Chip Chip Chipping away

Thanks AFK,

I've now had my mortgage confirmed, and I will finally get my keys on the 27th of July so not long now!

I will be getting a lodger in September, and anything from that will be set aside for when I change my deal in 2 years time.

Regular savers look to be key - 5% going by this site, so will be looking to contribute as much as I can into that.

Current level of debt £173,500 - which does seem slightly daunting, but when I look at my repayments, and that only £164 of that is interest - the rest is technically going back into my pocket as capital repayment, so much better for me than £600 in rent!

My mortgage free journey I guess only really starts when everything is signed, so I will be keeping a good track from the 27th of July.

At the moment I'm just looking at what I can do to to reduce outgoings. The first item will be to do a massive shop, so that I have snacks etc in the flat, rather than relying on takeaway! I have a trick at the moment - everytime I have comfort food - say pizza for brunch after a night out etc, I put a pizza express in the oven that only costs a few quid, rather than pay for say dominoes, and the remaining change(to the value of £20 goes into my savings!

Thanks michelle - yes realise what you mean, all the small things do add up. I've tried to be sensible about it though and made a list of things I wanted to get from various places. I am now pleased to say that I have now moved into my flat, and unless I have forgotten anything, everything should be paid for. The last items to arrive are my Sofa's on Tuesday, and my work has very kindly allowed me to work from home, so I dont lose any holidays.

I now have to make sure that I get as much of my deposit back as possible from my old flat, and this weekend I will do one final sweep/clean to ensure this is maximised.

My sister is now moving into my spare room at the end of the month. We havent negotiated terms yet, but I'm happy if she wants to cover the bills, then she can have the room for free. Given Council tax is around £135PCM, electric and Gas I estimate to be £60, and TV/Broadband is another £50, I think thats fair. All bills she was paying anyway, and an extra £250 a month for me to go against the mortgage, so I am £3k better off.

I have also stopped taking the bus to work - its now a 10 minute walk, so thats £1.80 saved a day or £400 that I will also be putting aside as well. I was spending it before, so I cant see it as something that I will actually miss.

Well its been a long time since I've posted here, and its now almost 3 months since I moved into my new flat!!!


So since then, I've started to tweak a few things. Firstly after doing some research, I have downloaded moneydashboard to help review my spending. In order to do this, I also tried to pay for everything I did where possible on card. Some of the results are interesting. For the month of September, just doing what I normally do, I spent 87% of my net wage. In this I also paid out for my trip to Budapest for October, so all in all I spend around 70-80% of my wages each month!


Bills - £845 total
£600 Mortgage
£135 Council tax
£55 TV/Internet
£10 Mobile
£45 Electric and Gas (No bill but I drip feed payments every month so the bills not so big each quarter).


I also spent £105 on 1 pre work breakfast, and 5 work lunches each week. What I'm thinking to reduce this figure, is that I do a lot of batch cooking now in the flat, and freeze food for when I'm in a lazy mood. I just need to extend this and take food to work, as there are kitchens to reheat meals.


For Take away's, I spent £72 for the month, so that's also an easy option to try and cut back on spending if I keep more food in the flat as well, to discourage ordering when by myself.


Now here is the expensive bit - I spent a further £280 on what it calls "Eating and Dining out", but I also withdrew £250 cash from the bank which is difficult to track. I need to learn to log these slightly better, to allow myself to truly track what I'm spending.


I then spent a further £400 on winter running gear, and to pay for my trip to Budapest for the Marathon last weekend, so thinking I should actually budget better for these items, given I am aware of these months in advance. This would help me flatten out my spending patterns, and help define a reasonable level of regular savings.


So lots of areas where I can make savings, although on the plus side I am spending less than what I earn currently, so I need to find ways to better make use of the surplus. I've read a lot of articles, and one of the sayings I quite like is "Pay yourself first", so once I can figure out a reasonable amount to save/put aside each month, then I think I will start doing that.


Anyhow back to chipping away at my mortgage, since the 27th of July when I purchased the property, current progress is as follows:-


Mortgage: (173,500)... now (172,142.40)
Rainy day fund: £9,672


Once my rainy day fund gets to a nice round 10k mark, I will then look at diversification. I kept these funds back from my mortgage as I like having something to fall back on should something happen, that is easy to access. This is currently earning 1.3%, which I realise is not great.