Sweetdaisy's aim to be mortgage-free

sweetdaisy

Just returned from a nice long weekend away in North Wales. We all had a great time and the boys loved staying in a Caravan. Got to see lots of new places and the scenery was beautiful .

DS1 is back in school tomorrow and DS2 starts school for the first time on Thursday. Spent almost 2 hours last week sewing name labels in all school clothes, gym kits, coats etc. I hate doing this but I find that the iron-on labels come off in the wash. I also had to wash their new school jumpers about 5 times before they can wear them as the inside is full of Blue fluff and as they have White polo !!!!!! to wear these get ruined if you don’t wash them first (I learned the hard way when DS1 started school) .

Even though I am building up my Savings I feel I have lost my MFW motivation a little . I miss not making regular overpayments as I like to see the mortgage balance reduce. The monthly mortgage interest was added on 27th August and I was quite disappointed that it didn't reduce as much as I had hoped for. Therefore I have resurrected my Mortgage savings ‘pot’ so am transferring £250 a month into this account (which is part of my Offset Savings account), just so that I can separate my virtual overpayment money from my normal Savings. I hope that this will increase my motivation as it seems like it is going to take a very long time to repay the mortgage.

QB_Wolf

Glad you had a great holiday - my kids love caravan holidays and if they're happy then so am I, so I love 'em too.


My son starts school tomorrow too, so excited (me and him), just not sure where the last 5 years has gone.

sweetdaisy

QB_Wolf wrote: »

Glad you had a great holiday - my kids love caravan holidays and if they're happy then so am I, so I love 'em too.

I also loved Caravan holidays as a child. We have stayed in a Caravan a few times - it's not that much of a holiday as such as there is still the washing, cooking and cleaning etc to do, but we all really enjoy. Especially the boys as they found out that if you jump up and down the whole Caravan shakes .

QB_Wolf wrote: »

My son starts school tomorrow too, so excited (me and him), just not sure where the last 5 years has gone.

I hope he has a really good day tomorrow at school. Our DS2 starts full-time on Thursday, is looking forward to it and I have booked the day off work .

sweetdaisy

I’ve had a few busy weeks where it feels that I have just been ‘coming and going’ so much, I don’t know where I am anymore!

I started college a few weeks ago (2 evenings a week) and have my first exam in 6 weeks :eek:. I feel that I am slowly getting into a routine but it’s difficult working full-time, running the house/housework and studying. Our tutor has told us that for those of us not in accounting roles, we should be looking to change jobs around February, however I am not sure that I will be able to change roles that quickly as I don’t have experience within an account setting.

I don’t seem to have any spare time at the moment as any free time I get I am studying. I have not done any exercise for over 3 weeks and spend the weekends trying to get back to some sort of normality and doing as much fun stuff as I can with the children, as well as keeping on top of the housework, helping DS1 with his reading and homework etc. I just feel that I am chasing my tail at the moment. That’s it – rant over otherwise it is going to consume me .

DS2 is now in school full-time and is really enjoying it. It is so much easier having both children in one location, rather than separate childcare settings. I have managed to build-up my childcare voucher account and have enough in there for 27 week of after school club - which will help if I do change jobs and take a pay cut.

DH is still in his job as an Agency worker and was due to be taken on by his company at the end of August, but they announced redundancies. Luckily, DH is not one of them as his place of work have invested in a lot of training for his job role and they are short of staff with the skills they need. He has had a pay rise and he will hopefully be taken on in the New Year (fingers crossed, as he will then get a big pay rise).

Not much to report on the mortgage front other than I am saving £250 a month into my Mortgage savings pot and have started making a weekly direct overpayment of £25. I feel that I need to do this as I psychologically need to see the mortgage balance reduce. At present I have £250 in the Mortgage pot, with a further £250 going in on 1st October, the Mortgage balance is £57,201 and I am still set to repay by January 2022.

TimmySaver

What Accounting qualification are you doing, sweetdaisy? DW and I did AAT level 2 last year at college and self studying level 3 at the moment (although DW morning sickness has put it on hold atm).

The amount you're overpaying is really motivating me! Did an OpinionOutpost survey today for 15 points and finished my profile on there. So, that's something!?

edinburgher

Gosh SD, what a period of changes!

You sound like you're taking it all in your stride and I am sure that you will find a balance. I don't think people realise how tricky it can be to try and mix parenthood/work/study/life unless they've had to do it for themselves.

What sort of job would you be looking to move into, accounts payable assistant or similar? I have to say that I've considered accountancy as an alternative career, but never quite made up my mind one way or another. I considered talking to our work accountants (we seem to hire a new one every couple of months), but they're all very 'careerist' and scarily focused. Like other companies, our accountants seem to have a path from accountant - chief financial person - CEO.

gallygirl

We met with an accountant on Friday - reminded me of why I didn't want to become one - the work is ok but he wasn't exactly 'Mr Personality' :rotfl:.

sweetdaisy

TimmySaver wrote: »

What Accounting qualification are you doing, sweetdaisy? DW and I did AAT level 2 last year at college and self studying level 3 at the moment (although DW morning sickness has put it on hold atm).

I am only doing AAT Level 2. I am enjoying the course, however it has been over 13 years since I last did any studying, so finding it all a little overwhelming trying to study and manage children/work/home etc. I am sure that once I get into a routine, I'll be Ok.

I am studying 2 evenings a week, as well as working one evening a week - so am away from the children for 3 nights, plus also working full-time and my job involves taking part in the 'on-call' rota - so this along with DH working shifts makes it quite difficult to juggle everything .

sweetdaisy

edinburgher wrote: »

What sort of job would you be looking to move into, accounts payable assistant or similar?

Yes, if possible. I know this may sound a little strange, but I am doing my AAT Level 2 and would like to go onto Level 3 and at present have no desire to become a qualified Accountant (a lot will depend on how I get on with the course), however if I only get to Level 3 I'll be happy.

I have a lot of responsibility in my current job and I think that it is time for change. I have found that with responsibility brings a lot of stress and I don't ever seem to be able to 'shut off' from work, so this is one of the reason why I would like to change career.

sweetdaisy

gallygirl wrote: »

We met with an accountant on Friday - reminded me of why I didn't want to become one - the work is ok but he wasn't exactly 'Mr Personality' :rotfl:.

This made me laugh :rotfl:. I am a sociable person, however I also like working on my own and am quite happy to get on with things without having the need to speak to others .