Hurdler's Race to be Mortgage-Free

gallygirl

I really enjoyed reading that Hurdler, well done

Hurdler

Wow - my whole sense of days is shot to pieces... Tuesday I slept TO the alarm because of Monday night class. Last night I was sleepy when I was reading, then as soon as I closed my eyes - eyes like freakin' saucers!

Anyway - just popped in (will be doing finances etc tonight) ... my £30K VR money has FINALLY been updated in my Online Banking which is good news!
Looking forward to catching up with everyone's diaries after a MUCH needed glass of wine and some dinner...

cha97michelle

Great news that you were published. I don't have much clue about football, but you wrote that piece well, and deserve that honour. Talented!

Hurdler

Gawd this month is dragging - I am STILL waiting for my expenses to go through.
And to complicate matters, I am being shipped off to South Africa for two weeks with work... which means missing 3 classes of my Journo Diploma (not to mention long day and being stuck for two weeks in the company of work colleagues! On the bright side - it might be a good experience to watch a world cup rugby match with the Bokke in a South African bar...)


My company's scheme for claiming money for international travel is ridinkidonkly convoluted and I laughed out loud when my manager reckoned I had two options:
1) Fund out of my own pocket and then claim back
2) Get an advance.

Can y'all guess what I went for in the end?? :rotfl:

I seem to be making some inroads in shorthand (which leaves me extremely surprised as I was sure my squiggles were totally unintelligible!)

Hurdler

Oh for heaven's sake - it's been around 6 weeks now for my expenses... and still nothing, despite getting a note 6 DAYS AGO saying the funds would be released between 1-4 days.
The good news is - my salary has gone in properly this time, and is about what I thought it might be....

I don't think my mortgage recalculation is going to get to me before I go to Cape Town for two weeks (work - and given how long they are taking with the expenses - I can see a HUGE chunk of my emergency money keeping me afloat until I get this lot of expenses back).

I am seriously unimpressed.

Lois_E

Just catching up after not being on here for several days. I'm so impressed that they published your piece. You are a real journo now. :T

Hurdler

Woot - my Clarity Card from Halifax arrived, so last night I had a frantic search for the (of course!) ripped off and discarded pin number for said card! Nowadays you do't have to scratch off the number - it's on that obscured plastic thing you pull off the paper, and is about the size of a postage stamp... so I was panicking last night looking for it!

Found a stray Halifax near the office, so PIN duly changed, and I can use it in Cape Town for the next 2 weeks and not get charged extra commission for anything.

Now just need to remember if the beach in Cape Town says CLOSED - SHARKS NEARBY... then DON'T go in the water!

mouche

Hi Hurdler...just caught up with your diary. Am really impressed at how organised you are - am glad the Clarity card came through before your trip - sounds like you're going to need it with your company's policies! Have a nice trip and hope you get to do a few touristy things as well.

Hurdler

Hi Mouche - and greetings all after our first week in South Africa!!!

Thanks so much for your kind words - it's really the first time I've had to catch up with the thread since I've been here - although today we were taken out wine-tasting and we have some sight seeing booked over the next few days.

The other good news is my advance for the SA trip AND the expenses including the technical certification course arrived as I was doing my last finances on Sunday morning before flying out - so Vernon should have a HUGE amount to oink up!

I cannot wait to get back and see what the mortgage recalc came down to, and start colouring in bricks on the house!

Now - bed - I am cream crackered and a few of us are heading up to Table Mountain tomorrow...

Hurdler

Well - it's a good job I rang to check where my mortgage recalculation was this evening... they acknowledged that I had paid my VR lump sum into the mortgage and that it is around £134,000 (I forget the exact amount).... but the numpties hadn't bothered to recalculate it down because I'd recalculated in May when I was about to take the redundancy and because I had been paying at that amount, they felt I could continue to do so!

Pfft - don't they know I have a mortgage to pay off???

Anyway... I am now waiting for the confirmation in writing - but... it looks like I will be paying approximately £575 per month (down from £705) ... I have to work in round numbers - wwayyyyyyy too tired today!
A saving of £130 per month - not bad!

Once I get the official letters - I will publish my first house but in the mean time Vernon is gathering in size - ready to oink out an impressive first overpayment!