Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

CathT

60 days alcohol free is brilliant. I went to a party last night and only me and one other weren't drinking. We all had a brilliant night and it was such a bonus feeling fresh this morning.


Some great goals for 2019, will be cheering you on.

Firegirl

Good luck with your New Years resolutions!!!!

newgirly

Thanks firegirl

Hi Cath, I know you don’t drink much and are very healthy conscious, I’m hoping to emulate that this year

Back to work today, but only for one day this week I have been so lazy after Xmas , but it was needed after the mad run up beforehand. Im hoping to reduce unplanned spending on socialising this year, but I’ve already had three requests to join nights out so far

One I’ve said yes to - best friends birthday, one tribute olly murs night out ( so not my cup of tea!) and a birthday Elvis tribute for a friend at a restaurant (also not really my thing!) . Two clash with each other, so that’s one in jan and one in Feb which is not so bad I guess. Need to keep a check on this type of stuff though, I appreciate being asked, but know that if I regularly keep saying no the invites will dry up and that would be a shame longer term, getting the balance right is not always easy when trying not to spend money!

Weigh in day yesterday and I put 2 pounds on since 13th December, which I’m ok with as I’ve been eaten a diet of cheese and chocolate for weeks :rotfl: heaven knows what my gain would have been if I had been drinking too :eek: back on it today though

themadvix

Happy New Year Newgirly - that's great about being 60 days alcohol free!

Re the socialising thing, could you either say that you'll pass on it this time because for instance you've got to pay for driving lessons/you're still adjusting budget since business takeover OR say counter with a cheaper option (even saying 'that's not really my thing but how about...' ) - invite them over for dinner or takeaway? (if that's cheaper!) Not necessarily for the ones mentioned above (one a month seems reasonable, and much cheaper without booze ), but perhaps have some easy to use excuses to hand if you find the invites piling up! (Sadly this has never happened to me, I'm just not that popular for which I'm quite glad, being an introvert!)

newgirly

Hi vix, good suggestions there thanks

I do try and join in if I can, but sometimes it all seems to come at once, that’s usually when I’m trying to cut back it seems

I’ve done nothing today, caught a cold and feel worn out so nothing achieved really.

newgirly

Still feeling worn out I did manage to get to the shops this weekend to collect a few birthday presents I’d ordered and also used an M&S sparks voucher £5 towards bras and found one for £5 in the sale :money:

Big shop done finally and £290 ish left from the £400 budget for jan for food and petrol. Plus a bit more spending as I’ve signed up for Netflix again, it’s £9.99 pm for all of us to use (after a one month free trial) we will get our moneys worth I’m sure.

I’ve skimmed £600 from various places and put it into premium bonds for then cruise in June, that’s if I can stick to such a low budget for. January, otherwise I may have to withdraw some it’s a combination of Xmas money, surplus from not spending as much socialising at Xmas and I guess not drinking!

In other financial news, my parents have offered to pay for dds course she wants to do in September. So has Dd (via savings and loans) and we have set aside the money too. But we have decided - alongside Dd of course, to accept. It does feel a bit uncomfortable but it would help us out a lot and affordabilty is not an issue for them.

This brings another dilemma , although a good one what to do with the money we have put by for it? Currently we have a £3k budget (minus £70 spent in b and q on paint and a blind this week) that’s put by to pay for ds2 and dd’s rooms to be renovated, electrics, plastering, flooring etc.

We now have a surplus of £7650 which we could use towards more house renovations or oping, or we could use it to gain more monthly income over the period of the remaining mortgage. The latter would provide £191 extra pm to live on.

Current balance when the mortgages ends will be £16,094 if we op the extra now or £24,496 of we don’t.

Can’t decide what to do!

CathT

Hope you're not feeling too rotten with your cold and it doesn't hang about for too long.

That's very generous of your parents. How about splitting that extra cash 3 ways between overpayments, renovations and cash? That way you can all benefit from it in one way or another?

daisy_1571

That's kind of your parents. It's nice for them to see their money enjoyed rather than after they are gone, that's my attitude and my late p-I-l which was great as we got some lovely holidays with them we would never have afforded otherwise.

I agree with Cath, split the money into percentages based on how you prioritise the task. If you put it all to overpayments it will gain you almost £1000 by my rough calc. That's a lot of money. But it's also not a lot of money. An extra 191 a month is also not a huge amount to make a large difference. So why not put a percentage to the mortgage, a percentage in premium bonds - enough to finish off the June cruise then the money can have 4 chances at winning you some extra (1st March, April, may and June) and you dont have to save for it in the coming months freeing up monthly money, and the last percentage for house renovations. That way it works best for your short, medium and long term goals.

Daisy xx

newgirly

Hi cath and Daisy, I really don’t know! Everything is really up in the air re the factory rental too in regards to the fact that dh is hoping for a surplus every month (once we have fully transferred evrything over - still get payments I going to old comanpy etc)

He is intending to pay back 32k odd that he borrowed from the personal finances hopefully during the five year term of the factory mortgage too, whether this is possible fully I’m not sure yet.

So on the one hand it feels normal to op to get it down, but on the other hand it may be a bigger sacrifice liefestyle wise over the next three and a half years for not much benefit.

I would say going forwards that this year our budget is £500pm food and petrol and £200 pm Xmas /birthdays and £200 pm evrything else (except basic bills and car tax) so it would make a big difference to disposable income.

I just don’t know :rotfl:

Plus I should have bit more coming in soon as ds2 starts his new job today - labouring in the city. Bit spur of the moment but he wants to give it a go, at least it’s full time (If he can’t hack it :eek:) as where he was working before was very part time. Ds1 is working in the office of a transport company about 70% of the time as and when they need him. I’ll be taking 15% of whatever they earn as keep.

Perhaps a good compromise would be to put a little to the cruise pot to finish that off as suggested by Daisy, then set aside enough to get the living room done alongside side the kids bedrooms. The kitchen is dire but I don’t think it’s would be enough to get that done? Although the builder friend is getting his staff to work out ours during their slow period and will charge what he pays them per day himself and pass on his big howdens savings.

So much to think about!

themadvix

I'd agree with Daisy, but perhaps if it's still all up in the air put it in a 1-year bond (perhaps after you've topped up the cruise pot) for now. That way it's there if you actually need it (not for girly weekends )/things change/you make a decision, but you can't access it to 'top up' regular spending/fritter it away. In a year's time you're sure to have more clarity about what's best. With interest rates the way they are, if you do decide to use it in the meantime, then you won't have lost a huge amount of interest.