Pay Off £200k in 100 months!

SwitchyChick

Blimey - just received a cheque from BoS for £72.63 relating to an early settlement on a loan we paid off ages ago. Apparently, they miscalculated and actually owed us £61.99 so the chq represents "both the additional amount owed to you plus a further sum which we have added to compensate you for the potential loss of interest at a rate of 7% per annum." Wow - this sort of thing never happens to us... £72.63 off to the offset account!

Plus Quidco of £188.82.

Switchy

StuartGMC

SwitchyChick wrote: »

What else? Oh yes, the price of heating oil has reduced considerably (virtually halved) which has made a big difference. We order at least 1000 litres a time & it’s so much easier on the purse strings when its 35p per litre rather than 64p!

Good to hear of progress again. I assume you'll "top up" in the summer on the oil anyway, but there seems to be some consensus that oil will be about US$60/bbl in the autumn (i.e. about 40-50% higher than now) so no doubt that will impact on heating oil and all of us with vehicles.

setmefree2

SwitchyChick wrote: »

Blimey - just received a cheque from BoS for £72.63 relating to an early settlement on a loan we paid off ages ago. Apparently, they miscalculated and actually owed us £61.99 so the chq represents "both the additional amount owed to you plus a further sum which we have added to compensate you for the potential loss of interest at a rate of 7% per annum." Wow - this sort of thing never happens to us... £72.63 off to the offset account!

Plus Quidco of £188.82.

Switchy

Yay good news

SwitchyChick

Mortgage interest calculated today:
Before offsetting: £644.62, after offsetting: £564.24, value of offset: £80.38.
Result - paid £80.38 off the mortgage today.
Plus my mortgage payment for February won't be taken until 2nd March!

Switchy

setmefree2

Well done on that. Nice feeling isn't it?

SwitchyChick

Just paid another £1000 off the mortgage. It now stands at £127,456.24 which means that I have managed to pay off £2,543.76 since October - an average of £508.75. This falls way short of the £2000/month goal I originally set for myself. I am still hoping to be able to allocate a 'chunk' of savings, probably towards the end of the year. However the I-must-book-a-holiday bug has bitten and I'm researching New Zealand - am I completely mad?

Switchy

StuartGMC

SwitchyChick wrote: »

However the I-must-book-a-holiday bug has bitten and I'm researching New Zealand - am I completely mad?
Switchy

If you are planning your holiday to celebrate being MF, of course not!

(I jest, we're off to Mexico this year).
Holidays are extremely important to recharge and provide a tangible feedback to us for all the hard work and stress associated with a job, not always easy to get such a "hit" from the mortgage statement!

If you have a budget for holidays and this NZ trip fits then go ahead and enjoy it (presumably November this year or later?)

SwitchyChick

Nice one Stuart!
There are a number of factors involved.
I have a list of 'must-see' places and I'd like to take the children too. In a few years they won't want to holiday with their parents (they're 12 & 15) so time is pressing in that sense.
We have an annual shutdown at work over Christmas/New Year which means that its a good time to go on holiday without the worry of work 'stacking up' in readiness for our return! We'll have to add a week or so to this to make the trip worthwhile. The downside is that it is the most expensive time of the year to visit.
Finally, M-i-L is giving us 25% of the budget which is a bit of a deciding factor. She is a very generous parent!
So, on with the giddiness of plotting & planning. I caught a bit of an old Billy Connolly show on TV last night where he was touring NZ and that just added to the excitedness.
Oh dear, what have I started?

Switchy

SwitchyChick

Researching NZ like a woman possessed & getting v giddy. It doesn't take much

Keeping an eye on my stoozepot which currently totals £20,506, of which £6365 is slow stooze (spending). And of the slow stooze approx 2/3 needs to be repaid this month.

Paid £1000 off the mortgage this month. :T

Switchy!

taka

Well done!!

NZ is amazing! I was luck enough to spend 2 months travelling about NZ and I hugely enjoyed it!

Some things I really enjoyed and would highly recommend...

... Kayaking (and walking) in Abel Tasman national park
... Walking on a glacier - Franz Josef or Fox glacier are the easiest to get to. The temp in summer/autumn when I was there was approx 20degC on the ice and you are advised to wear shorts +jumpers/fleece so not chilly at all! I did a heli-hike on Franz Josef! One of the most spectacular things I have ever done though not very cheap!
... Swimming with (wild) dolphins or whale watching - Kaikoura is a good place (as is Bay of Islands for dolphins)
... Doing activities in Queenstown are quite expensive but you can do a lot of similar things in Wanaka (not far away) for far less
... getting the ferry out to some of the islands near auckland - a good day trip in nice weather!
... enjoying the wonderful and spectacular scenery
... seeing wild penguins hopping about on a deserted beach/hillside chasing the sheep away :rotfl: (somewhere in the Caitlins (south of Dunedin))

Can you tell I spent a fortune but hugely enjoyed myself? :rolleyes: