Hello everyone, please help AuntieMabel on her mortgage free mission!

AuntieMabel

Have had a NSD as a result of having a slightly sore head after a girlie night at friends house last night . But I did come away from friends house with 4 new skirts, 2 tops and a cardigan as she was having a mamoth clothes sort out and she does buy a lot of lovely stuff :D. If the sun does come to the north east this year I'll be sorted!

Just getting ready to go to work on a night shift and working Sunday night too so no spending opportunities there! DH taking DSs to his brothers' house for a BBQ tomorrow so no spending for him either (apart from the sausages etc for our contribution).

Enjoy rest of weekend those who will be awake

wynnvegas

Hi AM,

I'm in part impressed with what is a fabulous start to your push for mortgage freedom and in part (large part I'm afraid) totally befuddled with all the chat of auntie Mabel, some sort of plane, a strange character called Justin and wherever the dog and the beaker fit in!!!

To offer what is hopefully some helpful advice, I'd recommend Doing a complete SOA to see exactly what you can afford to throw at the mortgage. If you're pretty mse anyway, there might not be anything to trim further but it's better to have a scientific crack at that idea to be sure. A spending diary will keep you on track albeit I would imagine with three boys, a lot will be moveable over the course of a month.

As to the ISA, so long as you didn't go shopping with it, it's a great thing to have chucked it at the mortgage.we've still to look at filling our ISA allowance but there's no feeling like paying the whole thing off completely. I look forward to you doing so.

Cheers,

Billy

Lois_E

wynnvegas wrote: »

Hi AM,

I'm in part impressed with what is a fabulous start to your push for mortgage freedom and in part (large part I'm afraid) totally befuddled with all the chat of auntie Mabel, some sort of plane, a strange character called Justin and wherever the dog and the beaker fit in!!!

CBeebies show "Come Outside". Google is your friend if you really want to know, but you will be able to follow AM's diary perfectly well without knowing what inspired her choice of username.

AuntieMabel

wynnvegas wrote: »

Hi AM,


As to the ISA, so long as you didn't go shopping with it, it's a great thing to have chucked it at the mortgage.we've still to look at filling our ISA allowance but there's no feeling like paying the whole thing off completely. I look forward to you doing so.

Cheers,

Billy

Hi Billy,

Thanks for your helpful comments. The ISA business was a difficult one for us as we've always been savers at heart, and did enjoy seeing the balances on the ISAs increase. We thought long and hard about it, and didn't go the whole hog and withdraw the lot, but decided to keep a healthy safety net with what was left in the ISAs.
What really helped make our minds up to make a big OP was that it would take our mortgage to about £35000, and psychologically that was a huge boost as now we can see that pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel. Having been in the mortgage mayhem in the 1990's when interest rates touched 15%, we would now love the financial security of being mortgage free so less affected by what ever the chancellor or the Bank of England throws at us in the future.

Our plan of attack is to aim for a minimum OP of £500 per month although some months this could be significantly higher. I've found that seeing that final balance reduce is such a massive inducement to carry on and dig deeper!

BTW don't fret re. Auntie Mabel, she's just one of those female uber-icons that us mere mortals can only dream of emulating ;)

Back to work tonight for another night shift, but all those lovely Sunday/Bank Holiday enhanced hours are spurring me on

AuntieMabel

Another NSD courtesy of being asleep after night shift. Off now til Sunday

Won £45 in national lottery bonus ball sweep stake thingy at work.

Got a load of washing dry in the lovely free north east wind.

Making dinner from Lidl pasta with home made cheese sauce and various ham, chorizo, cooked meat lurking in the fridge. Home made muffins for pud

AuntieMabel

Had to buy a few things today but am pleased with my MS purchases

Olive oil and milk & honey shower gels for 49p in Superdrug - we're all a bit of the sensitive skin type, some of the real cheapies scour us a bit, hope these will be OK.

2 necklaces for £2.50 each reduced in Boots. Have got 2 girlie birthdays coming up and these will be lovely for pressies.

2lbs mince from the butchers £4.86. This will become 2 nights' dinner of mince and dumplings for 5 of us cos I'm so good at eeking things out with lentils, tinned tomatoes etc!

Rhubarb crumble for 2 nights pud made from homegrown rhubarb.

This my first day of being back to normal after the hols as our schools only went back on Tuesday and I was asleep yesterday after nights. Am loving the peace and quiet!!!

AuntieMabel

Had just typed out a big long post and managed to lose it all

In a nutshell, I'm getting my kitchen done at the moment, after waiting years and years for my 'dream' kitchen. Over the 20 years DH and I have been together, we've moved 9 times for his career (mostly rented properties) and I've had to make do with some pretty scabby kitchens along the way. But we've saved up and are now in the process of full kitchen renewal and all the horrors that entails. Every room in my house contains boxed up kitchen equipment I think!

Maybe I'm unrealistic, but I was horrified that kitchen suppliers were charging £20000+ :shocked: for off the shelf units, granite work tops and a range style cooker (this is my dream kitchen remember, I've waited 20 years for it) so I decided to shop around.

So, lots of research later, a fantastic local joiner who has done stuff for us before is making me a bespoke kitchen which is to be painted; I bought a range cooker and ceramic sinks in the sales at pre-VAT rise prices at Christmas time (have been in my dining room since then, but you can't have it all ways); and a local granite company is supplying and fitting the work tops. Total price just under £10000 inc all plumbing, plastering, electrics, painting etc.

I know this is still a lot of money but we are now in our forever home (well, at least until the boys have grown up and left the nest) and have made many sacrifices along the way to get to this point.

I love cooking and I can't wait to get creative in it!! Pics to follow

Plus, now the money that has been going in my kitchen fund every month is OP money!! :j

Also, I'm not able to go out where there might be a temptation to spend as I've got to stay in for the workmen

originalmiscellany

Lovely! Can't wait to see the pics Auntie Mabel Sounds very swish!

[Deleted User]

Oooo Shiney new kitchen sounds lovley!!

Mummymortgagefree

Hi AuntieMabel

Have just subscribed to your thread... I couldn't agree more about how frustrating it is when your mortgage provider won't tell you exact amount over the phone and you have to wait for a statement !!! Don't get me started !!! If there are any mortgage guys reading this SORT IT OUT ! We may be a bit over enthusiastic about paying our mortgages off and lets face it other people thing we are strange (My hubby defo does !) but it would be helpful to know exactly where we stand when we make an overpayment over the phone ..... Rant over :-)