MF Quest

house_help

H Gecko, time certainly does go fast!

Our short term goal is to pay the max £500 per month OP for the full 3 year fixed period - so another 27 OPs or £13,500 to go. This should mean we get near to 60% LTV when fix ends (even with some house value decrease)

We also have milestones on the way to the short term goal - the current one is that another 7 month of full OPs means will mean the capital repayment part of the std monthly payment is bigger than the interest part. With no OPs we would still be 20 months away from that.

I would also like to see my student loan fully gone in that period so that would be another c.£8,500.

I like you idea of netting off savings for a target figure. The end of 2013 would be a reasonable target for us to have the net position below £100k so will think about setting that.

house_help

Busy couple of weeks. First direct account not moved forward but awaiting confirmation of tax code from HMRC which I can use for ID and then open the account.

The garden is still doing well, pea pods now showing and first courgettes almost ready to eat. Pots are looking healthy but no flowers yet so will be a while before ready. The plants on the leaf mulch have done really well so recommend using that if you can. Strawberries also have some flowers on them.

We have just booked a few hotels down in Cornwall for a week in August - looking forward to the break already. Will have two weeks off in a row Need to find a nice hotel in Bristol to finish the holiday week if anyone has any recommendations?

£500 OP paid start of the month so another dent into mortgage.
All everyday expenses are now going on the slow stooge interest free credit card so I will open another regular saver tomorrow to put the surplus cash into – will be a total of £1k per month going into three of those.

house_help

The garden is now in full swing. First courgettes, cabbage and peas harvested. Onions and runner beans nearly ready. Pots still not flowered so they will be a while yet. Carrots growing well and flowers come on the strawberrys. Only things not going to good are the toms, not enough sun for them. Am thinking of entering some stuff in local show in 3 weeks

Usual payment comes out in couple of days which will take us below £157k Reg saver opened and first £500 in.

Had a day out in Alton Towers (tesco vouchers) on Tuesday which was OK but very busy so a lot of queing.

house_help

Total no below £157k Total OPs since start of mortagage up to £5,000.

Had long walk up to top of local mountain on weekend so feeling it a little in my legs today but im sure its good for me. Had some lovely fried home grown cabbage with garlic and cream after with some of our brocolli, peas and some nice steak from local butcher. Was deserved after the long walk!

We went to Ikea on way home from Alton towers last week to get a floor lamp for living room and some new duvet covers. So also put that up on weekend. We have tried to get a good lamp from local general sales but nothing worth having and time had run out to get something. I'm sure now we have bought something one will come in the next sale!

house_help

£500 OP paid for August. Total now up to £5,500. 15 months off the term

Seems like a slow burner at the moment but nice to see the balance coming down. I have a speadsheet showing the interest saved over the longer term which is the real motivator to keep going.

Had a slightly expensive month last month. Paid for most of the hotels for our holiday next week which was a dent and also over £100 on vets fees (annual vacs) and food for the rabbits - bought food in bulk so that will keep them going for at least 12 months. Also spent a lot in tesco last month - in months where I stick to Lidl the food costs are always lower! Need to stick to there I think.

gecko

Hi house_help, your doing a brilliant job on the overpayments!

Food budgeting is one of the biggest houshold costs, to keep our food costs down we get a veg box every week, it stops us from wasting any food as all meals are planned. With the one we get you can exclude food that you don't like and also add meat etc. Also having the box stops us from going to the supermarket at all, both saving time and stopping us from buying products we don't actually need :T

Well done on the veg, my courgette plant keep getting their flowers knocked/bitten off, so it's looking a bit sorry for itself I have invested in some netting for it but I think it might be a bit late this year to rescue it...

Keep up the hard work,

Gecko

house_help

Thanks Gecko.

Our Corgettes have come well. We had some last year the same as you describe. I think having them in raised beds with improved soil is making the difference. The birds however have eaten away at our pea plants and they are looking decidely sorry for themselves so I don't think we will be having any more pods coming.

Good idea on the food box, will see if there are any offering it locally. We are pretty poor at planning meals but will make something from scratch in bulk and freeze in portions. So we usually have a good selection of homemade stuff in the freezer that can just pick and choose just before eating.

