Getting a Grip and Saving towards the mortgage

Busy_Mee1 · 1 April 2016 at 10:34AM

A potted history of me and mine - we are me, OH, DS (25) and DD (23) who since I last wrote has moved in with her boyfriend but I am still financially supporting as she is in her last year at university. Son is financially independent, still living at home but looking to buy his own place shortly.
We have a large :eek: mortgage because we built out own house 7 years ago. We do however have a great mortgage deal - a lifetime tracker of 0.69% so instead of overpaying the mortgage I put any spare cash into higher paying ISAs and have until now been looking longingly at some of the higher rate current accounts - we are both higher rate tax payers so have been pointless using anything but ISAs until now.
The numbers:
Mortgage debt: Jan 15 £288778.23. March15 £286,217.61. Jan 16 £277958.44
March 16 £275,920.98

Savings: Jan 15 £22080.81 March 15 £25,790.53 Jan 16 £34,361.10 March 16 £36966.91
I have kept up the saving, averaging £1000 per month.
I also set myself a goal of losing a stone and I have lost a stone and a half :j
I think setting goals in writing on here really worked for me and so I am back:D

Busy_Mee1 · 1 April 2016 at 10:50AM

So the new PSA means that OH and I can earn £500 each in interest before paying tax. So in preparation for this I have been opening lots of current accounts:
Switched to M&S - 6% £250 per month regular saving + £220 switch bonus
TSB x 2 (Me and OH) - £2000 @ 5% + £250 per month regular saver @5%
Santander - up to £20000@ 3% + 2 x regular savers £200 per month @5%

Oo and I have also opened 2 donor accounts to switch - was hoping to get them set up with 2 direct debits each to get £150 each switching bonus from YB but didn't manage in time for closing date. Not too worried I will have them ready for the next good offer.

I have had to set up a couple of spreadsheets to track all of this and to make sure we don't earn more than £1000 in interest. Any surplus beyond this will go into my ISA.

I have been busy - my husband has started to refer to this activity as money laundering lol

enjoyyourshoes · 1 April 2016 at 10:51AM

Also look a regular savings accounts:-
HSBC 6% max £250 per month (12 month and then renew again)
First Direct 6% £300 pm
TSB 5% £250 pm
I think there is a high interest with M&S to name another.
Both of you can have a RS each if you meet the criteria.
Once you have a healthy balance look at Current accounts (Santander 3% unto £20K and TSB £2K at 4%)

Busy_Mee1 · 1 April 2016 at 10:55AM

Thanks very much - too many good ones to choose from. I think for this year I am going to cap off my interest earned at £1000. I am going to look at whether it is worth earning more and paying the tax next year

Busy_Mee1 · 2 April 2016 at 7:10AM

Feeling slightly anxious I did an electronic transfer of £14,000 yesterday from my ISA to fill up my new current accounts. It has left my ISA but hasn't appeared in my bank account yet - somewhere out there in virtual banking land my money is floating about. I have doubled checked the bank details but I think this probably due to an old fashioned building society closing down for the weekend. It said it would arrive the next working day - which is Monday :mad::mad:

Busy_Mee1 · 3 April 2016 at 12:13PM

Food shopping this morning and a bit of a complicated shop in M&S - needed to spend £35 to use a £5 off voucher but I also wanted to use my TSB card using contactless so I get my 5% cash back. So shop needed to be precisely £30 net. Managed to do it and got a good haul of shopping - YS items and £10 deals and OH didn't roll his eyes once. Also went to Home B@rgains and Aldi - HB don't do contactless yet but Aldi do and managed another perfect £30 (without trying this time). Using contactless is adding another dimension to shopping and have also started to use it to put £29 worth of petrol in the car too.

A bit of money shuffling when I got home- £15.85 expenses and £8.37 Tilly Tidy into what shall now be referred to as the "odds and sods" account. I want to track everything I make fiddling about with cash back etc. It will be interesting to see how this all mounts up after a year because I am sure there are those people who wouldn't think this is worth it. I wouldn't even admit to some of my friends the extent to which some of this fiddling about goes:rotfl::rotfl:

Petal88 · 3 April 2016 at 12:27PM

It's all sounding really good Busymee and I think you'll see in no time that all your efforts really have paid off. I'm looking forward to following your diary

Busy_Mee1 · 3 April 2016 at 1:45PM

Thank you Petal - I have already lurked on your diary and you are doing great yourself. It is good to "meet" others with eye watering mortgages too - it is very comforting to feel in control and seeing the big number going down. I actually enjoy all the MSE stuff, gives me a real buzz....sigh must try and get out more....

Busy_Mee1 · 4 April 2016 at 4:55PM

And breathe .......the £14,000 has arrived after floating about in the universe all weekend. I won't be making that school boy error again:mad::mad::mad: Anyway I can now get on with filling up my accounts to get some decent interest.
I have already received the first interest on the TSB accounts - 45p and 48p :T Amazing how much pleasure that gave me......again must get out more !

Also £12 received from Barclays Blue account.

themadvix · 4 April 2016 at 5:17PM

Hi Busy Mee - you're not alone - the £1.16 interest from my shiny new TSB account made me very pleased too! 5% interest actually equates to something!!

Busy_Mee1 · 4 April 2016 at 5:38PM

Hi Madvix glad to know it is not just me .....

Getting a Grip and Saving towards the mortgage

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free