Its days are numbered ...

irishjohn

Hi Dawn,
Been following you a while.

I am from that same generation and have experienced much of the same experiences, and I remember how difficult it was in the 70s to get a mortgage as a young teacher with little savings going cap in hand to building societies and being turned away because I didn't have a big enough deposit.

I am sure like me you can recall the difficult financial periods we have experienced during our working lives that did cause us to be in debt but also taught us the value of being careful and saving for a rainy day.

Your savings are working well for you, look at holding onto them while this is the case, and look at your mortgage as a necessary cost to have a roof over your head. I was in that position and I hated the debt but was reassured that I had savings if I lost my job.

I chipped away at my £60000 mortgage back in the late 90s and gradually got it to £18000 and at that point I was made redundant, in 1999, but was fortunate to get a job offer more or less immediately. My redundancy payment was - £18,000!! But I grabbed the opportunity to have an offset mortgage with Barclays, something very new back then and that made me feel mortgage free but also gave me the comfort of knowing I could get my hands on savings if I needed them. That lasted until I changed my lifestyle completely in 2005, moved back to Ireland, gained some equity from my house sale and started to slow down - enabling me to retire at 58, live off savings for two years, then get my occupational pensions which covers my frugal living and leaves me a nice nest egg for travel and treats.

I sense that you enjoy frugal living and like me get a great deal of pleasure from managing your life and knowing that you don't go without - in fact simple living is very rewarding in itself.

My advice based on my experience is keep the savings while they out perform the mortgage, they are your safety net, and when the lump sums come in - look again and if the safety net is enough, use the lump sum to pay off the mortgage and establish a treats fund to be dipped into as and when you want a treat!!

A big thank you for your diary, I love to sit coffee in hand every morning and catch up

John

misscousinitt

Hi Dawn

I am inclined to agree with what's been said above and keep going with the savings and the small OPs at the moment and see what happens later in the year.

I echo what irishjohn said and I really enjoy your diary.

Keep it up, the support will keep coming from our end.

MCI

greent

Hi Dawn, just chipping in with my 2p worth

As you possibly have a lump sum later this year I'd also go for the option of just chipping away at the mortgage until then. Keep the savings going, as they earn more for you

DawnW

Thanks for your input guys. You are right of course

I loved your story IrishJohn - I am 58 now, and would love to do what you have done! I used to be a teacher / lecturer as well, and loved it, though it IS stressful. I can't really talk about what I do now, as not many people do it (it would be relatively easy to identify me which doesn't matter that much, but more important it is the kind of job where I have to be really careful about what I say on the topic). However, enough to say it is equally stressful, though in different ways!

Didn't get around to posting yesterday, as my wireless went on the blink. Seems ok this morning, touch wood. So, what has been happening?

OH is building my new larder / food storage cupboard under the stairs

I am waiting to hear from HMRC about whether I need or not to fill in a self-assessment form. OH and I rented out the house for a few years, and I did a bit of consultancy work on top of my previous job, so I have had to do them for a while, but I just have a PAYE job now, so hoping to be able to give it a miss. Particularly as OH is now (not very lucratively) self employed, and I have all his invoices and receipts - more receipts than invoices - to sort out, so his will take twice as long :eek:

Had to go to the doctors yesterday about a really nasty infected insect bite I brought back from holiday :eek: I am now on really unpleasant antibiotics (huge, long pills which smell horrid and have to be taken on an empty stomach). Anyway, it will force me to have an empty stomach 4 times a day I suppose, which can only be a good thing :rotfl:

I froze the trout OH came back with the other night. I was going to cook it for last night's supper, but was put off by the empty stomach and smelly pills so had egg, chips and peas instead

GD3 (aged 2 on Wednesday) loved her birthday present She is obsessed by eggs, so I got her some wooden ones in a little basket. Trouble is Mum has borrowed two of them to give to one of their chickens who is broody, to keep her happy till she can get a few fertile real ones from a neighbour for her to sit on. Little one keeps trying to get them back from under the chicken, and has misunderstood somewhere along the line, as she keeps asking her mum to open them so she can see the chicks :rotfl:

I also got her a red, white and blue dress for jubilee themed parties Very hard to resist cute dresses for babies / little girls

Well, the 1 hour starvation period after the smelly antibiotics and before food is now up, so I am off to make some porridge to go with the last, blackening banana!

misscousinitt

DawnW wrote: »

I am waiting to hear from HMRC about whether I need or not to fill in a self-assessment form. OH and I rented out the house for a few years, and I did a bit of consultancy work on top of my previous job, so I have had to do them for a while, but I just have a PAYE job now, so hoping to be able to give it a miss.

I hope you have more luck than my mum-in-law. We have done tax returns for her for the last three years as she felt that she needed to declare the income she was getting off a lodger before she had the disabled extension built and get a grant from the council to do it.

I told her it wasn't necessary as she gets under (well under) £400 a month (which comes under the rent-a-room scheme and you don't even have to declare the figure!) from the lodger and she has a pension and is on PAYE. Anyway, she told them anyway and we have been doing them ever since.

She asked them this year if she needed to carry on filling one in and they said YES!!! just to be on the safe side! Got a feeling we will be doing them until she is 75 (another 10 to go then! Whoopie!)

Anyway, hope they tell you you don't need to - then its one less thing to worry about for you.

Hope the bite gets better soon and the anti-biotics disappear quickly.

