Excited to try and be mortgage free

chumpy45

Thanks GreenT. Concert was fab, I was a very proud mum. Perhaps he will become the next Ed Sheeran and I won't have to worry about my retirement fund :rotfl: Saw DS3 as well on Saturday which was lovely. I was expecting a bit of a spendy day but only paid for lunch in the end. I was very restrained in all the shops and only made one little purchase in Lakeland of one those drain weasel unclogger tools. I know how to live dangerously when I am on a shopping spree. How things change.:T

chumpy45

A little bit late in the day for Feb but have been spreadsheet crunching and have just sorted some figures;

Oustanding Mortgage £19,862.93
Emergency Savings £2000/£5000
FIRE Savings (reg saver) 2,033.00
Pension AVCs £900.00
New regular saver £300/£3600
Daily Interest Feb £38.73/28 = £1.38
LTV = 5.5% (if I have calculated this correctly!)

Have also written a letter to my AVC company to see if they will accept transfers in from previous deferred benefits. I have 2 previous deferred schemes. I am thinking, if possible, of adding these to my Pension AVC fund and gathering all my eggs in one basket. Not sure if this is the best course of action, but will see what they say and then have another think about it. I am really pleased to have finally written the letter as it has been on my "To Do" list for quite some time. It's is so good to tick it off.

Just checked the bank account and noticed a sum of £580 had gone out for OH's professional subscription! I am hoping his employer will pick up this tab and refund him, but I am not sure. If they won't, then my cunning plan for another sneaky OP will be cancelled PDQ. Nearly Friday :T

chumpy45

Yippee,it's Friday and I withdrew £2.27 from TCB. A couple of other teeny amounts still pending, so more excitement to come ! Have to work tomorrow as it's Open Day. We are not paid but can accrue TOIL (time off in lieu) which I can hopefully add to my summer hols. I am having to give a mini presentation on a subject which I do not teach as a a colleague is off sick. Should be interesting. I am really hoping no-one asks any questions :rotfl: Posted off my letter re. AVC query and also hoping to get back in touch with an independent FA who was referred to staff via the college where I work. Would be interesting to hear his views on our pension situation too and it's a free first visit :T Happy weekend everyone.

chumpy45

I have been thoroughly spoiled today by the DSs. 3 out of the 4 boys were at home which was lovely and we played silly games this evening. Great memories being made. We skyped the missing DS so he didn't feel left out. Charades via skype anyone ? The joys of technology. He will be home at Easter :T Payday arrived. We are on schedule to pay off the 0% CC in October. Need to ring FD and check how much we can overpay this year on mortgage (that was on my list last week and didn't happen!), also need to ask them to change the date the reg saver comes out as it is currently in the middle of the month which is when I opened it. I like everything to come out at the beginning so it doesn't get forgotten and you know where you are. One more week teaching and then the Easter hols begin. Can't wait. I am planning a wardrobe sort out and hopefully ebaying or FBing some of the contents. Am also trying to sort out the cycle to work scheme. The HR department at my employer don't seem to know anything about it. I have seen a couple of bikes at good prices in Halfords for me and DS4 and would like to get going on this. Will ask again at work tomorrow. Will do spreadsheet crunching tomorrow and hopefully report back on figures. Hope you've all had a good weekend and here we go again with Monday ........................

chumpy45

After a lot of thought, I have decided to work next week and save some days for the summer holidays. I have loads of marking to do and would only end up doing it at home if not. I will go into work in the morning and work from home in the afternoon. That way I can provide sustenance and support for DS4 who will be revising for GCSEs! I have purchased bikes for DS4 and myself this weekend. My employer’s Cycle to Work scheme proved to be absolutely rubbish. I could only buy from their website and the bikes were really expensive. So I took a trip to our local Halfords who had a number of special offers for Easter. I also cheekily asked for a discount as I was buying two bikes at the same time and they gave me an extra 10% off. I bought two bikes, helmets, locks and baskets for less than the price of the cheapest bike with the employer’s Cycle to Work scheme. I hope the weather cheers up as I anticipate I will be a fair weather only cyclist :rotfl:. I already have the money for the bikes saved, so I have transferred it to my Sant123 account, which is the “holding” account for the 0% CC money due in October. Food spends seem to be going into overdrive now everyone is home, so I need to try and keep an eye on this. DH has had some days off and tends to keep going to the supermarket everyday instead of cooking what is on the meal plan or in the fridge. Stern words were said. Right, need to get sorted for the morning. Good luck with Monday everyone.

