Our Patch of England

Lovely to "see" some familiar faces. Hope you're both doing well

Having an unexpectedly relaxed late afternoon as LO is having a late nap, which is kind of standard on a weekend. He's timed it nicely so I can listen to the jazz requests on Radio 3 - had no idea this was a thing until a few weekends ago.

Made a small TT of £3.44 into the loan savings. We have £29.90 due in the bank from various cashback sites this week too so we'll be able to round that up to £30 to add to the pot. Slowly chipping away at the shortfall!

Had a quick talk with DH about our over payments, and I think he'll be calling the bank to talk about our annual limits next week. I have it in my mind that we're capped at 10%pa, so we'd be able to pay our limit off and then whatever's extra we can put into a high interest saver? Be very interested to hear what other people with payment limits do with the "overage".

Right, off to read some diaries while I finish off some seaside rock we got on Monday!

TT of £4.50 into the saver this morning, as well as a smaller amount yesterday. We're 42p away from having saved £200 in 6 days. I always marvel at how money just seems to fall into place when we start working towards something, when it's actually just been there all along - I've just spent it on cake and biscuits.

Spent yesterday working on a SOA and speaking to DH about pay off dates. And I think we could potentially do it in 5 years. Maybe. We'd have to throw everything we have at it, but it's possible with some hard work and sacrifice. We'd still have £65pw for groceries, £265pm for entertainment etc We'd just need to flex our "no" muscle, but it's something we most definitely need to be on the same page to succeed at doing.

Funnily enough I was checking my emails last night after LO went to bed, and one of my money newsletters pinged in saying "Stop talking about one day" with a quote that said "What if you quit talking about all the things you wanted to do with your life, and just started doing them?" which was more than a little inspiring! In my eyes worst case scenario at giving ourselves such a big task is we get 3 months in and can't do it anymore - but 3 months in would be £4500 more off the mortgage. Best case is we're mortgage free in 5 years, so both are positives? I know we're 2 paydays away from even starting this so it's a little premature but it's some food for thought.

Still, had a frugal few days. Made white chocolate and cranberry muffins with LO last night while tea cooked so that's puddings sorted for a few evenings. Stocked up on tins of chopped tomatoes so we've got a lot of hearty but cheap meals planned the next week or so. DH eats separately as he's on a special weight loss diet but the bonus is I can cook all the tasty frugal meals that my mum used to make me that DH isn't keen on (aka, anything tomato based)

DH has his expenses paid tomorrow so we'll be able to squirrel a little more away. Having a bit of a commotion in the family on DH's side, and we may need to temporarily take care of our niece in the future so we really need to get all of our ducks in a row. Been a very stressful day on that account, and I know it's very selfish, if not a little smug, but I'm looking forward to going home to my own little family, cooking tea, watching telly and going to bed in peace.

Popped to @ldi on my way to work this morning got a clothes line, line prop, peg bag and pegs for £11.26. Similar was coming out at £22.96 from different shops so it's a pretty decent saving. Just need the sun to actually pop it's head back out again!

Following the stressful day yesterday I bought ice cream on the way home. Was not budgeted for, but isn't going to sink the ship. I do feel a little guilty for doing it, a bit selfish

DH moved his expenses into savings, just waiting for him to tell me the actual amount - and then along with my wild TT of 82p I can update my signature :T We're going to push through an extra £500 of savings just so we have a bit of a buffer after we clear the loan (we'll also get a bit of interest back when we pay it off)

Going to look into our broadband contract atm, we currently pay £28.99pm for broadland and line rental which isn't bad but I think we can cut back. Will try to haggle with our current provider first but I know we can get a slightly cheaper deal of £24.99pm plus £70 cashback and it all helps!

Shangaijimmy - I'm thinking the same! We do seem to have some luck in that when we put our minds to a task we somehow manage to achieve it. It's probably all down to DH's stubbornness, but we saved 20k in 2 and a half years, while still having treats and I was on SMP for 10 months of that period. We're set to have paid £17512.87 in 17 months, while having cash rolled buying a house, the moving process, and having an extra £500 on our budget with the mortgage. I'm always feel like we trudge through mud when it comes to getting places with our finances but looking back, we don't do too badly!