Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

mummalove

I think you are right to be cautious newgirly. But don't give up on your dream...I would suggest perhaps holding back for a couple of months just to see how things are panning out. Just give yourself some breathing space and not rush in to a hasty decision without knowing all the facts yet. I am very sorry it has all come to this, just when you were so focused on your plans.

newgirly

Thanks Mummalove, I think you are right and we should take a bit of time. The mortgage is IO from this month so we are saving £1K a month, who knows where it will end up now, the loft, the mortgage, the 0%CC or the business! Oh well, at least we are still trying and still have not fallen off the MFW wagon.
I'm struggling with surveys at the moment, the tcb ones were very regular but now I'm getting screened out most of the time. VO seem to always be full up really quickly and onepoll have slowed down.

I need to try and get organised with the food shopping as I just seem to have got top up shopping most of the time this month. I did look into the milk and more £10 off when you start ordering from the milkman , but its 62p a pint which I think is a bit dear, will have to check what it is in mr t.
This evening we have an important options metting for dd, a school trip reunion for the boys at their junior school, and dh has his first agm as vice president of his trades association in london tonight. Not sure which of these will lose out to the others, but you can't be in 3 places at once! I just feel like a quiet evening in front of the telly.

CathT

I'm finding the surveys difficult too. Not sure if it was due to not feeling 100% but I actually gave up on a TCB the other day as it was soooo boring!

SmlSave

Hi newgirly I'm another one struggling with surveys atm - annoying things.

Re milk n more: I joined them just to get the freebie last year and am still using them. The milk's more expensive but I like knowing that the bottles get reused and instead of going to the cornershop for bread I just get it delivered with the milk when we're running low, stops us from buying a packet of crisps, bar of choc etc.

newgirly

Nearly the end of the month and the official start of using next months money! I've dipped in and spent £15 from febs money already, spent £12 in M&S yesterday , and £3 on a dvd from ebay this morning. Its a little mse as I wanted a peter kay dvd and looked in hmv this week, did'nt buy as it was £16. The one on ebay is a 2 dvd set still in the wrapper for £1+postage.

I have hit the target for the savings and cc repayment for January, but the mortage op target was short, I only manged £20. I'm still deciding what to pay off the CC each month, the target is £250 and I have £222 toward it every month left with no pennies left except the 4k challenge money.
The cc is with santander and they have reduced the min monthly payment from 2.25% to 1% without me realising, there may be some small print on a statement but I've not found it. Bit naughty as if your not checking your bank constantly you might not notice, now I will have to do extra payments online each month as well.

newgirly

We have had a day of spending (mainly dh's) money. Went to the shopping centre and bought the boy's football boots and jogging bottoms as they have joined the school club.
Also i spent on food in tesco and bought a couple of tops for ds 2.

I've had a letter from our mortgage provider, chelsea who have just merged with someone else and they have changed the rules for oping.
we used to be able to op by 20% of the monthly payment but they have changed this to 10% of the outstanding balance per year.
Which is good news, but you can only make one lump sum op per year. so I won't be able to pay off monthly. I know I can save it in an isa and do it at the end of the year , but when you have a history of getting in debt , the less temptation the better really.

mummalove

newgirly wrote: »

I've had a letter from our mortgage provider, chelsea who have just merged with someone else and they have changed the rules for oping.
we used to be able to op by 20% of the monthly payment but they have changed this to 10% of the outstanding balance per year.
Which is good news, but you can only make one lump sum op per year. so I won't be able to pay off monthly. I know I can save it in an isa and do it at the end of the year , but when you have a history of getting in debt , the less temptation the better really.

Perhaps open an account, where you are only permitted to make 1 withdrawal per year...help to reduce any temptation of dipping into your OP money? I have a regular savings account like that which I use solely for my car tax savings and I can make my 1 withdrawal solely for that and nothing else!

newgirly

Mmm, that might be a good option for the future. I'm hoping that the tendancy to want to spend what we don't have has gone forever. I'm fairly good at not spending on the small things , its just the big things I get tempted by , like holidays and houses

This evening we ae having a homemade lasagne which is a treat really, i've cheated with shop bought jars though. We very nearly bought tesco £10 meal deal but DH needs a main for 2 for himself, plus extra side dish so it does'nt work out that cheap unless you have the extra items at home already

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

pammyj74

newgirly wrote: »

I've had a letter from our mortgage provider, chelsea who have just merged with someone else and they have changed the rules for oping.
we used to be able to op by 20% of the monthly payment but they have changed this to 10% of the outstanding balance per year.
Which is good news, but you can only make one lump sum op per year. so I won't be able to pay off monthly. I know I can save it in an isa and do it at the end of the year , but when you have a history of getting in debt , the less temptation the better really.

This really frustrates me as it almost looks like they do not want you to OP so they can get more of your interest money from you. It should not be allowed in my book. Its not the loan contract you signed up for. Is there anyway you can ask them. Can companies do this and change the small print like that?

newgirly

Hi Pammy, I've no idea if they can change the terms. As we are saving as of this month instead of oping it doesn't really matter. I will find out if the once a year rule starts on their change date of march - march or if its per calendar year. Our mortgage is on IO now and has a balance of about £152,200. Saving or not I may have to just pay off that £2,201 out of they money put by if we can so its under £150K.
Am I the only one who is a bit ocd with figures? even when taking out this mortage I had to push us to the max we could afford per month by doing it over the 12 years rather than the more comfy 13, as i don't like 13!

I still have not done the paperwork for the extra advance on the mortgage, DH is getting a bit peeved with me as I'm changing my mind daily. He thinks just get the work done, but is happy to wait and see what the work situation is.
I'm just very nervous as £182,200 is a massive mortgage on a house worth about £220 ish, which we have been in for nearly 10 years.

The house itself is ok , its just got a very small garden and is on a main bus route. I'm worried that if we ever did decided to move a couple of miles further out to get a better house the money spent on the loft would not be re-couped.

Sorry everyone, I'm boring myself with this now! I think sometimes I just feel a bit guilty as we never intended on bringing up the family in this house as its a bit small. But due to our incompitence with money in the past, we have stayed nearly 10 years now. Just need to make the best of the situation really, we are very lucky compared to some. I often go on the oldstyle and debt threads to get ideas to save a bit more, and some of the situations on there are just so desperate it really makes you appreciate how lucky you are.