Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Kittenkirst

£3.63 tilly tidied just now making the March OP total a nice £218.

That makes our 2018 overpayments a lovely £895.56 so far. Not too shabby at 30% of the target for the year. :j

michelle09

That's a tough one... if it were me, I'd apply anyway. It gets the old CV out and is potential interview practice, and if you decide it's not worth the switch you don't have to take it. I was second choice for my new job as the first candidate turned it down. And of course, £10k is not to be sniffed at!

Your summer looks wonderful. Britney isn't my normal cup of tea either, but I'm of the age that I'd probably still enjoy the show.

Kittenkirst

HI all, it's been a week since my last post!

This weeks been lovely- we were off work until Thursday and had gfs nephew visiting for two days which meant a fun afternoon at the local laser quest, a dinner at Frankie & Bennys and homemade pancakes in the morning :heartpuls: lovely to be able to treat the nephews like this

Gym and yoga are both going well- we've tried a few new recipes this week. I made some lean pork meatballs which worked well and made enough for one dinner for me coveredin a tomato sauce I made with courgetti. We've had the leftover meatballs with a gravy sauce, potatoes wedges and some veg. There is still another portion in the freezer so it made the mince stretch well

We have made the bodycoach a banana chocolate & strawberry muffins today which were scrummy for breakfast and we will try again. It's a great way to use up any dodgy looking bananas and extra fruit!

A small op of £1.2 credit interest has started the ball rolling this and I've contacted the bank to confirm the interest which was only £224.61 for March (£7.25 per day!) which is amazing compared to this time last year ( £387.44 which was £12.50 per day!) :money: :T

Off to check internet banking for any tilly tidy we can make today.

newgirly

That's a great reduction in interest :T

shangaijimmy

Daily Interest reduction comparisons are amazing aren't they. In May 2010 ours was £15.93, which makes feel sick, and now we're at £4.32!

Kittenkirst

WOW shanghaiJimmy that is certainly an awesome reduction.

We're so pleased as it means we are paying £157.50 less interest a month, therefore more against capital and more working for us

:j :j

Had a great sweaty yoga session today and got groceries and some veggies from the market today- £9.05 spent which isn't bad.

I did have the first of my bought coffees today- I am aiming to cut it down to one per week for April, with a view to one per fortnight in May. It will be better for me both financially and nutrition-wise!

We've been looking at hotels for Singapore for the Grand Prix and some of the hotels are staggeringly eye-watering. We think we've found a decent hotel not too far out from the action but clean- will book it tomorrow and then start looking at the Australian hotels for the trip!

Only £4.91 overpaid this month so far- planning the £312.45 on payday which rounds up our monthly payment to £1000. I am also going to OP £200 from my bonus & my regular saver which pays out this month so it should be a bumper OP month for us if all goes to plan!

Busy_Mee1

If you can manage a night in the Marina Bay Hotel in Singapore, you will get to swim in the infinity pool at the top (57 stories high) . A real bucket list moment and the best selfie you will ever take x

Taxis are quite cheap in Singapore and everywhere is very safe, so don't worry if you are a little way out.

Australia is eye watering expensive so we got an apartment hotel in Sydney so could make some meals in. It also had a laundry which was useful, if you are there a while x

Kittenkirst

Busymee- we had looked at Marina Bay but due to it being the Grand Prix weekend it's £1600+ for the three nights plus as gf wants to watch the Grand Prix so I don't think there would be much time to make use of the infinity pool. It does look spectacular spectacular though!

Good thought about the Sydney apartment- we are there four days three nights so an apartment could work well for us- willhave a good nose today. I do love all this itinerary planning!

Off to gfs friends house for a roast with her family after yoga today. It's been ages since I had a roast dinner so I'm very much looking forward to it.

Our wallpaper has now arrived and the workman is coming on Friday to put it up. The blinds for the kitchen patio doors, kitchen window and the small front room window should be arriving this week too ready for fitting and then that's two jobs ticked off the list! We've gone for those perfect fit blinds for in the patio doors- they sit snugly in the frame (hopefully stop then becoming a kitten toy) and they can be clicked up and down independently so the one in the door with the Cat flap can nicely stop just above the flap. We've gone for a light teal to pull out the colours of our kitchen tiles so hopefully they will look pretty once in and fitted

We've been debating what to do about our downstairs loo- it's pretty small but is the one guests tend to use. It's just white walls and three tiles on the sink. We wanted to do tiling halfway up all of the walls and then have a mirror that goes around the three main walls. However, it's pretty pricey anda room we barely go in to be honest.

So, after a bit of chatting we are looking at wallpapering two or all of the walls and putting up a standard pretty mirror & some of those free standing small shelves above the toilet to put some decorative bits on. It will be an awful lot cheaper but still look lovely. Just need to decide on wallpaper now- I'm thinking something fairly light as there is no window in there, only a vent! The plan is to start looking at that in June time.

Time to get up and get some chores done, have a cuppa then head t yoga. Hope you all have lovely Sundays

Busy_Mee1

:eek: to £1600 for Marina Bay....never mind you can still go up to the viewing platform, if you get time. I hope you do get time to do a few other things in Singapore - there is so much to see and do. The orchid gardens on the bay are lovely, Raffles is worth a visit- but just have a Singapore Sling as the food is expensive and not worth it. Definitely take the boats along the river too. The food courts are great and very cheap, you just need to be quite brave as it is difficult to know what everything is. I am excited for you :j

michelle09

Wow! We are looking at the Marina Bay Sands for our trip, but have moved it a couple of weeks to avoid the GP. OH was disappointed but now I can quote those figures I may have him onside again. (It's £270 for our anniversary, feel I can pay that for once).

Sounds like a great month for the mortgage!

Could you get a couple of framed pictures for the downstairs bathroom? Not too pricey but make it a little less bare?