Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

CathT

Sounds like you!!!8217;ve put some thought into in. Is that for a kitchen extension?

newgirly

No cath, without the extension. Extension would be 30k + on top, plus we have a sewer manhole cover in front of the current kitchen which could be tricky and more money probably.

Been harassing dad about it all as he's quite knowledgable who suggested knocking through to make a kitchen diner and having a much smaller living room and then and L shaped kitchen /conservatory area. Would need a beam thingy so another £5k ish.

I really don't know what to do for the best

Priorities are:

Don't extend the mortgage too much if possible

Kitchen needs replacing (fridge leaking, dishwasher on last legs,some cupboards rotten)

Living room needs new floor (but also best to do rewiring/plastering etc. at the same time)

Downstairs loo, will have to reduce size of kitchen to allow for a door to it from hall, or put in hall next to front door (losing light and space in a nice bright hall)

newgirly

I feel rubbish, caught ds1's cold and am hot and tired. Not looking forward to work today

Payday Friday :JD till no further thoughts with doing building work, still undecided whether to start sooner or what to do re the remortgage. If it's one thing I hate it's not having a concrete plan.

Spending has gone very well this year so far :T January saw us live on Xmas gift money (shhhh!) and some that the kids give us to buy stuff on my cc, so the saved cc 'money' bought ds2's laptop.

This month I've managed to live on less and put the boys reading festival tickets and on the cc -£509 :eek: not sure ill last until 2nd march with £25 left to live on but its a great start.This was only possible as dh kindly paid for a £75 shop at the weekend.

I did undo all he good work by deciding to spend more on the kids birthdays mind, so not much real gain!

Next month will be a lot harder, mil's birthday and mine next week, family want to come over for a takeaway -always non negotiable that it's Indian so for 6 of us £60-80 Then dh rang best friend and booked her and her dh in for a night got out on the Saturday, very kind but more £££. It nice having treats but I am trying to scrape together a fund for going away later this year without upsetting the plans too much!

daisy_1571

newgirly wrote: »

If it's one thing I hate it's not having a concrete plan.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Ah, that's funny! In all the time you have had a diary on here you have talked about plans, added in two or three more plans, changed your mind, firmly decided absolutely what you are going to do, changed your mind again, come up with new plans......:rotfl:

Why not just accept that things will slow down for a couple of years and take some self imposed pressure off yourself? You have talked about this year being a big year for so long and have been looking forward to all the things you want to do for the kids' birthdays. Don't keep the pressure on yourself so much and just enjoy this time. Before you know it they will all be off enjoying their independence so just relax a bit. Do a few things for the house that are actually broken (your fridge your dishwasher etc) and don't worry too much about this, at the moment undefined, future where you might change more things and therefore 'waste' money - it's not wasted if you need it now, and a new kitchen will still need these items.

Plus you feel you should get an extension so you can 'finally have xmas' - as I recall you have a huge xmas eve and boxing day family parties every year so no one is missing out. :xmastree:

Chill, relax, coast for a bit, your money is in a much much better position than it was 5 years ago, your mortgage is going to get paid off :beer: whether this year, next year or 30 months away, it's a self imposed target to get it paid off by a certain date so think back for a moment to how far you have come and give yourself a bit of space for 12 or 15 months then start at it again?:money:

Just some thoughts, sent with best wishes and loving thoughts

Daisy xx

newgirly

What a nice post Daisy thank you. You are right about the planning though I guess :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Had a chat with one of the guys at work today who knows we have been overpaying and also knows what our kitchen looks like he says carry on paying the mortgage off (he doesn't know it's so imminent!)

For some strange reason I actually feel more pressure as we get closer not less and I really don't know why

Dh sent me home from work as I look so awful, not like him at all and the guys at work don't do days off sick, so I do expect some ribbing tomorrow! I am very relieved as I do feel rough.

daisy_1571

Hope you start to feel better soon. I know exactly how you feel as I tie myself in knots trying to do the 'best' course of action, not 'waste' money buying things that will be replaced in future, and trying to think of the 'perfect' master plan. We consequently lived with a dreadful 30 year old kitchen, built by my grandfather so out of odds and sods of ends of bits of wood etc, for 11 years because we would 'waste' money if we did it up to an intermediate kitchen. By the end I had 2cupboards and no drawers working. I could have lived a slightly easier life for 12 years had we just gone ahead and done a cheapy kitchen when we moved in and delayed having the money for the fab kitchen by only a year or so.

I also felt/feel more pressure about the mortgage but I think we get so hung up on paying it off early (and it certainly makes huge financial sense to do it) that we forget it was scheduled to be paid off had we not overpaid by a single penny so it's ok to take the foot off the pedal for a while. As I said, these deadlines loom and weigh on our conscious but in reality is an entirely self imposed deadline. Your hubby doesn't care and isn't piling more pressure on so be kind to yourself for a little while. The kids birthdays are important to you (more so than to them I think you have said) so go easy on yourself

Anyhow, hope you are on the couch watching some TV and healing

Daisy xx

newgirly

Thank you Daisy, had a bath and have pj's on already

I guess being a mfw can get quite obsessive, they do say that to new joiners don't they!

It feels acceptable to have a shabby house (I'm talking about mine here!) if you are just starting out or have just moved to a new house that needs work, perhaps I just perceive it that we look lazy or don't care as we have been here a long time.

So do you still feel like you hold back spending on the house or do you do things differently now?

gallygirl

newgirly wrote: »

If it's one thing I hate it's not having a concrete plan.

How would you know what to deviate from if you didn't have a plan ?

Hope you're feeling better x

newgirly

Very true GG :rotfl:

newgirly

Feeling better today, even more so as I've no work :T

Tomorrow is payday -hooray can't use the cc again until the 2nd march though and have run out of money and dipped into my secret saving for a break pot to buy food. May pay a little less off the mortgage this month as I've just cancelled amazon prime, so factored over a 15 month period it's a surplus of £119.85 :T I shall pinch that and use it to buy mils birthday present and see us through until I can use the cc.

Off to Poundland today to try and get hold of lots of giant kinder eggs for £2 instead of £5, I have many small ones to by for (plus my three who may like them too )

Need to plan a dh date night, he was going to take turns doing it but 1). He's busy and a bit stressed at the moment 2). I'm a control freak that hates surprises , even good ones :rotfl: Also Dd has booked the day off on my birthday :smileyhea will be having a family meal in the evening but was think of a reasonable short lazy day out for us (and possibly dh too) more stuff to plan