MCI

DawnW

misscousinitt wrote: »

I hope you have more luck than my mum-in-law. We have done tax returns for her for the last three years as she felt that she needed to declare the income she was getting off a lodger before she had the disabled extension built and get a grant from the council to do it.

I told her it wasn't necessary as she gets under (well under) £400 a month (which comes under the rent-a-room scheme and you don't even have to declare the figure!) from the lodger and she has a pension and is on PAYE. Anyway, she told them anyway and we have been doing them ever since.

She asked them this year if she needed to carry on filling one in and they said YES!!! just to be on the safe side! Got a feeling we will be doing them until she is 75 (another 10 to go then! Whoopie!)

Anyway, hope they tell you you don't need to - then its one less thing to worry about for you.

MCI

Well, it isn't a big deal to be honest, as it would only take a few minutes once my work got its act together on the P60 front Just thought it might be worth a try to save a boring job, thats all.

Its Friday :j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

And a BH weekend :j:T:j:T:j:T:D:D:D

OH is still building the cupboard, but has now stopped hammering as I was concerned about the neighbours :eek: I don't think they are in though, as we have a HUUGE parcel addressed to them behind the sofa, delivered here in their absence. I hope they aren't away all weekend, as I don't really want to spend the weekend with that. It is MASSIVE :eek:

The neighbours the other side have a sandwich business, and sometimes give me leftovers 'for the chickens' They gave me a carrier bag containing 2kg of soft tomatoes this evening I gave the chickens a few, and the others are roasting in the oven with garlic, herbs and olive oil. I will puree them when done, and freeze some in ice cube trays, and make some into soup

I will have to give them half a dozen eggs as a present from the chickens this weekend They are laying well at the moment.

DawnW

The neighbours with (or rather without - it is behind my sofa ) the big parcel are not at home. I hope they haven't gone away for the weekend as I would find it hard to live with 'the elephant in the room' all over the BH weekend :eek: You could literally fit an elephant in that box, or a baby one at least. My sitting room isn't particularly small, but honestly :eek: According to the big picture on the front it is a plastic wendy house, presumably for their grandchild Sweet, but not quite to my taste in internal decor :cool: :rotfl:

Just had supper - jacket spuds, a gammon hock from the farm shop that I roasted, and salad, with lettuce and radishes from my little garden There is loads of gammon left, perhaps for ham and eggs for breakfast, and a soup for next week's lunches I have put the bones in the slow cooker and will leave them overnight for a nice stock for the base.

The tomatoes are roasted, and I have put them through the mouli to puree them. I have frozen 2 ice cube trays, and put the rest into a plastic box in the fridge to think about tomorrow :eek:

OH tells me I need to paint the inside of my larder cupboard, so will need to remember to put old clothes in the morning, as I always get covered in it He is currently finishing the door. As the neighbour that side (the ones with the elephant box) are not there, it doesn't matter too much about him hammering a bit. The other side won't hear, as the houses are pretty well insulated. We hear hardly anything, and one side - the ones without the box, but who gave us the tomatoes - keep up now :rotfl::rotfl:are pretty noisy (though lovely, so we don't mind). Actually he has disappeared down to his workshop now, so won't bother anyone out there, even me

I have just fetched the tomato, aubergine and pepper plants in from the plastic greenhouse, and put a bin bag over my little quince tree, as it is in bud, and OH says there is a frost forecast. He has covered up the potato plants with an old blanket, as they don't like frost either

Expecting DD2 and her OH for supper tomorrow evening, so have removed a chicken from the freezer

Oh well, I will check round some of the other diaries to see what others have been up to

DawnW

Well, the larder cupboard is coming on well :j

The exciting part starts tomorrow - planning how to have the shelves (sad, I know). I painted inside this afternoon, using up some left over paint from when we did the house up last year. Also found some paint for the outside, which we have had for ages, but hopefully should be ok.

Well, we still have the mahoosive parcel for the next door neighbours in the lounge. They seem to have gone away for the weekend. Good in one way, as they will not be disturbed by OH's woodwork under the stairs, but I really could do without that box!

Bought some new garden furniture in B&Q this morning. We have been meaning to for a while (I wanted to get rid of the large old stuff and just get a small bistro style set). I got a nice wooden set for less than £50, that will be easy to fold up and put away for the winter, and will not take up all of the patio. I need lots of space for pots and planters We needed some other stuff, so got above the £100 :eek: to get the 20% discount offer they have on this weekend.

It doesn't seem very MSE to spend such a lot, but they were things we have been planning to buy anyway, so made sense to get them all at once and qualify for the discount. All we need now is some nice weather so I can sit out on the patio and enjoy the sunshine

Still, at least it has been dry. I managed to get a load of sheets and duvet covers dry on the line this afternoon


DD and her OH have been round for supper, but have now left to take their dogs out.

Well, it is time to clear debris, shut up chooks and greenhouse, and off for a bath and early night, as I didn't feel great last night and didn't get much sleep.

Sepa74

Dawn are you Australian, or do people use the word chook in the north? I use it here in London and invariably get blank looks. I always thought it was quintessentially Australian, but maybe not.

DawnW

Sepa74 wrote: »

Dawn are you Australian, or do people use the word chook in the north? I use it here in London and invariably get blank looks. I always thought it was quintessentially Australian, but maybe not.

No, neither Australian nor Northern :rotfl: