Mortgage free by 48

pathtofreedom

Today I've made it to 15 nsds in jan :j which was a target I thought was going to be really hard, but I still have quite a lot of month left. I think trying to do a 5 day in a row target has helped too. I've made it up to 4 days but there is still time.

It has stopped me just going food shopping cause I'm bored, and have nothing in, as I'm more excited by having another nsd now. So still time to try and get the 5 days in a row as well.

I've managed to stop looking at campervans for now. I need to check the work holiday callender this weekend, and see if it is worth trying for a sun holiday soon I think.

My daily interest is only just about £8 right now, but that will go up again a bit once cash is moved out to pay the mortgage and bills for next month.

Still no sign of any houses around me being sold, so still hard to work out how much of a loss it would be to sell.

I have some terrible carpet in the house. I can't decide if I get it all replaced which would cost me more money, or just leave it and say that is part of why I'm selling a bit cheaper than the others. Every house on rightmove seems to have the same dark wood flooring now, and completely tiled bathrooms. I'm not very good at decorating etc but it just looks too much like a hotel for me. I begrudge spending any more on the place unless I know I will recoup the costs still I suppose.

Tomorrow is more marathon overtime again, but this I will try and get put into the pension if it looks like it will be paid this tax year. Just to keep it from the 40% rate.

pathtofreedom

Jan has been a nsd success. I've managed 20 when I'd thought 15 was going to be hard, and 4 days in a row when I'd aimed for 5. Doing this challenge has really helped cut my food bill down as well, as I have stopped myself from spoiling a nsd run of days by going out. when I thought I had no food in.

I think for Feb I'll say 15 and 5 days in a row again, just as it is a shorter month, and I'm finally getting some weekends back to myself so am going out next weekend.

I think the snow has helped with keeping this months whole budget quite low, as I haven't been in the office as much, so less petrol costs and temptation from the canteen as well. That and working every day for 3 weeks meant I've been to busy to go out, normally though that would mean I'd be very dependant on take away, but I only had one unplanned one and it wasn't that good, so I think that helped stop me ordering more as well as the nsd's .

So this month the mortgage is down to £106,910 and £8.13 daily interest, but that will go up a bit later in the month once febs bills need paying. So that is with a whopping £548.07 OP in Jan helped by selling some things and wanting to keep below £107k.

Still no sign of my yearly statement but hopefully it will come soon, as it is hard to tell with having money in the offset as well just how far ahead I am or not.

For the rest of my goals they are a bit varied.

1. move to a new job, and maybe a new house too. - no new job but going to focus on moving house this year now instead
2. lose 52lbs - lost 6 lbs :j
3. walk 3k steps a day minimum - gone out the window with work and snow so start again tomorrow
4. complete a course on coursera or edx - not yet started.
5. get a social hobby to make some friends - not yet started.
6. stop the takeaways and cook more - only 3 take aways, two planned one unplanned but very pleased with that

I'm still pondering about a camper van and articles like this today aren't helping. http://www.theguardian.com/travel/shortcuts/2015/jan/25/white-van-man-upcycles-vehicle-into-travelling-studio-flat As this is what I'd want to get and nearly impulse bought earlier in the month. I've decided though to add categories for a bongo van, and also moving house expenses into ynab and actually save up for something for a change. It doesn't mean I can't have one then I just need to either save enough for it out of savings and this years holiday funds, or wait till next year. With moving house too, it is probably best to wait as I'll need somewhere to keep it.

I have been watching those sell your house programs and did thing about going on a mad decorating spree, but I don't think now the costs of what need doing will actually be worth it. So I am just going with plan a to declutter enough to be able to downsize, and see if the market picks up a bit so the empty houses round me sell. Once something eventually sells, I'll get a better idea of what the house is worth now, and what to put it on the market for and what my budget will be for a new place.

Today I'm going to go through my books again and see what I can get on amazon trade in etc. I did have a cull last year but after years of going to borders and tesco etc etc, that is a big part of my downsizing. I'm going to try and only keep some fav authors, or ones that are signed I think, and get rid of everything else.

pathtofreedom

So much for my lay in as the dog had other ideas. I had a voucher for a mcdonalds breakfast for £1.99 so went and got that. Today will be more sorting out and decluttering as I got quite into it yesterday.

I didn't go with amazon in the end, as I could get more from ziffit and for cash for the same books. Also there is 10% cash back through quidco for ziffit so every bit helps.

