Flying to Mortgage Freedom?

Dragonrider

And I'm on to page 2!!

:j:j:j

gallygirl

Congrats on DD3 :j. Few people get their budget right first time, it's a learning curve at first, so don't be too hard on yourself. You'll get it right soon enough .

Dragonrider

Thanks GG, wise words indeed!

Just had a lovely day with family and friends involving a long walk in the rain to feed the ducks. The dog was a bit miserable because he hates rain and getting muddy - he's such a wimp! And he's such a massive dog it's just ridiculous that he's so pathetic - tramping along practically with his tail between his legs, looking at us to say "Can we go home yet?". Strange dog.

Our groceries delivery didn't turn up on Sat evening, which was frustrating cos I'd timed the nappy supply down to the wire! So they've rescheduled for tomorrow morning and given me a £5 voucher.

Just about to see if Call the Midwife is on iplayer yet then to bed and hope I get a few hours shut eye - I really need it tonight. Stay asleep, baby number 3!

Night night,

Dragonrider

alwaystryyourbest

Hi just been reading your diary, congratulations on having your third baby girl, i had 3 girls in a row,me and my partner and i didn't think he made girls:rotfl:
but i then went on to have 3 boys....

Anyway better go now, have got 3 days worth of ironing to catch up on, ....
Hope you had a good night sleep, the baby babys go so fast i miss the night feeds time now...but you don't when you are going through it..

Dragonrider

Thanks alwaystryyourbest! She's getting better at sleeping so I'm starting to feel more human again. However, as with all young babies, the teething will kick in soon... Can't believe you've done it 6 times!!!

Here's my update:

Mortgage (DD/OP/Balance/Daily Interest)
September 2012: 1149.90/50.10/-261,033/21.38
October 2012: 1149.90/50.10/-260,472/21.34
November 2012: 1149.90/50.10/-259,932.54/21.29
December 2012: 1149.90/50.10/-259,369.56/21.25
January 2013: 1149.90/50.10/-258,826.56/21.20
February 2013: 1149.90/50.10/-258,283.91/21.16
March 2013: 1149.90/50.10/-257,676.33/21.11

Nearly through the £21 interest per day barrier :eek:

Budget wise, in February we UNDERSPENT by £329.82 :j:j:j
This has meant that I was able to fill up our ISAs for this tax year which feels really good, and ensures that we have a sensible cushion for all eventualities. The way I plan it is to have £5000 in an easy access account - this gets rubbish interest, but I can move it around whenever I like without penalties, and is large enough to soak up most emergencies. Then we have just over £13k in ISAs and I hope not to touch this until we make a significant purchase (like a bigger house?!).

At the moment I am rebuilding our £5000 - once that is full, then I am a bit undecided about what to do.

I would like to build up our ISAs a bit more, so that if we did move we could potentially pay for all our fees and stamp duty in cash. But, being on a capped tracker mortgage for the next 3 years, I also want to take advantage and overpay. We can OP 10% per year (which we would never reach), and the OPs can be used for repayment holidays if required.

Our mortgage rate is currently 2.99%, so I am waiting to see what I can get on the new tax year ISAs. If I can get 3% then I'll split our extra cash half and half, but if I can't then I think I'll put it all towards the mortgage.

Does that sound sensible? I can't see that I would be losing money as long as the interest rates are the same?

So here's a short term saving goal to track!

Easy access savings : £1,402.19/£5,000

Good night all, going to bed as on my own this weekend with the girls - DH working nights

Dragonrider

Dragonrider

A good day today, money-wise:

£63 tax rebate for me
£134.80 child benefit - I've just realised that I haven't notified anyone or had any communication about baby no 3 with regards to child benefit... Need to check that out tomorrow
£216 interest on OH's ISA

I haven't actually had the cheque for the tax rebate yet, so I'm not going to include it in my figures, but that means:

Easy access savings : £1,536.99/£5,000

Getting there!

Night all,

Dragonrider

Dragonrider

Child benefit form completed to post tomorrow!

Time for bed.

Dragonrider

We have been at my parents' house for the extended Easter weekend, so it has taken me a bit longer to do my end of month reckoning, so here goes:

Mortgage (DD/OP/Balance/Daily Interest)
September 2012: 1149.90/50.10/-261,033/21.38
October 2012: 1149.90/50.10/-260,472/21.34
November 2012: 1149.90/50.10/-259,932.54/21.29
December 2012: 1149.90/50.10/-259,369.56/21.25
January 2013: 1149.90/50.10/-258,826.56/21.20
February 2013: 1149.90/50.10/-258,283.91/21.16
March 2013: 1149.90/50.10/-257,676.33/21.11
April 2013: 1149.90/50.10/-257,134.64/21.06

Easy access savings: £3,308.30/£5,000

Spending wise, we were £65.34 over budget, but we had a lot more driving than usual, and ended up celebrating our eldest's birthday 3 times with different groups of friends and family! So not too upset about this one.


The cheque from the taxman has arrived and been put in the bank, and so with leftovers from paypackets at the end of March, we're doing quite well with our savings. However, having spent a whole weekend painting the new plaster walls with undercoat, and it taking ages and not looking brilliant, we have decided to pay someone to do the final layer of colour to get a good finish. So payment for that will come out of the easy access savings, and then we'll have to build it up again...

Plus OH somehow persuaded me today to buy an XBOX 360 Kinect to use as a multimedia hub. We don't have a TV at all - so we just tend to watch iplayer and stream films through a projector onto a wall, and apparently the XBOX will connect to everything and make it a much simpler system. On the plus side, we got a package deal with 3 games with £50 off plus 6% cashback through TCB, so all in for about £235. If dancing along like a maniac to the dance game helps me shift some of these excess baby pounds, then it's all good! Of course, sitting here eating one of the girls Easter eggs (that they don't know they received and that I in my superior wisdom have decided they shouldn't have for their own good) will not help me in that goal at all :cool:

Really want some sun now so that I can get out in the garden! My windowsill is full of little seedlings that will die if I transplant them now but are getting pretty big indoors - think I started too early

Evening all,

Dragonrider

HelenDaveKids

Had 3 girls in 3 years so appreciate how hard it can be.
Esp at the beginning where the older children s needs seem to outweigh the youngest and personal sleep requirements!

Sounds like your doing fab!

fothers365

Hi, It looks like you have made great progress already going by your figures:)

We have just started down this road and have 3 girls with 4 years between them. The eldest has just started school so I am kept very busy!