Mortgage Free Wannabe - My Diary

v1ckyt

Thanks Powers. We are looking at PIP, and are currently still on Tax Credits so they are being kept up to date. There is a Macmillan benefits advisor about 20 miles from here, so I am looking to get an appointment with them if possible ahead of his surgery in a couple of weeks time. 

v1ckyt

Well, it's been a very Monday-ish Tuesday.

DH has contacted the necessary department about obtaining a refund for his medical prepayment prescription certificate, as he has now been sent a medical exemption certificate due to the cancer diagnosis. Not sure how much the refund will be, but all helps.

We spent the weekend sorting and stacking wood for the log burner for next winter, so we should be able to stay toasty warm without having to use the central heating too much, which is good looking at current oil prices. No gas in the village, and oil prices unregulated, so currently around £1 per litre, and showing no signs of dropping anytime soon. 

Have ordered youngest's primary school leaver hoodie, and some of the school uniform needed for secondary school today, trying to be organised ahead of time, so I can tick that off of the to do list. Luckily, elder sibling will pass down a lot of their uniform, so not too much to buy overall. 

Freezer still taking care of most of this week's meals, with a small top up shop of fruit and milk needed, but other than that not much to spend this week (famous last words!) Hoping to keep it that way for the time being. 

Electric blanket on, and in bed already, hoping to sleep well, get Wednesday done, and then its almost the weekend again

savingholmes

Welcome back. Just wanted to wish you good luck with all you are juggling.

v1ckyt

savingholmes said:

Welcome back. Just wanted to wish you good luck with all you are juggling.

Thank you SavingHolmes, it's keeping me busy if nothing else.

So, prepayment prescription refund came through, approximately £60, actioned really quickly and efficiently. which is good.

Did hit Aldi the other day for a biggish shop, but there isn't one local to us, and we were near one so worth doing. 

Employment Support Allowance form has arrived and doesn't look too arduous, so will get that completed and sent off in next couple of days. Have had a couple of really useful conversations with Citizens Advice Bureau Macmillan advisors, and on their advise will definitely be claiming PIP for husband. I tried to call Friday to start the claim, but the helpline closed at 5, so that is on the  list for tomorrow. Will no doubt take months to get assessed and sorted, but getting that ball rolling will be good. 

So things looking tight from end of May onwards with drop in DH salary coming into effect, but doable for the foreseeable. If It becomes a long term issue, we may have to rethink things, but need to get op out of way first and see where we are then.

In terms of numbers, especially on mortgage, currently we are at £34,624.13 for the combined  mortgage, (£30,849.57 main and £3,774.56 for second mortgage) and stooze balances at £18,500.47, so overall owe £53,124.60, plus some money to lovely parents, which is on long term loan. Probably ought to update signature to this effect, as it sounds ok compared to where we were not so long ago. 2 years of hardly going out over the pandemic period, plus selling our caravan has reduced what we owe quite a bit. Now if the Bank of England could please stop putting up the interest rate every time they meet that would be helpful. No idea currently on mortgage free date, everything a bit up in the air, but can't do much about that at the moment. 

Sunday stuff today, gerbil cage needs cleaning, packed lunches, washing etc, but lovely day here in Dorset, so plan is to do a bit, then stop and sit outside every so often with a cuppa. But first a coffee. ☕

v1ckyt

Frustrating day yesterday, we started the day with a long list of life admin to do,

DH called hospital who had no record of his surgery being booked for next week, eventually after a long wait, and another phone call to them, it is all booked and confirmed for Monday, so that is both    and    😱 at the same time.

We also tried to call PIP but their IT systems were down all day, so couldn't request to start claim, Tax credits helpline too busy to take calls, and so got cut off repeatedly, then tried again later in the day and got into queue, but it went past 6pm when they shut, so had to abandon that. Definitely felt  like a1 step forward, 2 steps back kind of day. 

Did manage to book a travelodge for the night ahead of surgery, as it is in Oxford and we are in Dorset, so ticked that off of the list, and will see son who is at Uni on the way up. 

In money related news, my Help to Save 1st bonus has paid out today, a few days ahead of when I expected it so that is good, will be used to pay off a chunk of stooze which stops being interest free in Feb 2023, then I will adjust the direct debit to ensure that is fully cleared by the Jan 2023 payment. 

