Hoggle's looong journey to becoming mortgage free!

Muser1

Hi and welcome I love a new diary. Sound like you are off to a flying start.

Good luck x

laura_hoggle

Ok, have been pretty busy with the house, eBay, and new job for the last week or so!

Haven't managed to tackle an SOA yet. We know all our basic DDs and things now, but haven't managed to get the boiler cover sorted yet because the website didn't like our bank account details online for some reason... Despite the fact it's exactly the same as the one they've taken our first gas payment from today... grrr!

So the eBay stuff sold for a little less than I had hoped, but anything is better than nothing, considering it was just stuff sitting around! After postage & fees I transferred £93.80 to the OP account, so happy with that

Also transferred the money we haven't spent on DDs for other utilities, but will be in following months (water & electric DDs set up to start in April) into the OP account, as it's money we would be spending normally so might as well get used to not having it now. I've also been rounding down my & the joint bank accounts pretty much daily, I really do feel like the odd 24p or whatever helps!!

We have sorted out the deposit from our previous rental now, bit annoying as we couldn't figure out with the DPS website how to contest the money they wanted to charge us (£108) and decided just to take what they were giving rather than drag it out, but we are still getting £1167 back - I said I'd be happy with getting £1000 back tbh! So will prob use some of that as OP when that clears, and some towards stuff for the house.

DH got an unexpected tax rebate cheque last week, and also gets his annual bonus on Friday, so I'm hoping to 'acquire' some from him to the OP account... Might just use the 'we need X amount of money before we can make our first overpayment, how soon do you think we can do it' line rather than demand money from him!!

Our OP account currently stands at £365.12, I'm quite happy with that 3 weeks after opening it! Roll on £500 and making our first overpayment!

laura_hoggle

I am happy to announce that we made our first overpayment this week! £500 off the capital, yay!

We had a letter from the mortgage company this morning to confirm that they have received it (they don't offer online banking which is a little annoying!) and that our direct debit has now been decreased by £2.50 a month. I'm going to call them this week to find out if/how we can make our payments so that they reduce the term, rather than the amount that we pay.

I'm hoping that we will be able to continue to put aside at least £400 a month for overpayments; DH and I have both set up £50 standing orders from our individual accounts, and we should be able to put £300 a month from our joint account in as well. I keep rounding down the accounts by whatever odd figures are in them, yesterday I transferred the grand sum of 1p from my account!!

Danny5

Well done on the overpayment! It feels great doesn't it?!

laura_hoggle

It did at the time, although when I got the letter saying it had taken £2.50 a month off our repayments it didn't seem like much and I felt a bit deflated Then I was discussing it with my parents today, and my mum (with her super quick maths mind!) pointed out that over 30 years, it's £900... So by paying £500, it has saved us around £400!! That has really helped spur me on to try and make the same OP every month.

We were really lucky that we didn't have to do anything to our house when we moved in, and we already had furniture from our rental house. However there are lots of things that I would like for our house, so we hope to gradually get these over the next few months. One of which is a cat, which I know isn't exactly MSE but I really miss having a pet in the house! I have been checking out a few of the local animal sanctuary websites over the last week or two, and plan to give the local RSPCA branch a call over the next couple of days to see how we could go about adopting a cat. Fingers crossed!!

laura_hoggle

Well, things haven't gone too well on the MF front this month! We've had a few (non-essential!) biggish expenses which have taken the money I would have used for an OP. We weren't desperate for it as we had a futon as our 2nd sofa, but it wasn't great when people came round so bought a new sofa bed from Homebase when they had a good furniture offer on, but got cash back and Nectar points. Also got some other bits of furniture that I plan to refurbish and paid the deposit for a few days away for our first wedding anniversary in July. Add to that my parents 40th wedding anniversary so a meal out and presents, that's over £800 of spending we wouldn't normally make!! Luckily we had this in the bank account and didn't need to chip into the savings for it.

