Challenge of a lifetime!

cotswoldaccountant

Well the morning lie in was lovely (7.15am - quite a treat!) but I had forgotten how tiring school holidays are. Went to local woodland site with friends this morning - it's beautiful in the autumn and the children all had fun tearing around outside and making up games.

This afternoon was a nice free few hours doing painting and crafts with the children. My kitchen has suffered for it though - DS3 managed to drop a pot of green paint all over the floor and I keep finding bits of it in nooks and crannies! He had great fun though - it's amazing what keeps a 2 year old happy. He painted 4 sheets of A4 paper bright green, which took him about 2 hours.

Am trying not to spend any more than I need to this week, in the hope I can make a small OP at the end of the month. Household expenses this month (new water softener and final bill from old utilities supplier) have eaten into the spare cash and OPs have been thin on the ground. Not going too well so far though - it was my friend's birthday so we did treat ourselves and the children to lunch in the cafe today which I hadn't intended to do... have also had to spend money today on work stationery, birthday pressie for friend, half term club for next week and window cleaner bill! It is ridiculous how much goes out on stuff every day. Anyway, I'm expecting one invoice payment in before the end of the month and also lodger money due on the 30th, so will be able to OP that even if all else fails! Of course, I had again managed to forget my storecard statement which arrived today for the dining chairs, so also need to find this month's contribution to that - at least it will be paid off in full by December!

CA

cotswoldaccountant

Well half term was so busy I didn't have a chance to post - it is quite nice now school has started to go back to a slightly more relaxed pace during the daytimes!

A friend and I have been baking Christmas cakes this morning, which has made me feel quite festive. I have them all in the Aga and the smell is amazing!

I couldn't resist waiting any longer to get a balance update from the mortgage company, and I'm delighted to report that we have broken the £400k barrier with a balance of £398,882!!!!! :j:j:j:j I can hardly believe that our mortgage now starts with a 3 - it feels quite a significant moment.

I am being ruthless with the overpayments as the year draws to a close and we progress towards our new, offset mortgage from 1st January. I'd quite like to start with a balance of £395k so am hoping we can make that target. Every spare penny has been overpaid this month, and will continue to be throughout November. OH is rather worried that we will go hungry, as the fridge is looking rather bare! On the contrary - I am trying to eliminate waste by buying as I need to, and using up everything I can find in the fridge, freezer and cupboards. It has meant some very tasty meals over the past week or so - lots of nice autumnal pies and puddings.

Thanks to everyone who has inspired me to date on this board - I feel a weight has been lifted today, and it is in no small way thanks to the support and encouragement from other MFWs!

CA

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

:T:T:T well done, it's a huge sense of achievement isn't it :T:T:T

Tilly x

cotswoldaccountant

Thanks Tilly!

Quidco payment of £1.96 in the bank today so I will OP that. Not entirely happy with Quidco though - their payments take a very long time to arrive, and some cashback is never paid. They do offer a good level of cashback from a wide variety of retailers, and when the cashback does arrive it is paid into my account quickly. As I will be starting Christmas shopping soon, and intend to do pretty much all online, any tips for alternative cashback sites would be welcome!

Lots of work to do today and the children all out at school, nursery and childminder so I must be very productive and try to get some way down my to do list and very messy desk!

gallygirl

cotswoldaccountant wrote: »

Quidco payment of £1.96 in the bank today so I will OP that. Not entirely happy with Quidco though - their payments take a very long time to arrive, and some cashback is never paid. They do offer a good level of cashback from a wide variety of retailers, and when the cashback does arrive it is paid into my account quickly. As I will be starting Christmas shopping soon, and intend to do pretty much all online, any tips for alternative cashback sites would be welcome!

A lot of people use topcachback. I've used them twice in the last few weeks but had to raise claims for both - not impressed! Will be sticking to quidco as my main one - only used tcb as the retailers weren't on quidco or were at a lower rate

cotswoldaccountant

I called the current mortgage provider this afternoon, as our new mortgage offer expires in a couple of weeks. We need to get the lender to extend the offer as our redemption penalties don't run out until 31st December (which they said all along would be fine).

I asked them to check that the rates haven't changed at all, and was very pleased to be told that the fixed rate has dropped to 2.69%! This is unbelievably low - almost half what we are paying in interest at the moment. Even compared to the fixed rate we had been offered, which was 3.19%, we will save several thousands in interest each year. Apparently we can transfer our offer to the new rate very easily, so I have made an appointment with the broker to discuss this in the morning. It has made my day!

One thing we do have to consider is whether to stick with our decision to put £200k in an offset mortgage (still 3.29%) and the other £200k in the fixed mortgage (2.69%) or whether to put it all in the fixed rate mortgage. I am strongly inclined to do the latter, because of the lower interest rate. We can however only overpay 10% a year of the fixed rate mortgage, so I think if we do go for solely the fixed rate, we will need to reduce the term of the mortgage, so we build in some overpayments to our monthly payment, otherwise we won't be able to make the planned £4k of overpayments each month.

Anyone still following? I am starting to get a little lost myself! Anyway, we will think about it this evening and come to a decision by the morning - I don't want to wait too long in case the rate disappears!

gallygirl

Followed, understood and approved

Polly_Wolly_Doodle

What was the broker's advice CA? I'd be tempted to go for the fixed rate, how long is it fixed for?

As an aside do you have running costs for the aga? Is it oil and how many ovens, desperate for one and second hand they are cheap but it's the running costs i'm scared of - thanks.

cotswoldaccountant

Well I have spoken to the broker this morning, and the lender will allow us to take the whole mortgage as a 2.69% fixed rate (fixed for two years), and reduce the term from the planned 20 years to 13, so as to make our monthly payment just over £3k (which is what we're paying at the moment, but with much more interest).

We confirmed this straight away so hopefully it will be all systems go to get us transferred to the new mortgage offer. I'm keeping everything well and truly crossed until I see the offer in front of me though!! And from then on, roll on 1st January when finally we will not be paying out so much in ridiculous interest payments each month. When we first took out our mortgage, our monthly payment was £3700 :eek: of which £2800 was interest:eek::eek: . With the new mortgage, the monthly payment will be £3000 but with only £800 of interest each month :j:j. What a difference!

Pollywollydoodle - I LOVE my Aga. It is quite honestly the best thing I have ever bought. We have a four-oven Aga, which is reconditioned. I haven't a clue why someone would spend £10k on a new one, when a reconditioned one (new everything except the cast iron core) is half the price. It cooks everything so beautifully, and everyone gravitates towards it in the kitchen. Two days ago I had 5 Christmas cakes baking the simmering oven - the smell was amazing! It isn't cheap to run, and is certainly a luxury - it is difficult to be precise about the cost, but I'd say around £60-£70 per month in gas. Thankfully we are not on oil, which I think is more expensive. Of course you can offset against that the cost saving of no longer having to use electricity to cook food, boil the kettle or use the toaster. It's also great for drying clothes (so less tumble drying) and it will even iron things which are neatly folded and left on the hot plates. The Aga shops in various towns run brilliant courses with well known Aga cookery writers, usually pretty cheaply - £10 to £20 to include a couple of hours' of demos and a delicious lunch or dinner. Am I selling it enough?!

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi, great news about the mortgage.

£2.......k will be even closer :T


Tilly x x