A Fresh Start

a_fresh_start

we are on a roll...

OH NW account set up and money transferred in for the 5%

Phone will be switched over to +net tomorrow, to bay the line rental upfront for the savings.

Was gonna overpay a lumpsum to get the mortgage into 5 digits, but booked our 2015 holiday instead got to have the priorities right:)

Have only 2 more presents to get for christmas, hoping for the th0rnt0ns hamper to be delivered soon so can divide up the gifts for various friends or when we go visiting over the holidays.

House insurance renewal was same price as search engines, so let that renew automatically.

However, the car insurance renewal came in £100 more expensive than a new customer quote:mad: this happens every year! Its a joke, queue phonecall and company has 'matched' the new customer price. Anyways at least thats £100 'saved' on the auto renew.

Happy days - I got a pay rise :T

Still to do -
- switch joint account
- organise annual train pass for next year
- meter readings
- organise pantry/store cupboards and fill up for winter (if we get one!)

things are coming together for 2015:T

a_fresh_start

Will update properly later, but a quicknote to say we managed to get our balance to £99,969 for startingthe new year. J

5 digits!!!!!:T

greent

a_fresh_start wrote: »

Will update properly later, but a quicknote to say we managed to get our balance to £99,969 for startingthe new year. J

5 digits!!!!!:T

Fantastic start to the year! Well done! :T:T:T

a_fresh_start

Sorry have been MIA, but still plugging away. We are now on the final sprint, and will hopefully get back into my diary to keep me on track and focussed.


Our current situation is......................Mortgage is currently sitting at £48,800!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! J So pleased with this. Plus we have approx. £9,000 in savings, so our overall position is -£40,000.


We have paid £15,000 into the mortgage this year (including standard repayments) and am wondering if we can be mortgage neutral by September 2019 (14 months), so we can say we cleared the mortgage when we were 35!


Currently averaging £2000 towards mortgage each month, and this crazy plan would require monthly repayments of almost £2900 – a HUGE number. More likely nearing mortgage neutrality in 4Q19, when we take a holistic look at the savings currently squirrelled away.


Regardless, would still mean we will have cleared a £167,000 mortgage in 13 years. I think the initial aim was to clear it within 10years, but we have had a number of extravagant long haul holidays, got married, bought 2 brand new cars (with our savings!) and also took a full year off work on maternity, so am extremely proud of ourselves. Yes, we could have perhaps paid it off much sooner, but life is for living and we did not want to miss out on opportunities due to overpaying a mortgage, in fact I would say that our focus on repaying the mortgage actually allowed us to go on these holidays and buy nice things, as we had decent sums saved up and we could afford to do it! So this mortgage free journey has perhaps enhanced our lives, and can only improve it in the future when we are financially secure and safe that one of us could lose a job, or quit to become a stay at home parent and not have money worries.


Right off to see what ive done recently / can do to chip away at the last £40k and bring that dream closer.

a_fresh_start

To do

Build up holiday account by end of August to £2000

Investigate best value for park tickets.

Work out more! Went for first jog since life and injuries have derailed me. Was very slow and twinge packed but actually felt good after. I only managed 4.5km in my allotted 30mins, so there’s definitely scope to get to 5km within that over the coming weeks… I manged 5k within 30mins on 20th July 2017, so that’s my next goal J my 5K PB (back in 2015!) was 27mins.


Recently done:

Submitted claims to Dental Insurance, should be reimbursed £160.

Put a few more bottles in the auction, fingers crossed.

Switched Husbands HSBC account to RBS select for the £100 switch reward
Switched my NW current account to RBS select for £100 switch reward…..ensure 2x direct debits set up on NW account first!
Should be paid in for October holidays +£200

Switched Energy supplier, not a saving as this year’s fix is more expensive than last, but at least not paying £££ on the standard tariff. Quidco for £21 utilities switch has tracked, reckon will be months before that has cleared!

Sold 5x items on speciality auction site. Sold (combined) for £1560, bought for (£250+111+75+85 = £521+ fees £30), profit circa £1000. Just received bank transfer for this, so will use to boost holiday fund

Sold matured shares, funds were in for the weekend +£4600 after fees………..£1000 profit over 3yr term!! So £1000 went directly to mortgage and have moved the balance about to boost savings / start holiday fund.

Easy access savings replenished to £2000. This is my sweet spot, anything less in savings makes me twitchy, and this figure (to me) means I can pay an unexpected big bill, plus my mortgage/normal bills in a month without worrying. Anything above this figure gets put straight into the mortgage. If it truly was a rainy day and we needed access to a bigger sum, then I would have to cash in the regular savers and forgo the annual interest.


Current Position:

Mortgage is currently sitting at £48,800!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! J So pleased with this. Plus we have approx. £9,000 in savings, so our overall position is -£40,000.

We have paid £15,000 into the mortgage so far this year (including standard repayments) and am wondering when we can become mortgage neutral. Do people tend to pay off the mortgage or keep it ticking over paying a nominal amount each month?


Future:

We have even started discussing what to do once we have no mortgage! I want to do up the house, and put on an(other!) extension but husband wants to save for a new house in a great secondary school catchment area, or at the very least an area with good transport links to a private secondary education.