Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

XSpender

Sorry to hear about DH Uncle.

We are having a Make it Work week on the food front to pull back some of the budget we have already spent.  I haven’t bought anything for evening meals for this week, just lunch stuff, and our freezer isn’t groaning with much but chicken breasts so I will have to get cooking.

Some home baking as suggested by others will fill some gaps.

newgirly

Good luck Xspender 🙂 do you use Jack Monroe’s website? I find there is always a recipe I can make with something from the cupboards. Tonight’s dinner for me was toast as I couldn’t be bothered to even make my salad bowl, must do better tomorrow!

newgirly

Wow you can tell it’s “superstaurday” here 😱 I’m wide awake waiting to pick ds1 up from his friends back garden as I now don’t want him walking home. Third time being woken tonight first two times was noisy revellers walking home, third time buy a guy with a knife threatening a guy the lives over the road a bit further down and smashing  his windows. Police are here but he’s already run up the road now. It’s more like a war zone than the snobby middle class suburb it used to be! 

Dh said driving home from work our local pubs were ok but the town next nearest was rammed with loads of bars and no social distancing. 

South_coast

OMG NG 😮😮😮 Hope you managed to get some sleep in the end x

newgirly

A bit thanks SC but not a lot, crazy times! At least the police were out pretty quickly I guess as there were extra around nearby.

Will stay in bed a bit longer with a coffee and check the accounts I think 😬

newgirly

We had a nice escape out today after the fun and games of last night I needed to get away! We have been going for a few drives lately during lockdown, it sounds so Sunday afternoon 1950’s 😆 but is perfect for getting some space.

Often these outings coincide with a town I want to have a nosey at incase we night move there and it’s cheaper, inevitably we end up somewhere I’m scared to wind the window down 😂 Today however I was not excepting much and was pleasantly surprised with the town about 40mins drive away we went to. As it was very quiet we parked up and wandered , even stopping for a quick drink out side a pub as it was empty. Some lovely houses and a good little high street with nice restaurants, more importantly in a mainline to London and not too far out. Defiantly somewhere we will bear in mind for he future if we do need to move, and so much cheaper than here. 

Finances looked over again today, I can’t remember if I wrote all the detail of what I was planning to do regarding getting a loan out to clear the factory mortgage? Anyway, the idea was to cobble together everything we have (including the savings pot to offset the zero rate cc) holiday savings etc. and borrow the shortfall including ERC due, around the £12k mark I should think. 10% can be paid per year so I would do that ASAP and then clear the rest of the balance in October when he ERC over 10% drops from 1.5 to 1 % . Dh is worried his job is very unstable so the idea was to free up the rent ASAP, I’m thinking stick to the plan basically but don’t take the loan out just yet, as every month all is well job wise reduces the balance by £1250 odd. The risk being we struggle to get the loan in the future, but it’s a relatively small amount - by end of December around £8k owing. 

It’s so hard to get he balance right with what to do at the moment. I’m also reducing this months cc spending allowance as the outstanding balance Was £5080 odd and it seems easier to make it £5k if I’m going to have that balance now sitting there long term if the £5k to clear it is going to the mortgage. Round figures are always easier. last week when I did the figures we needed to borrow a fair bit more than this week, I think that’s due to a trimming of the Xmas /birthday pot mostly,  I’m making everything so complicated it’s hard to keep track sometimes. I guess it doesn’t matter if as long as we keep the spending super low then everything should fall into place 😊

South_coast

NG, your finances are always complicated and I can never keep track! I did think of a fantasy scenario for you the other day where you sell up both the house and factory and move near Alton Towers and either get jobs in the park or buy your own holiday lets to rent out to people with similar interests and give them tips on how to get round the park quickly! Not very practical when you have both your families and all your friends nearby though - not to mention the kids 🤣! 

On a more serious note, I think I may be tempted to go for the loan now while there is still some income you can demonstrate can be used to pay it off rather than relying completely on the rent. I seem to recall that the factory mortgage is a loan rather than mortgage though, so why do you want to switch from one loan to another? Is it just so you can reduce the balance/repayments by lumping all the savings in with it at the same time? 

EDIT: Just re-read and I think I've worked it out as you mention the loan will be for the shortfall

newgirly

Morning SC, love the Alton towers plan 😆 it’s actually quite similar to my fantasy plan to move near Colchester zoo and look after animals! 

The loan is with a high street bank and is a mortgage in everything but name - they just didn't want to give us a longer term like a mortgage as it was more risky and they wanted the money back ASAP (don’t get that as it’s much dearer therefore risky) the rate is a bit higher than a loan would be , but the reason was to clear the shortfall as the monthly current loan repayments are £1480 pm , a shortfall loan would be a few £100 depending on term. It’s all a guessing game I suppose,  not helped by dh not even knowing of he is full or part time yet ☹️

We are meeting then guys at work for a drink in a nearby pub (outside if quiet!) today as it’s one of their birthdays, first time I’ve seen them all for ages, I wonder how much dh will say, it could be awkward! 

£1.47 requested from tcb to op, some baking and cooking will be done today 😁

newgirly

So cross tonight, I noticed my phone bill is £25 over - after checking it’s 2x calls I made to the work gas and electric company trying to get the account switched from our name to the new companies, less than 20 mins in total 😡 I feel like I’ve been mugged, how can utilities company get away with that, terrible opus energy! 

Feeling a bit sorry for myself today, I’ve just written then deleted a long paragraph of why I am justified feeling so sorry for myself then decided to tell myself to get a grip and stop whining to my dh and sometimes dd about things. We are in a way better position than many and I totally do appreciate that, I think I’m just struggling with the lack of understanding from family and friends. I don’t think it’s intentional but sometimes it does feel like we are living in different worlds normally let alone now our finances are collapsing! Today just feels like we have gone back in time ten years and are back at the start again but with adult children and more wrinkles 😒

South_coast

You're allowed to feel sorry for yourself, it's a big shock to the system. You're in a much, much better position than 10 years ago - have a read of the first few pages of your diary to remind yourself of where you were ❤