Drip drip drip feeding the mortgage

Radish72

I stare at my spreadsheet as I think this will reduce the amount

originalmiscellany

Well done you 2 - two very different approaches to clearing your mortgages

tjp70

Radish72 wrote: »

I stare at my spreadsheet as I think this will reduce the amount

This made me laugh out loud literally because I do it too!! :rotfl:

tjp70

Morning.

I checked the mortgage account yesterday morning and the overpayments had not arrived. I was not best pleased, but they are there this morning. Total overpayments for 2011 now reach £815.79 which I am happy about. Some way to go to my 2011 target of £3000.00 but I am up for the challenge.

Good news: Yesterday, I also picked up another (small) bookkeeping job which will pay about £80 but it all helps. Also, there was a promise of a larger job in May.
Bad news: I had to fill up my van with diesel yesterday - £105.01! :eek:

Still no news of the NZ work visa for DH. He is getting very frustrated with the lack of information. I understand – he just wants to go and see what the other side of the world is like, although he could be in for a shock – one insurance claims office must look very like another!!:rotfl:

Let’s see what today brings.

tjp70

I can’t believe six months have passed since I updated my diary. A lot has changed in my life so let me fill you in.

Firstly, DH did go to NZ for 10 weeks. I thought it would be a dreadful time for me and the kids but it was good. We seemed to get more organised and life just carried on.

Sadly, however, during that time, it became very clear to me that I would be unable to continue/build up my dog walking/pet minding business due to my illness. In fact, this week, I did my last dog walk and I have been struggling to sell the business. It will be even harder now as I have had to cancel all my clients. I have lost a lot of money, but I am glad that I gave it a try. I placed the business on ebay and have had a few offers, but nothing like what I am asking for it. This week I placed it on Daltons so fingers crossed. In the meantime, the kids still get driven to school in a rattly van, but hey ho. (The funds from the sale of business will be used to purchase a family car).

My illness means that I have had a slight shift in thinking about things financially. Six months ago, my main goal was to clear the mortgage as quickly as possible and make sacrifices in order to facilitate that. Now I am not so sure. I still want to pay off the mortgage (who doesn’t?) but I am going to enjoy my life whilst I do that. I am not sure how long I am going to be as mobile or healthy as I am now so life needs to be enjoyed now! My illness is not life threatening but it can be life limiting.

Since returning from NZ, DH has been promoted. But typical of most companies these days, they are being very slow in processing his promotion, so whilst he is undertaking more responsibility at work, we have not seen any increase in his wages. It will filter through eventually – I am just impatient! He did not get any recompense for working in NZ either. His company paid for his hotel and food bills but the rest was down to him. It cost us about £500.00 for him to go, but it was a chance of a lifetime and I am glad that he did it.

For me, I am actually earning more money too. I run a bookkeeping business too and I have taken on more work for one of my main customers.

This is just as well as we have booked to go on holiday to the US next Easter and the flights and accommodation have been booked to the credit card. It is a 0% card but I don’t like owing that much money so my main focus is to get that paid off as soon as possible especially as Dec 25th is getting closer and closer.

Mortgage wise, we are still overpaying by £175.00 per month. On Friday I set up a standing order to pay £25.00 per week into the mortgage account too. I used to do this a while back before I started the dog walking business but had to stop it as money was so tight. It was a great feeling to get that back on track again. The daily mortgage interest amount is £4.11 and I would like to see that drop dramatically so that we can make some inroads into the capital outstanding. The November mortgage payment will see the outstanding balance drop to below £60,000 and that will be fantastic!

patrick_bs15

The very best of luck, tjp.
Can't believe how bad that endowment mortgage has become...
Don't know if you've heard of 'YouGov' - if you sign up and do online surveys (on av. about 5 mins each) you eventually get a £50 cheque - mind you, I've been doing it for ages and only have 975 points (need 5000 to get that cheque) so maybe it isn't a great idea. What do others think?

tjp70

Patrick – thanks for dropping by. Yes, our endowments are appalling. At least we have not been relying upon them otherwise we would be pulling out our hair by now! I don’t do surveys or anything similar as I just don’t have the time. I am really busy with the bookkeeping at the moment. I am very grateful that I have had that to fall back on.

This week, OH has taken the week off from work. He travels quite far to work each day and he has calculated that he spends £12 a day on petrol. So, I have taken £60 out of our account, put £50 towards the credit card and £10 towards the mortgage.

OH would like to go away for the latter part of the week. I know we all need a break and I have provisionally booked a hotel, but I don’t really want to spend the money. Plus I am sooo busy, I could do with staying home and getting some work done. We will make a decision later in the week.

Bye for now,
tjp

tjp70

The hotel that we booked is on Torquay seafront. OH has taken one look at the flood warnings and cancelled the hotel. I am secretly pleased. The cat is ecstatic as she no longer has to go to the cattery

tjp70

No work for me today and it feels like a Saturday – weird!

This morning I checked my mortgage account and the standing order that I set up last week has started and the first £25.00 overpayment hit the account today. I am looking forward to the monthly direct debit hitting the mortgage account next week so I can see the outstanding amount fall to below £60,000 for the first time. It’s official – I am obsessed!:rotfl:

Today I finally got around to doing my tax return online. I am ecstatic because I have overpaid HMRC and I should be getting a refund of around £700.00 in the near future. I have no idea how long it takes HMRC to process the tax returns. DH will want me to put it all towards the credit card bill but I am sure I can sneak a little towards the mortgage account.

Another minor achievement today is that DD and I had our hair cut today but a friend who now has her own salon. Two cut, wash & blow dry and she charged us £34.00! (For all of you gentlemen that pay less than £10 at the barbers, that is very cheap ).

Off to kick the kids off the Wii Fit so I have can have a go!!:j

Radish72

Great news that you will soon be under £60K:T

Obsessed - I'm sure we all warned you