I've not been doing too well on the grocery challenge the last couple of months which I'm really annoyed about, as it means less to overpay! I was doing so well until we moved, now I just seem to keep buying food!! I think part of it is because of my work pattern, and when I have week days off I just tend to go to the supermarket for something to do, even if we don't need things. Since getting the pieces of furniture to revamp I'm hoping that will take up a lot of my time!

I need to call the mortgage company as well, still haven't gotten round to doing it, to see how we can take time off the end of the mortgage rather than just reduce the payments. Think I need to make a list of things to do!

laura_hoggle

I've been a bit quiet again on here recently, need to get back into it as it does motivate me!

DH and I have been busy refurbishing some furniture recently. I got a kitchen dresser and a sideboard from eBay last month (had been wanting a dresser for ages!) and as I couldn't find a dining table I liked, we bought one from a charity shop and are making it our own! Although we have had to buy the tools in which to do the job (sander, paint, fabric etc.) it's still worked out cheaper than buying new, it's exactly what we (or should I say I!) want, and we still have the tools for the future. Plus we've given money to charity! We also donated our old futon at the same time-we'd have sold it, but they weren't going for anything!

I am hopefully selling our old table and chairs for £20 to someone on FB, which will go into the OP pot. I've got a few other things to post on there, but haven't got round to it yet. Once I get the dresser and sideboard sorted I'll have more furniture to get rid of, fingers crosses we'll get a little money from it!

Hoping to do a car boot soon as well, maybe the 2nd May bank holiday. We've got so much to get rid of!

I went to get my hair cut at a walk in hairdressers yesterday, but couldn't as they had to close the shop. When I got home I called the local college and am getting a cut and blow dry tomorrow for £4.50! I think the walk in place would have cost me £30 so am hoping it all goes well. I've not been to this college before but have been to others, and have had great cuts, as the students are being watched over. It's about a 5minute walk from my house so I'm going to see what they charge for colours too!

laura_hoggle

Well another week has gone by, with not a lot to report!

I had a successful haircut at the college last week for £4.50, and went back today for a colour-£13.50 for that! They also do lots of beauty treatments, so I've booked myself in for a few over the next couple of weeks-the most expensive is an all over body massage for £4.50! It's handy being so close by, I used to pay about £90 for a cut and colour a couple of years ago, and the car parking alone would cost about £4! :eek: So I'm quite looking forward to my little treats.

We sold our old little table & chairs, with the £20 from that going into the OP account. We are still working on the 'new' table & chairs, but it's getting there! I've reupholstered the seats, painted the chairs, DH has sanded & waxed the table top, now we are priming then painting the table legs. I've also painted the dresser, need to give the top another sand and wax, then put new handles on (which I've got already). Looking forward to having a fully functioning dining room, although I fear it may still be a few weeks til we get to that stage!

I'm still putting any cash back I earn into the OP account, so there are dribs and drabs going into there. I'm still not paying anything off until it hits £500 though, and is a capital repayment, but not sure if that's my best option or not-I still need to call the BS and talk to them about overpayments!

I've done a bit of overtime at work recently, I do on call so if there are any patients who need urgent scans out of hours, I'm on call on some days to come in and scan them. I got called in on Saturday night so will get paid for that next month, and I'm planning on putting that straight into OP. In fact, I've decided on a set amount for my wages, that anything I earn on top of what I earnt in March 2014 (I had a small pay rise in April, the tax code went up, plus I'm doing more weekends and we earn a little more for that) will go straight into OP. I'm hoping that will add an extra £50-100 a month, which will certainly help!

edinburgher

£4.50?!

Blimmin' bargain - that's less than I pair for a quick strim at the barber

laura_hoggle

Yep-worth checking out the local hairdressing colleges! I think they charge £2.50 here for men's cuts. A lot of people think I'm mad letting a student loose on my hair, but the places I've been the tutors are always keeping an eye on them, and will step in if necessary!