The ups, downs, and occasional sideways bits of trying to be mortgage free

Tahlullah · 22 May 2017 at 8:24AM

Wow, all that damage due to one tree? What is it? An American Redwood?

In the UK, people are very good at disposing of unwanted trees, especially ones which spoil their view from their multi-million £ houses. Go to bed, it's there, wake up next morning, it's missing.

I can imagine that isn't an easy repair to deal with. Kill the tree and the roots shrink back and cause all sorts of problems that aren't present at the moment. At least some remedial work can be undertaken until you finish saving.

And if you have gone out and bought yourself a new pair of trousers, guilt, should not be part of the equation, especially when you are budgeting for everything. And needs must.

We all have clothes that we have had forever and if calculated out, the shop we bought them from should be paying us for the advertising. I wouldn't feel bad about them. If you haven't bought anything like this for an age, then they will last a long time and so will be excellent value for money. So look at them more as a savings plan! Look what you don't have to buy for how long into the future, purely because you bought these trousers now!

armchairexpert · 22 May 2017 at 8:43AM

Two trees plus stormwater damage. Yes trees get mysteriously poisoned here too but I'm not going to volunteer!

Cherryfudge · 23 May 2017 at 12:14PM

It was only a semi-binge.

Winter trousers were needed and it was either that or two cheaper pairs which wouldn't have lasted as long or looked as good, or given you such a boost.

Tahlullah · 23 May 2017 at 7:42PM

armchairexpert wrote: »

Two trees plus stormwater damage. Yes trees get mysteriously poisoned here too but I'm not going to volunteer!

I often look a really big trees, and think about what they have seen and experienced. The changes through the years and centuries. Knowing they will probably be there when I am not.

And then some 'wonderful' person comes along and poisons or chops down or strips bark so the tree dies, just so they can build their new house or improve their view, or make the piece of land they are selling more desirable.

I have a big Oak tree outside my flat. Not too close to block the sun, but close enough to give a view of its splendour and magnificence. And at some point, hopefully not in my lifetime, someone will come along and kill that tree for firewood.

How very sad.

I hope the remedial action doesn't mean the destruction of the tree. Mind you, if it was happening to my flat, it's coming down!!!:rotfl:

armchairexpert · 24 May 2017 at 1:30AM

It's just a couple of Australian gums, they're practically weeds around here. There are lots of varieties, some idiot just decided to plant a fast growing variety some time ago I suppose. We'll replace them with something more sustainable - they are coming out if we can get the council to agree.

Anyway, onwards and upwards! Wore the amazing new pants yesterday and I am fully reconciled to their expense because they are fabulous and I will wear them always. They're a teensy bit tight, though, so I'm also embarking on a low carb diet. I reckon 5lb will make all the difference. I mean I could do to lose 15lb, but for the sake of the pants alone, I'm aiming for 5 for now.

Bit spendy, though, isn't it, a low carb diet? I stocked up on ham and cheese and little fancy tins of tuna and things this morning with my spending money. Slow cooked Cuban pork and black beans for dinner tonight. YUM.

Tahlullah · 24 May 2017 at 7:59PM

armchairexpert wrote: »

Wore the amazing new pants yesterday and I am fully reconciled to their expense because they are fabulous and I will wear them always.

Always? Does that include in bed? Not going to last long if you don't plan on giving them a break every so often...

armchairexpert · 25 May 2017 at 1:28AM

They're definitely not comfortable enough to be wearing to bed! :rotfl: I will confess here that in fact I wore them to the school run this morning, swanned around feeling fancy, and then came back home (I work from home) and changed into track pants. :rotfl: I'm not even sorry.

Mr Expert's payday today - he gets paid fortnightly and I pay myself on the last day of the month just before the mortgage interest comes out - and I can see that we'll have paid off maybe $500 this month, and about the same next month: that's the total principal payment, not an OP on top of a mandatory principal payment. That seems to be about the level I can get to on our current salaries without cutting things down to the miserable bone.

It's taken a few months to get really clear on what's realistic, which I suppose is okay, although it's disappointing. When I first sketched out the budget I was all excited, because it looked like Mr E's salary paid for all our ongoing expenses and mine could come off the principal, but that's only true if you disregard all those annual and rainy day expenses that actually need to be budgeted for throughout the year like school fees and Christmas and white goods replacements, plus all spending money, clothes, the occasional weekend away somewhere..it's an eye opener, for sure!

Anyway, better to be chipping away at it $500 at a time than not at all, which is what was happening before - in fact we were going backwards and then relying on the yearly tax return to top us back up. And the reason we were doing that is because we thought we had $2K in discretionary income a month so if we spent half of it on frivolity we'd still be fine, but of course we do not.

$500/month is $6K a year, which at our current mortgage level of $220K will take us...well, I don't have a calculator to hand but I think it's about a billion years. So something has to change! Will have to make a New Plan.

Busy_Mee1 · 25 May 2017 at 7:57AM

I love the sound of your fancy pants ! I am assuming these are trousers.....fancy pants are generally what you would wear on a date night here :rotfl:

I also started this journey with a very optimistic budget, thinking I could save far more than I actually can because I hadn't budgeted for all the one offs and life spending. It takes a while to get it all nailed, but you will get there.

I am really enjoying your diary - we spent 3 weeks in Oz last year and loved it

Tahlullah · 25 May 2017 at 8:21PM

I think this is what we are all finding. That our assumed budget would leave us with a plentiful bounty of spare money that we can all throw at the mortgage to get it paid off quickly.

Instead, the reality, once we start budgeting, is very different.

Yes, a new plan is needed.

I am hoping that you will find some unheard of sneaky, cunning plan that somehow releases lots of money, allowing for all eventualities to be covered whilst freeing up an extra £5k per month.

Until then, we will carry on as we are. Every £ saved reduces the interest we have to pay. It's all positive!

armchairexpert · 26 May 2017 at 1:28AM

Busy Mee, you're right! I've been spending too much time talking to Americans, I think. Trousers is what they are!

Well, I sat down and did a new plan, and it looks like this:

To reach goal I need to pay $2300/month. The interest portion of that is currently $900. At the moment, with careful budgeting, I can pay $1400, so only $500 off principal.

From next financial year (starts 1 July here) I can increase my business salary by $500/month. I have been paying myself less than my business earns so that our income is consistent across my lean months (Dec-Feb, usually), but looking at what I've earned over the past financial year, that's a safe increase and still allows me to build up a buffer for those lean months.

So that's $1900.

I said earlier, we always get a hefty tax return because the costs involved with running my Mum's unit are tax deductible against our entire income (not just the rental income). That works out as $4K (roughly) for Mr Expert, and I'm not salaried so I pay my own tax, but if I can put away the amount of tax I would pay without that deduction (makes sense) it's about $2K for me. $6K as an end-of-tax-year lump sum is the equivalent of another $500/month.

So that's $2400. And that gives me $100 buffer for the months when I say eff it and buy something I really want or a big bill comes in. That budget is allowing me to drip bits of money into savings and emergency pots as well, but realistically, any big repair or unexpected expense is going to empty those straight out and I do have those potential costs of the unit hanging over my head, so we'll see if this plan works. But! It's a plan!

The ups, downs, and occasional sideways bits of trying to be mortgage free

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