£192,737 mortgage!

happydays_70

Thanks MG. Going back to work tomorrow
My friend is having DD as she only goes back to school on Tuesday.
I am going to try hard to cut down my grocery shopping this month. I need petrol tomorrow but shouldn't need to spend on anything til the weekend. We will see!!

mortgage_girl

Yep I know that feeling well - i'm back at work tomorrow too Summer is always a good time to cut down on grocery spends as salads, pastas etc are so much cheaper to make (well in my experience they are anyway ) If you've got a bit of outdoor space it's pretty easy to grow cut and come again lettuce in a couple of tubs - perhaps it could be a project for DD? Good luck on your no-spend endeavours - you can do it! :T

MGx

happydays_70

We have only planted tomatoes this year. Lazy really. Ideally I want the garden changed around so I can have a raised bed along one side but that's another work in progress or idea in progress!!

happydays_70

I don't feel in charge of my money this month. I haven't really budgeted for decorating. This has had a knock on effect on household money. I haven't kept a log of my spending but I can see that after my DDs this month I won't have anything left over. To be fair though, if I wasn't good with money I wouldn't have had the money to decorate.
I have spent £37 on petrol up to now..I will probably need to put £35 in to get to the end of the month.
I have spent £105 and £65 in H0me Bargains since the start of June!
£20 on a christening gift yesterday.
£12 McD0nald's last week.
£93 in Aldee this month.
£65 gardener for 4 visits..only another £15 this month to go.
£6.55 Sainsbury's on the way home from work - needed bread and ham (got each of us a choc orange @ £1 each).
I have only managed 1 NSD this month so far
It's my DD's birthday on 5th July so I need to sort her presents out. She will be 10. I have warned her that the work on her room is included in her birthday. She still needs new wardrobes a new bed..that will have to come out of next month's money and won't be exactly on her birthday. She understands that.
I have got to be careful for the next two weeks til payday. I haven't abstained from wine..tend to have a couple of glasses over the weekend. I will NOT be buying it in my next shop which I am going to try to leave for as long as I can. I have enough food in to last the rest of the week. That means my last Aldee shop of £48 will have lasted at least 10 days..that's good.
I've got work to prepare for tomorrow and then sort out uniforms and hoover and do my floors before I watch a bit of TV then bed.
Cannot wait for the summer hols!!

happydays_70

mortgage_girl wrote: »

That must have been a shock with your gas/electricity bill - are you sure that it's definitely right? I was with the same company a long time ago, I switched to Sc0ttish P0wer and have never looked back. I submit my readings online each month to help me stay on track with it.


MGx

Np0wer have finally got back to me and said they can't lower my payments. My account online shows that I will be in credit in the next couple of months cos I won't spend anything on heating. As soon as I am in credit I'm bailing!! Easy to find another supplier. Not impressed.
I hope I remember to use cashback website if I can.

pollyanna24

Read through your entire diary since you posted on mine and I found that I actually posted on your diary back in February. Things bit better for me as I calculated a mortgage of £205,000 and I now have it down to £195,000 without even taking the damn thing on yet, haha!

We really are quite similar (I know I’ve said this before), even down to the enjoying the odd tipple of wine and we’ve both got dogs (mine’s a staffie). I’ve cut down on wine by doing the 5:2 diet (can’t drink on fast days and I don’t want a hangover on fast days, so I tend not to drink the day before) which is also saving me money as I’m eating less food.

Am I right in thinking that you are a teacher? What age do you teach?

Reading your diary has really inspired me on and now I can’t wait to buy my brother out and start overpaying. My mortgage looks ridiculous with a 30 year term, so my initial aim is to reduce my monthly payment by doing overpayments so that it is more manageable in the future when I may not have the job I have at the moment.

happydays_70

Thanks for reading. Yes, I'm a teacher in a secondary school but teach mainly the 11-14 year olds..all boys too.
It has been an interesting six years since I've been on my own. It can be daunting but at least I am in control of it. My mortgage was initially for 30 yrs when I kept it on and it's 21 yrs now. That's all I keep doing, knocking an extra year off to shorten the term otherwise I will be teaching til I'm 100. I do think teachers have a shelf life and I don't think working til I'm 65 is feasible. It is a hard job at times and draining. I would like to leave before I burn out
Love my wine and pjs on a Friday night in front of the telly, works for me. I'm Neil the sloth off the sofa ad
I keep saying I will do the 5:2 but that's all I do..not got round to it. My friend does it at work and recommends it.
I like walking the dog (choc lab)..he is gorgeous BUT to get fitter I should run with him hahaha..my friends would laugh if they heard me. I'm such a lazy madam and running isn't going to happen.
I really look forward to reading your updates x

pollyanna24

It's just nice when you find someone in a similar position to yourself. All my friends moan about money and mortgages, but they all have husbands (apart from one, but she owns her house outright!) and when everything depends on me alone, can just seem a bit scary!

I'm lucky in the fact that I live in an expensive area (Hertfordshire) and there is always the possibility that if it gets too much or I lose my job in London (which kinda takes away the need to live so close to it), I can sell up and move to a cheaper part of the country. Of course, this would all be last resort as I love living where I do.

So we will motivate each other on!

happydays_70

I thought the same when I read your posts. There haven't been that many diaries from a single parent's point with a 6 figure mortgage. I live in a really nice area too but my kids are settled so I would be reluctant to move to a cheaper area further away. I could downsize in my area but the mortgage wouldn't be that much cheaper.
All my friends have husbands too and are financially comfortable.
I just see it as a challenge to keep my outgoings low and looking for the best deal makes sense.
Had a NSD today

mortgage_girl

happydays_70 wrote: »

Np0wer have finally got back to me and said they can't lower my payments. My account online shows that I will be in credit in the next couple of months cos I won't spend anything on heating. As soon as I am in credit I'm bailing!! Easy to find another supplier. Not impressed.
I hope I remember to use cashback website if I can.

Oh no Sorry to hear that. Good choice in bailing. Many years ago me and my (then) partner had problems submitting our final meter readings to them for a final bill - even after 5 phonecalls. We'd completed forgotten about it and then my ex got a letter from a debt collection agency delivered to a relatives house as if we'd just upped sticks and scarpered. Thankfully these days it's easy to manage accounts online so hopefully that shouldn't be an issue for you. If you do have to phone to request a final reading then I'd recommend keeping a note of when you called and who you spoke to.

happydays_70 wrote: »

Thanks for reading. Yes, I'm a teacher in a secondary school but teach mainly the 11-14 year olds..all boys too.

Snap - fellow teacher here too. The younger ones for me though.

happydays_70 wrote: »

It has been an interesting six years since I've been on my own. It can be daunting but at least I am in control of it. My mortgage was initially for 30 yrs when I kept it on and it's 21 yrs now. That's all I keep doing, knocking an extra year off to shorten the term otherwise I will be teaching til I'm 100. I do think teachers have a shelf life and I don't think working til I'm 65 is feasible. It is a hard job at times and draining. I would like to leave before I burn out

I agree - there's definitely a shelf life and I wouldn't want to be in it until retirement age. Well done on the mortgage reduction, that's great going.:)

happydays_70 wrote: »

Love my wine and pjs on a Friday night in front of the telly, works for me. I'm Neil the sloth off the sofa ad

Yep - pj Friday all the way!

Have a great weekend and well done on the decorating.

MGx