our forever patch challenge

sammy70

August has gone by in a blur..

MIL after 6 years of homecare and us shopping/cleaning etc has now gone into fulltime care home this month, which to be honest is a relief, as she wasnt safe at home, and has lost mental capacity to do anything for herself.

This has meant , due to her only asset her home, having to be sold to pay for her care.  Hubby and i are up to out necks in tasks, organising sale, clearing over 50 years of stuff from the house, sorting bills etc etc..

Ive had last 3 days off to get on top of everything, as the stress of it all was getting on top of me..

Jessy103

Sorry to hear this Sammy. Wishing you and the family all the best x

sammy70

Fresh month begins! its been raining heavily for the second day/night and everywhere is soaked, so no cafe opening for me today..
Today will involve ringing benefits/pensions for M.I.L to inform them of her going into care, and yet another trip to her house to remove the last of things from it.. Also ordering EPC for house sale..

Hubbys last holiday day today, so making mini roast dinner from things already in freezer, and egg and soldiers for breakfast from our own hens

sammy70

Won £150 on p.bonds! so a good start to the day!

Mortgage balance today- £125,826.35
interest for September- £526.35
Daily- £17.54

Opening my little cafe today, dont know how busy it will be as though rain has at last stopped-for now- its very cloudy and miserable.. Lets see..

Jessy103

Congrats on the PB win! 🥳

sammy70

been raining hard since 9 last night, and still going strong! im sick of rain!!
Mortgage balance today £125,026.35.

MIL house now on the market, so hopefully it sells quickly without hassle, so a smooth transition for paying her care fees without having the cost of local authority deferred payment scheme..

Finances in old age are a minefield, either seems too much or too little savings etc bring problems and costs..

sammy70

£150 p.bond win this month!

Im officially on my winter hours in the cafe, 3 days weather permitting, down from 6.. its been a decent summer season, despite the changable weather, though i must say this year ive never known such inaccurate weather forecasts!!
my birthday tomorrow, and not working so a lazy day doing what i want, cant beat it!!

Jessy103

Congratulations on the pb win and belated birthday wishes! 🥳🍾🎂

sammy70

Thank you Jessy103!

We have had a productive week, had the large tree that was too near the house and blocking the light removed by the professionals, then hubby and i set to and he chain sawed it into logs, and i barrowed it to the barn, where it will stay and become fuel for 2025.. took 3 days of hard work, but a massive boost to the fuel fund..

Rang mortgage provider to reduce the monthly  payment to take into account last the 5 months overpayments, and this has reduced it by £79 a month!! i do this every 6 months or so.. some may wonder why i dont set it to reduce the term instead, but i like the comfort of knowing the payment is reducing, but overpayments are increasing, and if any crisis happens, we are on lower payments if  needed.. it works for us.. i also pay weekly to save a bit extra interest too..
Mortgage balance today stands at £122,164.36

sammy70

Here we are, December already!
My challenge to get to £115,000 by xmas eve, and £15k in water savings fund sadly have not been met, due to both hubby, then my cars both needing replacing in the last two months.. we had our moneys worth out of them, but sadly they both got to the point of too far gone to repair.. we paid cash for both new to us cars. and years tax and insurance on each, so im grateful that we had the savings to be able to do this, shame about challenges, but we have still paid a lot in overpayments this year..

i will update mortgage balance and total overpaid in 2024 in the next day or so.. and decide on 2025 challenges too..