Sweetdaisy's aim to be mortgage-free

sweetdaisy

Another busy weekend! Took DS1 for a haircut, followed by a trip to the shops to get him new school shoes and trainers. We went out for a meal yesterday as a 'treat' for the children and we have been to the park today and fed the ducks .

Made some more mortgage overpayments this week and increased offset savings account. Mortgage balance is now: £73,986. The saving 'pots' (now that they are more streamlined) are working really well for us. I was able to pay for DS1's shoes and our meal out from the 'Misc/Clothing/Treats pot' and still have money left in the pot. I add to all the 'pots' weekly when DH gets paid.

I really need to stop procrastinating and use my time more effectively around the house! I had a pile of paperwork and letters that needed to be filed and sorted, so I finally got around to doing it today. Took me an hour to sort things out and get rid of old insurance documents etc, but am happy that everything is now in it's place. Also sorted out the boys wardrobes again and bagged up old clothes to go into recycling bag.

DH is still going to be 'training' on his new job for another 4 weeks or so, before he starts back on shifts. This is due to the nature of his job and Health & Safety. DH is enjoying his new job and there is the potential of him earning more than me. This is absolutely brilliant and I am really pleased for him. Managing our Childcare arrangements has become more difficult now that DH is working shifts (12 hour day and night shifts) as he used to pick up the boys from Nursery/After School Club for me and I rely on family to look after the boys when I work a late shift once a week and have to do 'on-call'. It's such a juggle working full-time and organising childcare and I feel so guilty about it. I am still looking for a job closer to home, but nothing out there are the moment .

I managed 30 mins on the cross trainer yesterday and a 40 minute walk today. It's been such a long time since I have been walking (due to DH working shifts) that I am taking it easy for the moment. One thing I have noticed is that I don't feel so tired today and I need to do exercise to stop me feeling so lethargic.

sweetdaisy

Received a quarterly Mortgage statement this week, which states that I am on target to repay our mortgage 1 year and 10 months early. This does not include what we have in the Offset accounts, so my spreadsheet is correct as we are on target to repay 2 years earlier. I now feel that our Offset mortgage is really working for us and through overpayments and increasing savings, it's great to see both the balance and mortgage term reducing .

I underspent by £22 this week, so have transferred this to my 'Misc/Clothing/Treat' savings pot. Now that DH is working closer to home we are also saving money on fuel.

I turned my heating off on Monday, but it was back on again today, as it has been so cold. Yesterday we had glorious sunshine and today it's been cold and raining most of the day!

southerndave

Sounds like you are doing alright Daisy! Kwwp looking, something will turn up I am sure, often when you least expect it!

sweetdaisy

Credit Card statement received this week and last month I earned £5.82 cashback. Total cashback to be paid in January 2014 is now £32.36. Monthly interest was added to the mortgage this week - £181. I am pleased with this as through offsetting it has saved me £96.

Had a £54 underspend this week - due to underspending on my weekly food shop, DH's fuel and general spending, so this has been transferred to the Savings account and divided between my savings pots.

I received £25 this week from a survey site and have another redemption of £12 waiting to be paid and a further £25 at the end of May.

DH had his monthly mobile phone statement (we both have SIM only plans) and he was charged £19 more than the plan costs. It was also £10 higher last month, so told him to sort it out . It turns out that he has downloaded an App that he uses when he goes mountain biking (as it tracks distance, speed, calories etc) and as he goes biking for hours at a time he has been using over his Internet data allowance. So after phoning his network provider he has got a deal which costs £10.50 a month (£3 a month more than his previous phone plan), which will mean that he won't go over his allowance again.

Made a big batch of Leek and Potato soup on Friday, so this lasted two days and the boys wolfed it down. It's so easy and cheap to make and always gets eaten in our house. So this week I am going to make Mushroom soup, as I can't remember the last time I made it. I will also freeze portions to take to work for my lunch.

QB_Wolf

Sounds like a good week SD!!

sweetdaisy

Thanks QB Wolf. The best thing about it is that even though we are watching our money and maximising Savings and Overpaying on the mortgage as much as we can, it doesn't feel like we are missing out on anything - just making our money work harder for us .

sweetdaisy

Usual shuffle of money between accounts has been done and increased money into our saving pot. Total Mortgage Overpayments made so far this year (up until end of April) was £1,378. It's such a good feeling seeing the mortgage balance reduce. According to my spreadsheet, the mortgage will be in the £70,000's by October - can't wait!

