I really really want to be........mortgage free!

ourcornercottage

Still not got a lot of a MSE mojo going on. Things are tight financially at work and at home so its always a little soul destroying.

I have though got in my head to refocus on my blog (https://www.stretchyourpennies.co.uk) in case you haven't seen it. I need some inspiration though.

I also have started properly with my volunteering this week so thats been really nice. I am happy to be doing it. Its with a charity called Home Start, a really worthwhile cause if anyone has free time.

Finally I am starting to think about what I want to do when we wind the business down a little, my partner is almost 10 years older than me (he is currently 51) we have a plan to have our mortgage done etc by the time he is 60. In terms of running our business as we do now I am thinking another couple of years then focusing on one part of it. This would only require me a couple of days a week so I could possibly retrain as we will need additional income although at a much lower level. Just mulling this all over at the moment thinking of where I want to be in say 5 years.

AlexLK

Sorry to hear you're having a tough time.

Just looked up the Home Start charity, it looks very interesting. What type of things are you doing with the pre-schoolers / parents to get them read for school? Basic phonics / reading / writing / numbers? It seems so many parents don't get involved in their children's schooling, unfortunately.

ourcornercottage

AlexLK wrote: »

Sorry to hear you're having a tough time.

Just looked up the Home Start charity, it looks very interesting. What type of things are you doing with the pre-schoolers / parents to get them read for school? Basic phonics / reading / writing / numbers? It seems so many parents don't get involved in their children's schooling, unfortunately.

It's not in my case but can be in other. It's a real mix of requirements.

Tough time is continuing, looking forwards to new term starting as this holidays has been very up and down. Want to draw a line under it. Miniocc is very anxious at the moment which I really don't like and struggle to know how to deal with. You shouldn't be anxious at age 7.
Going back to school should reset things I hope. He likes structure and the last 3 weeks or so haven't been structured at all.

Managed to not pay into my regular saver this month (simple mistake) so sent £200 to mortgage to make up for it, also forget to send in FIT reading so did that yesterday and will get that in mid September.

My last OP of month will be on 31st this month due to weekly pay/monthly bills. So won't know how we're doing this month until then.

Still ill, it's been 4 weeks now and not feeling better at all. Went to pharmacy yesterday and got some stuff which has actually helped a bit. I really want to feel 100% now as its draining feeling ill this long even if it is only a head cold!

smallholdingsister

Have you tried night nurse and day nurse?
Not cheap but work like a charm.

hiddenshadow

I hope things improve for you soon, OCC! Sounds like a lot to deal with at once.

ourcornercottage

The aim for this month was £500 and we have managed to achieve this which is great. Not a fantastic month but we have been doing renovations and things have seemed tight so I am happy with this. Luckily things seemed to have turned a bit of a corner so I am hoping to get £500 + FIT payment OP next month.

Balance stands at £117200 may manage to get into the 115's next month if everything goes in the right direction

Capital Reduction £1090 which is exactly the same as last month! (Over £1000 so its okay but way under my £1333.33 target which is really very sad)

OP's this month £506.81 which is okay and what was expected.

Interest paid this month £237.64
Interest paid August 2015 £265.50
£27.86 Less interest paid in 2016

Daily interest is now £7.58 28p less than last month and 76p less than the start of the year.

ST savings increased by £612.17
LT savings increased by £1896.74
School/Annual Bills Savings increased by £222.80
Total increase in savings £2731.71 (a really good month)

FIRE target at 7.54 % up 0.38% on last month and 2.86% increase since the beginning of the year.

In summary an average OP month but good on the savings and all in all I am happy with the month.

November will see a drop in savings as £2600 is going to be spent on new guttering and fascias for the house.

Next week we have flooring completed in dining room and study £600 but this is already budgeted for separately so no savings will have to be touched!

shangaijimmy

£1k a month net reduction is a fantastic achievement, especially in summer holiday time!

AlexLK

shangaijimmy wrote: »

£1k a month net reduction is a fantastic achievement, especially in summer holiday time!

I'll second this.

Moneyfordreams

3rd ... Well done

ourcornercottage

Thanks x 3!

£1000 capital reduction per month used to be my dream pre MSE now it's the norm most months.

Sometimes we all need a little reminder of just how far we've come, even on the worse months