Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Kittenkirst

Weighed in this morning 61.7kg (9st 7lbs)

I am pretty pleased that the number is gradually reducing and my body is feeling much stronger.

Yoga this morning, gf already left for the gym so I have washed the pots and made a nice cuppa and giving the kittens some cuddles and playtime.

Checked mortgage payments and they are by DD so will auto reduce- the good thing about that is that pay day is 15th but Mortgage comes out on 20th so the monthly auto-OP (Back to the old monthly payment) will be done on the 15th so five days earlier.

They have confirmed the monthly amount as £687.55 which is £123.25 lower. We will send the £123.25 monthly on the 15th and then the additional OPs to make the onthly payment £900 or £1000 dependent on our budget that month.

We will then make additional OPs of tilly tidies, ebays, surveys etc as normal.

So excited to start seeing the numbers smash down quicker now!

LTV is now. 79.7% we own 20% of our beautiful home already.
Motivation to keep on smashing it!

Kittenkirst

Hi Darpett, thanks for commenting and sharing re kayaking I wouldn not have thought about laced up shoes catching so thats a great tip! Glad to hear you are getting your lower rate this month! Yay

Hey Michelle, yeah think gf is signing up to the Friday 6pm swim class and I will just do lengths at that time for a little while so we get a bit more confident. Once shes comfortable to stop the lessons we will then just go weekly together one evening a week to build up strength and confidence.

We have also heard about a local trampolining place that does but one get one free (so £4.50each!) on wednesdays so trying to work out a Wednesday night when we are both home to go and have a bounce. I took gf a few years back for her birthday at one in a nottingham and we both loved it! (Its knackering though!!)

Kittenkirst

Yoga done this morning- was a great session and today I felt strong enough to try a bind move I havent done before. I also managed to grab my feet in a pose which is also a first. Yoga gave me a bounce in my step

Sunday lunch with the gfs parents- Gujarati lunch which was delicious.

I then felt quite chipper and energetic so I went to the gym- my legs are pretty dead now I must say.

Im more than a bit excited as my braces come off tomorrow. Yay! Not looking forward to the appointment itself but cant wait for it to be done.

Chicken breast cooked for lunch tomorrow- will make a couscous salad to take in as have all day meetings at a different office with no lunch break. Will sort out a breakfast to have before my meetings when I get to the office too. Try not to buy any food/coffee in the office is the plan.

Pork escalopes out of the freezer for dinner tomorrow as gf away with Work- she!!!8217;s not a fan of pork so I get to eat it when she!!!8217;s away. Think pork, peppers and courgettes but not sure what yet

themadvix

Just be very careful if you go trampolining KK. My cousin badly injured her arm falling on it and it has never been the same since, despite a lot of work by a physio (and operations, I think, it was a while ago). It would be awful for either of you to get injured before your big trip! (Sorry to put a downer on this, but it was a cautionary lesson for all of us!)

Kittenkirst

Morning morning lovely MFW-ers.

Today is The day for the braces to come off- hurrrrrrrah! Dentists text yesterday as she was poorly so we are rescheduled for tonight after work- Im hoping she is feeling better today and able to come in as Im so excited about getting these off finally. I know its only been 6 months but its almost done. Yay :j

Thanks for the words of caution MadVix x

In financial news I forgot to tell you I have faffed with my pension this month- I already contribute the maximum I can put in (5%)which my company then adds double (10%) as well. This month I have added an AVC (additional voluntary contribution) of 1% which my company wont match. So monthly there will be 16% going into my pension- a nice chunky £415 a month. I have a rough plan mapped out on my finances s/s and have increased the percentage gradually to really try and build up a retirement cushion.

This 1% is affordable as Ive finished paying off my student loans so am not used to that cash so it may as well be diverted into longer term planning.

Gf pays hardly anything into her pension however her flat is again up for sale, so if she can get rid of it (& not make a loss) we will go through her finances then and up her pension contributions, at least so she is getting a bit more from the company with them doubling her contribution. I say that but she is a better saver than me. She maxes out our company sharesaves- one of which matures this summer for quite a few thousand (the share price is not favourable at all so I think she is taking the cash!) so she does her finances very differently to me but it works for her

Alongside paying off the mortgage and building emergency funds Im hoping this provides us some retirement cushioning when we get there. That is if I dont spend all my money in Australia and seeing the world :rotfl:

One naughty spend yesterday- bought a flat white before yoga in the snow (I had little cropped capris on- who packs capris for a class when snow is forecast ) and there were two chaps huddled (separately) in sleeping bags. They are there most nights and it was so very cold. So my flat white turned into three hot drinks for us all. Cant imagine sleeping out there tonight. Brutal. Not a planned spend but no regrets from me.

Yoga was fab last night- the lady who runs it is also sorting a corporate discount for my workplace and told me she will add it to my account. I am not sure how much but it all helps!

ch4rly2002

That was very sweet of you to buy those drinks for the homeless men. I bet they really appreciated it and I'm sure that will have made them feel a lot better. It might not have been a planned expense, but that small unplanned expense might have been completely out of reach for them I really feel for people on the streets in this weather. A couple of local councils have been offering hotel rooms to rough sleeps recently so lets hope as many as possible manage to get a bed.

Congrats on the braces coming off tonight xx

gallygirl

What a kind thing to do KK :T.

Kittenkirst wrote: »

bought a flat white before yoga in the snow

Em..... is it just me that wondered what kind of coffee a 'flat white before yoga in the snow' was? I reckoned the snow was whipped cream but couldn't work out where the yoga fitted in .

Kittenkirst

Ha ha its an exotic variety dont you know

Its only a small thing- I have however emailed a local shelter last night to see about occasional volunteering. Will see if I hear back

themadvix

Great news about the braces! Hope that happens

Lovely thing to do for the homeless guys. It so sad that they're out there at all, but to be out in this weather is utterly disgraceful on the part of the government. Hope you hear from the shelter - I'm sure they'd appreciate your help!

michelle09

Well done on the pension. We have split ours - OH puts in 13% (there's no choice - 13% or nothing) and it's matched, and so I don't have a pension so that we can use the money to throw everything at fixing the house.

That was a lovely thing to do for the guys, it must have been very welcome in the current weather.

Can't be long til Australia now?