one I wore as the beading had come loose and a clasp fallen off. I complained that for £150 I expected the dress to last 10 years not one night. They refunded me the whole dress without quibbling - I'm so chuffed. I thought I might get a £10 voucher over it. It was a beautiful dress but it was so smart I don't think I'd wear it to another wedding anyway.

So that's this month's o/p sorted! £20 into holiday fund, £35 into Xmas fund and £15 into birthday fund. Also sold an old kids Boden outfit for £15 on a fb selling group and listed a pair of shoes on ebay.

Have applied for a Tesco current acc. Figured I could have that and then switch it to first direct to get the £100 plus access to a regular saver. Think I'll then try and fill up the reg saver before o/p the mortgage as its earning more.

zcrat41 · 15 July 2016 at 4:42PM

Another win today!

I bought a bookcase online for the children this week (with Christmas money from their grandparents). Two days later a sale pops up where its half price so I emailed to complain. They're refunding me the difference! Means I can buy the kids some toys. Both their birthdays are in the winter so we end up with a lot of winter clothes/gifts so I try to save any money to buy them some summer stuff. I'm thinking of getting an outdoor game for the nice weather and some dressing up stuff as my 3 year old is really getting into imagination play.

My second win is I came home to a letter with a dividend payment for a small amount of shares I have. They're a housebuilder so it might be the last decent dividend I get for a while! Will have a fiddle with some figures later but I'm thinking 75% to o/p and 25% to my holiday fund.

beanielou · 15 July 2016 at 5:20PM

Happy shiny new diary )

zcrat41 · 16 July 2016 at 3:21PM

Thanks beanie. I'm finding so far it's very helpful for keeping me focused.

Money gone well today, diet not so much. Dh wanted to go to a posh farm shop for lunch. I wasn't keen as it wasn't budgeted for in ynab but he offered to pay. Was lovely but very very calorific!

Am thinking about whether or not to eBay some old smart dresses I have. They're Karen Mullen/phase eight type things that I wore pre kids and whenever I put them on now I discard as they're just too short. I have loved them though so I just done know.

newgirly · 16 July 2016 at 3:51PM

Hi, just wanted to pop in and say welcome and best of luck

newgirly · 16 July 2016 at 4:05PM

Hi, just wanted to pop in and say welcome and best of luck

zcrat41 · 17 July 2016 at 7:16AM

Morning,

Hi new girly, just been reading your diary - you've kept it going for such a long time! Made me think where I will be if I stay at it (positive thinking, when I stay at it!) even if I just do my £80 o/0 in 7 years I'll have paid off over 6k extra.

Church this morning, roast for lunch then hopefully a nap/read of the Sunday papers whilst dd naps and ds watches a film. Then I might try and get them to help me wash the car rather than take it to the £12 cleaning place in the week.

Dh will be in & out of work but he's looking at booking a party for his 40th this year. Dear god it's way more stressful than it should be. If I do it, I research what I want to do, get a few plans together and go through a few options. He spent 9 hours talking / researching it yesterday and is still no closer!

Need to get s big handle on my diet. I've lost over 4 stone of baby weight but a few pounds have been creeping back on and a few old bad habits. C210k and mfp need to be downloaded for tomorrow.

zcrat41 · 18 July 2016 at 7:33AM

So gave the car a good clean yesterday. I normally take it to the cleaners so saved myself £12 there. Good activity for the kids as well. Other than that a nsd.

Today I think we're off to buy my 3 yr old a helmet for his balance bike and then take the bike out later. All food from meal planned stores today. Bubble & squeak for tea which feels a bit wrong in this heat!

Back on he diet again today. Aiming to lose 4 pounds by the end of August by doing mfp and c210k.

Aiming to to ebaybone item today.

zcrat41 · 20 July 2016 at 6:38AM

Morning. Yesterday was a busy day at work so I didn't get any Mse stuff done. I got a bit stressed so are far too much too. Logged it all on mfp though so am at least being honest with myself.

I've downloaded the Bounts and Swagbucks app today - I walk a lot so let's see if I can get some vouchers!

Busy day today. Am off for a blood test this morning as my hair is still falling out - 2 years after Dd was born! Then a bit of work before driving to my mum and dads to pick up the dog I'm dog sitting for a few days and then a short meeting for a charity I'm involved with. Ds is at preschool (last day before summer hols!) 9-12 and dd with me all day.

Hope anyone reading is enjoying the heat more than us - my kids and I are not cut out to live somewhere hot!

ZC's Aim for a little independence

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