ATB'S Frugal Foray to Freedom

hiddenshadow · 21 March 2018 at 8:40PM

atypicalblonde wrote: »

Evening all

Delighted to report we are under £105k :T:T current balance £104,999. So we’ve met our end of March target, now for the end of June five figures target, exciting times!

Very nice! We're on track for 5 figures in June as well.

A_Frayed_Knot · 21 March 2018 at 8:41PM

Random is good, so well done you.

Once we all (speaking for myself) get March out of the way, everyone will be a lot happier (I hope).

Well done on the ebay, I am getting ready to de-list my listings and off on Friday and don't want to be visiting RM on the way to airport.

Everyone (speaking for myself, again) seems a little down - been a long month.

Basically your on your own, with 2 kids, a part time job, DH's business and the house, not to mention the dog, cat, budgie, goldfish and 2 white elephants, phew, no wonder your exhausted :A try not to be downhearted, its a lot for anyone to take on :T

atypicalblonde · 22 March 2018 at 1:26PM

Thanks AFK for your kind words.

I have just worked out that to get to our end of June target we need to OP £36.53 every day, guess what I am off to do :rotfl:

Edited to add: Just made an OP of £37

I also sold an ebay item for the princely sum of 99p, the mortgage will be gone in no time at this rate!

I have managed to get two loads of washing line dried today, which is always a sure sign that Spring is here. The children break up next Thursday for Easter, and we have a few days away booked which will be lovely. DD will also go to my mums for a few days of fun with grandma!

atypicalblonde · 23 March 2018 at 2:11PM

Afternoon All,

Two ebay sales overnight to report, so I have just OPd the £15 made from those, and also £41 "spare" money from the current account. I have a got a huge pile of things to ebay, but am severely lacking in motivation! Maybe a job for Sunday - just two things on there at the moment, both on Buy it Nows.

Our mortgage broker has secured us our next (and fingers crossed final

) mortgage deal - 1.99% fixed for 2 years :T our current rate is 2.39%, so this is great news.

The children break up on Wednesday (DS) and Thursday (DD) next week for the two week Easter break, I am looking forward to not having to rush around every morning, although less so to the constant requests for snacks/drinks/games/TV :rotfl:

Once the first part of next week is out of the way, I will have a clearer idea of exactly where our finances are at and, more importantly, if I can bring forward getting to five figures by the end of May - much preferable to the end of June

Dinner tonight is beef shin - never had this before so must google recipes shortly. It is sunny today but verrry windy and so I have cleaned and laid the fire ready to light later.

ETA - Also just OPd 72p that was sat in an old ISA

atypicalblonde · 12 April 2018 at 5:50PM

Oooh it's been a while since I've posted! Naughty ATB!

Kiddies coming to the end of the Easter holidays. We had a lovely few days away in France - wall to wall sunshine, lots of fun had by all and we kept spends low

I have totally given up on ebaying - decided I really can't be bothered with it anymore. Gave a huge bagful of outgrown kids clothes and shoes to a friend for her girls the other day and she was so grateful

The Halifax have messed up and incorrectly applied a £1k product fee to our account as part of our rate switch, even though the deal we opted for was fee-free :mad: They say they are in the process of refunding it, but unsurprisingly are taking their sweet time in doing so. Will check again tomorrow, really hope it has been refunded.

The really great news is that we will be under £100k by the end of May, one month ahead of target :T I am super relieved because:

a) It will be psychologically a HUGE boost for us; and
b) That will have meant we have exhausted our OP allowance for the year, so all money after that will be stashed in savings, rather than OPd.

We have OPd over £10k so far this year, which has required us ploughing every penny into the mortgage - great, but scary. As promised I haven't wobbled, but it will be nice to start building the pot back up at the end of May.

DH work is steady - not manic rushed, but he is working each day which is £250 plus VAT a day that we do need at the moment! He also has some weekend work coming up which is charged at a higher day rate.

Speaking of DH, he is cooking a huge curry for dinner as I type :drool: I am 30lbs lighter than I was at the start of this year, and eating earlier in the evening is definitely helping with that. I have dropped two dress sizes, but luckily have found some great clothes in the local charity shop so the cost of replacing them hasn't been huge! Also, given all my size 14s to a friend who is that size and she is super happy, win win

shangaijimmy · 12 April 2018 at 8:38PM

Fantastic inspiring progress in here (as expected!)!

themadvix · 13 April 2018 at 11:37AM

That's an amazing OP amount ATB! What Jimmy said!

A_Frayed_Knot · 13 April 2018 at 8:29PM

atypicalblonde wrote: »

b) . . . . . meant we have exhausted our OP allowance for the year, so all money after that will be stashed in savings, rather than OPd.

. . . . but it will be nice to start building the pot back up at the end of May.

:drool: I am 30lbs lighter than I was at the start of this year,

Wow - ATB does it again - Fantastic - well done :A

atypicalblonde wrote: »

Afternoon All,
Our mortgage broker has secured us our next (and fingers crossed final ) mortgage deal - 1.99% fixed for 2 years :T our current rate is 2.39%, so this is great news.

When does your new deal start, and do you really want to build up you o/p pot again or would you rather o/p?

Just asking as, when I entered a new deal, I was allowed 10% o/p's till old deal ended, then 10% from start of new deal in the same year

Just thought I would mention that.

How on earth do you do it :A

shangaijimmy · 14 April 2018 at 8:57PM

Final mortgage deal...what a great feeling.

EatingTheElephant · 15 April 2018 at 8:03AM

Well done, fantastic progress all round :T

ATB'S Frugal Foray to Freedom

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free