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

Suffolk_lass

My cousin told me Tesco had turkeys for £3 local to him (bit further up towards Norfolk than us) if you are looking for a bargain still. Merry Christmas

themadvix

Morning all,

Thanks SL, might check that out. 

Just popping on to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. It may not be normal, but it is what it is and hopefully this time next year we will be doing what we want to be doing. In the meantime, stay safe everyone and enjoy your little Christmas. At least the sun is shining here (although I feel for those in Wales who have floods to contend with on top of everything else ). xxx

Karmacat

And a Happy Christmas to you too, madvix.  Next year  

newgirly

Happy Xmas Vix, I hope you had a good day 🙂

themadvix

Evening all,

Thanks NG. We've had a really pleasant few days. We quite enjoyed Christmas Day - it was sociable via video calls without the spending tooo long with family. It was quite nice not to be rushing around too. DH cooked a lovely dinner for us

We made the haddock Scotch eggs we were going to do as a starter and dropped theirs off to the PIL on Christmas Eve (doing present swap too). Used the oil and breadcrumbs to do a few breaded prawns too - it would have been a waste not to use the oil for something else. Unfortunately we left the oil cold in the saucepan overnight and at some point on Christmas morning left the kitchen door open. Naughty ginger cat promptly helped himself to quite a quantity of the oil while we weren't looking. He spent the rest of the day looking very green around the gills and refusing all food - a totally unheard of situation for him. He has recovered now though and is back to his usual naughty ways.  (The Scotch eggs were delicious but rather filling!)

Some running (I went out on Christmas Day, am I mad?!), walking, film watching and other fun activities have filled the last few days. We've done a few jobs too: DH switched the pet insurance last night saving us a bit on last year's cost and a lot on the renewal price. Today I opened a Starling account and have switched my bills account to it from Nationwide. They offer the ability to put things in different pots within the account, which I really need to be able to keep track of things - I've totally messed up my spreadsheet. When that goes through I'll sort it all out and it'll be great to be able to see everything properly. I've also paid myself, paid the large CC bills (amazingly without touching savings) and checked my tax payment had gone through.

MS things:
* I won £1 on the scratchcard from the godparents!
* Cats received treats for Christmas from PIL and godparents and some leftover turkey from BIL and fiancee (we didn't manage to get a cheap turkey in the end)
* Niece's birthday present arrived from Ebay on time and is in excellent condition
* Cat insurance

Gratitudes:
* Time to switch off and enjoy doing nothing
* Some gorgeous sunshine yesterday - and the days are getting noticeably longer already!
* Video calls
* Online escape rooms - have done a couple of these and while they're not the same as proper ones, they pass the time!

Will have a look at last year's aims at some point and have a think about 2021.

themadvix

Morning all,

From a look back I can only find a post that says I aimed to pay off the OP allowance on the mortgage this year (I'm sure there was a more generic one about mastering pastry making, but I can't find it). We achieved this, although largely due to DH's shares. He's still got a couple of thousand to pay off the car (but all going as planned, 0% cc). Mortgage is currently sitting at £60,363 or something annoyingly close to being under £60k! 

With the financial situation things are a bit unsure for next year at the moment. My earning are substantially down this month, which is making me consider the SEISS #3. Except I feel guilty and would rather just have enough to top me up, rather than the full amount. I'll have to see. A rate rise will be coming into play from 1 January, but of course that relies on the work actually being there. And while I've tried to expand (with the work through the platform and a new/old client), this hasn't been enough to increase earnings to normal levels or, as would be expected, to grow them slightly.

Our mortgage deal expires in March and the current plan is to let it expire, pay off a lump sum (~£20k) and then remortgage on another Santa fix for 2 years. The cheapest rate doesn't work out best for us as the arrangement fee is so high, so we know we want the 1.64% rather than 1.14% rate.

Holiday plans are still hugely up in the air obviously, but quite a few of our credit notes expire this year, so not sure what will happen there. Whether we can then claim on the insurance, I don't know. (Looking back for my plans for 2020 there was lots of talk about our US holiday )

In other news, today is Niece's birthday, so I'll be dropping her present around later. Am also meeting Mum for a walk and dropping off some shopping at the in-laws.

MS things:
* Have refixed our energy tariff (which isn't due until Feb) - it seems the gas price has gone down?!
* Clicks done! (It's been a while!)
* Dinner from freezer last night
* Supermarket delivery arrived (got us out of bed!), S&S scanned and put away. Am thinking we have rather a lot of food in now and January will be a challenge month to see how low we can get food spending.
* PA survey
* Small piece of platform work

Gratitudes:
* Cat antics
* Some very relaxed days over Christmas
* Looking forward to seeing Niece in a bit

Have a good day all!

Karmacat

I'm so glad you've got the eye on the ball in terms of your income, madvix, it's all starting to get a bit tricky, isn't it   The arrangement fees for a mortgage get madder and madder, don't they - even when I was thinking of paying mine off, when I first moved here, it didn't make financial sense because of the fees.  Does a Santa deal do away with them somehow?  Interesting!

Enjoy your niece's birthday  

South_coast

That's quite the lump sum to pay off, Vix! Is that what you had set aside for moving fees? 

Either way, that's going to make a jolly nice dent in the balance 😀

themadvix

There’s two options Karma, one with a lower rate but a £999 arrangement fee and one with no fee but slightly higher rate. 

Yes, SC, that’s what we’d put aside for moving. So will be starting again on saving for that but that was the plan when we didn’t sell.

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Well, I've put in a claim for SEISS. I did the maths and my income is substantially lower than it would have been (about half of the average of the last three years for the months Nov-Jan) and I have clear indicators that this is caused by the pandemic. TBH without the money from the claim I'm not sure what I'd be living off next month as several of my clients paid their (small) bills early to finish 2020 tidily - which upped my income slightly for last month (still well below normal) but would leave me very short for Jan's payday.

Had a nice walk with Mum yesterday, saw niece briefly on the doorstep and she was pleased with her present. Also dropped some shopping off at the in-laws and picked up a click and collect order from Halfords for DH. It was nice to be out! DH has gone to work today, so I've been getting housework done. Need to go to PO later to return something and dispatch an Ebay parcel (sadly no profit - was a Cats Protection calendar we had been given that we'd never use - all proceeds to the charity, of course - and with CS shut, better to ebay it quick before it becomes obsolete. (I'll make the postage back in profit using RM survey stamps though).

MS things:
* Clicks
* 1P has shifted to new platform - £5 credit for the inconvenience and a load of paying surveys to complete, so I'll hit payout very shortly (but the new platform is terribly slow....)
* PA survey

Gratitudes:
* Lovely stem ginger biscuits gifted to us
* the Oxford vaccine has been approved! Hooray!
* Rediscovered Little Big Planet on the PS3 last night - much fun! (I'm terrible at gaming, but DH has the patience of a saint!)

Have a good afternoon all