tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-144659918642995612012-02-16T20:13:43.431ZThe real life account of an average family who want to break free of the cycle of debt and being a wage slave and slowly over a number of years build a cash pot up to the magic £1,000,000. I hope to provide help and support to others wanting the same for their families.PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.comBlogger301100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-19333585055013988832007-02-25T16:35:00.000Z2007-02-25T16:42:11.202Z

Its been quite a while since my last post, the main reason being that not much has happened in the way of my finances. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing...probably good I think. There has been a bit of activity but mostly for small amounts. I've been on holiday from work for 10 days, and that always seems to be a bit more expensive than normal due to the dreaded DIY. Its quite

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-91543462157800647522007-02-08T21:52:00.000Z2007-02-04T14:34:19.242Z

Last month was pretty much all doom and gloom, but so far February has been fantastic.First I had Natwest paying me my bank charges all back which was a very welcome surprise. I thought I would get them, but I was amazed by just how easy it was.Today i received my cheque from selling my Tesco Save-As-You-Earn options. The price has been going up steadily just recently, but last week it jumped 30

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-61852347602807514352007-02-04T10:17:00.000Z2007-02-04T10:42:53.899Z

AssetsIF current account £143IF Savings account £500LiabilitiesMortgage -£133,616Natwest overdraft -£2365Sky credit card -£3454Total Net Worth £138,792Monthly change -£1,092 (0.79%)

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-82527476821109052742007-01-29T20:48:00.000Z2007-01-29T20:54:14.326Z

Yes that's right...I got money out of a bank !!I got a letter today...it looks like a standard reply. They don't believe the charges are unfair, the rules are all laid out in their guidelines etc etc... A full A4 page of gumphThen on the next page ...as a gesture of goodwill, we will refund £833 into your account.£833.... a gesture of goodwill !!!That's the full total of all the charges I've had

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-66782131739306756672007-01-28T12:03:00.001Z2007-01-28T12:10:48.390Z

Some interesting replies to my original post, most of which were very helpful.I have decided for my benefit, that yes, I will keep the mortgage in my net worth calculation, as its something I have to pay each month. Also if I want to be moving towards the million mark the first thing I need to do is to get rid of the debt before I can start investing for growth.The second thing is that I am NOT

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-31865076040306014852007-01-23T19:33:00.000Z2007-01-23T19:42:50.705Z

One week gone and no response from Natwest, Not even an acknowledgement. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I wonder how many of these letters they get a month ?Went and got a new PC monitor at the weekend but took an ex display model so we saved £20 on it which made me feel a bit better. And the sky man came to look at our dish and he said it was definitely knackered so again I

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-45203770536948701812007-01-21T21:12:00.000Z2007-01-21T21:17:29.032Z

Currently this is my first month, but as I imagine this is going to be a (very) long road I need to see how I am doing. I stumbled on this great site NetworthIQ which allows you to enter a value each month and it will track how well you are doing.The graph on the right of this page will eventually show my total net worth going up over time ( or down !).It looks a bit rubbish at the moment

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-55772137137610518262007-01-21T11:18:00.000Z2007-01-21T11:29:00.457Z

For the past few days I've been mulling over whether to include the mortgage / equity in the house as part of my calculations of net worth.The fact is that the house is not a realisable asset as we need somewhere to live and the mortgage is part of that. Also as the mortgage is over 30 years and secured against the house, is long term secured debt different to short term unsecured debt.The long

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-34963272812194262982007-01-20T20:58:00.000Z2007-01-20T21:02:55.876Z

I think I must be.This was going to be my year of living frugally and getting my finances into shape ready to really push down my debt over the next few years...And what a start !The car broke....2 grandThe monitor broke...£100 ishSky has stopped working ( because it got a bit windy ) which is £65 just for the engineer to visit.And we need to get a roofer in because we have lost some tiles.happy

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-89045951314033350452007-01-18T19:51:00.000Z2007-01-18T20:19:34.030Z

