Getting there...slowly.

girlatplay

Good [STRIKE]morning[/STRIKE] afternoon (it was morning when I started it ).

I’m girlatplay (gap). I have been around the forums for a few years now, even had a diary at one point ( here ) which really helped me focus and get the rest of my debt paid off (thanks go to all the DFW’s for their support).

I am back here because I need some structure. I think I have February blues. I am feeling a bit low and I have lost the buzz that I had when I was paying off the debt and then when I started saving.

I could go to Mortgage-Free Wannabe but I don’t feel that I’m quite there yet in my head.

My current position is this: I have a mortgage over 70% of my home. A housing association owns the other 30%. Shared Equity. I am actually quite lucky with this. It was a pilot scheme that they were running at the time I signed up to it and so the rules are slightly different to the shared equity rules that they have in place now. I bought my property on the open market and I can sell it on the open market. I don’t have to pay rent to the HA, all I have to do is either buy the HA out (30% as valued by the District Valuer), sell the property (HA would get 30% of the sale price) or die (HA would get 30% of sale price). I would prefer not to die so it has to be one of the other two. As I bought when the property market was booming, I paid top whack for it which means it is definitely in negative equity right now. If I sold I would end up worse off than when I bought it, and then some.

I am presently focussing on paying a little bit off my mortgage each month. Oh yes, it is an interest only mortgage as that was all I could get at the time. It is working in my favour though as I can make unlimited overpayments up to 10% of total outstanding mortgage per year. Mortgage rate is 3.99% variable at the moment. I can’t change this. No one will look at me

My current savings plans are thus: I have decided to save towards buying the HA out. If, by some miracle, the house prices go back up to or above what they were at the start of 2008 then I can sell and make some money but in the meantime, I don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon. So I have made a start on saving and I have a little over £12k saved (see sig). I could pay this off my mortgage but I like having that little nest egg in case everything comes crashing down on me (i.e. I lose my job, etc.) It is currently doubling as my large emergency fund.

One other thing, I have just paid out for a rather expensive holiday for Little Miss Gap and myself. We go to California on 27th June for two weeks. We are thoroughly looking forward to this. I have been saving for it for a long time and we do deserve it. However, I still have £1k to pay towards it and I have spending money to find. 5 paydays to go. It will not create debt, it will all be paid for by the time we go, although I suppose technically it is a debt at the moment.

I have no other debt. I have 2 credit cards that I pay off each month (used for points and cashback – I put the money aside in a separate account when I spend on the cc’s).

Oops, just read that back to myself, I have rambled on a lot longer than I intended but there was no way of shortening that and still getting in all the info. Right, off I go…

girlatplay

So, today my interest only mortgage stands at -£94,689. I pay interest of £321 per month and my current extra payments are £200 per month.

I have £12,160 in a cash ISA at 2.55%. I am aiming for £42,000.

I have £265.60 in the holiday savings account. £734.40 to find before 4th April (2 paydays).

Baby emergency fund has £187.21.

Purse has £1.50 but nothing to buy today.

Tax credit day and therefore grocery shopping day tomorrow.

girlatplay

Just saved £33 on my home insurance renewal, renewing with the same company. They beat the lowest comparison by £18.50 too. The money will just stay in my "yearly insurances" pot. I am really pleased

girlatplay

Just remembered, I have a £30 Next voucher left over from Christmas :j

My gas and electric is £106.09 in credit as at 3rd Feb which is great but we are currently using slightly more than the monthly DD so that will even its self out. That's the whole point in the monthly DD I guess

My best friend is getting married next February, in the Maldives! Alright for some eh? They are "running away" to do it so there is no wedding for the rest of us to attend. However, she needs a hen night, obvs, so we are planning that for November. She has big plans and they include 3 nights rather than just one! I have already started saving - my £2 coins are going in the pot for that. I will have to add more than that though so need to think of ways to squeeze out a few more pennies. Although I did have £256 of £2 coins when I opened my pot in December. That was a year's worth.

girlatplay

Tax credit day! I have transferred £1.87 to savings (I do this every week, it is the £odds). £40 for the week's grocery shop which I will do after work. I finish at 2pm on a Wednesday

I pay the £1.87 across to a small "holding" account that I have. Each time I reach £40 I pay that across to my ISA. I reached £40 today so that has gone over. ISA/HA buyout fund up to £12,200.

Counted up the £2 coins in my hen weekend pot - £26. Added £1 coin from my purse so £27! Good.

Added the 50p in my purse to my sealed pot.

