New mortgage payment!!

Usually I don't really like the blue envelopes from the tax collecting office, but this time, they brought good news. I received about €5,000. Had to pay another €1,000, but it still left me with €4,000 extra. So I put €500 in the renovation fund, used €885 for paying my health insurance at once for the entire year (had never done that before, so I also did not save for it. I will save up for it this year) and I put €2,500 towards the mortgage! I had just a little over €400 on the mortgage account, so I had to take about €2,100 from the tax return. What was left, will be used for my retirement.

Or at least be stored in my retirement account, since this was not the final return, and I might have to pay some of it back.

What would you have done with this money?

Can I gloat?

I do not mean to gloat, but after the news I heard today, I cannot help it. About three years ago, we were looking for a new home. We went to see one which was absolutely great. We loved everything about it. It was over budget, but not much. We could pay 98% of the asking price, while in Holland, it is quite common to pay about 90% of the asking price, or even less.

Anyway, we wanted this house so bad, that we offered the 98% we could pay. They refused. They didn't particularly want more money, they wanted other people in it. People who would accommodate elderly/handicapped people. So we felt really sorry for ourselves for a while and we went on to look at other houses. We found another one we fell in love with. And we bought it.

And now, three years later, the house we first wanted to buy is still for sale, and for almost €100,000 less than what WE OFFERED THEM! So the final price (if someone wants to buy it) will probably be about 75% of what we offered.

So.

I don't want to gloat, since I know it's hard to sell a house these days. But in this case, I can't help but gloat a little...

Making holiday plans

Having expensive holidays does not really help reaching my goals, but I'm really dying to get away. We went to the US a few years ago and it was really great, so we would like to do that again. All-in costs: about €3,000 a person. The last time, we rented a car and drove around. We didn't make reservations beforehand, so we would be as flexible as possible. We spent most money on the car, the flight and some shopping.

So, what should I do: start saving for a holiday and loosen a bit on my other goals? Trying to do both? Any tips/suggestions?

Bye bye pedi's and facial treatments

Usually, I visit the beautician and pedicure once every six weeks. But since I have to make some choices, I've decided to limit that to 2 and 5 times a year. It saves me about €200, which will come in handy, since other things have become more expensive.

Would you skip something like this, or would you try to save money on other things?

Back to work

In 2011, I became a fulltime freelancer. Before that, I also had a parttime job. This week brings back memories, since I have a job at another office (not my cosy home office) and I have to be there at 8 sharp every morning. It's funny how fast I forgot about the planning etc. if you have a day job. If I don't have any deadlines, it doesn't really matter if I get out off bed at 7 or 8 or 9. It does now, because every hour I'm still in bed, I'm losing money and time (since I will have to work evenings then).

Even though it's nice for a week or so, I'm glad I freelance during the rest of the year. My income might be more irregular, but at least I got my freedom. What would you prefer; freelancing or having a steady job? And why?

Saturday = houseworkday

Since I've started my frugal journey, Saturday has turned into my houseworkday. Since the electricity is cheaper at night and during weekends, I save my laundry until then, bake cakes, and do other things that require electricity. We also use Saturdays for renovating our home. Savings might be tiny, but I like focussing on 'home' for one day. On Sunday's, I prefer doing nothing (well, no work, no mandatory things, etc. I love organizing, reading, etc.), so there's one busy day, followed by a day to relax.

Yesterday, I focussed on:
- Home
- Baking
- Money

For today, my focus will be on:
- Reading a Bible-part (it's been too long)
- Reading blogs + book (latter is for my 52 goals)
- Organizing (also part of the goals, since I want to get rid of some stuff)

What does your weekends look like?

Why pay off the mortgage and how to motivate yourself

In Holland, many people have a 30-year mortgage and like to keep it that way, because of the tax advantages. So why would I want to pay off mine early? For a number of reasons:

1. We can't afford to keep it. If something happens to one of us, chances are that we won't be able to make our monthly payments > problem
2. It's a debt with a LOT of interest
3. It's a debt that makes us bank-dependent
4. If we don't we'll pay €2000 a month for 30 years (assuming that the interest does not get any higher) and after those 30 years, we'll still be stuck with a €200,000 debt

However, I must confess that it is hard to make extra payments. Things come up and small payments don't really seem to add up. To motivate myself, I've started with 52 Goals for 2012, but I also take a lot of time to read other blogs/stories to find inspiration.

How do you keep yourself motivated to achieve large goals?