chumpy45

Hi all, as usual with me, a little late in the day reporting figures for March, but here goes;

Outstanding Mortgage at 01.04.19 = £19,375.45
Emergency Savings - £2575/£5000
FIRE Savings (reg saver) - £2,200.00
Pension AVCs to date - £1000.00
New regular saver - £600/£3600
Daily Interest Mar £33.32/31 = £1.07

I am hoping to round off the mortgage balance and OP the £375.45 which means we would creep into the £18Ks. It would also reduce the LTV to 5.42%.

I have sent forms back to my AVC provider so they can obtain some transfer values from two previous providers. The values won't be very high, but hopefully can both go to top up my AVC account and make it look a little healthier. My FIRE savings shown above will also go to the AVC fund when it matures, although I may do a little more research about that to see if that's the best thing to do. Will start a new regular saver when in matures. Another two months I think.

DS1 due home on Thursday for Easter which means all my DSs will be home in the nest. I love having them all home and they love being together. Can't wait :j

chumpy45

Finally managed to login to the Prudential Teacher AVC online portal (after having locked myself out twice!!). I am delighted to report that my AVC contributions have made the fantastic profit of £5.01 in ten months. Whoop whoop, I can retire soon :rotfl: Am relieved that I have plans in progress towards retirement. Whilst due to my age I probably won't be able to retire early, hopefully at least, I will be able to retire comfortably. If only I had come across this forum/mind set many years ago. Still I comfort myself with the knowledge that it is better late than never. Right, having thought I was caught up with laundry, I have now started again with bedding. At least it's a lovely blowy day so it will be line dried. Have a good day everyone.

greent

I think 4 children is also a 'hindrance' to early retirement - not that we'd be without them, of course - but there's no denying the extra costs/ less potential for saving/ investing with them (very tongue in cheek!) x

chumpy45

Hi GreenT, sorry for the delay in responding. You are absolutely right. Money seems to have been hemorrhaging from our account over Easter and when you look back at all expense over the years, we could have retired by now :rotfl: But you are absolutely right, we wouldn't be without them :A We have celebrated DS4's 16th birthday this week. We allowed him a night off from GCSE revision (such kind parents :rotfl:) DS1 and DS3 go back to work and Uni respectively on Saturday, so the nest starts to empty again I paid £380 to the mortgage today which was available in the account just before payday so the mortgage now stands at £18,995.45. Will be rather a tight weekend ! This sneaks us into the £18s which is great. Still nothing back from the pension people so awaiting an update there. I have just discovered the "Escape Artist" blog about FIRE and have really enjoyed reading this. It really does make it seem possible (even if I have discovered it much too late really). I am determined to make the most of the monies we can invest between now and retirement, even though it is a bit of an uphill battle with OH. He likes the idea of MSE and FIRE but doesn't really want to actually do it in practical everyday terms. I have decided to stop getting annoyed about it, and just quietly plug away on my own making whatever economies and investments I can. I can be happy with my spreadsheets on my own :rotfl: Right, dashing off to DS4's singing lesson now, so have a good weekend everyone .

chumpy45

Mortgage payment went out today showing an outstanding balance of £18,474.65 :T My mini target is to reach the £17s by the end of the month if at all possible. The interest paid is not showing yet so will update when the figure is available. I have some money saved up which I have accrued whilst prevaricating about opening a Vanguard account. I keep wavering between opening the Vanguard or increasing AVCs as I would benefit from the tax relief. Any sage advice anyone? Lots of paying out this week for DS4 who has had a successful audition for a show in the summer (£125) plus his dance lessons for this term (£85) theatre choir fees for this term (£60) a leavers sweatshirt (£22), prom ticket (£25) :eek: Hopefully that little run of expenses has come to a halt but can't be absolutely certain :rotfl: I have been reading today that the best day to buy premium bonds is the last day of the month so there is maximum investing benefit. I need to check and potentially change my DD as I have a feeling it comes out on the first of the month. Every little helps lol. This is my "day off" until I start teaching at 4.00 until 9.00 p.m. tonight. However, I have too much marking and preparation so am already at the laptop (just having a little break reading diaries). Never mind, it will soon be the summer hols and we have a lovely long weekend to look forward to. Happy hump day everyone.