Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

:rotfl::rotfl: you can't beat a nice sprout whatever time of year, constant consumption helps with training for the annual Xmas day sprout eating contest :beer:

AlexLK

newgirly wrote: »

Excellent, make sure he goes to the Xmas shop mind

:rotfl: Perhaps we should go towards the end of the year then. My son would really enjoy going to a Christmas shop.

newgirly

newgirly wrote: »

newgirly wrote: »

newgirly wrote: »

newgirly wrote: »

MARCH/APRIL update!

Start figures Jan 2017:

Mortgage £58,613

Loan. £21,773


Total at Jan 1st £80,386


As at today:

Mortgage £49,452

Loan. £20,060

Total today; £69,512

Total reduction so far this year: £10,874

Total March/April reduction £4,739.00

Update figures finally done, including march oops! This year the target I set was £38,545 , so far for the first 4months £10,874 has been cleared which is £1974.33 less than the target.

I decided not to clear the loan and have transferred the money back to the offset account, it means less to live on per month but the mortgage will be properly cleared earlier.

Hopeful end date is slipping a bit realistically, to clear it by August next year , we need to live off £498 pm for food /petrol/clothes/birthdays/Xmas/going out/college stuff etc.etc. there is no need to push ourselves to this extent , so I've decided to work on a month by month basis.

If we want something over the budget we will get it, but the budget will be set initially to try and be as careful as possible if that makes sense

The coming month has no expensive things looming except one- a meal with friends at a new very expensive gastro pub that opened earlier this year, it's been booked for months and dh is paying as a birthday present to me so that's covered.

So for may the budget is £500 hopefully I can stick to it

newgirly

The new £500 budget starts today (credit card statement late again...)

At the moment I'm struggling with various urges to spend money, from small things like clothes and treating the kids, to bigger things like buying a new mini and moving house

After doing this for so many years, you would have thought the time to get fed up with it was perhaps in the middle years not further along when the end is in sight.

I think I need to just get over it and get on with doing it! We are now under £50k for the first time in about 17 years and earning more money so it's a good situation to be in.

Whilst we were away dh told my parents (after a few beers) that we were hoping to clear the mortgage next year, I have told them and best friend in the past we are trying to overpay to clear it a bit quicker but not in any detail. Their reaction was - it took us 44 years to pay ours off! I may have commented that we don't buy lots of other houses and cars but I was surprised by their shocked reaction.

I am a bit worried about the reactions of people, it's not that we will go around shouting it from the rooftops, but we at work it's a big thing if somebody turns up with a new lunchbox "how the other half live" etc. :rotfl: we will start doing work on the house and probably spend more on holidays etc. I guess it will just feel strange, and I am anticipating it getting awkward as to why we are suddenly not on a tight budget.

Usually I would not be concerned what others think, but I guess as we own the business and times have been tough I don't want to give the wrong impression. It is a long hard slog to save literally pennies at thousands of times over the years, when others on less money spend way more on stuff.

Not sure why I am rambling today, I should be off to work now anyway

Fortune_Smiles

Be proud of what you've achieved Newgirly. And shout it from the rooftops if you want to. Your true friends will be happy for you and will cheer along with you...

'Be who you are and say what you feel
Because those who mind don't matter
and those that matter don't mind."

Fortune x

newgirly

Thanks fortune smiles that's very kind of you to post, not sure why I feel so awkward really!

Bit of spending done today:

£25 cash transferred to Dd who is fed up, broke and going out for the day Sunday, she is currently saying she is giving it back as she doesn't need it, there is stubbornly independent amd then there is our dd :rotfl:

£20 on petrol (not a full tank, as it lulls dh into a false sense of security that he can go swanning around in it at weekends to work when he can't use the van )

£71 mr t delivery for tomorrow - after £2.50 voucher and £8.50 club card voucher, I've done a meal plan for the next week and am making a homemade Indian takeaway Friday night, I often make curry at home but this time I thought I'd do the works, onion bhajis, mint sauce etc. fingers crossed it's edible.

AlexLK

NG - Mortgage free means more money to spend doing what YOU want to do. I think you've probably become accustomed to living on a tight budget. We don't really live on a tight budget but compared to three / four years ago we do, by choice. Personally, I actually like having a budget because it has made me start enjoying things that are free - being outdoors, wildlife, nature. The real world around us, if you wish, free from consumption. I honestly think my son will grow up a better person for it rather than getting into his thirties and still believing money "grows on trees".

Kittenkirst

Ooooh any room at yours for tea on Friday? Bhajis sound delicious!

Glad you had a lovely time in York; we have a Cosy club in Leicester- a restored sewing factory and it's lovely- cocktails are pretty fancy but scrumptious!

I'd try not to worry too much about other people's thoughts/reactions. The parents were probably just surprised, as theirs took 44 years and you've cleared yours very quickly in comparison. I'm assuming they were just surprised rather than judgy (well I hope!) x

gallygirl

Let others judge all they like NG, there is nothing like waking up in your home and knowing it's all yours .

newgirly

AlexLK wrote: »

NG - Mortgage free means more money to spend doing what YOU want to do. I think you've probably become accustomed to living on a tight budget. We don't really live on a tight budget but compared to three / four years ago we do, by choice. Personally, I actually like having a budget because it has made me start enjoying things that are free - being outdoors, wildlife, nature. The real world around us, if you wish, free from consumption. I honestly think my son will grow up a better person for it rather than getting into his thirties and still believing money "grows on trees".

You are so right Alex, being more aware of what it is spent on makes for better choices, having less money has pushed us to try things we may not have done over the years - like camping :eek: :rotfl:
I'm glad our kids have grown up with what they need but not always what they want (well most of they time they do get that too come to think of it!) I think they will be genuinely shocked when we do help them out in the future.

You are doing an amazing job with your ds, time doing things and learning about the world will stay with him.


Hi kittenkirst, that's not fair I want a cosy club here

Not sure if parents were judgy really! The could have paid theirs off many times over to be fair, they just hadn't. We are very different in in our financial ways I think. Sometimes I think people put you in a "box" and when you do something outside of what they expected it's a shock.

An example of his is my lovely best friend and her dh - about four years ago they put their very nice 4 bed semi up for sale and bought a large detcatched house on one of the best roads in our town, it clearly needed major work and remodelling, so costing well into 7 figures. She had a constant stream of people wanting to come and look, turning up at the door unannounced, mums at school asking her if she really was moving there etc.

I remember having the conversation with her, she said people were confused as to how they had "made such a jump" why would they be interested at all? Why do they assume everybody spends to their limit all the time? The irony is I know they had been looking at houses way more expensive and had preferred this one.

People are generally quite nosey and judgemental, you've just got to hope your proper friends and family are not I guess