Shall we get started?

A question about : Shall we get started?

Hello MFWs , i've been desperate to join this board for ages and i think i now can.

Two debts left:
1) secure loan Ј13,035.58
2) mortgage Ј214,061.89

Secured loan at 5.064% and the mortgage is at 1.49% both trackers and the only way is up. So i need to join in, stay focussed and grab every spare and earned penny i can.

In the process of getting a new bank a/c so overpayments will probably be to a jar for the time being but it's a start.

So so glad to be here

Best answers:

• Welcome
  How is your loan a tracker? Best to focus on it before any mortgage OPs.
• Welcome Polly!
  Others will be along to give you heaps of great advice. I am a relapser and getting back on the road to financial freedoM!
• Hi, welcome!
• Hiya PWD, welcome to MfW - looking forward to reading your new plans
  Best wishes Tilly x x
• Thanks for the welcome, i know from reading Tilly's diary how friendly you all are - another reason i'm so glad to make the move here!
  Edinburgher, i suppose it is a second mortgage and the terms are 4.564% over base. It was fixed to begin with and then moved to variable so dropped a good bit and i kept the payments at their original level. Agree it is the first target.
  Hi Nellis and Becky, will hunt out your diaries!
  Hi Tilly, my and everyone else's inspiration. Sorry about the dust, i should be offering a Tilly tidy. I did go and do some washing up and some ironing and sorting after i visited yesterday.
  Freezing here but have resisted the huge temptation to switch on the heating. May have had a very hot bath though
• Found a 20p coin on the floor of a hall I had a meeting in and the bank have credited 35p to my account, it 'came to light during their reconciliations'!! I'll take it, so 55p to the jam jar.
  Rest of the day has not been productive, asked DH to buy chocolate and we had lunch out as we were doing some promo work for a possible extra income stream.
  Used a Ј12 off a Ј60 shop at Sainsburys, so will add that in too.
  Ј12.55
• Today's important job is to really figure out a budget, I'm fine with the monthly direct debit / standing order stuff and the normal monthly expenses, food, diesel, school money. But I need to get a proper handle on the annual expenses, road tax, car servicing, school uniform and the one offs like the roof, car replacements etc.
  Ideally I want to have savings for the big stuff and then an annual/ rolling account for the more predictable stuff.
  If I can do this then any extra money can be op'd or put in a fun fund guilt free
• Welcome and good luck!
• Hi Polly,
  I love a brand new diary - best of luck with your goals.
  I've just done a year budget and have started logging all my spends - it's amazing how they all add up. It's meant I can really get stuck into some great saving - which is lucky as I have to find Ј3,000 for a tax bill in July!!
  Looking forward to following your progress!
  Tx
• Ouch to the tax bill Thistle, maybe that's one advantage to being an employee, it just disappears every month without fail!
  Hi Nellis and Cath, please let me know if I've missed anything:
  Direct from bank - monthly:
  Mortgage
  Council tax
  Gas/electricity
  TV licence
  BT - this is quarterly
  Plusnet
  Secured loan
  Monthly - cash or debit card:
  Food
  Costco
  Petrol
  Diesel
  Rail fare
  Dog food
  Swimming lessons for boys
  Books, DVDs, cheap days out, etc
  School - breakfast club
  - lunch
  - after school club
  Savings - trying to have Ј200 that if not used can be saved, depends on parties etc that the children are invited to but so far so good.
  Now the tricky bit - annual predictable ( to some extent):
  Holiday club
  Professional subscriptions for DH and I
  Car servicing x 2
  Road tax x 2
  Mot x 2
  Car insurance x 2
  House insurance
  Dentist
  Optician
  Clothes
  School uniform & sports kit
  Shoes
  Birthdays
  Christmas
  Cost of visiting parents / in laws
  I think that list alone is around the Ј10k mark
  Then we should be saving for the roof / chimney stacks / house in general
  Car replacement x 2
  White goods replacement
  Decorating etc
  Emergency
  Children's future costs, or do you think if we keep budgeting for school lunches after they've left home that will equate to a car / uni / wedding / house deposit fund
  Need a stiff drink now cup of tea.
• Hi Polly...here's a couple you might consider:
  Hairdresser
  Roadside Assistance
  Boiler Servicing
  Prescriptions
  Window Cleaner
  School Trips
  Once I get things under control, I'm going to put my Child Benefit into DS Child Trust Fund and let that accumulate (mind you should have been doing that all along, so I am 10 years late to get started!)
• Thanks Nelly, you're right, more to be added
  ATM everyone is happy with my haircuts, they're too young to care but I do get mine cut occasionally
  In Scotland we get our prescriptions for free, so that's one thing less but you are right about school trips, AA for the cars and boiler servicing, although it was new in Nov and I'm in no rush to spend on it!
  Also forgot vet costs, although again he's never been
• Hi Polly,
  You need to have Hobbies in there too. I discovered this when I set up my spending spreadsheet. If you don't put aside some money for you to do something you enjoy, you go bonkers! I discovered that too!!
  Doesn't have to be a lot - I ring church bells for a hobby and put Ј30 a month aside for paying tower donations, peal fees and a drink in the pub afterwards. Keeps me sane!!
  Thistle
  Ps you think the Ј3,000 tax bill was bad......last January's was Ј5,000
• Me again.......
  For things like car servicing, car insurance, car tax, house repairs, income tax etc, I use my S@ntander 123 account but have a spreadsheet which partitions the money into the different categories. In my budget it just comes under "general savings" but I split it across these categories.
  For instance, I know my car insurance is around Ј60 a month (I know - extortionate!) and my car tax is Ј10 a month, so I save the Ј70 but split on my spreadsheet. That way the money is always there (theoretically!).
  I use zero budgeting so any money left over at the end of the month gets saved into that account but then I split it on my spreadsheet. That way, I know how much I have available in each category and can "borrow from myself" if I need to. If I have extra money, it gets saved as emergency fund to top up the other accounts if an unexpected bill comes in.
  I keep a spending diary down to the last penny.
  I've only been doing this for a month but it's thrown up some serious areas of improvement. Do I really drink that much Coke Zero?
  It's hard work keeping it up, but it's really saving me ЈЈЈ
  Good luck Polly!
  T