OK lets do this.....24 payments to go

Sundaysgirl

spendinglikemad wrote: »

Thought it was about time to do an update as lots has changed - and I need to change the thread title!!!! :rotfl:

So, after being mortgage neutral earlier this year we decided to go ahead with our dream house purchase. We moved in in April and have spent some time and money doing the priority works required (some remedial building/electrics/plumbing works) really to get the house more energy efficient for winter (and mend a few leaks!)

So we moved from a 1980's 4 bed detached - dbl garage and tiny garden - on a small cul-de-sac to now owning a 1920's 6 bed, multi reception room, enormous garden and garage on a beautiful old street and backs onto golf course so its lovely and quiet and we absolutely love it.

So, where are we at with mortgage you may ask! - it's certainly eye watering at the moment - I can't actually own up to the total amount (haven't had a statement!!! though we are in the £400ks:eek: plus BTL on our other property at £140k:eek: ) our plan was to get the essential works done with the cash we had saved and then when our previous house sells we can pay off 10% per year and get other things done. So we just need to be very patient right now.

So we are trying to save/not spend as much as possible and though not overpaying this year - we will when our previous house sells and then I want to start chipping away at the elephant.

Loving reading everyones posts.....and I will try to do a new SoA - at least coming on here will keep me focussed

SLM

How exciting - congrats on the move! I'm sure you'll be chipping away at the hefty mortgage in no time!

spendinglikemad

Sundaysgirl wrote: »

How exciting - congrats on the move! I'm sure you'll be chipping away at the hefty mortgage in no time!

I hope so - coming on here really focusses my mind just to start small every month!!

SLM

spendinglikemad

Not much has changed here since last update. Agreed to get the internal doors done, which is last part of our savings to renovate the house (a big room split into 2 which was how it was originally)
We we are still trying to sell our old property I was so excited to get an offer last week only to have it removed when the buyers couldn't get the mortgage they wanted. As soon as that place is sold we can pay off the first 10% max on this mortgage and get other things done - and it was also mean not paying extra council tax and insurance so we will be able to make some O/P and do some more renovations.
Apart from that its trying not to spend on items apart from essentials (food/petrol/school)
We also really want a dog!! Cant commit to that until we have sold so eagerly waiting!

SLM

Sundaysgirl

Good luck selling!


After years of longing we finally got a dog last November (two weeks after moving into our new home - not the best timing but there never is a good time IMO) - best thing we ever did!!

spendinglikemad

Sundaysgirl wrote: »

Good luck selling!


After years of longing we finally got a dog last November (two weeks after moving into our new home - not the best timing but there never is a good time IMO) - best thing we ever did!!

Aw thats good to know, I may just satisfy myself with reading up on the do's and don'ts of having a puppy to prepare us!

SLM

spendinglikemad

So, things are progressing here, not on the mortgage O/P yet but (fingers crossed) soon to complete on our house sale and then we will be back to one mortgage (and one set of bills albeit smaller ones) to pay and then we can concentrate on our O/P plan.

The options are to O/P 10% immediately off the elephant mortgage - bringing it to hopefully under £400k and then use the remaining money to renovate, build, furnish the house (there is a list of jobs to do....some boring essential ones like redo garage roof as its leaking & some nice ones like re-do 2nd floor bedrooms and hike kids up there - furniture needed as they are currently languishing in what will be guest rooms so in no rush to move!!! ) Except any time guest over to stay its a big tidy up and move!! Other jobs are a re-vamp of current dining room and sun lounge and thinking of moving the kitchen so I need to get some people out to quote and give me ideas (which I can then use for my own design!!) my only worry is whether the budget will allow but may just have to do these jobs gradually with bonus/share payouts

Our current big mortgage is with NW and I need to find out how to 'see' the balance (with my old mortgage it was on my accounts list so I could check it whenever) so I guess thats the first job and find out where we are and decide how much of house sale to throw at the mortgage this year...

Really enjoying reading everyones threads, my MSE saving each week is to make a soup after sunday roast and it always goes down well- we are all really enjoying it and this week it is from roasted duck so will be interesting.....smells good though.

