CathT's attempt at being MF!!

A question about : CathT's attempt at being MF!!

Hi all,

Originally came across this forum and had the idea of OP in the short term while interest rates so low but have been so inspired to make being MF a realistic goal.
Initially was inspired by Financial Bliss's diary and then read many others taking in lots of tips and posting the occasional comment.

So, a bit about me. Live with DH and DD (aged 2) with outstanding mortgage of just over 119,000 with about 19.5 years left on the term. We are young ish! and would hope to be MF by time i'm 40 (DH 45) so pretty much a 10 year ish plan.

We have a fair income (about 40k joint) but have been used to living on a lot less so am hoping to direct disposable income at mortgage)

Thanks for reading so far and I hope you will join me on my journey to keep me motivated!!

Best answers:

• Ok, so some figures. Mortgage is on a 2 yr tracker ending March 2012 on 2.69% above base rate. Have been using the spreadsheet kindly sent to me by FB and have set myself a couple of targets.
  1) Mortgage
• Hello CathT - welcome to the board and congratulations on starting your diary. There seem to have been explosion of diaries recently (a sign of the times perhaps?), but I've found great inspiration from them!
  QB
• Hi CathT,
  Glad you've finally hopped on board and started a diary. Please make sure to keep it updated regularly - my own has fallen into disrepair quite some time ago!! I'll be following your progress and I wish you the best of luck.
  My one constant tip is to do an SOA as detailed in the debt free boards. It gets right down to the penny what you've got coming in and what's due to go out and will allow you to plan any discretionary spending and give you an exact figure of what you can throw at the mortgage every month should you choose to do so. We were doing ok before we applied a bit of science to the process and our SOA has helped us knuckle down and shave an extra 8 months off the mortgage.
  Cheers,
  Billy
• Thank you QB and Billy. Have been following your diary QB, Billy I'm not sure you still need your diary! Your OP are fantastic - almost there!
  I do need to do a SOA and am off this weekend so will hopefully get chance! Not so sure with a 2 year old to entertain!
  Cheque arrived yesterday for about 8.50 so rounded that up to 10 and have sent that to the mortgage. I originally set up SO of Ј50 a month so try to add to that. Last couple of months have managed Ј200 (with overtime etc) so now feel guilty if i don't overpay that much! This addiction soon reels you in!!
• If you need a template, I'm more than happy to pop my spreadsheets over to you for you to play about with.
  Cheers,
  Billy
• That would be fab thank you. Have found spreadsheets to the best motivator! Will PM you my email address, thanks! :-)
  I just can't wait to turn to DH and say 'by the way, the mortgage is paid off!'
• Hi Cath, intersting diary. Subscribed to your threat cos I'd love to see your progress! I have not started me MFW quest yet as I have just started to attack the debt!
  Looking forward to keeping up with your journey!!!
• Thanks for jumping on board '3yearstogo' Have found this forum fab and such a brilliant motivator! Good luck with tackling the debt. Noticed on your signature your competition win! Will 'look' out for you! (where do you access these comps?)
  Have just returned from shopping for a few things and went WAY over budget! Argh! Should send some money across to the mortgage before i buy any more
  Quote:
• I cant go sadly! I gave them to a friend who lives in London so she will make good use of my first win! I use the competition page on this forum. I wouldn't want to even count how many new comps are posted every day! I love the "I won" thread too.. keeps me movitaved to enter the comps. At least 4 people on MSE have won Ipads this week! I plan to win things then sell them to pay off my debt quicker then start on my MFW diary!
  Enjoy your "essential" groceries!
• I think I might check out the comps page!
  Well, haven't been very MSE last few days! Ridicolous overspend on food and still need bits and pieces in the next few days. Had a family day out today and spent quite a bit but did manage to buy a couple of Christmas presents from the trade stands and got plants for the garden so that looks better now they are planted.
  Have been shopping for home insurance last few days, found a good deal with sainsbury's, cheaper than my provider's quote but not the cheapest I found today but they are offering Ј50 voucher for new applications and double nectar points and as it's my main supermarket could be beneficial. Will also see what quidco has to offer.
  Hoping for quite a few NSD this week as payday is still 2 weeks away!
  Hope everyone has had a good weekend.
• I wish DH was as motivated to be MF as me! I found a load of CD's in cupboards (not listened to for years) so uploaded them all onto our I-Tunes and then had them ready to go to Music Magpie. Clearing space, making money and still having the music to listen to seemed a no-brainer to me! However, DH decided he still needed them! grrrr! Peraps i should have just sent them!
  Think we have about Ј200 left for the month but am thinking of sending another Ј100 OP and living very frugally (food shopping is our down fall) It's funny how you make money last when you have to!
  Haven't had any One Poll survey for ages, balance is a grand Ј5.20! Need to check where i'm up to with Yougov but other than that not sure how to send anymore OP before payday!
