Managing The Mortgages

saver03

Today has been a good one moneywise even though I haven't really done anything productive!

• Won £25 on the lottery (will go straight into sealed jar)
• 5 items sold on ebay (so far, hoping for more!)
• Entered my meter readings and our direct debit is staying the same

The sealed jar is where I put all our £2 coins, lottery wins and also we save 1ps, 2ps and 5ps and then when we get enough for a note I put that note in the sealed jar too. When we opened one in 2012 we had over £750 in so it does add up and isn't really a hardship.

Since I've had all my buy it nows on eBay they have been doing really well and I've been selling at least 1 item per day and it soon adds up in my paypal account. Just need to get my finger out and get the rest of my auction items on there.

Now what we really need to achieve is keeping our credit card bill down. We do pay it off in full each month so we don't pay interest but the monthly balance is getting ridiculous and if didn't keep just popping stuff on there then we would have more money to save each month. I need to go through the statements and see what actually goes on there as currently the balance is over £650 :eek:

Luckyinlife

I love the saving money in jars part i save myself i just stick it all in one big tub and count it end of the year :]

saver03

Watching "Rich Kids of Beverly Hills" and weeping at the houses!! And their cars are slightly nicer than my Corsa, but on the plus side I don't have any finance on my car :T

The thing that I think about when I am getting a touch of the green eyed monster about other peoples' lavish lifestyles is that you don't actually know what's paid for and what's on credit. Someone you perceive as having it all may in fact be drowning in debt and struggling to pay even the minimum amount each month.

Didn't really do much over the bank holiday, spent some time with my Goddaughter and had tea at her house so that is very money saving :rotfl: Was very productive with my ebay listing too :A but still lots to list as I have had a clear out of my unwanted treasures as somehow I have managed to acquire a lot of stuff over the years.

We need to cut down on our "luxuries" like take aways and eating out as that is something we do a lot of each month!!! I need to make sure I meal plan so I don't just say, "Oh let's just go out." And then we generally just "pop it on the credit card" and that soon mounts up. Plus, on this months bill we bought some concert and theatre tickets so it is very high at nearly £900 :eek: We do pay it off in full every month but we could be using that money for much better things.

Anyway, enough of my motivational ramblings I need to get back to my ebaying and maybe cut up the credit card

saver03

Just thought that I would write something so that I can motivate myself on this dull Thursday!

Well we didn't win the lottery so need to stay focussed and make more money, easy! :rotfl:

Money making wise I am counting at the election tonight and tomorrow afternoon so that's £160 :j

I am still plodding on with the eBay listings and as always I am hoping for bidding wars. Hopefully 1 day soon our house will be clutter free and we will have more money.

We are now 2 thirds of the way into paying the inlaws back and I would love to do it before the end of the year but I keep thinking of all the expenses we have at the end of the year and I am not sure if it will be possible now :mad: But in the worst case scenario we have 10 more payments to go and then we will have an extra £500 to save in my ISA for our emergency fund.

Well I must go now and get my high quality goods on eBay before I have a nap in preparation for tonight as who knows what time I will be finished tomorrow morning and I am back counting tomorrow at noon :eek:

saver03

We are still just plodding along with our finances, paying the MIL loan of £500 a month, OP of £100 a month and saving the rest in OH's isa for our spending money for New York. Been doing well with the eb@ying though :A But to be honest could be doing much better :mad:

Been thinking about life and what I want from it, and I have come to the conclusion that when I am lay on my deathbed I am more likely to regret not having travelled somewhere rather than not living in a bigger house. We have decided that while we still have a low mortgage we are going to take all the big trips that we want. We still aim to move to our forever home soon and become MF but as life is so short and can change suddenly we are going to go out and have fun while we still can. We are still going to OP £100 a month as we don't notice not having it and it makes a massive difference. Then in December 2017 when our fixed rate is up we will be at 60% LTV so should be able to get the best rate when we remortgage. And with any luck by then we will have taken some pretty amazing trips and be ready to commit to saving for our forever home, as we are not getting any younger. But what would be even better is a lottery win as then we could take lots of amazing trips and live in a massive house :rotfl:

Anyway, I still have quite a few bits to get on eb@y to be clutter free and make some extra cash so I better stop procrastinating and get on with it.

saver03

Well it's official my OH's parents are legends. We still had £4000 to pay them back but they said as we have done so well with our consistent monthly payments we don't have to pay them anymore back. :j

Now the main aim is to not squander the extra £500 a month we have. :embarasse

We have already made the decision that over the next couple of years we are going to use our extra money on holidays rather than move to a bigger house. But I would still like to get some money into the ISA as we do still owe my mum money and we also need a bigger emergency fund for when we move to our forever home.

As you can never have too much money I am doing a car boot next Sunday, weather permitting and I still need to list some clothes on eBay. Plus, the sealed jar is flilling up nicely with £2 coins and a few notes

Anyway, enough procrastination I better get organising.

saver03

Well I can honestly say we have had some amazing holidays, New York, Las Vegas, French Riviera, South African safari, Brussels, Cyprus and a tour of Australia. But this unfortunately has given me the travel bug and there are so many other places I would love to go. I have also been going to more concerts and theatre shows so our savings are none existent.

Although our lack of savings is being affected by the fact that we don't have a tenant in our BTL apartment so we are having to pay all the bills on that. We do have it up for sale but not had many viewings over the last few months so I think we are going to rent it out again.

We have decided to OP £150 a month on our residential mortgage as I am sure we won't really notice that and it will make a massive difference. Also, to move into our forever home and make sure our new mortgage isn't too restricting we would let to save up a few thousand pounds for a bigger deposit.

I think we need to find the perfect balance between living our lives, and not feeling that we are missing out, and saving some money so we can move.

LeighofMar

Its such a juggling act isnt it? But your trips sound awesome and something youll always remember. We have a small travel trailer for the same reason so we can travel and have experiences and have no regrets. And still pay the mortgage off. Enjoy your travels.

saver03

I am not your typical woman, I have been struck down with the man flu so feeling very sorry for myself today And as it is also snowing quite hard I will not be venturing out today. But on the plus side I will be saving some money as I was meant to be going for lunch, shopping and the cinema with my mum, so every cloud :rotfl:

Been getting a plan together as if I don't move from this house soon I will be driven crazy by my neighbours. Since my last ramblings the man next door's wife moved out and he has a young girlfriend who does not have an indoor voice! So much so we embarrassingly had to go and see to let them know that the walls between the bedrooms are thin and we hear everything But she also brought with her a toddler who spends a lot of the days screaming.

As we have a 10 year fix we can only overpay the mortgage by 5% each year without incurring fees. So I am going to have to stay strong when I see the money building up in the ISA and not book a holiday!

We are remortgaging the apartment we rent out and taking some money out of it to put towards the deposit on our forever home. So once this happens I will pay off the 5% for the year and then put the rest in savings and then in November pay another 5% off. I am excited to get the mortgage to under £50k :T

I am having a big clear out as I have amassed so much stuff over the years and now seems like the best time so we don't take any unwanted treasures into a new house. However, my OH is not that keen on eBaying and FB selling as he says you don't get much for the stuff so we should just throw it all out :eek: I have put my foot down with this as I know with what we have we will get a few hundred pounds as we have some of his old space Lego from the 70s/80s. Just need him to organise and build his Lego to make sure that we do have full sets!

Well I better go and crunch some numbers so I know realistically how much we can afford to borrow and how much more we will need to save to move into our ideal forever home.