Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Kittenkirst

Today has pretty much gone to plan and had a lovely chilled day- we found out I can swim, a bit, but not very confident and gf cant really swim so will need lessons. The pool we went to (20 mins walk from home) has 55 people on the adult waiting list for swimming lessons, and the only adult classes they do are midweek daytime....doesnt work with working full time mon-fri 8-5 really!

We went to town, took passport pics and sent them off using post office service so £172 down including picture costs. Then onto Zizzis to use our vouchers- we shared a delicious skinny pizza and mushroom tortellini. Yum!

Then used our John Lewis free coffee and cake vouchers for a frothy coffee and shared a cake. Had the other one to take away to give to gfs parents as they like a nice cake

We then dropped off a friends birthday present and called in at the swimming pool near there- they do a beginners lesson on a Friday evening after 6pm so she is signing up for that. I have said I will go too but will just swim in the pool and practice- thinking if I keep practicing lengths I should get my swim fitness up hopefully

IVe had quite a bit of pain this afternoon my calves- not sure if its from yesterdays elliptical training as I did it on a steep incline for half hour or if its from swimming however Ive cancelled my gym/yoga plans tonight to let them rest. I tore my calf muscle about five years back and was on crutches so I am a bit nervy about any twinges in my calves....tempted to go and have a bath (which NEVER happens )

All in all a good day with a few things ticked off the Australian prep list- passports in progress, 1st swim sorted, photos for international driving license sorted (cant order until July/August time), John Lewis cake and coffee freebies used up before they expired again and had a good day just spending time with the gf! :heartpuls

Kittenkirst

Morning folks!
Got up late this morning as the last of my day off- back to the office tomorrow. Boo hiss.

However I did have that lovely bath last night using an ancient bathbomb (from lush- possibly 4 years old?) as I have major DOMs in my calf muscles- struggling to walk again today so no gym/yoga. I will make sure I have a good walk and do lots of stretches prior to silver class this night.

I felt quite frugal yesterday- Ive been on a mission to use up all the old foundations Ive had hanging around. I only use no7 as found that one good for my skin when younger but had around 6 half empty bottles about three years ago. Considering I only wear make up to go out out that was a lot. Ive got down to scraping the last bits out of the tub and yesterday it was nice and quiet in town so I could browse in boots in peace. I did the boots colour match and selected a nice new foundation with light coverage but spf 15 and they had the offer to get a free set if you bought two items.
As I have lost my favourite Dior sheer pink lippie I selected a nice pink lip crayon and then the lady advised the gift set included a voucher for a free lipstick too- so I got a lovely pinky hue for that too.
I spent £24 and got the foundation, lip crayon, lipstick, a small eyeshadow (in a colour I wear), a foundation sponge thingy and a cheek highlighter.

IVe thrown out the old foundation and had a little tidy of my makeup and got rid of some old stuff hanging around. With makeup I find it hard to throw it out as I think it has cost a fair bit of £££ but IVe decided to stop being silly. If it is a)too old or b)not ever worn its been put into a pile to get rid of!

Today is a bit of a lazy morning with a cuppa and some australia travel brochures to really start forming up budgets etc! YAY!

Kittenkirst

In Mortgage news- received an email from Clydesdale querying when want new rate to apply from. Replied yesterday confirming ASAP and have called today to make sure they got the email.

The gent has advised that it should apply from 1st March- so the interest rate will drop from then. Feels like such a great reduction in interest. Annoyingly the arrangement fee is £499 so that wipes out the first months savings but in the long run we will be much better off.

so chuffed that it will really start coming down now- its giving me more motivation to hammer down the mortgage as soon as we can!

penny*pincher_2

Hi KK!

I hope you are keeping well. Dropping in to catch up.... lots to read since September! I just read your past week and see you have a wonderful Australia trip to look forward to this year - I cannot wait to hear about those adventures!

Well done on the new mortgage deal and great to see how your overpayments are going, brilliant!

Lets hope for some low spend days for both of us for the next few months :money:

P*P

Watty1

We had a mortgage with Clydesdale for a while. The service was fantastic whenever had a question, wanted to overpay etc.

Kittenkirst

Completely agree Watty- they are pretty great. My only wish is that I could do online banking and check the mortgage balance but I!!!8217;m just being greedy!

Hi Pennypincher- fingers crossed for NSDs- I!!!8217;m hoping tomorrow, Thursday & Friday will be nsds as we got some groceries today £9.10 so it!!!8217;s been an expensive week!

A_Frayed_Knot

I remember when I re mortgaged and my interest rate halved such a good feeling.

I took the amount I was saving on interest and a small pay rise and upped my monthly payments by that amount which then reduced my years (taking into account, all the other o/p's i had made) by 6 years.

Well done on getting a great deal and rate.

Kittenkirst

Mortgage rate halving is amazing! We are going to match our current payments as much as possible so the saving means we are overpaying even more!

Had a rubbish day at work today, and then got to the gym started changing and realised I had forgotten socks. So I went to yoga for an earlier yoga session than normal.

Now home, quorn Thai green curry scoffed but now i am all munchy- I think I will be going over cals on MyFitnessPal somehow today.

Grump grump grump!

Positives- Kittens are all snuggled on the sofa looking adorable and Im working from home tomorrow and hoping for some time to work through stuff logically and a bit more calmly!

CathT

Your new mortgage rate is going to make such a big difference, that balance will reduce so much quicker now. A day working from home sounds well needed.

Kittenkirst

A nice sleep has meant happiness is restored. Also, the first time since I can remember when Hugo & Oscar haven!!!8217;t woken me at 2/3/4/5am for cuddles/attention! Hugo left it until 6am for him to come in and snuggle down on my chest so Im feeling a lot brighter this morning.

Time for a nice coffee and then get logged on to start work for the day.