• Give him time Cath...sometimes you just have to plant the seed !
  When the time comes TCB does cashback 7.5% on music/pie, I don't know about Quidco though.
  Do you check Onepoll several times daily as they have been having a lot of 15p suveys last week. Maybe they are just being done quick. Im nearly on my 2nd lot of Ј40.
  Good luck
  Iris
• Thanks Iris, he is on board, just with minimal effort!! I've always been good with money tho. I was only 20 when we bought our first house so he should know what i'm like!
  I will keep checking Onepoll, I actually have the app on my I-phone (my one luxury in life!) so it easy for me to check so must get in the habit. You are doing well with it.
  I feel like the last few days all i'm doing is trying to find ways to raise funds to send as OP! Been reading too many diaries i think! Brilliant motivation tho and that's what this forum is all about ;-)
• Have been shopping around for home insurance last few days and found competitive quote with Sainsbury's (Ј50 voucher, Ј30 through Quidco + double nectar points for 2 years) and as it's my main supermarket seemed a good deal. Existing provider made no attempt to match it or keep my custom. If i pay in full probably eats up most of what I have left for the month but means I can increase regular S/O from Ј50 to Ј71 a month.
  Currently saving for home improvements but now toying with the idea of moving but really don't want to increase my mortgage! If interest rates stayed at 0.5% forever it would make the decision so much easier!
  So, we are getting stuff done at home de-cluttering, touching up paint work etc to a) make house saleable OR b) actually be happy living here!!
  Anyone else constantly feel like they want to move?
  Managed a Onepoll survey yesterday, am going to have a look at selling books on Amazon but as they are heavy ones not sure it would be worth it? Apart from not eating the rest of the month not sure how to find anymore OP before payday!
• Hi Cath,
  How is the SOA coming? Hope the template helped a wee bit.
  I think an MSE swapping / selling forum might not be the worst idea ever. We've had a mass clearout but I'm too chicken to make a mess of things on eBay so it's all now sitting in the spare room cluttering up the house still - just in a different space.
  Cheers,
  Billy
• Ours is in the spare room too, amazing how much junk you can fit in a box room! It desperately needs sorting out, have managed to fill few charity bags but not much else looks 'ebayable'!
  Had a quick look at the SOA (thanks for sending) sorry not got back to you, first day off for few days and 2 year old DD not giving me much thinking time!! Will try and put together soon. There are definitely areas we could cut back I'm sure of it! *please don't take my I-Phone off me!*
  Have managed 2 YouGov surveys today, up to Ј20 on there but am a bit lazy at checking emails so could probably get more.
  Have 10 CD's ready to check for Music Magpie
  Not sure i've got anything to ebay apart from small sales and the fees don't seem worth it then
  Unfortunately overtime been stopped at work which was a big source of my O/P or savings fund, looks like i increased my contract hours just in time!
  Determined not to go food shopping but Payday seems very far away right now! We both got underpaid this month but if we 'survive' I can send next months extras as OP's.
• Yes, I should really do an SOA too, but am a bit chicken. If you do yours, I'll do mine...
  Definitely weigh Amazon books - in their packaging, you really don't want to sell for a loss after fees. Sorry to hear about the overtime - times are really tough right now.
  Regarding your question on move or improve - we have lovely neighbours, and a house we love. We just need something bigger - and it costs sooo much to buy and sell that improving is the only option for us. But we only bought 2 years ago, with the plan of extending part of the purchase decision...
• Hi MW,
  If i'm going to sell my books I need to get moving this weekend I think. Uni is about to start again so be the best time to offload it all.
  My SOA shouldn't take long to do so may even try and do it this morning - there you go, you have to do it now!
  House wise we upgraded from a 2 bed mid terrace (no parking, not the nicest neighbours, noisy location etc) to our current 3 bed detached (brill location) over 5 years ago really thinking it was our forever house. Amazing how quickly you outgrow your space when a baby comes along! Have converted the garage to another room but still not completely settled here. Saving for home improvements is a long slow process tho, maybe I should learn to go without?
  TBH I should probably stop watching all these property programmes, they give me delusions of grandeur!!
  Registered for TCB yesterday, is this where others do their 'daily clicks' I tried to get some cashback by doing car insurance quotes and ended up being phoned by a firm who had spotted i'd been searching - wasn't too comfortable with that!
• Hi Cath,
  I always give wrong phone number for insurance quotes. If you wanted to speak to someone you'd phone them in the first place wouldn't you!
  There's not many daily clicks about at the moment , TCB has a few as does FC. I've given up on them but still getting the money through in dribs and drabs. I buy everything online through TCB. I've had Ј280 from them since I joined so not bad at all.
  You can do car ins quotes through TCB and then through comparethem8rket and get 51p a month for doing it. So if you're looking anyway it's well worth you doing.
  HTH
  Iris