Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

Hi greent, sorry I didn’t see your post before, looks like he could still apply for uni, whether he will or not is another (rather stressful!) matter I hope you all enjoy Florida

Hi kaycastle, mfd’s and busymee, thanks very much for posting, it’s great to get your opinions

The kitchen is already sitting in our dining room (not paid for yet!) as the builder next door to us at work ordered it at cost price, I kind of felt like I had to go with his usual suppliers, but to be honest it probably is costing us what a cheaper kitchen would but is better quality due to the discount, at least I’m hoping so

I think I’m leaning toward extending the term sadly now, no matter how long I spend on spreadsheets do working on what we can op if we are careful, realistically there is no way we can clear half of it by end of term and as busymee says, it’s one of the most expensive times for us. Actually are there any times that are not expensive when you have a family? :rotfl:

Holidays have always not been a priority when we were younger as 1). We didn’t have the money to spend a lot and 2). The kids were happy with caravans/butlins/centreparc weekends off peak etc. When they were little.

Now though, with being mf constantly edging farther away from us - or at least it feels that way, it would be good to fit some more “fun” in along the way - that is the title of my diary after all, nine years later it’s feeling like a bit of a slog now :rotfl:

So for now I’m going to set a budget to pay for the kitchen work ASAP, emptying everything of money everywhere. Then I will set up a direct debit for a new amount to go to the mortgage based on a term of around ten years. When the current tie in ends in a year or so I shall remortgage to a lower rate and longer term (nine years by then).

I think it will ease the pressure and allow me do the spontaneous things when I feel like doing them, whether it’s throwing it all at the mortgage for a bit or booking a last minute break or tickets to something in London :beer:

I really appreciate everyone’s help

newgirly

Urgh I’ve been hardly slept, day know why! Ds1 is off to Glastonbury tomorrow minus wet weather gear except ponchos from Poundland :eek: I think it may be a washout year.... all my lovely dry washing I forgot to bring in last night is soaked too.

Bought him stuff to take as I seem to be spending more on Dd at the moment as she’s not working, I said I would give both sons £50 towards some their festival funds this year. That will come from my personal spending money and a skirt I took back yesterday.

Still no idea on building work prices or sign of builders! But I SHALL remain calm about it

Off to the to the Royal OperaHouse to see Carmen after work tomorrow, a free ticket as best friends husband decided I would be doing him a favour going in his place :rotfl: If we get time I shall buy us dinner first to say thanks but it’s doubtful we will have time. I’ve been only been there once before and couldn’t see the stage due to purchasing a very cheap box - hopefully her dh has been less frugal :rotfl:

themadvix

Hope you're feeling a bit better/more awake - I know how you feel, also didn't sleep last night - think it's the heat!

Your plan for the mortgage sounds very sensible - a good balance and one which, as you say, gives you the options to OP or travel/enjoy life.

Hope builders turn up soon and Carmen is good!

debtfreeoneday

Hope DS enjoys Glastonbury!

zcrat41

How was Carmen? I'd love to see an opera. When I feel more secure financially I'm going to do loads more theatre/culture!

newgirly

Hi vix, caught up with some sleep now

Hi debtfree , he was worn out by yesterday apparently :rotfl:

Hi zcrat, controversially I didn’t really like carmen my dad and brother both loved it when they went earlier this year but it was not my cup of tea and I have to admit i struggled to stay awake, not helped by the early start. There we’re plenty of “jazz hands” and even the floss at one point!

It was my first visit to the opera and I will try other ones, but when tickets are £££ I would prefer the ballet.

If you do go to the ROH I will say the seats we had were quite high (I would not have booked that high) as I’m very afraid of heights but even at level five I was fine and the view was good

Builder has given us some info at last :T he’s outsourcing the kitchen fit as his guys are too busy with council work, price will be £2000 plus extra for his guys to strip and plaster /electrics first , so I think about £4K, which was my estimate.

Off to work out the finances now

newgirly

Phew, busy weekend.

I took dh to the shopping centre yesterday and we had lunch outside by the lake in the sun which was lovely, especially when combined with a trip around the shops including the Zara sale I picked up an exceptionally ugly thick eighties jumper reduced from £80 to £12.99

Currently we have an empty house which is rare, ds2 out, ds1 at Glastonbury, Dd at the albert hall. Dh I should doing his usual “I might go to glastonbury next year” thing - however he’s not even watched most of it on the tv :rotfl:

Anyway back to business.....

Online food shop done as it hot and I’m not organised, £84 at mr t , taking me about £36 over this months petrol and food budget, I shan’t buy anything else from it now though.

Preliminary plans for building budget done, allowing £4K for kitchen, together with cashing in the premium bonds and regular saver, cash in bank, plus £566 in July and £566 in August we are covered :T

Mortgage payments hopefully will commence in sept of around £710 pm including interest payment (IO) which gives us a term of 9 years and 9 months. This will allow for either a lot of overpaying or a lot of mindless spending :rotfl:

newgirly

Not much to report at the moment, kitchen fitters now booked in for 27th August with the builders coming in the week before to rip out old one and plaster etc. This is a bit annoying as we had booked ourselves in at my parents flat in York for a bank holiday weekend away. My brother will be pleased as he was after that weekend too!


As it’s a new month and I’m getting nowhere fast with ops, it’s probably time for a new challenge. Perhaps a second half of the year challenge come to think of it

Back tomorrow hopefully with ideas!

newgirly

It’s hot here today, hot enough to avoid the ironing anyway!

Our full house is expanding it feels like at the moment, ds1 has managed to acquire a new girlfriend - not sure if it’s “official” yet as there are apparently different levels of dating nowadays which I don’t understand :rotfl: anyway she seems nice but thats a potential eight adults to seat in the living room on our sofa and two armchairs :eek:

I’m kind of in a bit of a lull with the finances, after a great start to the year I have pretty much lost enthusiasm for oping as the kitchen cost has been up in the air , plus we are losing some income next year. I’m keen to start travelling more as we would have done if we had been mortgage free by now like we hoped. But after lots of looking I’ve realised that’s holidays are expensive I guess we have never really properly had a budget for it and I think our spending has been low compared to the average (after googling it )

Anyway I’m waffling but all that’s is to change from now on! It’s the first day of my monthly cc grocery and petrol budget and I want to make a few commitments:

Petrol budget £100 pm

Grocery budget £600 (higher due to us being “the hub” as dh puts it for boyfriend/girlfriends and lads drinks as we are closest to the pub!)

Payment a day time - not done for a few months, but a great way of keeping the ops to the forefront of my mind rather than the Zara sale being my main current interest

Paying off next year’s cruise - budget needs working on , I can’t keep leaving it

Check Xmas pot and what I’ve bought so far (not much this year!) we are almost in the downward slide sledging toward Xmas :snow_laug

Check accounts and make transfers ready for builder to have more cash

Update mfw figures on diary and challenge thread


Thats it for now

CathT

I remember there was a time I had started shopping for a certain day by this point!

I've already found myself looking at CP breaks for that particular time of year.