Drip drip drip feeding the mortgage

tjp70

The children left for France yesterday morning so DH & I are finding the house very quiet. I spoke to them both this morning and they are having a good time already. The place is covered in snow and they have been having fun on the sledge that my father made me when I was 7 years old.

We had a refund of £47.90 on DH’s car insurance. DH has agreed that this payment should go towards the mortgage and all future savings should go there too. This is a minor miracle. I have a feeling that he has just had his LBM. He has also said that when we return from our Easter holiday and have paid off the credit card, then we can up the overpayments. :j

tjp70

DH had suddenly perked up and is much more interested in the mortgage being reduced. Maybe it is because his 47th birthday is looming, maybe I have gradually worn him down over the years! If the mortgage had run its course with no overpayments, DH would be 58 by the time we are mortgage free. Maybe that is what has hit home. Whatever it is, I am pleased. I feel I have some support at home for the first time ever. Last night, we sat and looked at my spreadsheets together. In 2015, If the endowments pay out what they are currently projected to pay out, and DH agrees to put all of the proceeds to the mortgage (currently £20,000 on interest only but endowment letters show we may get £30,000 if we are lucky) then we will be mortgage free by 2018. :j I love the fact that we have a date to aim for! Fingers crossed that we get the higher figure. Time will tell.



I have missed the children terribly. They are home late tonight. I can’t wait for a cuddle, although I do appreciate that that is probably the last thing that DS will want to do. He is 15 after all and cuddling your Mum just ain’t cool.



Off to do the food shop now without the kids. Should be cheaper without DD making her usual requests.

tjp70

It's amazing what happens when DH jumps on board. We have been looking at my spreadsheets and we input all future regular overpayments. We also got out the endowment policy paperwork and input their current figures into the spreadsheet. The long and the short of it is that our 'best case scenario' mortgage free date is 10.12.15:j

This date is based on several assumptions and therefore really is best case scenario. The spreadsheet assumes that the interest rate will remain at 0.5% and therefore our mortgage rate (SVR) will remain at 2.5%. Obviously this is highly unlikely and the sheet will have to be amended when it happens. It also assumes that we will be able to make £25.00 per week overpayments for the next few years. In view of my ill health, this may not be realistic, but for the moment, I can do it. Finally, it assumes that the endowments will pay out the amount mentioned in their latest statements. It shows a 'current value' and I am hoping that this figure is the least we will get.

What the spreadsheet doesn't take into account, is any random overpayments that I will be able to make. Hopefully these will offset the negatives above. So, I could be mortgage free in 3 years, 9 months and 18 days:T

Other news - still no sign of the cheque for the van. I have contacted the company that sold it a couple of times and they are suddenly hard to get hold of. I am sure that I will get the money but they are certainly taking their time :mad: DH has said that £250.00 of the sale proceeds should be put towards the mortgage.

Off to do some work.......

tjp70

Cheque for the van has just arrived in the post - Woohoo!:j

firesidemaid

Hello:wave:

Just discovered your thread and spent some time reading through - and i totally get where you're coming from.:)

I sometimes wonder what we will actually do WHEN the mortgage IS paid off lol;).

Was working out today that when we bought our current house 7 years ago our term was 30 years (as @ £114k it was the highest mortgage we had had). Hope to pay it off now in another 5 years or less - so actually 12 years!

We have currently suspended unofficial o/p as we have to pay for a new roof - funnily enough this has motivated OH more than MFW ever did, but i am still tallying everything up.

We also save all 1p, 2p and 5ps. Currently saving 10p and 20ps too as well as having 2 ebay accounts. I was also really interested in how well your pet business was going as this is something i have considered if made redundant or similar.

I find your thread and posts enjoyable and inspiring - i wish you all well and have subscribed:). Take care x

tjp70

Hi Firesidemaid,



Thank you for dropping by. It’s nice to know that someone is reading.



You have made a good point – what are we going to focus all our money saving energies on once we have rid ourselves of the mortgages? I have been thinking recently about moving. We are not in what I would consider ‘our forever house’. But once the mortgage has been paid off, it will be hard to move house knowing that we would have to take out another mortgage and start all over again. For the time being, we will sit tight and worry about it in the future.

I made the £250.00 overpayment from the van proceeds yesterday so the debt is getting lower. :T

I have decided that now DH is on board, I need to lighten up and not scare him off with my incessant overpayment talk. I have to admit to becoming more than a little obsessed about the mortgage. We have a great holiday planned for Easter, so it’s time to focus on that.



Today is a beautiful sunny day so I have flung the doors open. Geriatric cat has been investigating the garden, having a good sniff at all the plants – it’s been amusing to watch her. She could go outside if she wants to; she has a cat flap after all. It’s obviously way too much effort to push the flap open.



My health is poor at the moment (it’s all that obsessing and stressing about daily interest charges!!) and I am finding it difficult to work a full day. Sleeping is uncomfortable too. I have been feeling quite low and feeling sorry for myself, however I only have to read some of the entries on the Crohn’s Forums to realise that it could be so much worse and really, I am lucky.

firesidemaid

Hello.

Sorry to hear you are not feeling so good at the moment - hope that this bit of sunshine might help with that.

we too have a magnificent geriatric cat (who is into his overdraft of cat lives;)) who loves the sunshine too.

i can't see myself doing another 20+ years in nhstress job plus there is also the current risk of redundancies which may affect my field over the next couple of years.

the plan is to downsize to somewhere smaller and further south to pursue a less-demanding job/s. having no mortgage will mean that we will not have to earn loads to live very simply.

btw, you must visit torquay (but off the tourist trail) at some point:)

tjp70

Firesidemaid – whereabouts in the South do you wish to move to?

Another beautiful day here in the South and a productive one too.

I finally managed to motivate DH into sorting out his passport renewal application. When I say motivate, what I really mean is I completed the form and put it under his nose to sign. We then went to a friend of ours to countersign the form. DH needed a countersignature as his appearance has changed so much in the last ten years. His passport shows a man with a full head of hair and a full beard. The new photos show a clean shaven bald man!!:rotfl:Then it was a quick rush to the Post Office to get it sent off.

Since then, we have taken the kids to their cousins for a get together and DH & I took advantage of the peace and quiet and went out for lunch. Under £10.00 for the two of us so that’s good. After doing the weekly shop, we came home and I worked whilst DH watched the rugby. I quickly clippered his hair at half time. Just then, geriatric cat walked past – she is getting matted again under her chin, so we quickly snipped those out too (not using DH’s clippers I promise )

A strange thing happened today. DH mentioned that last week ,he only had one coffee at work. (He has a weakness for Costa Coffee and they have opened an outlet in his office building:mad:). He said he usually has at least three a week:eek: so could I put the £5.00 he saved towards the mortgage. Wow! I am not used to this but I love his new attitude.:T

tjp70

Morning all,

Geriatric cat is peeing blood this morning so off to the vets we go. Can a cat get cystitis? Hope that's all it is. DH is worried she won't come back. :sad:

firesidemaid

Hi tjp.

Cystitis can be common in older cats - our other cat had it once, and i first noticed the blood in the litter tray. they can also sometimes then start to wee elsewhere when they have an infection.

sometimes it can also be related to their diet/metabolism if it becomes recurrent. does your cat eat senior food?

hope by now that you are back and she is ok x