HappyCamel's MFW while SAHM journey

happycamel_2

I've done the mortgage OP (again) so we've done our maximum 10% on the more expensive loan. The cheaper loan comes off fix in March so there's no point in OPing that, I'm saving our cash for knocking another 10% off the more expensive loan.

I'm thinking of throwing almost all our savings at the mortgage, paying the early payment fee and ditching our expensive fix which is otherwise due to run until June 2014. If can hit the magic 40% LTV we could transfer away from Santander and fix for 2 years at 1.99%.

But I can't do it until March when our £160k loan comes off fix. Then I'll have to pay 4% of the balance of the other loan as an ERP (about £3.8k) plus the savings to get to 40% LTV (another 24k) plus the product fee.

BUT it'll save about £300 a month interest and get us away from Santander and their expensive cost of capital. In March I'm still on full pay. That drops to SMP and then from November I'm likely to be an unemployed SAHM so the window for getting accepted by another mortgage company is small.

I hate the thought of tying up all our savings in the house though.

happycamel_2

Right, I've been working hard on my MFW status and can report the following:
1) I've got an AIP to get £232k at 1.99% with HSBC for 2 yrs
2) this requires £29k in cash, (£3.8k ERP, £1.4k fee, £24k OP)
3) the £24k OP gets us to 60% LTV
4) I have to cycle £500 per month through an HSBC C/a to get the fee at £1.4k rather than £1.9k but I'll do that using a standing order
5) mortgage repayments will drop from £1300 a month to £900, a fantastic saving just when we need it

To achieve this we'll ditch DH's stocks and shares ISA and his cash ISA.

In other news:
I got £70 worth of free chocolate from Hotel Chocolat. I was feeding DS at midnight on Christmas Eve when their sale started so I've spent £70 but got £140 worth of chocs (over 4kg)!

We also got some half price clothes for the kids from John Lewis.

The US dollar account is open and we're in the process of transferring the USD in, hopefully in time to pay the balance of our Florida villa in USD.
Still need to:
1) send DS' passport application
2) get an ESTA and fligh booking for him
3) book car parking
4) book car hire with

I'm really looking forward to 2 weeks in the sun

cotswoldaccountant

Congratulations on your new baby happycamel! Hope you are getting some sleep!

I like the sound of the hotel chocolat chocolate - I bought one of their tasting boxes half price as a Christmas present for someone, then they sent me another one which I hadn't ordered - I complained and I was allowed to keep it for free!

happycamel_2

Not a bad day today, used out M&Ps gift voucher up on clothes for DS. Got some clothes for both of them in Next in the sale but got some non sale items too. DH picked up hs slippers from there but they're too small and will need returning and reordering.

The JL clothes are great, lovely quality and huge sizes. My Hotel Chocolat chocs are going down fast before I start dieting in the new year!

The HSBC mortgage paperwork came through this morning, which is amazing given I spoke to them yesterday. While DH is off we also need to look at reclaiming PPI on his Halifax credit card.

I've done an online Tesco shop. It just isn't practical taking a 3 week old and 21 month old grocery shopping at this time of year and because my car is such a petrol guzzler the delivery charge is cheaper!

*Jellie*

Hi happy camel
I love your username. Congratulations on the addition to your family. At this time of year I can't bear being in shops so a small delivery charge can be a small price to pay for sanity!

happycamel_2

Bit of a nightmare at the moment. I can't find October or November's payslips for either of us. We need them for the mortgage application. Yesterday I took in to branch December's payslips, our P60s and three months of bank statements. Hopefully that will satisfy the underwriters.

I'm not that bad at paper filing and I can find all our other paperwork but there seems to be a batch covering about 6 weeks missing. I'm worried it's been recycled by accident. Oops.

DH spent today clearing the room we call the office. It's between the front door and the garage and I've used it for home working for the last year but it's also full of car seats, baby carriers, shoes and coats. It's also got a huge stack of cardboard boxes which our parents helpfully brought from their houses. Now it's our stuff so I guess we should store it but neither set of parents is moving anywhere and we don't have that much storage with all the kids' stuff. He starts working from home tomorrow which leaves me officially in charge of two kids for 8 hours. I'm dreading it.

Other stuff we achieved on our trip to town:
1) found a cheaper car park than our usual one and it's still really close to town
2) returned the slippers
3) swapped some sleepsuits we'd been given for a larger size
4) changed the pin on the Citibank card

Next I need to set a detailed budget for our living expenses. Anything I sae can go into am esaver to OP. I'm quite looking forward to the old school challenge.

I won't actually OP the new mortgage because the rate is so low and it has to be done by DD. Instead I'm going to out £300 a month in to the First Direct regular saver. The other £100 we save in reduced payments will go on DS's regular saver, which needs setting up and mitigating the loss of child benefit to out budget.

Right, dd is finally asleep so I can get off her bedroom floor (where I'm sat, with the iPad out of her sight) and go and clear up the dinner stuff and feed my milk monster of a son.

happycamel_2

DH's first day back at work today, he's working from home, thank goodness, as I still can't lift dd or the buggy or drive. I've just finished a feed so I need to get dressed and get on with looking after them both so he can start working though.

Last night was difficult, dd cried so hard she was almost sick every time she woke up. We need to train her to self settle (again) but I hate hearing her scream and when she is sick it's a pain to clear up. DS, meanwhile, appears to be developing colic and spent a fair part of the night screaming too.

happycamel_2

2013 OP cheque for 4.99% mortgage written and ready to go in the post. £9562.00 :j

happycamel_2

Hooray, after jumping through many hoops we've got our 1.99% mortgage offer from HSBC!

So the plan is 4th March, OP the mortgage with Santander to get it to £232k. Pay the ERP on the bit of the loan that isnt coming off fix and switch to HSBC.

I have to keep the HSBC current account open to keep my low product fee and that requires cycling through £500 a month. So out of the £400 a month we're saving on the mortgage £300 will go through HSBC and then in to the First Direct regular saver paying 8%. This will be OPed after 2 years when we hit SVR again.

The other £200 will bounce back to our Sant current account on a standing order, I don't plan to put it in a regular saver but I will be sweeping excess money into an OP account and tracking it ready for when our fix ends.

There's some work to do on the house though so it might just get spent on that. We've just spent £2k having a new window put in. That room now needs decorating and all the external paintwork needs doing (I'm getting a quote for that, there's no way we'll get it done ourselves, DH has plenty of DIY to be getting on with).

Other than that, I'm hoping Natwest will approve or decline (hopefully the former) our claim for my lost iPhone. Once that's sorted I'm closing our Advantage Gold account (and saving £13 a month in fees.

We've made a small profit on DH's stocks and shares ISA and the request has gone in to liquidate it, we'll need it for this big OP.

I'm being very frugal with the shopping and have a well stocked larder and loads of meat in the freezer so that is pleasing. Not being able to drive for six weeks after my c section has saved a fortune in petrol! Florida holiday planning is well underway but I'm not booking any more until DS's passport arrives.

Once we get a birth certificate back from either child benefit or the passport agency I'll set up DS's bank account and sort a regular saver for him the same as we have for DD. DH earns too much for us to keep the CB but I'm treating it as an interest free loan so I need to find a regular saver I can put it in, maybe I'll get DH to get a First Direct one in his name.

KolaKube

Hiya happycamel! I wonder do you know much about the CB thing? Im worried I might earn too much / do they count OHs wage as well or is it only the higher? Had great plans to save this up for miniKube, do they give it then ask for it back or something...?