Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

Iris_Blue

No you can't win, us mothers worry over everything don't we. It always works out in the end. Ask him to decide himself and take a look at the website so he knows what to expect from it.

Are you painting the log cabin or having it wood stained?

newgirly

DH hates coloured log cabins so I let him get a golden yellowy stain at the weekend. But I'm going to take it back and have another look. Our garden is nearly all decking which I stained in wild thyme green , I love it , he hates it as it needs re-doing all the time and is v. expensive, I would do the log cabin beach hut blue I think!

newgirly

The kids are all off to the london dungeons with my dad and brother today, then going for lunch somewhere. I could have done a full days work for dh at home , but he forgot to bring some of the stuff I need back yesterday.

I might spend a bit of time playing around with mortgage figures as I have a free day, sad I know but I love it. I feel like I am getting a bit more attatched to my house lately, I've always seen it as a stop gap really and wanted to trade up to something bigger asap. But now I have actually started paying for it rather than borrowing against it, it feels a bit more mine. (I know its not for a long while yet!)

When I look on rightmove now, It just seems crazy prices here still, two roads away from me one of the mums from school had just paid £650k for a 3 bed semi that needs renovating, much bigger than mine in one of the best roads in town, but I just don't think that warrants the massive price difference.
So I'm learning to love my home, for the next few years at least.

I am going to come back on later with my plan for the next years op's, we have been oping for nearly a year now, so its time to see where we would have been if we had kept our old mortgage compared with where we are today.

CathT

It's a great feeling when you realise just how much you love you home, i felt like that when the sun was shining last weekend and we spent lots of time in the garden. The log cabin and bathroom plans sound great, doing home improvements always gives you a sense of satisfaction.

Good idea to compare your mortgage with and without overpayments, i may do that in June when I have been OP for a year too.

newgirly

Right, when I have made May's much smaller than it should be op, I will have paid £10,000 in one year off the balance. I'm not sure exactly how to work out the exact old payments with compound interest, but I think its about £2028 I would have paid off if we had stayed on the old deal , over 33 years.

So £833 per month instead of £169 :j, we have had the mortgage on IO since jan to pay for the log cabin and bathroom, so it should have been a few thousand more than that as well. Not too bad for a first year. DH is on less money now as he won't be getting the £12K ish share dividends that he used to get, so it has been much harder finding any extra money for op's.

Dh's take home pay is £410 pw plus £150 overtime, I have just started earning £50 pw , so its not a huge wage, we are hoping to pay £1700 PM including interest. so £425 out of £610 pw on the mortgage. :eek:

At the beggining of last year we bought a brand new 1.4L car which is low tax and ins, before we has 2 cars one of which was an old galaxy which was costing us a fortune. I think that getting the car costs down has made a big difference.
The biggest change is probably the food budget, and what I spend on clothes (or don't spend!) I used to still shop in primarni, but in much bigger quantities as it was cheap I used to buy lots all the time, and it all adds up.

I'm trying to cut back without my friends knowing to much how tight i've got if that makes sense, I think other mum's would see it as neglect if they knew how much I spend on food compared to them:o. Its great being able to come on here and feel as if what I'm doing is a good thing and I'm not really weird. I am living off peanuts compared to most people I know, but its working at the moment. If only i could cut down the numerous demands for cash from the kids schools, and school trips that would help a bit, you can't cut back on everything though.:D

cha97michelle

You have made great progress, and i am the same as you and trying not to have everyone knowing we are cutting back.

Just think, are we depriving our kids by making them food with no MSG, artificial colours and sweeteners, or trans fats? If anyone asks, we are doing it for ethical reasons not as we are tight.

Isn't it better that we are teaching our kids value and work ethic? Ie mummy has to make stuff rather than just go to the shop?

The school costs do add up, a £1 here, 20p there, and my DS has a nursery trip coming up where it will cost me £18 just to go on the coach before any spends or packed lunch because i have to go with him, so therefore DS2 also needs to come.

Then there is the 2 sets of school uniform i will need to get, although now i know what school DS1 is in, i am going to start getting some stuff now and put away i think.

Iris_Blue

newgirly wrote: »

DH hates coloured log cabins so I let him get a golden yellowy stain at the weekend. But I'm going to take it back and have another look. Our garden is nearly all decking which I stained in wild thyme green , I love it , he hates it as it needs re-doing all the time and is v. expensive, I would do the log cabin beach hut blue I think!

The blue sounds nice, I like the coloured ones. I have a small summerhouse which is white and you have to keep on top of maintaining it all the time. There's a lot of choice to choose from nowadays. The cupinol garden shades stuff is good but pricey when you are doing large areas.

Enjoy the day to yourself today, they are few and far between

newgirly

I've been out shopping with my mum today and bought myself some georgeous red linen trousers from primarni, I know i should'nt but I really wanted to get some last year and tried ebay with no luck, plus they were only £9 which I thought was quite a bargin. I really should update how much I have spent this month in my signature though as its way more than is showing.

Dinner tonight is leftover chilli for us and toast and homemade popcorn for the kids if they are hungry, they are having food out at their fav grill in london today so want want much hopefully.
DH has booked the electrician to come round and see what needs doing today, but is also going to a work meeting in london tonight, he said he will cancel one of them so I'm crossing my fingers he cancels the work thing.
I was going to have a little royal wedding party in the log cabin for the kids and family, but their is no way it will be done in time so my mum has offered to do it at hers instead, only problem is I'm going to miss some of it as dd is going on a school trip to the isle of wight that day and departs on the coach at 11am , I can't believe they have timed it at the exact time the wedding starts, typical.

newgirly

The electrician never showed up last night, but dh put the outside edges of the log cabin up so we could see how big it is. Its 5x4m, which is huge in a tiny garden but the hot tub is 2x2m so its going to take up so much of the space. Plus a sofa , plus the 2 tub chairs I bought from the charity shop this week, plus a small bar and fridge, a la del boy .

I've been lazy with the surveys this week but very good with the home cooking, last night I make tealoaf and plain/raisin twinks hobnobs. Tea loaf was ok but a bit small and flat I'm not sure if the tin was the right size. Today I will make something else as we are in with no car today as its just been collected for a service.

I think I might make april and mays op today as the money is there at the moment and its a small op compared to what it should be. Plus all I seem to be doing is spending on stuff for the garden.
Then there will be no spare money to op until june apart from what I can earn or save from the budget.

Iris_Blue

How exciting to see the size of the cabin up in the garden. It's all coming together now isn't it. We've been looking at hot tubs. I like the idea of them being sunk in the ground though as they are huge aren't they! We're going away next month for a mini break in Cornwall and they have a hot tub there, can't wait. I hate it though that you can't wear your false tan in them!

How did the lads like the dungeons ?