Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Kittenkirst

Ive not yet heard back from the shelter but my friend who volunteers there has said they have had a lot of volunteers since Christmas which can only be a great thing.

The braces are off! Im not going to lie as it was pretty painful and required a lot of deep breathing, blood and clenched fists but hurrah they are off and the wire retainer is in place on the back. Im very very pleased with how they look now

We were a bit naughty and had a celebratory Chinese- managed to limit our spend to £17.20 which is good for us and was more than enough food- we just usually get pretty excited and over order so I was quite pleased with us.

Ive overpaid the 80p to the Mortgage which finishes off February. We have overpaid £260.14 yay!!

Had a long day out on the road today and so am home with a nice cuppa warming up after all the snow that!!!8217;s come down! Hope you are all warm and safe wherever you are x

Kittenkirst

Michelle- that sounds like a very good plan you guys have- definitely something for us to consider once the flat has gone

Australia is not until September so something like 200 days to go, which means plenty of time to save up for all the remaining expenses (internal flights, hotels etc) we have a little checklist of things to do and have now had our passports back (tick one) and completed first swims (tick two). Next thing is confidence in swimming and the kayaking taster.

CathT

Sounds like braces have worked well even though you only had them a short time.

You are so organised kk, wish I had your motivation.

Kittenkirst

Today has been a longgggg day, which started with naughty Hugo bringing an alive bird into the house at 5am. I ended up trying to shoo it out of the window, but couldnt get it to safety. Ended up shutting it in a room (so cats couldnt torment it) and going in at 7am with my glasses on and a towel to try and cajole it out. It finally flew out at 7.30am looking to be okay.

Hugo was smeared in a little blood and downstairs was covered in feathers. Im sincerely hopeful that its a little bit of cosmetic damage and is alright, poor little thing!

Played with the overpayment tab on my spreadsheet today and we getting excited about the numbers. We should be under £160k by 15th April how exciting is that!

Was desperate to find out the interest applied to the acct today but given the snow Ive decided to wait as if the bank have staff in they probably have more urgent people to assist.

The snow here is pretty thick now and our road is a bit of an ice rink. Indeed the hire car company havent collected my car from yesterday- I think it will be here all weekend.

My mouth is still very sore and there are a few ulcers and small cuts on my lips. Taking paracetamol manages it though so its not too severe really.

Oscar is snuggled up by my feet, not sure where Hunter Hugo is!

Kittenkirst

The poor little birdie made a reappearance last night- Oscar came scampering through to the front room with an excited Hugo in tow with the bird in mouth.

It has now had a little ceremonial burial out in the snow in the back garden- poor little thing. Weve ordered some new collars with bells on for them both to see if that will help reduce the amount of little burials we have to conduct.

Meant to be off to a pamper party at yoga today but the snow has come down quite heavily last night- so much so that the WiFi is off for Sky in our local area. Will keep an eye on social media to see id it I s still running- quite looking forwards to 90mins yoga, eyebrow threading, nice supper and mocktails though so fingers crossed the stars align :heartpuls

Made a cute photo yesterday using an app called WordSwag- downloaded a 2018 calendar from Pinterest and then have overlaid the monthly payments over it- looks pretty snazzy and hoping by adding to it monthly itsanother little motivator to keep up the tilly tidies and the survey efforts.

Hope everyone is faring well in the bad weather- if we get out to yoga we are planning on calling in on gfs parents elderly neighbours on their road to see if they need any supplies etc theres a few lovely couples on their street and whilst Im sure they are probably more resilient than me itd give me peace of mind.

michelle09

My main concern is that we are both in our 20s and that pensions have got a lot worse in the last 10 years. This way we have covered all our bases. It would be much easier if we could see into the future and know the right way to do it!

Is there any potential for equity in GF's flat?

Wow, I am impressed that Hugo went out in this weather, our fluffball has been hiding, it's really funny.

Kittenkirst

It is on interest only at the moment. Now our mortgage has been agreed she could look at changing to capital repayment Mortgage however with the rent and the service charges etc she makes no money on it at all.

I think she wants to draw the line under this and move on if she can and stem any future losses. Which makes sense to me especially if rates increase as The rent won!!!8217;t increase at the same rate unfortunately.