Bill came in for one of the cc's today. Transferred the money over and paid that off.

Just got to meal plan for the week (Wednesday to Tuesday) and write the shopping list. I hate doing this but it is so worth it.

Up to £21.25 in Onepoll. It seems to have added up much faster so far this time.

That's it for now.

girlatplay

Yesterday's grocery shop came in at just under £30. Happy with that I have to get another carton of milk as they didn't have any of the green that I buy for LMG, only the blue (for me) or red (hmmm...) but I will do that at the weekend.

My boss has just sacked our cleaner. I offered to pop in on Sunday to give the office a once over (it really is dirty right now). I am really thinking of the money as I haven't had anything from the CSA for 2 weeks now and ex was already about a week or two behind this year so that's me 3-4 weeks short of money this year. I am feeling the pinch a bit at the mo. If I do 2/3 hours on Sunday I will get about £30/£40 which I can use to breathe a bit. It will only be a one off though. If I did it regularly I would need to put it through with my salary (I don't fancy messing about with my own tax and NI).

LMG has a driving lesson on Saturday. They do underage lessons (she is 13) in Hamilton so we will drive through. I mention this as it has just reminded me that my half tank of petrol to last me to the end of the month, won't. I definitely need to work Sunday now.

I popped some odd change into my sealed pot last night.

Cats were at vet last night. £190 later they are all boostered up for the year. Luckily I have a separate account I save in for them for these things. I usually pay some of the CSA money into the account though so it's not looking as healthy as it was (one of the cats had a skin infection so I had to pay out for treatment).

Oh well, the sun is shining here, for now.

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary!
Keep posting!

girlatplay

Thanks Lou

Not a whole lot going on today. The boss man is out this morning so I can have a little play on the internet. Work is really quiet right now. All my work is done apart from a tiny little bit that I will fit in with my surfing. I will make it stretch to the end of the day.

I have to get milk and toothpaste tomorrow. Hamilton has a Home Brgns so I will pop in there for that when we are through.

Last night LMG and I were in the kitchen preparing dinner (we rarely do it together, I am the slave in our house). It was school report day and she got a good report. I was telling her how much I love her and how precious she is to me (I tell her fairly regularly but I try to change the way I say it so that I'm not saying the same thing all the time) and she gave me a hug and said "I'm glad it's just the two of us mum, I know how things work." (meaning she knows and understands my rules, disciplines and rewards). I'm so lucky to have her :heart2:

girlatplay

Well instead of coming home to a sack load of Valentine's cards, I arrived back to find my road tax renewal notice behind my door Straight onto the web to get it paid.

On a brighter note, my lovely little girl picked us up a bar of chocolate each on her way home from school :kisses3:

in_need_of_direction

Hi, just found your diary. I also started my diary on this forum like you, I clear my cc each month and generally avoid debt. I'm currently trying to clear my mortgage but posting on a debt free diary as I need to recognise mortgage as a debt. Best of luck, I'll subscribe as I'm interested in how things work out.

girlatplay

Hi in need of direction, thank you for posting. I am a bit of a rambler and spout (honest) nonsense at times. I avoid debt as much as possible. I hit rockbottom a few years ago and there is no way on earth I want to go there again. I have money "pots" for EVERYTHING! I can't guarantee much excitement here but I know that my last diary helped me get debt free far faster than if I hadn't been posting so I am hoping that this one will focus me again. I do expect it to be more longhaul than the last one though. Once the holiday is over in July I will have more to put to the mortgage/buy out fund. Good luck with your journey too. I will look for your diary in a minute!

Well, had quite a spendy weekend :( It was all stuff that was needed though (apart from £10 for a perfume - that's the cleaning money from yesterday gone).

Had a really lovely day with LMG, mum and sis on Saturday. LMG thoroughly enjoyed her driving lesson.

I roped LMG and my sister in to help me clean the office yesterday. It was a flippin' nightmare. It was so dirty it took the 3 of us 3 hours to get it to a "normal" standard. Not pristine, how I wanted it, just clean(er). This being the office that is supposed to have been cleaned every week by a member of staff who was getting paid for it. I will go off on a rant if I continue so I will stop there. Anyway, it is far too much for me to do on my own. A professional cleaner will probably do fine on their own. Will speak to the bossman and tell him he needs to get a professional in.

Got a £2 coin over the weekend so put that in the Hen Weekend pot plus a £1 from my purse today so that's up to £30

75p to sealed pot.

£4 in purse for incidentals.

I am off tomorrow. Going to do some cleaning at home :cool::A