I've just done a £115 op based on the quidco money I had through this week, and what I'll get from ziffit next week. I know I might get less, but the last time I used them it came through ok, and I liked that as a nice round number. Once the quidco money comes through I'll pay that bit later, as that can be more hit and miss.

I ordered some plants from Thompson and Morgan, with some tesco clubcard vouchers as it is free shipping this weekend. I managed to spend £45 worth of vouchers on £44.92 worth of stuff so quite pleased by that. I think I have some more vouchers somewhere, so if I can find those today I'll see what else I can get. I'm thinking some pots so I can take what I'm buying with me when I move.

I managed to take the dog out for a walk yesterday too, it was bitterly cold with the wind but the snow has nearly all melted at least.

Now to watch an episode of spiral from last night, then take the ziffit boxes to asda to post with collect+, another couple of boxes to the charity shop, then back to do some more sorting out and take the dog out again later.

pathtofreedom

When I had been looking at houses on rightmove I'd just been looking for places the same or cheaper than I am now. The idea being I could just port my mortage over then, and be a step closer to mfw. The further south you get though £140k doesn't get you very much if anything at all. It dawned on me last night though this might not be the best plan.

I have a 2 year tracker and 3 year fix, the fix starts in july but it is 4.44 which seemed a lot better than the 6.5 I had before. Looking now though I could get a 10 year offset at 3.64 with 75% ltv with unlimited over payements, so I could even do a longer term just to give me more options later if I couldn't keep up with OP.

I finally got my statement through today which reduced my monthly payment to £648.51 from march. I've worked out though once the rate goes up it will be more like £715 a month again. So if I move house after july there is no early repayment fee, and I could get a new deal with a much lower repayment, and probably borrow some more to give me more options as to where I move to next.

So my new plan is to work out how much I can afford to still be in 75% ltv in a new place. Once the new tax year starts to scale back on pension contributions just enough to get the matched income, to make my wage slips look bigger, and to help save a bit more deposit. Start looking round different areas and weigh up living by the sea, to living in under hours commute to london, to living in a town, to living somewhere with a nice view, or somewhere big enough to have lodgers or not.

Hopefully you won't kick me off the mfw board for considering increasing my mortgage, but I think it is probably worth it in the long run.

pathtofreedom

Haven't managed my nsd's this month. I've been poorly and back and forward to the doctors a lot which is annoying.

I put off the estate agent last week but he is coming tomorrow again now. I haven't done as much decluttering as I wanted due to being ill but it is a start. I have got a couple of quotes from solicitors too for legal fees which were more than I thought. I've reduced my dd to the SS nisa to help save some more cash to help with these extra costs.

Roll on March and more op's and nsd's.

pathtofreedom

Been a busy day, trip to the tip, trip to the charity shop, and now just taking photos of things and putting them on facebook local sale page. If they don't sell then they will be off to the charity shop too I think.

I have a new cleaner starting soon too, they are starting with a big spring clean to get it ready to take photos for the estate agent. I've managed to do a deal to sell a gutiar to knock some money off the price too, so if I'm lucky she might want some more bits around the house which will reduce the cost even more.

I've made an OP of £106.49 today, which takes this years OP's up to £816.97, which I just realised is over a whole months payment for this year already. Even with wanting to sell I think it is still work doing the OP's as it all helps increase the equity hopefully. I have reduced my S&S nisa monthly payment though from £250 to £50 just so it looks better for affordabilty. I'll change my pension contributions to for April onwards to be the minium to get the matched contribution, just until after I move now just so my wages look more. That might back fire on me if it takes a long time to move though, and I have to change it to ramp the contributions back up, but I guess I can see after the summer as it all depends how much overtime there is as well.

Right back to decluttering and taking photos to sell things, the house won't get cleared by itself.

pathtofreedom

I've been awol from my diary a bit of late, although still posting on the boards. The whole move house plan is on hold right now, as I'm having a bit of a health scare it turns out. I should know by the weekend if it is something sinister or not, but has messed up my nsd's a bit by trying to cheer myself up and having to force myself to eat as I don't have much appetite right now due to the stress I think.

It has made me realise though I don't have enough critical illness cover, but it is too late to change that now unfortunately. Hopefully it will be fine and won't come to needing it, but I only have enough to cover the current mortgage but that's about it. I do have an offset though so if it is bad news I could just stick the money in there to live off I guess. If this all does come to nothing though it will mean having a rethink about some of this though and seeing if I can get more cover. I've always thought more long term as I have other health issues already and need to retire early but hadn't factored in something like this really.