Have updated signature, and will do so again at the end of the month as its is quite satisfying seeing the amount owed come down, even if it isn't due really to mortgage overpayments, but just paying down debt ad mortgage generally. Current rough estimation is being totally debt and mortgage free entirely by October 2029, which whilst not as soon as I would like, is still 4.5 years early. This looks doable based on current financial situation, making minimum payments to things and clearing stoozes before they end their interest free periods. We may be able to accelerate that, if hubby returns to paid employment after recovering from surgery, which is the plan at the moment, but not figured into the spreadsheets, if that make sense.  

Right, time to get to work. 

savingholmes

Glad you have an operation day for DH even if everything feels like it's spinning currently. All the best.

v1ckyt

Quick update, as we head to Oxford today ahead of op tomorrow.

Money wise we seem to be getting there with the ESA application, and the PIP form is on it's way, with a lovely lady at Macmillian Cancer saying she will help us complete that once it arrives. Travel lodge booked for tonight, and we took the kids out to the beach and McD's yesterday, so spent a little bit, but after tomorrow, only costs will be petrol and hospital parking fees. We won't be socialising much in the coming weeks.

Direct debits set up to cover at least the minimum of all stoozes for the foreseeable including hubby's so no chance of any missed payment fees. 

Awaiting letter from Barclays with update on what the mortgage has increased to following the Bank of England base rate change, but expect it will increase by about £8 a month, so not hideous, but it all has an impact. 

We have £80 of vouchers to use, probably at Morrisons for shopping, and the larders and freezer are well stocked currently. so aiming for a low spend May. Still need to advertise the kids swimming pool set up as they have decided they have outgrown that. Hoping to do that maybe next week, ahead of the half term break. Then need to resist the pressure from kids to buy a hot tub instead.

Car full of diesel, hubby's hospital bag packed. Surgeon was on holiday last week, so am hoping he is nicely relaxed and all goes smoothly. In the meantime I have bought a large tub of gummy bears, which were the only thing I ate during his last surgery, all the important preparation is therefore done I think!

savingholmes

I lost a huge amount of weight during pregnancy and at one point pretty much all I could eat was gummy bears so I sympathise.

It's good that you are continuing to create positive memories in this busy time. All the best for DH's operation and for you holding the fort.

v1ckyt

Well, that was quite a 7 months.

Husband's surgery happened, over two consecutive Monday's, 20+ hours in total. Some complications meant he stayed sedated for over a week, and in ICU for 2 weeks, before then coming home mid June. Not an easy time, but he is still here, and the tumour is not, so the surgery was successful in that respect. Long, slow recovery is ongoing, but things are improving gradually.

Financially, the impact of all the hospital visits was pretty grim. 4 weeks in Oxford, visiting  him in hospital, plus 4 trips to Manchester for radiotherapy have been expensive, financially, but again, the treatment has worked so that's the bigger picture. Husband still signed off, and I have increased working hours so we have got by. No holidays or trips away or out this year has helped. But along with everyone else, increased food and fuel prices have had an impact. 

Throw in two large car repair bills, £1750 and £680 each, ouch!

And our mortgage is variable, and linked to the Bank of England Base rate, so each time they meet that goes up a bit, if they could stop meeting for a while that would be useful, thank you

So plans for 2023, just keep paying off the mortgage and stoozes as best we can. Spend January using up the contents of the freezer. I have a Big Birthday this month, so at the very least will need some prosecco and a curry to celebrate that. 
 Off now to try and remember how to update signature. 

Happy New Year to anyone reading, I hope 2023 is kind to you.

v1ckyt

So after some money shuffling and juggling, I have paid off the smaller mortgage this month. This was a secondary mortgage taken out to pay for two lots of home improvements. I had always wanted to be mortgage free by the time I turn 50, later this month. Sadly that is not to be, but I am smaller-mortgage free, so will have to take that. 

Current projection is to be mortgage free around October 2026, so less than 4 years. The mortgage was due to run without overpayment to March 2034 so that will have taken a chunk of time off. MF date does rather depend on not having to make any significant purchases in the next few years, and seeing as our cars are 11 and 13 years old, this may be a stretch. 

Anyway, have rung mortgage company to check on rules around overpayments on the main mortgage, and there are no penalties or limits so that is good. Current stoozes are all small and should be paid off by the time the interest free period ends, so focus for now will be on throwing anything spare I have at the mortgage, to try and shrink it down.
Currently paying £2.80 a day in interest, which I know by a lot of peoples standards is tiny, but a while ago it was just 79p per day. 

So that is the focus for now, along with still having a life. All about balance, so off to the beach for an ice cream or hot chocolate today it is.