Excited to try and be mortgage free

chumpy45

So this conversation happened ....

OH (in a very cross and accusing tone) "I've just checked the mortgage balance and it's much lower than last time I looked"
ME (secretly rolling eyes) "that's because we've been overpaying"
OH "well, you must have have overpaid a big chunk because it's much lower than before"
ME (beginning to despair) "no, I've just been regularly overpaying whenever and wherever possible, cos that's what we agreed"
OH "well, I didn't know it was this low"
ME (losing the will to live) "that will be because you don't normally check the balance, but surely that's a good thing isn't it?"
OH "well yes, but "

ME... exits room slowly - there are no words lol :rotfl:

chumpy45

A new month and a little spreadsheet juggling this morning. I have OPd our regular £250 plus 18p to have a nice round figure. This brings the balance down to £13,956.00 and daily interest last month was 89p. It's definitely feeling like the end is in sight! No doubt December will be a more expensive month than normal as the DSs are home (apart from DS2 who is far, far away ) but hopefully, with some carefully budgeting of the remaining Christmas saving money and some topcashback which is due, I might be able to squeeze another little OP. Am very happy with progress to date though. Hope everyone is starting to feel festive. I think I am more excited than the boys :xmassmile

savingholmes

Congrats on all your over-payments. What's the goal for 2020?

Happy New Year

chumpy45

Oops MIA, thanks for dropping in SavingHolmes, you prompted me to check in. The goal is hopefully to clear the mortgage, but we will see what happens! Hope everyone enjoyed Christmas, I had a poorly mum in the run up to Christmas, and then DS1 ended up in A&E the day before Christmas Eve with chest pains which was quite frightening for a time. All ended well with nothing sinister and both mum and DS1 were able to enjoy the big day. It all passed in a bit of a (very enjoyable) blur and now here we are in 2020! Payday yesterday, so I will do some spreadsheet shenanigans later and report back with some figures. A lovely bit of news was that on Christmas Eve I was checking the current account (as you do) and we had received a PPI refund of £1100. Good old Santa, that was a very welcome gift. Happy New Year to everyone - good luck with MFW challenges over the coming year. Happiness and good health to all x

chumpy45

So after some money moving madness, the mortgage balance as of 1st January 2020 stands at £13,250.00. In January 2019 the balance was £21,990.00 so a reduction of £8740 over the year including normal mortgage payments. We should really be able to do much better than than, but it is a bit of a one person battle in our household (namely me :rotfl: ) so I will be happy with what has been achieved and feel lucky that it is reducing whilst simultaneously biting my tongue as unnecessary spending carries on apace ! We are supposed to being going to the seaside today for a walk on the beach with the pooch, but as yet I am the only one awake so I am not sure if that will happen. I may end up going to Aldi instead. With the DSs home we seem to be running out of food almost daily :rotfl: Hopefully will fit in some meal planning later on today so I can be a little bit prepared for the return to work next week. Christmas decorations all down and tidied away following by a good dust and hoover, so I guess it is really all over now for another year Good luck with all new year challenges everyone.

Moneyfordreams

you are in the final year or 18 months, how amazing is that :T:T:T:T

Jessy103

Well done, chumpy!! Must be a great feeling to know it's nearly all gone! Good luck with the final months

chumpy45

Thank you for your kind words and encouragement MoneyforDreams and Jessy103, the end is definitely in sight. I have been moving money from one account to another this afternoon as the credit card with all the Christmas spending has just been paid. DH has just also had two new tyres so I had to transfer money from the car pot back to the current account. Lots of spreadsheet jiggling, my favourite pastime. My hours have been increased at work to full time, however this is only temporarily and will be paid on a hourly contract probably until the end of the academic year. This will mean more money but the extra work will also mean quite a lot of stress. I am trying to be super organised so that I can eliminate as much stress as possible. Unfortunately, there are a couple of very unpleasant members of our team who I am going to have to work with and I am not looking forward to it at all. They have caused so much trouble in the past for others and I am hoping it is not going to be my turn! I will keep my head down as much as possible as I'm not very good at confrontation. On another note, I was hoping we would be able to book a holiday for early July just before peak season kicks in as both DS4 and I finish early. Unfortunately, DS3's graduation will be slap bang in the middle of the one week we could go so it means we will probably not be able to go until August which will be much more expensive !! Will have to rethink that one. I am also planning to look at our broadband deal over the next couple of days, we seem to be paying a lot although it is tied up with the phone and BT Sport. We never really use the landline any more so I'm sure could secure a better deal. My new year's resolution to lose weight was scuppered (again) last night when I went for a night out with friends and had a yummy chocolate brownie with chocolate icecream for dessert. Honestly, I just have zero will power. Never mind, there's always next week. Have a good weekend everyone.

chumpy45

Well it was my birthday week so the diet didn't really happen (again). Next week is a colleague's 60th and we are going out for a meal so perhaps I should start again in February :rotfl: I have finally switched AVC fund on the advice of the pension adviser recommended through work. It has taken months to finally get this advice so I hope it is worth it. We swapped the balance of the 0% CC to a new 0% provider as it wasn't quite settled and the 0% date was almost up. I can't wait for that to be gone so that funds can be diverted to the mortgage. January seems to be a long month doesn't it. The pet insurance renewal is due in February and the renewal price is almost £25 dearer PER MONTH. I think even though the dog is now 10 we might start to self-fund. Every time we have been to the vet so far it has never been enough to claim due to the excess so I really wish we had self-funded from the start. There are also so many exclusions and terms attached to the policies that it hardly seems worth it. We are off to DS3’s uni on Monday night (luckily only one hour away). He has organised an event on campus to promote mental health awareness and is the compere for the night. There are events all through the day and evening with various speakers and musicians. It has been a lot of work for him on top of normal uni assignments so I am very proud of what he has achieved. One more payment on our FD regular saver and that will be the year so we should achieve the bonus. I can’t believe how much the rates have reduced. It used to be 8% when we first opened a regular saver and the new one will be 2.75 ! I have been prepping and marking all afternoon and have had enough now as it is supposed to be a day off. All sorts of unpleasant stuff going on at work at the moment so I’m going to shut the computer and make a tuna and pasta bake and try to forget about it all. I know how to rock and roll. Enjoy the weekend everyone.

Jessy103

Happy belated birthday!! :bdaycake: