Its time to grow up and pay off the mortgage

OS_QS

Got an unexpected surprise - a salary increase £2500! Super pleased, but this extra probably brings me in line with others on my team as I've not had a salary review since Jan 2014 as 2015 was taken up with being pregnant and 2016 I was off for the whole year. Hoping to get a good year to remind everyone what I'm capable of and get back in running for a promotion/ career goals.....baby's eh?!


Also trying to crunch the numbers to see if its worth condensing my working hours (& travel costs) against cost of nursery...


On a different note, have notice that waitro$e is offering £20 off £100 spend over next 4 food deliveries....could be a good way of keeping to my £80/wk food budget. away to investigate the food / deals on offer.....

ETA: not worth it just now as you've to do a £100 first before you can use the 4 vouchers.


Havent made an overpayment this month, and I don't like seeing the mortgage amount on the NW app staying static, so must must remind myself that my approach has changed and focussed on maximising our savings!!! our aim is £2000 going towards the mortgage every month, and built up as follows:
Mortgage repayment £500
Regular savers £1300
To find per month £200

The £200 will need to be from avoiding non frivolous spending (amazon, ahem), being better with work lunches and any surplus from our grocery budget..

OS_QS

yay! We've just booked the travel for our holiday this year!! Still to pay the accommodation and allocate money for our meals out, but have 4 months to save up


Also hoping to build on my recent success on selling things on gumtree. I have sold or donated the majority of our baby items (only planning on one baby, so no point hanging on!). added to a piece of fitness equipment that I'm physically unable to use which we also sold, we made £600 the week before Christmas! this has been squirrelled away into savings for our hoidays.....but has me looking around the house at other things I can sell!


Helps with the decluttering too

OS_QS

so my totals aren't lost...here is my yearly overpayments from my signature:


2016 Overpayments to date: £16,620 / £15,000 (makes up for shortfall last year!)
2015 Overpayments to date: £3,447 / £5,000
2014 Overpayments to date: £11,503 / £10,000
2013 Overpayments to date: £10,017 / £10,000
2012 Overpayments to date: £5,059 / £5,000

OS_QS

eeeeek the snow is here! Everywhere is covered with a beautiful few inches of snow. I was up earlier than normal so got to appreciate how peaceful everything looks and sounds, whilst sipping on a hot cup of tea.


Luckily I'm working from home today, so not only does it save on the stress and time of the commute, but means I can hang up washing to dry and receive an online food shop, put on the dishwasher, etc.


Realised yesterday that although I thought I was doing well with my grocery spending challenge, hubby had been nipping to the shops at lunchtimes when he was working from home and buying extras! so instead of eating the leftovers I had boxed up, he went out and bought a luxury ready meal, biscuits and a new razor (!) and spent £17! So I will have to be extra frugal next week and try to use up the freezer meat.


Roll on the weekend, I'm shattered! My wee girl has 4 molars coming through (all at the same time poor thing) and had a particularly rough night last night. dispensing with calpol and infinite hugs has taken it out of me today!!but she woke in a great mood and went of to nursery without a backwards glance or bye to me!!
OOOH heres my groceries!


Groceries delivered and packed away, tea made and dishwasher on. Now back to work!

OS_QS

£150 from HSBC for hubby's account paid in and transferred to savings. :T


Just realised a potential negative to increasing the savings to offset, rather than horsing all the money into the mortgage.....hubby has spotted how much is saved and I caught him looking up new cars :eek: does it ever work when one is a saver, and the other a spender?

Kittenkirst

Eeeeek to him looking at new cars, but he may just be idly looking so I wouldn't panic too much just yet!

Your OPs are very inspiring, well done!

OS_QS

hi Kittenkirst, thanks for commenting - I often wonder if Im rambling away to myself Unfortunately hubby isn't window shopping - he really wants a new car....so after trying to tempt me with several beauties (is 33 too early for a mid life crisis?!) we've went full circle and agreed that if we do get a new car, then it will be a little run around...for me...so that took the fun out of it a bit for him...... however if I gave any encouragement he would be at the garage the next day :eek:


beautiful day here so managed to go out for my first 'run' of the year, and my 4th since having the baby. Did ok considering, and just tried to enjoy the weather and peace - which I did. trying desperately to ignore the data on my watch and compare it to pre-pregnancy almost exactly 2yrs ago Came home and had a lovely bowl of HM Lentil soup. so should be doing ok on the calories front too


Managed to sell another wee thing on gumtree £30, and away to list a couple of other things to keep the momentum from my clear out.


Anyhow, desperately waiting for payday (Tuesday) so I can do the money shuffle.


Hope everyone is well x

OS_QS

so I caved................we are now awaiting our new car to roll off the production line its a beauty too. Well worth the additional year the reallocation of overpayments on the mortgage :rotfl: life is for living and money is for enjoying!


Car should be delivered within 2 months, so hopefully a couple of paydays before then to restock our coffers.

OS_QS

got a few more things sold on gumtree over the weekend

Am enjoying clearing out, and the house is looking better for it, and hubby wants to organise the loft, as he reckons we've got stuff up there that we dont need.

Trying to ignore the rumours on the diesel scrappage scheme that may be being introduced in the march budget...as our 10yo car would likely be a suitable candidate, and we are buying a new petrol. just our luck, we may miss the scheme by a matter of days after having the car for 10yrs, that may hurt a bit!

Am using the car purchase as an excuse to eat up out the freezer to have a few low cost months in a bid to offset the extravagance. hubby is on board, so i'm taking full advantage and serving up some amazing combos :rotfl:

Just realised how expensive going in to work is (after enjoying working from home), i was almost £9 for my train, and it was pouring, so i jumped on the bus instead of walking 20mins in the rain, another £1.60. head was still sleeping in the morning, as i had packed hubby's lunch and kiddo's nursery backpack, but left my lunch in the fridge, so had to buy food. opted for a nice warm, filling baked tattie and a bag of crisps and was £4.40!! So my day at the office cost me £15!!! :eek: very annoyed at myself, and hopefully it will give a kick to not let that happen every week!:mad: That is the worse thing about not working mon-fri, is that i cannot benefit from a season pass on the train, and have to buy daily returns :mad:
nine pounds for a 22minute journey, so busy you cannot sit and are wedged with nothing to hold on to is mental. I'm getting a grumpy old woman.....

OS_QS

forgot to add, we went to cancel now tv, as we've not watched it since christmas, and were offered 4 months half price. so hubby took that, as GoT should be coming back on sometime soon! have popped the date in the calander to cancel as we bought a now tv box with a 6mth pass for £20 which works cheaper and will apply that voucher once our half price deal runs out.

We are also considering cancelling our TV licence as we NEVER watch anything in real-time, and dont even have an aerial. i think i can count on one hand how many things I've watched on the BBC player, so wouldn't mind forgoing that, but we are a bit reluctant to take the plunge incase we get nasty letters / folk at the door!?! Hubby says its not enough to unplug the freesat, it would be better to remove the dish to prove we CANT watch any tv, rather than dont.... its only £12/mth, but for us its such a waste. Anybody done it?