Ultrarunner's aim to be mortgage-free

ultrarunner

Right, exchanging on Monday, completing in one weeks time next Thursday.

Been a bit of a hassle the last few weeks with the legal stuff being sorted but that's now all over hopefully.

Bit of a long story job wise, I quit the new job after 4 days and went back to my old one... better the devil you know and I feel confident I made the right decision in going back.

Soon I will have 128,000 reasons to be overpaying my mortgage... my new house doesn't need much work done to it. I will need to get a few bits of furniture and have a load of initial expense but after that I hope to be able to start overpaying fairly soon. Hopefully I can handle the new mortgage expense ok...

ultrarunner

Well I completed last Friday and have fully moved in. Exciting times... having gone from a cramped studio flat to a 2 bedroom house it's a big step.

I've not been very MSE the past few days as had a huge amount of stuff to buy - furniture, bedding etc. More things to buy on payday on Friday too.

Rather unhelpfully Nationwide couldn't confirm how much my first payment in June will be... however I should manage to keep in the black in June providing I am disciplined.

Spent the day at work changing my address on what feels like a million different accounts and submitting meter readings. Also signed up for the all important internet and phone - got this for £18.50 a month including line rental so a decent price. Next step is to work out what tariff is best for my electricity and gas, but I might monitor usage over the first few months before I decide.

Better get home now as it's almost bed time!

sweetdaisy

Congratulations on moving - sounds exciting .

ultrarunner

Thanks sweet daisy, it certainly is that!

Well a month or so after completing, and I'm back online, and just returned from a short break in Aldeburgh.

Since I moved it's been an expensive month with quite a lot of furniture to buy, and I have a lot to pay off the credit card in the next month, together with road tax and car insurance due in a week's time.

Also due to swap from commuting by car to train. Slightly more expensive but a better use of time and also it will give me the opportunity to run part of the way home.

Fortunately I did 40 hours overtime last month which has helped a bit for June payday which is today. I'm still expecting a few tight months until £68,000 of my £128,000 mortgage drops to Base + 2%

I've got a list of jobs still to do as long as my arm but I am hopeful these can be knocked off quickly. I'd quite like to rent my spare room out at some point and these jobs preclude that happening. One of the jobs is buying a new bed so quite critical to renting it out!

ultrarunner

Another expensive day... car tax and car insurance bought for the year.

Also some food shopping, and got a few extra things for the kitchen, a wok and a tin opener - I was about to cook a meal last week when I realised I had no means of opening the tins - whoops.

Have arranged to get rid of some old curtains I no longer need at the local christian furniture shop, so that is a job for Saturday.

Arranged to pay council tax by direct debit, this means the payment is deferred until August, which gives me a bit more breathing space.

Still desperately trying to get organised in the house... I struggle to do anything in the evenings as I tend to work 12 hour days. A good session at the weekend and I should be near enough there hopefully, then it's just the garden to tackle.

ultrarunner

Well some great progress made this week (although not at overpaying the mortgage).

Pictures put up, curtains hung, leaking washing machine fixed, downstairs bathroom now has a towel rail, loo roll holder, mirror and lock, lots of junk cleared out from the cupboard under the stairs and taken to the dump.

Some furniture I no longer need is on gumtree, and hopefully being collected next week. Also found some of the junk worth selling on gumtree - UV lamp, shelves so that should be a few extra pounds.

Don't think I'll be making any overpayments in July or August as I still have things I need to get plus credit card bill.

My mortgage balance outstanding is £127,828.67 - finally got my mortgages set up for online banking. I'll be happy getting under 125k by the end of the year. Might get the mortgage accounts set up as a payee now so I can make token overpayments at my leisure.

Time for a sit-down as I'm knackered... Tidying up of paperwork during the football I think

ultrarunner

Busy week so far, work has been quite chaotic. Another restructure, so another manager (9th in 3 years!) and some new clients. It will mean a lot more work than I currently have which I'm not that happy with. Oh well, more overtime I suppose.

Set up my mortgage as a payee in online banking so I can overpay as and when. Annoyingly, I can only set up one of the mortgage accounts as a payee as they have the same sort code and account number. Even a phone call to the bank couldn't help matters.

Compromised with a token standing order (£50 per month) to the 2nd account for now as it is 4.09% versus 5.34% for the 1st account.

In September the 1st account drops to 2.5% assuming base rate doesn't move so I will swap around to pay the 2nd account instead.

Sold some old furniture for £20 this week, and used the proceeds plus a £5 voucher to buy a shoe rack which will hide away nicely in the cupboard under the stairs.

More items for sale at the moment - random things left behind by the previous owner including shelves and a UV light.

Also started commuting by train, going well so far, I get off a few stations early and run the rest of the way home.

Sepa74

lol... I do that too, but it's ONE station early, and I WALK the rest of the way home.

But it is a great way to build exercise into my day... I'm rubbish at going to the gym and I enjoy walking.

ultrarunner

It is, I am really enjoying it so far. I have more of a choice of when to leave in the morning, as the train always takes the same time, whereas after 7am the traffic is terrible.

And I get home a little later having run.

Off to Bristol Ikea in a moment to buy more furniture, having had a good clearout yesterday and earmarked a few more things to go the charity shop / on gumtree. Bristol is further away than Wembley but is also host to a few friends who I can catch up on and usually the traffic is better too.

ultrarunner

Well I survived Ikea, and finally have most of the clutter out of my house.

Good news this week, I have passed the 2nd year of my foundation degree in payroll management, the bad news is that I have to pay for my 3rd year as work will not fund the course fees (although they will pay for travel expenses and give me study leave). I have applied for a 0% credit card to pay for the £1800+VAT cost of the final year, as this is the tesco one with a long period of 0% on purchases I should be able to pay it off without any adverse effects. Will also be useful for getting a new bed which I plan to do in a few weeks.

Had a long week at work which has made me tired and grumpy. Doing some thinking on credit cards, as I'm conscious I am spending too much at the moment. Decided to get rid of two of them.

Hope this rain abates for my trip to the Lakes in 2 weeks time (still need to buy that tent), and then to Cornwall in early September. Had to buy a few presents over the last few days - brother's birthday present, leaving present for my friend who is off to Japan, and a 50th present still to get as well - expenses all over the place at the moment