Finally I have a mortgage I can start to pay off!

Cheery_Daff

Sounds like a good decision about the house Vix - nd how exciting to be mortgage free in 2-3 years! Bet you can get it under 2!

themadvix

Ha, not sure about that Cheery! 2-3 is a stretch target anyway (I think - can’t remember the exact figures). A very high savings rate will be needed to achieve 2-3 years. It probably depends on my work, which isn’t guaranteed of course.

 Problem is we know we’ll move eventually, so mortgage freedom will be short lived!

Cheery_Daff

It's nice though even if it is short lived - I think we had 2 or 3 years of being mortgage free before we moved and it was GREAT

themadvix

That's good to know - I'm a bit worried I'll be so debt-disinclined that we'll be stuck! The thought of saving that much every month though is very appealing!

themadvix

Very rough estimates (i.e. done by me, rather than DH with a fancy spreadsheet) suggest that we'd need to find an additional £17k on top of standard payments and OP allowance to be done within 24 months from March. I think that's unlikely (although, who knows?). Much more doable over 3 years though. Two years would be nice though... squeaking in at 11 years exactly instead of the original 25 (don't even tempt me to round down further - we just can't do it!). Hmm... 

* 1P up to £5.00 again (focus makes all the difference here, I feel)
* Free exercise in the fresh air - just been for a nice walk round the local park-bordering-open-countryside
* Will exchange some MS rewards vouchers for a contribution towards this evening's dinner/drinks (if I can get them instantly...) ETA: Did come through instantly, that's £20 towards this evening.
* Going to have a look at the C-word present spreadsheet... ETA: Two presents completely sorted already (and one of them is homemade so low cost too)

(Currently ignoring phone ringing - it's the estate agent!)

newgirly

That’s a that’s a temptingly short term you could get rid of the mortgage in Vix! 

Cheery_Daff

I was a bit reluctant to take on another mortgage... but it was worth it for being able to move here, and actually I was quite excited about paying it off early which we'd never done with the other one (well, 4 months early after 25 years, doesn't really count ) I found it was very exciting having savings building up that much - I do miss it!

Sounds like you've got an excellent plan for paying it all off. Now tell the estate agent before someone buys your house and you have to change your mind again

themadvix

Morning all,

Thanks NG! Thanks Cheery, too - some good advice there. I need to speak to them today. Will check with DH what to say. Have started deleting RM/Zoopla stuff without looking at it! Maybe my plan in my opening post will actually become a reality (the absence of GD on TV is definitely making me forget how hard the self-build route looks!).

Last night didn't exactly go to plan. I tried to book a table but there was no answer at the pub (and app wouldn't let me do it either). Arrived and no tables - but we could sit outside and order by app. So we did that (drinks only, even with a heater it was far too cold to stay out there!). Couldn't use voucher to pay on app. Drinks for table that arrived after us arrived.... no sign of ours. I had to go in and ask and they'd been spiked by the idiot barman as if they'd been done (not just an idiot for this - his mask just about covered his bottom lip ). Returned to table... about to go and chase again and they finally turned up 20 mins after ordering - three drinks, not difficult. They also didn't have the Fever Tree tonic DH had ordered, so switched it for Schweppes (which would have been cheaper) but no offer of a refund for this or an apology for the delay. I'll be making a complaint and hoping to get some money back. I also won't be going there again. In the meantime, we'd booked a table at the Harvester for food and DH had seen a 33% off mains offer on the app. Food was good there but voucher didn't appear to exist when we came to pay! So I still have £20 of GK vouchers and we spent a small fortune on the evening! It was lovely to see our friend though and have a good catch up.

Absolutely zilch in terms of work today - not even the usual US client update. I do need to go to PB with a survey item and I've done a PA survey already. A MM survey has just come in too. 

MS things:
* Have been selected for a special RM survey trial - an extra £2 in points
* 1P surveys
* PA survey - it's been very quiet though recently
* Harvester now serve you the salad - it's quite funny, you stand on a spot at some distance from the salad bar and tell/yell to (because of the masks) the server what you'd like. They certainly don't skimp either. So I brought home the second roll and second butter (neither of which I'd have picked up), as well as the remnants of my Appletiser from the first place (too cold to finish it there). I'm turning into a right old lady!
* Also received the flour and Herman from MIL, along with some of her delicious Herman cake and some apple juice from FIL's gardening employer (weird, but I'll take it!). A good haul all round!
* Clicks
* Heating on for half an hour this morning, but that's the first time in days.

Gratitudes
* Lovely to see friend (and hear that her usually disastrous love life is going well at last!)
* Long walk yesterday
* A quiet day today, although I may get some fence paint and make a start on the front fence panels (even just getting the paint in would be an achievement)
* Sunshine - at least at the moment.

Have a good day all!

themadvix

New oven shelf has arrived and fits and looks well made, so £7.99 a worthwhile investment. Have also investigated (and put an offer in on) a new organic fitted sheet on Ebay. We've killed both our bottom sheets are making do with a couple of inherited flat ones (from my Nan's house), but it's driving us both up the wall. I won't buy non-organic new or not fully cotton (which makes CS shopping tricky as most are polycotton), so hopefully this is the way forward - brand new from ethical superstore or similar, it can be £60 for a sheet! This will come from my remaining birthday money, which I'll still have a bit left from which may go on an Ebay jumper or hoodie if something comes up.

I don't see me doing any fence painting as weather has deteriorated!

* Several Streetbees surveys done
* PA survey done
* DH is having a TGTG roll for lunch. I had a bit of an upset stomach last night (sorry, TMI), so will either have the leftover Harvester roll or some more porridge for lunch

Suffolk_lass

Have you considered adapting one of your Nan's flat sheets by sewing elastic round the corners to convert it Or getting someone to do it for you?

Also, on building, we looked to buy a derelict at-risk listed place a few years ago and in my research, the budget went 20% land (and existing buildings), 10% ground prep and services, 35% kit house (in our case, oak frame to fit inside) 45% builders and that was with us doing some ourselves, eg removing concrete roof tiles (yes I know, it was more than 100%, and without contingency or fitting out)