Sorry I'm rambling a bit, I'm trying not to jinx myself or get too ahead when it might be nothing, but I am a planner by nature and I guess my way of coping right now is trying to work out that everything would still be ok or not.

Anyway for others reading this maybe have a think about how much critical illness / income protection insurance you have. I thought a 6 month emergency fund was excessive compared to some, but if it is bad news and these didn't pay out for whatever reason I'd be really stuffed. So before it is to late and something like this might happen to you, do you understand what insurance you have, and when it would pay out, as it might be worth thinking about so you don't get caught out in a similar way.

Here's hoping the solar eclipse means I'm lucky that day I have the tests and it is nothing too bad.

gallygirl

Hope all goes well x

pathtofreedom

Well March has been shocking really so here's hoping April is better.

The tests came back clear so far which is a huge weight off, but I'm still not too well and waiting to see a different consultant. Work has been crazy busy during all this as well and I'm just so lucky this bank holiday came up else i think I would have burnt out just with all the stress recently.

So anyway this weekend will give me some time to rethink again my plan for the future. I don't like my career really, and even if I changed jobs it is still going to be the same issues somewhere else like it has been before. I'd rather try and work to doing something else and part time as I don't know how long I will be able to keep working full time either. So I think my focus needs to be on chucking as much money in the pension to give it time to compound while I still can so I have some income in the future.

Also looking at moving somewhere that suits me better, but also somewhere cheaper as the sooner I have the mortgage paid the less income I'll need. Dave Ramsey has a saying you live like no one else to live like no one else, and really I don't need a massive house, this one has stung me anyway with the negative equity, so I'd be better off just downsizing now rather than than add another 80k to a mortgage just to get a bungalow then risk losing that again to negative equity.

So I spent far too long yesterday window shopping on rightmove, looking in different areas and sorts of houses. I had wanted a bungalow but there are some areas that still have terrace houses with bathrooms on the ground floor, which work out a lot cheaper so I think that might be a better option. As long as it has 2 reception rooms I could still live downstairs then once I'm too far gone for stairs completely. As much as having a 3 bed or a big house might be the aim, i am stuck with that now with rooms I don't use. I really am not good living with people so why pretend I might get a lodger, and get somewhere with more rooms than I need that costs more.

Anyway OP update £283.03 for April taking it up to £1100 for the year. The daily interest is £7.63 thanks to trying to be good with saving in the offset. So the total as it stands today is £104809.62 so if I don't move I think I'm still on track to get it below 100k this year at least. So in just under 8 years that is around 55k plus a lot of interest paid off which isn't to shabby. I don't have my statements for all those years which is a shame, as it would be interesting to see just how much in total I've paid, especially as 6 of those years was at 6.5% but I need to keep looking forward now and not back at what I've lost.

So here is to a better April, better health, more NSD's, decluttering and decorating to get this place on the market.

pathtofreedom

MOT and service tomorrow, slightly worried it is going to cost a bit as my breaks have been a bit squeeky of late. Been a long week, I don't know why 4 day weeks feel longer in a way, maybe it is because you still have the same amount of work to do in less time.

I've put a request in for some holiday in May for a couple of weeks in between the bank holidays. So after this 4 day week though having may as a 4 day week, then 2 weeks off then another 4 day week might be more nackering. Hopefully by then work might calm down a bit though.

I'm thinking a week in a caravan by the seaside somewhere with the dog, so no computers or tech apart from my kindle. Then a week getting the rest of the bits of the house sorted to get it on the market. I'm still waiting to go see another consultant but I need something to look foward to, and I think that is why my stress is so bad as I had figured out my escape plan then getting ill stopped it so I feel even more trapped. So back to getting house sold so I can move then I can get a new job too.

So plan for tomorrow, take some bits to cash convertors while I'm waiting to hear about the car. Also have some more books to check with ziffit that turned up in the spare rooms. They are doing another 10% bonus this weekend so that as well as quicdo cash back will hopefully be another 30+ quid again or more hopefully.

The decluttering has also turned up a massive stash of wool which is a lot bigger than I thought. I haven't done any crochet for ages so will pick some things I can maybe use as pressies for people this year too.

Heating has been off for a while now as well now the weather has perked up a bit. My Dad and my school had the same rules about heating that after easter no more heating till autum so I'm going to try and do that this year, and hope the temp doesn't drop back too much. I might try and see if I can get an eletric blanket reduced now it is warmer actually, so I could use that instead of heating if it is too bad.