Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

MichaelDH

Hi Kittenkirst

Just caught up on your diary. Glad to see you are still managing to chip away at the mortgage! Hope you get the outcome you want this time from redundancies at work and everything settles down for you soon.

So sorry to read about Hugo. I really feel for you and your girlfriend and poor Oscar. We would be devastated if anything happened to our pups, they are really like children to us. 

All the best

Michael

Kittenkirst

Hey MichaelDH, lovely to hear from you. Thanks for your condolences for Hugo- we are still devastated. I’m trying to keep busy everyday but I’m still looking for him in his usual places, waking up at 3am to look for him in the duvet etc. There’s a lot of daily tears still. It’s really hard, I don’t think I’ve ever grieved like this before. That unconditional love from your furry ones is hard to describe. I think I’m personally finding it harder because he was so young so it was unexpected and a shock. I still don’t want it to be real Oscar is doing okay- I’m a bit concerned he is displaying symptoms of depression so we’re keeping an eye on him at the moment. Today at work was a tough old day- Tensions are frayed which I think is due to nervousness of the next month or so. My team members (who used to be managed by me but now managed by a colleague) aren’t on the new organisation structures which is worrying for them, and amongst wider departments there’s a lot of mud being slung unfortunately. I’m keeping my head down, doing the best I can and trying to keep the teams spirits high and support them. Dinner tonight was a turkey breast mince kheema with mini naan, salad and raita. Yesterday we made chilli garlic chicken wings and homemade slaw which was a new recipe and was a hit. Also super cheap as the wings were £1.54 so a more frugal dinner too

Kittenkirst

Happy Saturday all! A small overpayment of £1.79 made this week- I called Clydesdale to update my account trackers with interest charges since March (I put it off for a while as thought they’d be busy/understaffed loss with Covid). However this then showed that for this year so far we were just £1.79 short of paying £4700 capital this year (after interest deducted!). So to make it a nice chunky round number a nominal overpayment has been sent.

 Today we’ve saved a chunk of money with girlfriends car insurance. Initial quote for renewal was £1250....she has a very nice expensive large engineer car which she loves (that’s what she spends her disposable income on ). Anyways we went on a comparison site and she had quotes and admiral looked good at £930 so she tried to do that last night. An error occurred so she called them today and we spoke with the guy about a multi car policy (I had never considered). Anyways long story short she ended up getting her insurance for £767 with the multi car discount. I’ve also got my insurance from October- August 2021 sorted for £187 (competitive for my small run around car). So, by doing a comparison and then looking at the multi car option we have managed to get both of our insurances for £950 which is tonnes better than her first quote and also means we’ve essentially insured mine for £20 more than if she just insured her own car with Admiral. Craziness really! 

 We popped to a local coop as our first venture out into the wider world to collect our John Lewis items ordered last week. We took advantage of £10 off homeware deal and ordered a candle each and paid just collect fee of £2 per candle. One is now in the Christmas box ready for lighting in December and one is in the presents box for a friends pamper hamper for her birthday. We also managed to find our first yellow sticker items - 75p veggie burgers (2 packs) and some red onion ciabatta for 97p. Tonight’s dinner is in the oven now- homemade polenta chips, veggie burgers in ciabattas with salad. The second pack of burgers and the 2 other ciabattas in the pack are in the freezer for another night

Housework and yoga also done today so we’re feeling quite accomplished on this wet, grey Saturday!

Kittenkirst

Happy September mortgage free wannabes! Coincidentally my last post was when we had those ys veggie burgers & we ate them again tonight (froze last time) as mum had some brioche buns she wouldn’t use up.

Small overpayment of £5 made so far this month due to reaching the threshold in the Shoppix receipt scanning app. I also saw on a helpful Instagram post that Receipt Hog was closing. I only had enough for a £3 voucher so requested amazon and added it to my account for the next time we need something

We’ve has lots of calls and massive packs shared on the reorganisation at work. Last weeks update pack was 249 PowerPoint slides- the joy of working for such a large business. On Friday it became clear that I’m in a pool of 120 ish people with 97 jobs, so we’ve been asked to do EOI (Expression of Interest for voluntary redundancy) if in pools for jobs.

This gives me another bite of the cherry after sad EOI was rejected last year, so on Tuesday (a positive day in the Hindu calendar) I will put through my EOI.

The business are at the same time tearing up our current terms and conditions which would mean if I get made redundant after this round it will be statutory redundancy only (£18k less than what I could get this year!!!)   
So I have everything crossed that this year I’m accepted, However I don’t think the odds are in my favour so I’m not hopeful. 

If the redundancy isn’t granted I will continue to try and stash some money aside until it is a suitable time to start the travel role (e.g. once Covid isn’t messing with travel so much!) which gives me time to save more meaning less of a business loan is needed for the initial costs  

Now it’s just time to wait and see- consultation is a painfully long process so hoping I’ll know for sure mid October (Deja Vu to 2019!)

VelvetFreak

Fingers crossed you get your desired outcome x  

Kittenkirst

VelvetFreak said:

Fingers crossed you get your desired outcome x  

Thanks Velvet- I feel that I am in the minority hoping to lose their job in the current climate really.

South_coast

I can see why though, with those changes to the T&C's. Hopefully they will remember you applied before and decide you're not committed and they're better off without you (in a good way!!!) 🤞

Kittenkirst

South_coast said:

I can see why though, with those changes to the T&C's. Hopefully they will remember you applied before and decide you're not committed and they're better off without you (in a good way!!!) 🤞

Definitely this is what I’m hoping for! 

Hazelnutty

Good luck, KK. I always look forward to seeing your updates and will have everything crossed for you

Kittenkirst

Thanks HazelNutty!
I put the official request for voluntary redundancy through yesterday morning so now its back to being in the business’ hands on what happens next! My colleague is on maternity leave and wants to stay so I’m hoping we both get what we want out of the situation.

Quiet week so far this week, had a naughty take away on Monday night as had a £15 off a £15 spend at Uber so spent £4.04 for dinner for us both. Naughty and definitely not in the meal plan, however yesterday was payday and the money shuffles have been completed and no other spends made!

£260 sent to the savings and £110 to the holiday savings. It’s a bit short this month as I’ve decided to go on a yoga retreat weekend with the team who ran last years Thailand one. With all the work stuff and covid shielding and stress I think a quiet weekend of yoga, good eating and relaxation is needed so I’ve rejigged my budget to make it happen.

Fingers crosses it still goes ahead! 

We had some good luck this week as someone in our neighbourhood Facebook group was giving away a coal pizza oven for the garden. I thought I had missed it as was the second who requested it but then the first persons wife wouldn’t let them have it  

So, I’ve researched it and it’s £170-£200 new. I need to sand it down and repaint it over the next few weekends and I’ve bought a waterproof cover using a £5 eBay voucher I had- £6 as mmmm be should be delivered tomorrow. Fingers crossed I can transform it into a useful item for next summers barbecue/entertaining. We both love a good pizza so I’m very excited about it!