Goodbye Mortgage - the beginning of the end!

Beckyy

Payday is creeping up and it can't come quick enough this month. I've not got an amazing pay as I had a couple of weeks on holiday (at basic pay) but OH should get some extra from overtime this month. So, I'm going to make up the money for this months £500 on payday and make our first overpayment. Knowing that next month I need to be a lot stricter!

There are quite a few things I need to get done this month too. We need to put up new guttering on the building that runs along our garden. It's not our responsibility, but the previous owners said the buildings owner wouldn't pay for new guttering. It's broken, and leaking all down the wall and ruining a big patch of our lawn. Rather than causing bother I'm happy just to buy some more and throw it up. I done it at our old house and it wasn't as hard as I had thought. Then I can order some garden plants and make it look more presentable.

I also have the dreaded car insurance renawal in August. I haven't had my renewal through yet, but I'm already shopping around. Only problem is, I usually have 10 month booster policies which are rounded to 1year NCD at the end, so as it is I have slightly more NCD than I've had a driving license, which companies other than my current don't recognise. So I'm not sure if it will go down by much this year...here's hoping.

Today I'm going to get some washing done and on the line, and measure up for the guttering so I can reserve and collect from B&Q with Quidco cashback.

Electricity meter reading today: 22659.6 - slowing down a bit!

Beckyy

Tomorrow I intend to make our first overpayment!

I've just called the automated Barclays line for the mortgage and got a balance: £101,545.88

I will make the OP by standing order tomorrow and call again in the evening to see if it's gone through. I'm not sure if it might take a few days, but we'll see. I'm SO looking forward to seeing it go down :j

Electricity meter reading today: 22671.2

QB_Wolf

My very first standing order went out today but not showing on the mortgage, how long does it take to transfer?

Beckyy

I'm not too sure either, but I'm guessing it could take up to 5 working days?

QB_Wolf

It's weird some accounts I move money round and it appears almost instantly in the other account, some take ages!!

Beckyy

I set up the standing order on 26th July, to come out on 27th. It left my account on 27th, and when I checked the mortgage balance that evening it had come off. So seemed to go through the same day.

We made our first OP for £500. I'm really chuffed, it's been a tough month for getting used to budgets and I know I've got a lot of room for improvement! Next month I'm aiming for £500 again. We have a few birthdays, and I may be visiting family which is an expensive drive, but we'll keep going!

Beckyy

So that's another month gone... can't believe how quickly this year is going.

I've set myself a strict £200 budget for food this month. I've already done a big shop to start with using the £5 off £40 shop Tesco voucher I had. I've had to stop buying organic veg, apart from fair trade bananas. Which I'm sad about, but needs must. I'm still getting organic dairy and free range/organic meat.

I'm still waiting for my renewal quote for the car insurance to come through. I'm going to ring if it doesn't come this week, as I don't want to forget and be stung with an expensive automatic renewal. Hopefully I can shave some off my switching or asking them to pricematch - fingers crossed!

Electricity reading: 22740.4
Still waiting for hear more on the tariff switch, I think it will take a few weeksn yet.

Beckyy

So it's not been a good day. The bank called me yesterday to say there's been some fraudulent transactions on my account, the main one was declined but one was authorised. They're going to refund it if it goes through, and have cancelled my card.

I also got our pet insurance renewal through and they've tried to put it up by more than 50% - we've never made a claim, ever. They did the same the previous year so we cancelled and took out exactly the same policy again with the introductory discounts etc. for the same price.

I think I'm going to have to do the same again, knowing if we do have to claim we're going to be stuck with their extortionate renewals next year, but sadly it really is necessary for our breed of dog.

I did however find a very good deal with Sainsburys pet insurance offering £80 Quidco cashback on a new policy. So I can take out a low cover policy for one of the cats for £63 per year and make a profit on it overall (or cancel after 4-6 months after cashback and make an even bigger profit. Not that I'd advocate such a thing!)

I've a day off work tomorrow and I really need it. I've worked too many long, antisocial, shifts over the past couple of weeks and I'm thoroughly fed up of it at the moment.

Sepa74

**rant alert**

Pet insurance is extortionate, but so are vet bills! I have a suspicion that it's developing into a vicious circle in the way health care has in the US - because everyone is covered by insurance the care providers can charge a lot more than if noone was covered by insurance and had to pay the bills themselves. The fact that a lot more sophisticated treatments are available acts as 'cover' to the fact that basic costs are rising dramatically as well. It doesn't help that we are as emotional about our pets as we are about our health - people will pay almost anything to keep a beloved pet alive.

It has become a vicious circle in the US, and looks like it may become one for pets in the UK as well.

I had insurance for a year and cancelled it after a major price rise even though I'd not made a claim. It just didn't feel fair, although I do understand why the price rises as an animal gets older.

I am self-insuring, on the general principle that I would rather not find myself locked into an insurance policy, but make sure I actually save the money I would otherwise pay to the insurers. I am aware of the risks of doing so, both emotional and financial. I have been recommended to put aside £50 per cat per month (!) but that is pretty much what a lifetime policy costs these days.

If the cats need expensive care later in life than I will have a big chunk of money available to pay for it, and if they don't then I am quids in.... but I am keeping my fingers crossed very tightly!!

Beckyy

I couldn't agree more! I think it's outrageous. We recently had to take the dog to the vet, and they didn't have it on their system that he was insured. So they gave us a short course of antibiotics to save us money, but when I revealed that he was actually insured they made it clear that they felt an expensive 'insurance job' procedure would be the quickst solution to the problem.

I've never insured a pet before but as he's a giant breed dog, and I know owners of his relatives have maxed out the limits on their pet insurance with some health problems common to the breed, I thought I better (begrudgingly) take it out. It's daylight robbery though.

On the MFW side of things it's not looking to positive (I seem to say that too often!) OH has wanted a new car for a while, and I've said we'll split our spare money between OPing mortgage and saving for a new car for him. I was always taught that when it comes to luxuries if I can't afford it then I can't buy it, but OH is more than happy to take out finance really. So I think I may have to shuffle around and put more into his car fund so that in the long run we're not paying a stupid amount of interest on finance, as the cars he's looking at are a few thousand more than he'll get for his as a part-exchange. He's not really keen on OPing in the mortgage and thinks as it's a manageable amount each month we should just not bother and use our money for other things. :eek: