Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

January round up:

Start balance mortgage 2012....................£148,958
Balance as at 28th jan.............................£148,755

Amount paid..............................................£203


Start balance 0%cc...................................£3268
Balance as at 28th jan................................£3236

Amount paid..............................................£32.68


Total paid off Jan............................£235.68


Extra income earned 2012 challenge was £350.32, I paid £200 off the mortgage with that and will save the rest towards holidays.

There has been a lot of extra spending this month as we traded in our car for a bigger one which cost an extra £1500 plus £45 on insurance as it has a bigger engine, still need to pay for a spare key and mats as well.
Also we had a tax bill of £1100 that we were not expecting.

The cost of this will carry on over a the next couple of months probably so op's will continue to be lower.
The £5 a day food budget went well over as well, but still ended up being under my new monthly budget of £250 pm , so it could be worse I suppose and we do have quite a lot in the cupboards still.



Mortgage wise I'm trying to decide whether to try and get a longer term fix which will tie us in for longer and make moving / improving a unlikely and difficult, or go for a flexible offset.
I feel like i have spent way to much on the house last year and hardly paid anything off, whereas 2010 i did really well, the sensible thing to do is to stay here while the kids are still with us, its a nice area and they can walk to school, we just need a bit more room. I guess i am worried about trusting myself with a more flexible mortgage , will a very long term fix force me to make the descision to op like mad until its paid off and stop getting distracted?!

Either way i need to stop spending and op a lot more next month.:D

newgirly

Its been one of those weekends that I am glad to see the back of, nothing terrible but lots of bickering with the kids and arguing with dh.

Oh well, fresh week and all that! I have got on the scales and that has not cheered me up much, I'm just debating whether to start slim fast again as I don't seem to have any willpower, I also hav'nt read the paul mc kenna book I bought on ebay, perhaps I should give that a go first.

The last month I have been using cash instead of cards, but I'm wondering whether to start with the cc again. I managed to keep a spending diary for about 2 days at the start of the month, then lost track. The cash seems to vanish quite quickly, no different to the cc really, plus I can see where everything has gone.
I have lots of food lurking about for cooking, so we should not have a very high grocery bill this month, I must try and remember to go to the big mr t on weds night as thats when I found all the cheap veg last week.
Today I am meeting mum nan and aunt at the shops and I have to get my niece a birthday present for her 16th. I am thinking some sort of jewellry.

I also have to cancel sky movies as the 1/2 price offer has ended it was great over xmas though, but not good enough to fork out £16 pm for it, other than that will ring the N&P about their 10 year fix mortgage @3.99 %, I know 10 years is a bit :eek: but with ops allowed it could be cleared in 6 yrs 3 moths which is way quicker that we can pay it off anyway. Chances are we don't earn enough to apply , so that will help the descision making.:D

CathT

I'm planning on a low grocery spend for Feb too, thinking of lots and stews and soups! Will you have ERC on the 10 year fix if you clear mortgage or can you leave small balance outstanding to avoid it. That's a good rate for 10 years though and it would be the last mortgage deal you'll have to do!

newgirly

hi cath, there are ERC's , I don't know what they are is it is impossible to get through as they are so busy, I'm waiting for someone to call me back. There are no details on the site about lending criteria but after googling it looks like its done on affordability which is not good for us, as we have 3 kids and want a 10 year term which is also taken into account. I can't see it being a go-er really.

I have been on the phone to the chelsea again to ask why their deal for new customers is 3.19% and current customers wanting the same deal get charged 4.19%.
She did not believe me and said exsisting customers get offered the same rates more or less! After a while checking she did admit they charge an extra 1% if you are with them already wanting to switch at the end of your deal.:mad: So much for loyalty.

Back to trawling through the many deals out there, I will find one I like that we can get in the end.

Shopping today , I got our step niece's present, one of those sparkly ball friendship bracelets, only problem was they were £25 each or 3 for £50, so I had to buy 3.:o One will be for dd for her birthday in the summer from her brothers, and one is for my birthday from dh (when i get the money off him!)

newgirly

I finally managed to get my phone appointment today with the n&p to apply for their 10yr fix, however contrary to my first conversation their agreement in principle lasts 70 days not 180 which they had told me, they also said that mortgage will probably only be available for another week or so as its so popular, another waste of time.:(
It seems to be a common problem that you get told different things from different mortgage advisors at the same company.