Nice to see a like minded individual at myfinancesareamess so hello Dave and welcome aboard.I have to say though, given the info in one of your posts I would gladly swap places. I mean, earning 64k, 2 holidays, two cars sounds like absolute luxury. For mere mortals like me earning £28 k with no holidays and only one rustbucket on the drive the challenge is a little tougher.Still, I guess its all

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-91156967443972630322007-01-13T20:30:00.000Z2007-01-13T20:32:58.985Z

Well, For two days now I've been trying to log on to my Intercasino account with no luck so I've had to email support.I've also been rereading their terms and conditions and they seem to have wised up to the fact people are scalping them. I now have to play through the deposit and bonus amount before I can withdraw ANYTHING!But I still believe the process is valid so I'll stick with it and have

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-15834217014545113962007-01-11T20:30:00.000Z2007-01-11T20:33:45.139Z

Yep, that's it...tonight.I'm going to have a go at intercasino as they have a monthly bonus of £50 which would be nice to get some of.Unfortunately, they are obviously wise to the process as you cannot withdraw your deposit until you have gambled the money through, so I guess its Monte Carlo or Bust for me..Wish Me Luck

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-36131670818979390702007-01-08T20:53:00.000Z2007-01-08T21:00:47.340Z

Well its been a couple of days since I last posted and its been an OK weekend. We had some friends round on Saturday night so I had to splash out on some booze, but taking advantage of special offers I got plenty for a tenner. So all in all not a bad week as I kept below my £20 pocket money target...in fact I even ended up with about £3.50 left.....Oh, But I owe son number 1 JC his pocket money

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-42683263379843878752007-01-05T19:32:00.000Z2007-01-05T19:48:06.193Z

One of the things I find most frustrating with my finances is getting on an even keel then suddenly...car tax...have to find £160. Or home insurance ...have to find £400...So what I'm going to do is work out how much I think i need a year, then add 10% for safety then divide by 12 to work out how much to put away each month. that way I'll be ahead and actually have the money for those things

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-37557483227875406402007-01-04T18:37:00.000Z2007-01-04T18:40:37.056Z

Yep, Day 4 and so far I've only spent £1.50 and that was on a lottery ticket. i know its probably money wasted but you've got to be in it to win it.On a separate note I got my statements from natwest yesterday. I went through them and was really surprised to find that I have only had charges totalling £800 over the past 6 years. Still its money for nothing so I'll be claiming them back shortly.

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-91032201805827332232007-01-01T20:04:00.000Z2007-01-04T18:37:19.207Z

Assets Mortgage -£133,776Skycard -£ 1441overdraft -£3,484Total -£138,701AssetsSavings account £0.56Current Account £ 1001Total £1001.56Total Net Worth -£137,699.44

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-47775399381592886412006-12-29T20:09:00.000Z2006-12-29T20:37:26.198Z

Is it possible ???The quick answer is yes. The long answer is yes most of the time, but at least you won't lose anything.The method essentially utilises two aspects, firstly casino sign-up / deposit bonuses and secondly something known as Perfect Blackjack.Perfect Blackjack is a statistically designed template of how to play a hand given your cards and the dealers cards and should narrow the

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-74304419439825619452006-12-26T19:22:00.000Z2006-12-26T19:27:54.540Z

To Go from nothing ( or less than nothing ) to a million pounds is quite a big jump, so I think its best to split it down into much smaller goals which are all perfectly achievable in a shorter time period.So with that in mind what are my goals for the first year.1. Get rid of ALL remaining non-mortgage debt.2. Build a cash pot for Annual Bills and pay into it monthly.3. Build a cash pot of "

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-88813420681467568852006-12-25T21:32:00.000Z2006-12-25T21:33:25.864Z

Hope you got what you wanted from Santa.