I have decreased my Emergency Fund a little as we purchased fitted wardrobes a couple of years ago following our house extension. My parents offered to lend us the money so that we didn't have to take out a loan/use our savings money. As DH's wages have increased I have repaid my parents out of our savings money. We still have a decent Emergency Fund which I will continue to build up, but I feel happier having paid them back and can now cancel the monthly Standing Order for £50.

Celebrated our Wedding Anniversary this week, so DH and myself went out for a meal last night (without the children). It was a lovely meal and we really enjoyed, however it was strange going out without the children in tow.

I am not working tomorrow, so we are having a family day out tomorrow in a Country Park, taking a picnic (which the boys love!) and the weather is supposed to be sunny, so can't wait.

Happy Bank Holiday everyone .

sweetdaisy

Received £12 from a survey company, so have paid this towards the mortgage. I am £49 away from reducing the mortgage term by another month, so should reach this by the end of the week.

As we currently stand we will pay off the mortgage in 11 years - just seems such a long way away, but at least it is reducing slowly.

DH's job is going well and he has had a £2 an hour pay rise. He is almost earning double his previous job and we are continuing to live off his old wage and all extra money is being put into Savings/reducing the mortgage. I am continuing to look for a job closer to home, but his new job means that I have more scope to reduce my salary a little, but don't want to drop salary by too much in case of redundancies etc, so I need to be sensible.

DH has mentioned that he would like to change his car next year as it is over 12 years old :eek:. Previous to me starting this MFW journey I would have easily said that we could take out a loan or re-mortgage to pay for the car, but now . . . I told him there is no way that we are doing either of these and undoing the hard work that I have put into overpaying the mortgage. So, with some negotiating on how much we will spend on a car I hope to be able to save up for it, however we are not going to be able to replace the car next year . Besides, DS1 is only young and has a habit of opening the car doors really quickly (and with some force) and as the cars are parked next to each other on the drive, took a chunk out of the paintwork on my car door and DH's. So I cheekily suggested to DH that maybe it was best to wait a couple of years until replacing his car as it could quite easily get scratched etc.

On another note, the nice weather over the weekend and Bank Holiday has kick started my exercise and healthy eating regime, so trying to keep it up when it is so gloomy outside is going to be a challenge but I'm determined to keep at it .

sweetdaisy

I contacted our Mortgage provider yesterday and increased out monthly payment by £50 (due to me repaying my parents money that they lent us). I have done this as I don't want this £50 to get 'lost/spent' so I would rather pay it towards the mortgage, so there is no temptation to spend it. The great news is that this will reduce our term by a further 11 months :j. £31 overpayment made today and this has reduced the term by another month and we are now on target to repay the mortgage in December 2023.

DH has finished part of his training at work and is starting 12 hour shifts tomorrow (a combination of Days and Nights (which he is happy about). He has been allocated his shift pattern: 4 days on, 4 days off, then 18 days off after 7 weeks! It's going to be a juggle with organising the children and I don't know how I am going to manage yet when I am 'on-call' in work and he is working nights, because if it's an emergency I need to get to work within 1 hour of being called.

We are also going to book a holiday for September - likely to be Center Parcs as the boys will love it. We went to the Centre Parcs 3 years ago when DS1 was 2 years old and we enjoyed. This will mean that I'll have the ask school for permission for DS1 to have a week off as DH can only take holidays when on his allocated days off, so can't take a holiday during the summer half term as he is working.

I spent some money on myself and bought some new clothes today, which included some work clothes (which I begrudge spending money on) but as this was money received at Christmas it has not come out of Savings. Also, sorted out some of the children's toys and placed in a charity bag ready for the next collection.

sweetdaisy

Monthly mortgage payment made today, with automatic overpayment of £57 - total overpayments for this month so far is £182.

Received £40 in vouchers from Ipsos today and redeemed a further £49 from survey sites this week .

I have set myself a target of getting the mortgage balance to £68,600 by 31st December. This target is looking a little tight, but even if I don't reach it I still would have reduced the mortgage by almost £8,000 this year. Oh, I wish I started this MFW journey around 5 years ago . . .