Job dilemma

Since finding out I've got to go back to work full time in October I've come to terms with the fact and decided to really concentrate on paying off our mortgage.  I've discussed it with friends and family and got my head around it.  I've even been planning to find part-time work or work for myself when it is paid so I can be around to collect my daughter from school and be there in the holidays.

I've now found a really nice part-time job BUT it is only 18.5 hours AND a grade lower than I'm currently on.  It's put me in a tizzy.  Do I apply for it and shelve all my dreams of being mortgage free and possibly struggle financially for a while or do I continue with full-time work and pursue the dream? EEkk!

Nectar bonus!

I got two statements for my Nectar card this week.  One for my current card and one in my maiden name.  Both had a considerable amount of points on them and but I never realised that I had two accounts.

I contacted the nice people at Nectar via email and within 48 hours they had arranged for my points from my old card to be transferred to my current one.  I now have a balance of £65!  The temptation is to buy something nice for myself but in my new 'lets pay off the mortgage' state of mind I know I should put it towards something sensible like Little J's birthday present or Christmas.

I also never knew you could collect points from Amazon or eBay.  We buy loads of stuff from these sites so I need to get a bit more savvy with things like this!

M
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Student loan - nearly there!

I received a statement from Student Loans at the weekend and with it came a letter explaining that I had nearly finished paying it off!  They have asked me if I can set up a direct debit rather than having it taken from my salary as I will overpay what I owe if I don't.  What an old fashioned and archaic system they have!

I have a little over £500 left to pay so I'm hoping that can be sorted out and paid off before Christmas.

M
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Who needs bleach when you have the sun?

This weather is lovely isn't it?  And what a lovely discovery I made yesterday.

I was hanging the washing out (a rare occurrence these days) when I discovered one of little J's t-shirts still had bean stains down the front of it.  I hung it out anyway thinking I would pop it back in the wash basket for the next load of washing or give it a little soak.  Low and behold when I got the washing in later that day all the stains had vanished.  Amazing!

If only we had more weather like this.  All our clothes would look pristine!

M
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New life, new budget

Now I've discovered that I'm returning to full-time work in October I have started to think about our new budget.  I'm amazed at how well we've coped on statutory maternity pay and the last two months with no pay at all.  I did save some money while I was pregnant to cover the bills etc but I've managed to open an ISA with what we haven't touched.  This made me wonder what we used to spend our money on...

I've been doing a bit of research into budgeting and I am quite taken by zero based budgeting.  The gist of it is you allocate all your pay to different categories and technically have nothing left at the beginning of the month.  You have to factor in your 'fun money' and haircuts, dentists etc but I like the idea of it and think it could work for us.  This way I get to choose the overpayment we make on the mortgage rather than it just being whatever is left over at the end of the month.

You can read more about zero based budgeting here.

M
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MFW 2012 - Better get my skates on!

Those of you familiar with moneysavingexpert.com (I just love Martin!) with probably know of their brilliant forums and some of the challenges which go one there.  Back in December I joined on of the challenges on the Mortgage Free Wannabe forum and pledged to pay off £3,000 off our mortgage in 2012.

In hindsight it was a bit ambitious at the time as I was on maternity leave but I have been chipping away at it £100 a month since February and I think it might just be possible to reach the £3k target by December.  I'm currently at £600 paid off with a bit in savings allocated for the pesky mortgage.  I'll 'do the math' and get a total figure soon.

You can find details of the challenge here.  I'm number 71.

M
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I'm gonna use it up...wear it out...

Reading some great blogs has made me realise that I have LOADS of stuff in the house that I just don't use.  Not stuff like excessive clothing or shoes but stuff like half used pots of moisturiser, make up, perfume samples etc.  Now all this stuff is perfectly usable and I vow to use it up before I go out and buy more.

A quick sweep of the bedroom and bathroom reveals:

• 3 shampoo and conditioners (From our trip to Centre Parcs)
• 2 Hotel bath foams
• 2 Hotel shower gels (I see a pattern forming here - I cant just leave them in the hotel as I've technically paid for them!)
• 2 Spray deodorants
• Several sample sachets of shampoo, moisturiser and conditioner
• 1 pot day cream
• 2 Fizz ease type products
• Benefit benetint, blusher and highlighter (left over from our wedding nearly 5 years ago - not sure if they are still safe to use?)
• 2 Soaps
• 3 Packs of face wipes
• 3 Shower gels
• 1 Footgel
• 1 Lip balm
• 3 Handcreams
• 3 Cuticle creams

Now I see it all written out it seems like I cant resist taking things home from a hotel, keeping samples from magazines and storing up bits given to me for Christmas to use 'as a treat'.  They are taking over the bathroom cabinet so I need to use them up NOW!  And it should also save us a few quid in the process...

M

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