I'm fed up with looking at mortgages now, but one of the reasons that I am looking to fix long term is that dh's status might change from employed to self employed in the near future, in which case it will be near on impossible to re-mortgage again, I even dreamt about mortgages the other night, very worrying

Food wise still doing ok, although a bit cross with dh who accidently dropped a whole plate of chilli over my new rug last night, a waste of a nice dinner and a nasty stain now! I was going to do a mr t shop this evening and try and get some reduced veg like last week , but its so cold I don't want to drive out later whan its dark, will go once dd gets home from school instead, did get a few £10 off a £30 spend a mr t vouchers but it says to hand over with your clubcard which I have lost so not sure if I can use them.

newgirly

I've just been to my first session with the personal trainer with my friend, it was good but I think she let us ease in slowly! We have another 4 sessions left (it was a birthday present from my friends dh) I would love to carry on after that but just had a look on her website and its going to be £150 for 5 more.:eek: I also have to keep a food diary this week, so i'd better start being good.

Did a big shop at mr t last night and used my £10 off voucher, got lots of veg to make some curries, and lots of mince for spag bol, plus loads of other food for £68.

I've just ordered a kindle for ds2 last night as , both boys would like one and i said a few weeks ago if they save up half the money towards them I will pay the rest, they have a habit of spending their money quickly, so I was not expecting them to do it to be honest!
Ds1 still has £20 to save but ds1 has been stashing away money and hit £45 yesterday, It was a little bit mse though as I got £10 off as recommended by :money: so we paid £40 each. Hopefully they will spend less time watching tv and more time reading so it may be a good thing.

CathT

The mortgage dilemma must be so frustrating. What is your current provider's SVR? Hope the boys get good use of their kindles. There was a post on grabbit for some free books I think.

newgirly

Thanks cath, I think the svr is about 5.79% with chelsea.

I am livid with dh today, have just been in the log cabin to check the hot tub is running ok in the cold and found the plug in heater running :mad: It has been on 24/7 since dd had her friends round last saturday . He went out to turn it off after they left and lock up and he forgot to do both. I have no idea how much it would cost to run its a big oil filled plug in radiator that blows out hot air as well. Since i've changed suppliers I can't work out costs until after the first bill in april.
To rub salt in I have had the heating off when the kids are at school and it has been so cold, I could have gone down the garden to warm up.:cool:

Need to go through the accounts to day and do the weekly shifing money around to earn my ha**fax bonus, and see if there is any possibilty of a bit extra to op this month.

pink_poppy

Surely that can't be right about the Chelsea SVR, newgirly!! :eek: I'm with the [EMAIL="H@lifax"]H@lifax[/EMAIL] & it's 3.5% & I've read that other Banks are 2.5%, 5.79% sounds waay too much. It was only recently that I discovered that Banks have their own SVR rates ~ I'd always thought SVRs were the same no matter which Bank you were with ~ silly, naive me!! :doh::mad:

How frustrating about the heater in the log cabin ~ I bet you could have cried, especially as you've been so careful with the heating in the house Fingers crossed it won't be too costly.

newgirly

Hi pink poppy, yes it is really 5.79% I just double checked!

I am having a bit of a moral dilema at the moment, there are a group of 5 girls including me who meet for lunch at each others houses once a week, they are friends who i have known for a few years. Its one of the girls 40th in april and she is a very good friend of mine whom I have known for 10 yrs or so. She has had a tough couple of years and is now a sinle mum of 4.

We met up without her to organise a surprise, I was expecting a meal out/ show type thing, but they are thinking of hiring a hall and dj for a big party and the 4 of us paying. Her very large family (100 or so) can't afford a party so they are doing a family one at her house. The other option is for us to hire a limo and go to a bar/club type thing. My dad hired a limo for my mums 60th and it was £500.

We are meeting again on tues to discuss, and I don't know what to do, I probably could get together the money, but have told my kids that they can't have a party this year as we want to do something bigger for dads 40th. I don't really know the other 2 girls financial situation but suspect they are no better off than us and they are happy to pay for it all.

I feel very bad, and have already said to them I can't afford a limo/musical and meal, plus a bit extra to get her hair done, but have had a text suggesting a limo and club instead. Help! Should I just try and pay as it will be so embarrassing to have to say I can't in front of everyone, but I've not got any money together for dh's birthday yet.

We do appear to be not too badly off and have just got a new car, hot tub in the garden etc. but they don't know I live in a pretty mse way, value food, clothes from ebay etc.

I should add that my friend is lovely and would do anything for anyone and i would love to do something special for her!

Any suggestions on how to handle this situation?