Builder/joiner finished for the day so going to go and enjoy looking at my new doors!!. Doggo wise we are on a wait list for some lab retriever pups in Feb so will see and all being well put a deposit and reserve one in March when we have had a visit

SLM

spendinglikemad

OK so now we have a new addition of pup to the family and completed on our old house sale just before Easter - phew!!!

Finances all sorted now so we have re-paid parents for their kind loan of extra stamp duty (just need to receive it back from HMRC now!! (online application done last month so may hear anytime soon fingers crossed)

New finances sheet being sorted now as no extra insurance, council tax, mortgage or utilities - so we can pay a little more into kids savings pots (ISAs) they have around £12 k each which isn't massive but will be for house deposits in future so every little helps

Was really straightforward to O/P on our mortgage so set-up a regular O/P of £1,000 per month for now (we were going to pay 10% off but waiting for building quotes/architect plans etc before we effectively spent that money!!)

Currently just trying to get as much as possible from our savings (pot) so filled up both S123 accounts to the max (£40 k plus a bit more as SO and DD go in/out) regular saver £200 per month at 5% and £400 at 3% didn't want the rest of the money sitting idle so bought £50k of premium bonds in the hope that between now and needing the money we may have some winnings!! we have been lucky recently as DD 'won' on the grand national and I easily claimed back for a delayed flight in 2012 for 4 of us (£1,359 - get in!!!:money:) thanks MSE !!!!

Dreaming of agent million visiting me and being able to pack in work, pay of mortgage and just enjoy a life at home!!! Loving our new pup, we have had her 4 weeks now and she has changed our lives for the better - even working at home she is lay on my feet warming them as I type!!! (cats life is a bit worse for wear but she will come round!!) At the moment I just yearn for weekends to catch up on garden/allotment/piano and family - work gets in the way for sure!!!!!!

To do list:
Cash in kids Premium bond (old) and buy more new numbers (GPs gifted them £1,500 each)
Get veg seeds planted
Decide what to plant at allotment as don't get there as often now and got a veg bed in garden as well
Get quotes for loft rooms - insulating and plastering and w/c adding - then teenagers can have those rooms and free up spare rooms.
New bed - essential for us - sick of waking up tired and achy and want a king sized bed for when the dog snuggles up (early morning after 5-6 am toilet wake wake!!) and can then get DS out of the best room in house overlooking back garden!!! (it doesn't have the best en-suite but we can change that!!)

Thats me for now anyway!!!

SLM

FloppyDisk

Catching up with your diary SLM, can I ask why you decided to sell the BTL? I'm very aware that we have 3 years to do the same to claim back the extra stamp duty we had to pay, but the outlay is done now so it feels worthwhile to keep it.
I would definitely recommend a king size, we got one in the new house and although it's only a tiny bit bigger we seem to have so much more space!

spendinglikemad

Well the only reason we ended up with our BTL was to finance our forever home, our old house was mortgage free and for sale and our dream house that were waiting for having been on the market at the EA went up for auction so we had to act fast and our only way to finance was to do a BTL on our old house. We really didn't want tenants in though, although it would have been worth it I just didn't want the extra stress.

Off bed & toilet shopping at the weekend. Just had a lovely walk with our new pup and she is snoozing on my feet!!!

SLM

spendinglikemad

Stamp duty cheque received this week and promptly paid in - only took about a month to receive that so really pleased.
O/P done for £1,000 so will need to log into mortgage and check that went in OK - its set as a regular monthly O/P at the moment until we have an estimate on building costs for our extension (well replacing 40 year old single pane sun lounge and utility) and replastering and insulating rooms in loft to have as kids rooms

Didn't get the bed shopping done - really need a new bed as waking up sore but it will have to wait. W/c and sink chosen though so one less thing to do but took an age of working out - who knew there were so many different types of sink and toilet!!!

Expensive month this month with pet insurance just gone out for the year and house insurance and starting dog training classes so thats extra £60

SLM