Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

DD off sick today, I have had a very lazy day watching Psycho with her has she has to review it for homework.

I have just been debating whether I should be switching back to repayment in the new year, I will have been on IO for 1 year by then and to be honest have spent a LOT more than I had planned this year. I am thinking maybe a compromise would be a much longer term, we currently have 10 yrs 7m left.

On repayment that is a monthly payment of just over £1400 pm with no op's,plus £403 clearing the 0%CC until june, and take homepay is just over £2300. Maybe I should extend by a couple of years?

The trouble is it really goes against the grain to do this, its just when we took out the new mortgage a year and a half ago we dropped from 33 yrs or so to 12 and wages were probably around £1200 per month more :eek:.

I just don't want to feel like I'm going backwards.

moan over.:o

newgirly

I have just read and inputted the gas and elec readings into my acct. as I have been submitting them every tues morning to monitor how much it is costing.
This morning though my gas number is the same as last weeks?! Last tues the reading had gone up by 5 units but this week nothing, I have used the gas rings for cooking and we have a combi boiler (sorry very ignorant!) which I assume uses gas. There is a 5th number which I had not noticed before which seems to shows 10ths of a unit which may have moved, but I can't believe I have used so little.

The bill has gone up in total this week to £5.82 a day , last weeks was £3.30 pd. I suppose its getting darker earlier so maybe we are using more lights, but the hot tub has been off for a few weeks so that will have used less, although it needs to go back on so it doesn't freeze up over winter.

newgirly

After a phone call to my dad he suggested putting on the gas rings an hot water to see if it moves! er, quite obvious really! The little 1/10th number has slowly moved so looks like the meter works ok which is a relief. Shame I ended up flooding the kitchen with hot water to find out.

Other good news today is my parents have booked the same house in devon for next summer that we stayed in this year, they said they will pay again which is very kind of them, they wanted to go to the same house as it was georgeous, but it has 4 bedrooms so thought we might like to go along too!

We also have centerparcs booked for a weekend in july which I still have to find £360 odd for, I think I will have to start saving for next summer now.

mouche

newgirly you seem to be coping brilliantly with the reduced income and such a positive attitude too. I love your idea of closely monitoring the gas and electric readings and I think I will do that too as we have just bought a much larger house and I don't want to get any huge shocks when the bills start coming through. Good luck with all your plans.

newgirly

Thanks mouche, its only because I had a shockingly large bill last year after the snow!

I have still stuck to the budget almost exactly, I can't be bothered to count up any loose change everyday. Although I have cheated as dh put £20 petrol in at the weekend.:o

Having a frugal day, spent on a couple of bits in the local shop, and was going to buy dd a lasagne ready meal as the twins are out for tea, but came home and made a mini one from scratch from the cupboards, dh has left over chicken&stock from the roast the other day with a few veg and broth mix from approved foods. Beans on toast for me.

Also thanks to mse I am going to the ideal home xmas exhibition with my mum in nov. for free, thanks martin :money:

newgirly

Another busy day, the kids have all had a half day so I ended up with nine in total , decided to do a cheap tea of hot dogs and chocolate cake.

I have been doing a bit of shopping online for xmas ( seperate from the £10 budget), an got a fab present for my mum, a "bobble hat" links charm for her bracelet. It was £45 reduced to £15 plus free delivery code and 12% cashback, I really hope she likes it as she is very hard to buy for. Also got an england shirt for ds2 for £7.49 free del. from grabbit.

Dh's first payslip has come through with the newly revised 10% lower wage on it, I under estimated the new wage so we will be £3.76 pw better off then I thought, it all helps!

Its turned very cold here and I don't want to put the heating on yet, the trouble is the downstairs is very open, we have a through lounge with an open plan conservatory on the end, the whole room is over 30ft long and I think a lot of the heat must be going out through the glass, plus the floor is laminate. We really need to sort out some french doors in the future I think.

newgirly

Still just about on budget with the challenge, but need to go shopping today. I used some boots vouchers and bought some 3-4-2 xmas presents , one for ds2, he has looked at the catalouge and wants some thing different which is a lot cheaper. So I am going to take it all back and start again!

I have managed to cover the first two payments for dd's school trip with my wages, £115, so no more to pay until feb. Christmas is very nearly sorted now, only a handful left to get, probably around £60 , plus I shall use dh's christmas vouchers from work ( if he still gets them this year).

One problem we are having at the moment is the twins bickering rather a lot, we are stopping them using the xbox /computer etc. when they play up, but they just rub each other up the wrong way, 50% of the time they get on well the rest of the time they are driving me crazy. Its not helping having them share a room, but we have no choice at the moment. Its not helping with trying to make the right descision for us as to whether to op or start saving for the loft. To top it all off a house has gone up for sale in our road with 4 beds and a huge garden for £264K, which is sooo cheap for the area. we are around £40-£50K short, I have considered selling one of the kids , but dh is not so keen! :rotfl:

mouche

Good on your for sorting Xmas out so soon. I'm not Christian so it's not such a big deal for me but I guess I ought to sort out the cards and gifts for the friends I do buy for. Especially considering I'm leaving early November and if OH manages to post things out that's enough for him! Have you come across any good bargains on camcorders in your hunting by any chance?

newgirly

Hi Mouche, I would keep checking on grabbit or even search camcorder on the box at the top of this page, if you do find a good deal don't forget to use Martin's "megashopbot" and also check for topcashback or quidco.

My dog has had me awake from 3am this morning , I think the wind is spooking her, but my sympathy ran out at about 3.30am , now I am properly up with the tv on she has gone to sleep.:mad:
I am seriously tired and have 4 girls coming for lunch , and no food as my trip to the shops was cut short sfter 10 mins yesterday as ds1's school rang to say he felt sick, he seem to recover quite quickly at home though.

Anyway, not much overpaying going on at the moment just £403 off the cc this month so,

Mortgage still £149,266

0%CC £3,200

£152,466 total

£18,373 paid off since may 2010.

CathT

I need to get sorted for Christmas too but always end up spending when i look on grabbit!