Finally saw the light and now scrabbling towards it, one OP at a time!

fothers365

Hi everyone,

I have been reading lots of your diaries over the last few weeks and am suddenly very determined to get our finances in order.

OH and I have 3 little girls, 5y, 3y and 1y and are not having any more now! A few years ago when I was on maternity leave and knew I would be again we switched from paying capital and interest to just interest on our mortgage. Now I am back at work and not going to go off again we have come to the conclusion we need to get back on the ball and then some.

The mortgage is £140650 roughly at the moment. It came of its fixed so is variable now and is at 2.5% with NW.

I have had for years an overdraft/loan type account that my financial advisor set up for me that has £5800 on it. I have a concurrent running savings thing that matures at the same time the deal with the loan type account runs out that will cover this. The idea was to pay it off so when the savings thing matured it was all mine. This is all set to happen in January 2015 (I think I got it in 2005) but like a complete idiot I have only been paying interest on the account to keep the balance level. It is only now I see how stupid I have been.

We have payed off a home loan in recent months due to being really frugal and budgeting and cutting back and all credit card debt too.

The savings thing to go with the loan will be worth around £11k when it matures. I am also really really hopeful that I will get some PPI over the next few months for a couple of car loans.

So,

Lovely people what would you do first?
The loan type account thingy has an interest rate of about 5.5%- should we really hammer at it for a few months and get rid of it once and for all and then start over paying the mortgage as much as we can? or do both side by side?

I am thinking that not including any PPI we could get rid of the loan thingy in around 7-9 months, less if I get PPI. That way in a couple of years the Savings thing that runs along side matures and we can either over pay it all into the mortgage or maybe invest some into some other savings.

At the moment the interest only on the mortgage is £292, if we were paying it properly with capital it would be £777. The plan is once we have sorted the loan to try and put £1000 or more a month in depending on how much we can manage.

I rang and left a message for my financial advisor man yesterday but he was at a conference all day so I had a quick chat with his colleague who said that we may be able to switch to a fixed rate deal of around 2% (!) and that it may be worth discussing for a few years the possibility of interest only with a concurrent high interest savings thing to put what we would be using for overpayments into that would have a higher rate. My financial advisor should ring back for a chat today.

Phew, that is me started then. Thanks to everyone on here for such inspiration. I feel like a complete idiot for the amount of money I have squandered over they years on wine, takeaways, dinners out and general rubbish. Why oh why did I not see the light years ago pre kids when I was working full time???

Anyway, school cancelled today because of the snow so lots of small children under feet. I am sure when the man rings I will struggle to hear a word he is saying above the din:rotfl:

fothers365

I will try and make a lovely signature at some point soon. I have made so many spreadsheets on googledrive the last few months it is ridiculous. I have them for meter readings, spends, debts, direct debit dates, jobs to do. I am trying to download an mortgage OP one but because I don't have excel on my little notebook none of the ones that are popular here seem to work and I would love to add one to my little financial collection.

Last night I used the First Direct banking tool that collates all your accounts on one screen so they were easier to see at a glance.

I have set the mortgage up online now and the RBS loan/overdraft type thingy so I have made small steps.

Can't wait for payday now to shuffle some money:D

icklehelen

Hi Fothers

Glad to see you've taken the plunge too!! I'm on a snow day too so planning to try and get some jobs done (mainly during lo's nap time!!)

There's plenty of lovely people on here who will be able to give you good advice but imho pay off the loan account asap as it has the higher interest rate. Then you can turn all your attention to the mortgage.

Good luck with your MF journey however you decide to do it!!

ickle

*subscribed*

fothers365

Thanks ickle, I hope you managed to get a good nap out of your LO today and a bit of quiet time for yourself!

I was supposed to be meeting a friend in the park this afternoon with my youngest and her twins but the weather was not on our side and school and preschool were closed. We went instead to a cheap play centre and it was only £4.50 for all mine to get in, a drink for each of them and a coffee for me and a digestive biscuit each for us all. It would have cost that to get in the fancy play centre each child with no food provided so a relatively cheap outing was had.

I spoke to my financial advisor this afternoon who said get rid of the RBS thing first then concentrate on the mortgage.

I have made a signature and whilst checking out the amount details for that made an OP to RBS to round off the balance to a nice tidy number:p

Tomorrow we were supposed to be going to a local farm park with a Groupon voucher someone gave us but the weather has pt paid to that. I am thinking I might be brave and take the big 2 to the cinema to the kids showing at 10am tomorrow. It is £1 each to get in and I will sneak in some snacks and water to drink. At least that should break the day up or we will end up with cabin fever. If there is too much snow then we will need to construct another igloo in the garden like we did last time.

I am off to browse the diaries now whilst DP watches the footie.

fothers365

Up for the day at 4am with the baby <yawns> Oh well, at least I can browse more diaries!

Positively looking forward to the clock change tomorrow in the off chance I can reset the baby's sleeping to more normal hours but I am not holding my breath as it never worked for her sisters.

Tabatha_Kitten

fothers365 wrote: »

Positively looking forward to the clock change tomorrow

Next week matey...31st !

fothers365

Tabatha_Kitten wrote: »

Next week matey...31st !

Even better! I am night shift next weekend so one less hour to work:rotfl:

Lots of snow today so walked to the cinema with DD1 and saw their Saturday film for £1 each and then as a treat for her a happy meal for £2.50.

This afternoon we are going to do some home made fresh pasta and meatballs for tea and some garlic flatbread. That should keep them occupied and busy for a while.

jimmybrid

fothers365 wrote: »

Up for the day at 4am with the baby <yawns> Oh well, at least I can browse more diaries!

The diaries are somewhat addictive aren't they fothers? And I can certainly empathise with the early starts, with having a two-week old and a 3 yr old......if it's not one it's the other.

jimmybrid

btw, your financial advisor is absolutely right, get that 5.5% loan paid off as quick as you can before you start repaying the capital on the mortgage. Then when your saving plan matures you will have a ready made emergency fund and an overpayment pot for the mortgage.

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi Fothers, starting a diary has been a life saver for us. Don't stress about the money spent in times gone by. I've spent enough time berating myself and then I realised that this is my new chapter and all I focus on now, is doing the right thing every day.

Good luck with your plans.

Best wishes Tilly

newgirly

Hi fothers, just wanted to say welcome and good luck