Getting a Grip and Saving towards the mortgage

Busy_Mee1 · 18 November 2017 at 9:23AM

It is well over a week since my last post, as work and life have sucked me back in again. One of the elderly parentals is in hospital again which has just added to the generally busy week.

I have managed to come in ( nearly ) on budget this week £103.34 and I am hoping I can claw back the slight overspend in the last two weeks of the month.

In MSE news we have had TCB of £60.33 drop into the account, and £47.45 cash back for using Applepay for the Santanderlite account.

I am progressing all the house jobs.
I now have sent a quote to the insurance company to replace the wardrobe door, they are coming to knock out the fireplace on Monday :eek: and our friend is coming to measure up for the garden gate tomorrow.

I haven't been to the gym in a week and I need to motivate myself to get back to it ....it just feels too cold, too dark and too busy to go at the moment

Anyway need to get a wriggle on...some work to do this morning and then cleaning and shopping. Our friend is coming to sort the garden gate out tomorrow and then we have our baby neice's birthday party tomorrow afternoon and I promised to bake !

EatingTheElephant · 18 November 2017 at 9:30AM

Good news about the job and fantastic figures.
The fire will be wonderful, I love ours.

try_harder · 18 November 2017 at 9:42AM

I had just been thinking about you funnily enough and there you were.Sounds like you have had some ups and downs the last couple of weeks but then i guess thats life but glad alls going well in the house and the budget so thats all good .Have a lovely weekend and dont work too hard

michelle09 · 18 November 2017 at 1:28PM

Hope the parent is ok and that next week will be calmer. That is a lot of cashback though, well done!

Busy_Mee1 · 20 November 2017 at 7:59AM

Morning all I was up early this morning so I thought I would do a quick update post.

As usual the weekend was busy. Our friend came to look at the garden gate yesterday and is coming back on Wednesday to put the posts in. We need to go and buy the actual gate ( I have seen one I like) and Mr Mee is ordering a digiloc from the T'internet. We thought a digiloc would be easier so the window cleaner can get round the back.

I cheated a bit with the baking for our baby neice's party and made rocky road ( no baking required), but it went down very well. The party was good fun...lots of little ones and the party girl had a good time

As I was up so early this morning I have been reading back on my diary since the beginning of the year and realised a few things. We only saved £10k in 2016 towards the mortgage, and we have managed to increase this to £18k this year. I am not sure quite how we have managed to dig out an extra £8k but we have :j

I think this is actually due to a few factors; firstly I have had an extra £250/300 a month salary, I have created an extra £76 per month in regular passive income from cash back and interest and have also gained lots of irregular cash back and interest too. Setting realistic but stretching targets has really helped with the focus too (50k in June, £60k in December).
We are now regularly and fairly comfortably saving £1500 a month. This is more than half of Mr Mee's take home salary, which means we will be able to comfortably live on his pension.

We now have two years to go until his retirement and I hope to save another £20k per year in that period, which would mean that along with his pension lump sum we will have enough to pay off the interest only part of the mortgage. This would then just leave the repayment part to run for another 3 and half years afterwards.

We could of course also consider downsizing and wiping the mortgage out that way, but I am not sure we are ready for that yet.

This that is enough of my musings on a Monday morning, I need to get on with the day. We are having the fireplace knocked out today, ready for the new fire next week. I am expecting it to be a dusty job :eek:

Kittenkirst · 20 November 2017 at 5:52PM

Really fantastic and inspirational numbers there Busymee :heartpuls!

I love reading your diary when I’m feeling a bit glum about overpaying as your diary really makes me smile and see that this is for the long haul!

shangaijimmy · 21 November 2017 at 8:29AM

That was a great post and its always good to take stock and reflect on progression. It's a skill in in itself trying to look ahead a few years and predict what/where things could be! And i bet that 20k target finishes up nearer to 25k.

themadvix · 22 November 2017 at 11:47AM

The dust will be bad, I'm sure, but totally worth it for a fireplace in time for Christmas.

Your savings are truly astounding BusyMee and just go to show what a difference can be made by really focusing on the finances, without missing out on life!

try_harder · 22 November 2017 at 12:04PM

What a brilliant year you have had Busy Mee1 , you truly are an inspiration ,you have kept so focused on the goal and as themadvix said you have enjoyed life as you have gone along ,a great mixture and balance .Looking forward to the next two years ,i know you will do it with flying colours.

Busy_Mee1 · 28 November 2017 at 9:07AM

Thanks for popping in all.

It is so nice that people read my ramblings, I have been toying with stopping the diary because it always feels a bit dull to me. However keeping a diary has been the best thing I have ever done financially, as it had kept me focused on my goals - so I will try to keep rambling on.

Last week turned upside down when our most elderly step-parent was taken into hospital and is now very poorly. He is being treated but we are not sure whether given his age he will pull through and if he does he will need a lot of care. So we have been backwards and forwards to the hospital which is an hour and a half away and his home which is two hours away sorting things out. The main problem has been finding foster care for his pets, however a couple of charities have been really helpful - the Cinnimon Trust and a breed Welfare Charity and we have managed to find temporary homes for his cat and dog.

This is an situation that comes to us all but has been made worse by the fact this parent lives in a very remote village. They retired to a rural idyll, which was lovely when they were fit and well but has because a nightmare when one died leaving the other very isolated and too old to move.

A lesson for me there I think and something to think about for anyone thinking of retiring somewhere remote. It is fine when you are fit and well, but do make plans for when you are not.

In and amongst all this, life goes on. Luckily work hasn't been too horrendously busy.
We had the gate done last week, and of course it cost more than I planned. This was because I liked the most expensive gate and panelling rather than the bog standard stuff, so it cost £470 instead of £300.

The fireplace fitting is delayed until next week and we will have to live with the hole in the wall for another week :mad:

We have had a replacement wardrobe door authorised by the insurance company - I just need to get it ordered today. We will just have to cover the £250 excess.

Nothing much else to update financially - I am busy servicing my new B accounts to ensure we get the £500 switching bonus. I must not c@ck that up :rotfl:

I am feeling a bit low at the moment with all that has been going on, it has been very emotional and I am trying not to sink. I haven't been to the gym for a couple of weeks and I am going to try and go today as that always gives me a lift.

Getting a Grip and Saving towards the mortgage

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