Last day in work today before 2 week off Heading to Cornwall for first week, nothing planned for following week so probably have few days trips and maybe some DIY!

house_help

Back in work after my two weeks off Great week down in cornwall and some nice other trips out.

Some DIY started! We have bought a new bath, sink etc.. and tiles plus floor for the bathroom so did the job of taking old stuff down and our and now awaiting a plasterer to skim the walls. Between myself and family we will be able to do all the other jobs (tiling, laying floor etc..) ourselves.

Haggled well on bath & sink, got local shop to match lowest internet price I could find which was an extra 5% off their price which was already lower for the bank holiday. The tiles were 25% off at Wickes (already the cheapest before 25% discount) and floor tiles we got from B&Q. Managed to find couple of old boxes (taped up etc.. but nothing wrong with the tiles) of the same tiles discounted by more than half so bagged those to go with 4 clean boxes. Overall, inc plasterer will cost about £2,000 I think.

With holiday and bath stuff its been a very expensive month but both been in the budget and holiday was under budget.

Will have the cash for usual £500 OP to send across on Saturday. Next month will be the 12th payment! Hard to believe we have been in a year already, still a lot we would like to do to the place but few rooms are done now. Once the bathroom is done, will finish the office (needs paint and a bit of a tidy of fittings and frames etc.. and some new carpet) then may look at the stair which really needs brightening up!

house_help

Sept OP of £500 paid at the start of the month. Will be below £155k when the monthly payment comes out next week Happy to take over £10k off the balance in our first 12 months. Seems like a long slow slog at times but slowly seeing the daily interest come down is motivating. 4 more OPs and the more of the standard payment will be toward the capital than the interest

September is an expensive month for annual payments - house insurance, car tax, insurance and MOT (all x2). I need another 2 new tyres before 1 car goes for MOT, prices of those have gone up £15 each since I bought some in Feb! Think will be over a £1k all told

On the positive with car insurance I helped my parents with theirs and will get £70 via topcashback for the trouble, they also got lower premium than the renewal so everyone happy

The bathroom project is continuing - on advice of the plasterer we are stripping off the old lime plaster (1930's house) on two external facing walls as it was starting to crumble, he will then put new plaster boards and skim the whole room. I have quite enjoyed the job of pulling all the old stuff down but its pretty dirty and dusty. We now have only the areas behind the toilet, radiator and the old bathroom light remaining - i'm awaiting relatives to come and help me take those out as they involve electric and difficult plumbing best left to those trained! I did manage to take the sink out without causing a flood!

The plasterer also does tiling so we also pay him to do that as no relative to keen to help with that! We hope to have it all finished by mid next month We have now paid for all the materials and will beat the £2k budget even after having the tradesman do the tiling and floor

I go back to uni for my next week long module in a couple weeks having had the summer off, will be difficult to get back into it. I got a really good result on the last asssignment so hoping I can continue the run. I have probably another 2 years until I finish so long time to go yet!

house_help

Phew glad Sept is through, total car related expenses and house insurance came in at £1,050 :eek: (plus more for my girlfriends car but she paid this).

We also had a pretty expensive weekend at hotel for my birthday, plus few other meals out. It was my 30th (plus few close friends - our 3 birthdays are within week of each other) so worth celebrating. All told that was another £350ish. Finally I also bought a petrol hedge trimmer as all four hedges round our house need doing and was quoted a silly amount by local handyman come gardner. It was reduced in B&Q from £120 odd to £80 plus additional 20% discount this weekend so pretty pleased with the price - just need to test it to ensure it works.

Cannot do that at moment as back at uni this week. Hopefully that should mean a low spend week. Whilst Im away the plasterer is coming in to start the bathroom, so that should hopefully be ready to paint on the weekend coming, Hopefully not too long so he can come back and finish up before can everything back in and enjoy a soak in new bath

Usual £500 OP sent across yesterday. Balance will be below £154k when usual monthly payment comes out mid-month.

I think I may get a small pay rise this month, not been confirmed what it is yet but won't be much but any extra will be useful.