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-61461278602216469312006-12-21T23:18:00.000Z2006-12-21T23:20:18.329Z

Hmm...Really !!!Apparently so. I've stumbled across quite a few pages detailing how to legally and fairly easily make money out of online casino's with NO RISK !I'm going to investigate further, but my maths brain seems to think it works.I'll keep you posted

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-34481320963819104402006-12-21T21:11:00.000Z2006-12-21T21:20:24.583Z

Yup.... That's the damage.I don't know what I've done being not very mechanical, but its gonna cost £1500 to fix, plus the cost of the hire car. Still if they are virtually rebuilding the engine at least I should get another couple of years out of it.At the end of the day, £1500 is cheaper than spending 5 or 6 grand on a new car.Not a great start to the project...HOWEVER....I have a couple of

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-46004859284486029192006-12-19T23:33:00.000Z2006-12-19T23:37:36.475Z

Ok, So I did it today. Sent the letter to reclaim all my bank charges from he last 6 years, well, started the ball rolling anyway.Step 1 is to contact your bank to get them to send a list of all charges from the last 6 years as its available under the data protection act. It costs a maximum of £10 so I sent a cheque too.They have 40 days to respond so I'll put it in my diary to be ready to go to

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-79740331511855162762006-12-18T21:19:00.000Z2006-12-18T21:29:50.085Z

Er....Thats itThe parachute account set up so I can effectively try and get all my bank charges back from the last 6 years and if they close my account it won't matter.I guess I'd better get writing those letters.The best bit is that the new account give 6.1% interest on all credit balances up to £2500 and a credit card with 0% balance transfer for 9 months ( 2.25%fee )6.1% on a current account !

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-23640808148951508462006-12-17T21:41:00.000Z2006-12-17T21:51:57.306Z

Ok...So the countdown to the start of my project has started. 14 Days to go.I thought I would just have a quick tot up of my current situation.Mortgage -£134,000Credit card 1 -£1,500Credit card 2 -£35Current Account 1 -£2500Current Account 2 +£1000Savings Account 1 +£0.57Savings account 2 +£2.00Neteller Account +£100IG

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-45062741001793685712006-12-14T21:10:00.000Z2006-12-14T21:12:50.150Z

I'm quite excited...I know this site is really easy to use, but I've just added a link on the right to one of my favourite sites.Moneysavingexpert.com is a site run by a journalist called Martin Lewis.Go There....Read it....Its Genius

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-25570563142774782152006-12-14T20:39:00.000Z2006-12-14T20:53:56.491Z

So back to the original reason for the blog, we were in debt and sinking rapidly.Firstly I think the resounding "light bulb" moment was when I realised we were struggling and couldn't cope.I think the biggest problem that most people in debt face is not realising its out of control, thinking they are managing but just sinking slowly further into the mire. It's almost like having an addiction and

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-28256783561772603092006-12-14T20:27:00.000Z2006-12-14T20:31:51.314Z

Well...Not quite, but nearly.Apparently the Cambelt has snapped, not that I'm mechanically minded and know what a cambelt does, but its gone.The village garage can't fit it and the renault garage can't do it until Wednesday next week. This leaves me up the proverbial swanny.So, Hey ho, I've had to rent a car for a week because I need to go to work and I can't really walk the 20 miles each way....

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-37588411420560836002006-12-13T20:01:00.000Z2006-12-13T20:03:52.186Z

I don't believe it !!!Christmas on the horizon, about to start my grand scheme then......The bloody car broke.Just coming home from work and it died....nothing...I can see a huge bill coming from the garage, just what I don't need.

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-46013358168697206742006-12-12T10:01:00.000Z2006-12-12T10:13:14.764Z

Ok..so, how did I get to this stage.Well I've always been a bit of a spendaholic... not particularly a shopaholic, I just seem to leak money like a bucket with a hole in it.When child number 3 came along we needed more room, so like most people we extended to make the house 4 bedroomed. This wasn't cheap, and with decoration etc the cost just kept building and building.That was a couple of years

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465991864299561.post-53216951777870462382006-12-10T20:59:00.000Z2006-12-10T21:09:34.971Z

HiSo.....The Millionaire Project........ whats that all about then??Well, first let me say its not a get-rich-quick scheme. So thats most of you immediately clicking away...ByeStill Here?Ok, so whats it all about.Well the quick answer is that I want to be a millionaire, who doesn't ? But the long answer is that this blog is my way of keeping myself on the straight and narrow. I don't expect it to

PChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02918657304766334946noreply@blogger.com0