Both kittens are loving the snow- weirdos!

Kittenkirst

Been faffing with my accounts app today.

I have a sharesave scheme with my workplace that runs for another two years. The option price for the this years scheme is released on Monday but given the current share price it is looking to be 35p a share cheaper than my current scheme (2017)

If this is the case I!!m going to cash in my 2017 scheme middle of April which will give me £1680 to stash into standard savings. I would then take the £140 I was paying into the 2017 scheme and add £50 I was planning to put into the 2018 scheme so I am saving £190 a month into the 2018 scheme with the lower share price at the end.

I have been looking at laser eye surgery now the teeth are nearly completed. I would need to go to a few places for consultations as I am not sure exactly why surgery I would need yet to then work out if I can afford it this year.

It would be great to be able to go surfing, snorkelling, kayaking in Oz without the worry of losing glasses/wearing contact lenses but potentially getting eye infections from water etc.

It is just an idea at the moment and one I will work through the costings etc before taking the plunge. However everyone I have ever spoken to who has had the surgery has thoroughly recommended it.

Something to mull over.

Received my retainer yesterday from the dentist and wore it to bed. Its actually pretty comfortable to wear so going to wear it at home (just not on Work calls etc) so that it gives the best benefit.

£1 interest received on the joint acct so it has been OPd starting the ball rolling on the March OPs.

Kittenkirst

Awake early thanks to being pounced on by Hunter Hugo at 5.39am. Crazy kitty!

Pinecone survey completed so will be able to OP that hopefully this week.

Little mse win yesterda-my- went to the gym and was going to call at tesco on way home but we decided we have enough in to make a variety of foods. When Home we were both tempted by Turkish take out being delivered as we were tried &hungry (& lazy!) after the gym. We got as far as looking at the menu on just eat (via Quidco obvs!) before we realised we were being frivolous and unhealthy.

Instead I made a veggie mince spaghetti bol- added some red lentils, grated courgette & carrots to up the nutrition and bulk it out. Served with some fancy frilly spaghetti style pasta it was delicious. Plus the big win is gf has always been resistant to adding lentils to dishes (bulks out and adds protein) but as I cooked it alone last night so was able to sneak it in. She knew the lentils were in there but suprisingly she couldn!mttaste or tell (other than from seeing them) so we will add them in future.

2 portions leftover for either tomorrow night when Imhome late froom Work, gym & yoga for on a spud or will pop in freezer.

Saved at least £17, saved a lot of calories and we both felt better so it was a great decision.

Saw on MadVixs diary about homemade falafel so will see if we can try that this week- we have tinned chickpeas, frozen (YS) pittas, garlic, lemon etc in the house so would be another veggie dish for the repertoire if we like it :heartpuls

Hunter Hugos hunting prowess seems to be growing- we have had another vole this morning, however Jean realised that if we know he has it we will catch it and release it. So this morning we were chasing him round the house whilst he growled at Oscar- not sure if the vole was dead but then I heard a loud crunch so the poor little soul had passed definitely by that point. The garden is becoming a woodland cemetery- ordering the collars with louder bells tonight!

Time to shower and head out to yoga- we have a family lunch seeing gfs brother and family- meeting at a pub halfway between us and them so not long to get ready after yoga and get on the road for food. Will be nice to see them as not seen them since mid December

Kittenkirst

Lovely afternoon with the family. I enjoyed a huge Sunday roast and shared a Bakewell tart slice which were both delicious.

Gf has left early to head north for the next two days, I was planning the gym and would leave the house when she did however this morning the warm cosy bed won! (The DOMS in my stomach and legs from the weekend also helped convince me haha!)

£3.50 tilly tidy paid this morning from the joint account.

Ive also managed to book a full head colour and cut at the nice salon I went to around this time last year - they have graduate stylists needing practice so its £20- im booked in for next Thursday but going to call this morning and see if I can get in on Wednesday instead and shuffle my work calendar around. That way its sorted for our friends wedding on Friday. Fingers crossed!!

Working from home today but Work calendar is chaotic today so making a nice brew (ground some free beans up yesterday using the Ninja) and will get started for the day