Mortgage free Wart

Worry_Wart

Hi Lifes Grand Plan - that is a good idea, I shouldn't think of them as separate payments. I've just had a letter from the mortgage company saying my payments are now £921/month, so I'll just think in terms of that now.

I've got another 8 months of paying off a 0% credit card then I'll be upping the payments further. £1000 seems like a nice round number!

Well done for making such inroads in yours. I'm a bit worried I'll get five years in and want a bigger house too (well, just a bigger garden), but I think I'll get myself on the allotment list instead. Although the waiting list for that is almost as long as my mortgage!

Oh, also, I can pay up to 14k off per year, and I'm on a 2 year fix. I wont be going above that unless I win the lottery or something!

Worry_Wart

We're doing well on the food challenge this month. So far in August my grocery spend has been £90, and a third of that is cat food (I have two beasts with expensive taste). The boyf spent about a tenner on top of that (he's skint, as usual), and we've got loads of fresh food still left in the house, so should be good till the end of the month. I'm working away for three days next week so will get my steak in on work's dime

I've just booked a surprise week in Spain for the boyfriend's significant birthday this autumn, and flights/accommodation/car hire all come in at £450 for the two of us, which is not bad at all. I need to pay for his present as well, which will set me back £200. But then I'm sorted for another 10 years until his next significant one, so can crack on with the overpaying.

I'm due a decent bonus in a couple of months, and I'm really fighting the urge to use some of it to buy a woodburning stove, as I really miss the one we had in my previous rental property. I'm thinking it would probably be better to buy it next summer when it's off season and I'm more likely to get a discount through haggling, as opposed to now when it's peak installation time.

Usually when I find it hard to resist temptation I just make an impulse decision and then forget about it. Hopefully I'll impulsively call up Skipton and overpay with all my bonus as soon as it hits the bank. We'll see.

I do wish I could see my mortgage online, and overpay that way. It's frustrating Skipton don't have that service. If you could see it in black and white it would make it more real.

Worry_Wart

Pay day! At long blimmin last. This month has been a struggle. Anyway, I've made some in-roads on my debt, and once the 1st September rolls round there will be another chip off the mortgage.

It seems I overpaid my council tax so didn't have to pay that last month or next, by the looks of things, so that means there is more money in the emergency savings pot (as that's the account all the bills come out of). Woohoo!

I also paid £256 off my student loan. Considering I had a 20k student loan, I'm pretty pleased that's being whittled away finally. I never thought I'd paid that off.

Another £200 off my 0% credit card too. Hopefully I'll be debt free in a year or so!

jodles16

Sounds like you making great headway! I think I need to get back into meal planning makes so much sense!

Jodles

Worry_Wart

It really does! Not least because I don't spend half an hour looking into the fridge for inspiration every night anymore.

WishIwasstill25

Yay to pay days……..

& my meal planning is getting back on track too - as I'm checking the cupboards before I shop I'm now no longer in danger of being brained by tins of tomatoes every time I open the cupboard - much better idea….

Worry_Wart

Ha, good skills! I was going to meal plan for september but just counted and I'm working away 19 days in September (and possibly more as my calendar fills), so there's no point in even buying food

Still, at least it should make it a cheaper month.

WishIwasstill25

My meal plan just says 'freezer meal' every night next week as hubby is away. Cheap week for me too I hope

Worry_Wart

we've really depleted the freezer this month (well, OH did when I was in Canada). We have some smart price fish fingers (yuck) that are all orange crumb and no fish (OH will eat them when he gets desperate).

It's a proper miserable day today up north so gonna make a blackberry and apple pie with fruit gathered from the garden/bushes, some plum chutney (gathered from my neighbours garden - I love living in a friendly terrace with easy access to my neighbours fruit trees), and I've just stuck my ice cream maker in the freezer so will make some plum icecream tomorrow. Need to get out there and starting using all that free fruit before it rots in this bad weather.

Hope you all have a fun saturday too!

Worry_Wart

Another small chip off the mortgage as the 1st of the month has been and gone. I was hoping to overpay an extra £500 this month, but I've decided to clear the OH's credit card he's been paying the minimum amount on for 7 (!) years now. It really annoys me that he would have had it cleared years ago if he'd just paid a bit more as it's not a large amount, but it doesn't seem to bother him at all. The account has been frozen so he's not allowed to use it, and has no card for it, so it's not transferable to a 0% card, so I'm going to clear it and he'll pay me back over the next year instead. I'm glad he agreed to that, so we both win. Hopefully then he'll start tacking his overdraft as he'll only have one thing to focus on!

We're off to a music festival this weekend. That's going to be expensive. I was planning on baking lots beforehand to take with us but I'm working away right up until we go. should be fun though! And the weather is looking good so far too, miraculously.