Ultrarunner's aim to be mortgage-free

ultrarunner

Pay Day yesterday and a £200 overpayment made. Probably not much more until next payday unless I get my refund from EDF.

ultrarunner

Another month gone.

Very busy and very expensive - car insurance and credit card were covered off by my EDF refund of £300+

Short break in Spain was one of 5 consecutive (expensive) weekends - also big party for World cup, trip to Suffolk with friends and next week showing American friends old and historic stuff e.g. Stonehenge. Now doing DIY for a week with parents - so money being spent in garden centre, B & Q etc... all good as progress being made (shelving, insulation in loft etc, more organised and smarter, spare room redecorated after roof leaking in winter). Hurts the credit card though. Bonus due in late summer will pay off the bill and by then I hope to have a new lodger in situ.

Overpaid a tenner left over from May salary! And found out the house next door (lovely new neighbours) went for 199,950. I bought 2 years ago for 183k, I owe approx 118k at the moment, and I would argue my house is no cheaper than theirs - in fact I have a second bathroom so maybe a few k more though their house is nicer decoratively. Anyway sub 60% LTV which is something worth celebrating.

Bit of a stream of consciousness post this one, i.e. lots of waffle

ultrarunner

Well having got through an expensive 10 days of DIY and then tourism I can take a bit of a break from spending. I hope. Had a great time showing American friends around but it's an expensive job - great to repay the favour after they were so good to us in Florida.

Going to try and be very tight on spending till payday. I have about £450 on an interest free credit card and also need to pay for a stag do. Hoping to pay for these out of my next few pay cheques and then throw the bonus at the mortgage in August.

Lodger advert is up on the web, had one person round tonight who would only want it for 3 nights per week. Would work as some extra money plus I would have the spare room at weekends.

My clematis is starting to flower in the front garden which makes me feel happy :-)

ultrarunner

Finding a lodger is proving difficult. No-one biting on the advert, a few people have been round but it 'wasn't for them'. A few definitely unsuitable people have contacted me about it...

ultrarunner

Good weekend so far:

Lodger found :j
2nd date went well, dinner tomorrow for a third date
Realised why my car was leaking oil, I've lost the oil cap :eek: Temporary fix with foil and a cable tie, ordered a new one off ebay for £18.
2nd interview for a very exciting job on Thursday.

Life is going well

ultrarunner

Well... lodger moving in tomorrow, already paid off the outstanding credit card with her first month's rent.

Got offered an exciting job yesterday, the pay isn't as much as I hoped, but better benefits, bonus, pension and all-round environment means I am accepting.

And the third date went well, lets hope things move on from here :j

ultrarunner

A quick wee update

10.5 days of notice left to work before I move to my new job.

Lodger going well, all getting on fine.

Credit card paid off, also bought 2 pairs of new running shoes and paid off most of the balance on a stag do to knock out some big expenses with lodgers first months rent. Quite tight at the moment until payday on 22nd but should be ok.

Doing some consumer testing tonight to earn £10 which I will overpay.

Another date tomorrow night, things going well on that front.

Weeks holiday in Cornwall first week of September, planning to do Eden Project, Scilly Isles, St Michael's Mount and Lost gardens of Heligan, amongst other trips... Life is good

Aim to get the ball rolling on overpayments (ideally the lodgers full rent, so £450 per month) from September

ultrarunner

Busy few weeks but...

Ok time in my most recent half marathon - 1:36
New job starts soon
Holiday starts even sooner
Busy and tired but happy and smiley

ultrarunner

Holiday was great fun, spent a fair bit on days out and also some artwork in a gallery in St Ives but it was a marvellously relaxing week

Currently using up store cupboard and freezer contents so low spends this week.

New job started on Monday, so far so good. Like the people and the benefits are good, much closer to where I live so 2 hours less per day back to me, and less money on commuting.

Payday is much earlier (20th of month) so need to think about the impact this will have on me. Direct debits currently go out on the 1st, I'm not sure if I should move them or not? Any thoughts?

Car is getting close to the end of it's life so contemplating replacing it sooner rather than later. Looking at options, there is an option to get a company car via salary sacrifice (just paying for fuel I think) but I'm not sure whether it's a good deal or not?

And the good news - £350 overpayment made today. Takes my debt below 117k so I owe approx 59% of the house. Still trying to attack the element of the mortgage which is linked to base rate.

This is the old Nationwide BMR of Bank of England rate + 2%. I've been on this now for 2 years, and have managed to take a fair bit of advantage, not sure if it's possible to switch to a fixed rate for this bit only (the rest of the mortgage is on another fix until 2017 and is subject to an early repayment charge). Just conscious that rates will probably have risen a year from now

Worry_Wart

I've got a car through work on salary sacrifice and it's great. It's band A (golf bluemotion diesel) and it works out about £50/60 a month salary sacrifice (less if you're not in the higher tax band). I don't pay for anything except personal fuel and it saves me a fortune. New cars are so efficient if you get the right model, and I easily get 600 miles from a tank (and I don't drive conservatively).