Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Downshifterella

Just caught up on your diary Kittenkirst and I'm so sorry to hear about the sad news about your kitty  
Hoping you get the outcome you want with work and great find on the pizza oven!!
Am starting to find projects in our house too that will see me through autumn ( renovating the bathroom being one of them although I don't much fancy plumbing or tiling!
Ella x 

Kittenkirst

Hey nice to hear from you Ella! 

I don’t think I fancy plumbing or tiling too much either- that sounds too complex and/or messy for me!

Thanks for your thoughts about Hugo, I’m still finding it hard and cry a little most days missing his little furry face and silly ways. Oscar is a bit more affectionate now which is lovely, it’s just very quiet in the house now when he goes for his wander every week for his 36-48 hour trips!

I’m so very glad it’s Friday, work has been heavy this week and my anxiety has been flaring up a bit, with a churning stomach and nervousness. My friend got the news that her voluntary redundancy was rejected (she was 1 of the 4 in her organisation structure that were rejected, out of 81 who requested). We Had a videoconference catch up coffee break with her today to check in on her and she’s disappointed but doing ok. It’s just a very emotional process really.

Fingers crossed the next fortnight goes quickly!

I’ve had a perfume sample (Dior) and some skin cream capsules from Elizabeth Arden arrive this morning so my skin is super soft, although I’ve resisted wasting the perfume and popped it with the other samples in the toiletries cupboard for when we can venture out again!

Kittenkirst

Happy Saturday all!
Last night we decided that we needed to get an extra gift for a special friends birthday this week. We already had almost of the gift (we’ve bought whenever we’ve seen things for her at a good price) but wanted to add a little something, so agreed we would try to go to town today. We headed in nice & early to avoid any crowds and were done for 11am just as it was getting busier.

We popped to a local chocolatiers and bought a beautiful cocoa pod filled with their handmade truffles which she will love and is a right treat.

We then went to get coffees- I had costa points from the free ones they awarded after lockdown so grabbed a takeaway freebie honeycomb macchiato (tasty!), Lovely girlfriend wanted a french vanilla from Tim Hortons. When we got there they are doing a breakfast meal deal including any coffee for £1.99. The french vanilla is usually £2.49 on its own so we got the meal deal instead for £1.99 (brought the wrap and hash brown home to share for lunch). 

We then popped into Fatface to check out their sale as we both like their clothes and feel they are good quality. I was looking for some black knee high boots last winter but didn’t find any I liked (well for a price I want to pay!). I was delighted to spot a pair of gorgeous boots in there and they only had my size left. I tried them on and was happy to pay the £55 for them (originally £110) as I had planned £60 for boots last year and hadn’t spent the cash. I was super pleased when I got to the till to find they were even cheaper and only £30  
I also picked up three sweaters at £15 each, however after trying one will go back so in total I spent £60 in that store and got the knee high leather boots and two sweaters/jumpers and high is a great price.

Girlfriend also bought a sale top and a full-price sweater for work. 

As Next whilst its sale we wandered through (as it was empty), girlfriend picked up a top and swimwear and I grabbed some earrings I loved and some sunglasses. They are all in the suitcase for the holiday to Cyprus in May (hoping it goes ahead) for our friends wedding. 

Masks were worn at all times, we were super careful with social distancing (surprising how close people try to get to you though, lots of stepping away/to the side for us to maintain safe distancing) and we were avid with the use of hand sanitizers and hand washing once home. 

The only annoying thing about the town trip was venturing to WHSmith. My brother bought me a lovely pen and case for Christmas but I’ve already used up the ballpoint ink. I bought replacements at whsmiths however they fit but the nib doesn’t stay extended (so can’t write. Doh!). I want to be better ecologically but feel a little thwarted somewhat. 

Small mortgage payment of £8.01 made yesterday- a combination of prolific payout reached yesterday and some Quidco cashback. 

This makes the total OP this month a lovely & unexpected £173.77, bringing the year to date figure a nice £935.98. Feeling quite pleased with that given the current work situation and the pandemic. 

South_coast

Great work on the bargains, lovely when it all comes together like that. You're also now making me want hash browns....😋 

I was walking through the supermarket the other day, wondering when I would ever get back to just walking in a straight line instead of weaving from side to side and stopping to avoid other people, so I definitely feel your pain on that one! I guess the extra steps must be good for me....

Kittenkirst

Two weeks since my last post and the time has both flown by but also dragged by!

Frustratingly I am still waiting on an outcome regarding my EOI (request for voluntary redundancy). It was meant to come on Monday, then delayed to Thursday and we were then told midday on friday that we won’t hear until the middle of this week coming.

The cause of the delays is they have been inundated with voluntary redundancy requests and hadn’t really envisaged the size and cost of this (odd as they’ve budgeted for compulsary redundancies surely). Anyways for my pool of people they want 20 to go, but have had 42 request to leave. So, this is not looking like good odds for me given I was rejected last year for being ‘business critical’ (so critical that they aren’t paying me entry level for my role despite being classed as an expert with 4 years doing it  ).

So we continue to wait....

In other news things are pretty quiet with the highlights being a day off where we went out for lunch together (we were the only  table in the restaurant which was good for us from a safety perspective, not so great for the restaurant) & getting a pass to go to the ‘company shop’ yesterday with the mum-in-law.

Managed to get quite a lot of bits super cheap (Thai green curry paste jars for 40p with a date of summer next year, 30p reduced fat M&S houmous, heck frozen sausages for £1.60 etc). And kindly they provided another guests pass for use within a month so planning to visit on 3-4 weeks. 

They were great in there as the store has huge aisles so was able to distance well and hand sanitiser everywhere. 

A real perk was that mum in law wouldn’t take any money for our shop (despite arguing etc), I think because we keep putting their grocery orders in with our deliveries and don’t ask for any money towards it (it’s what family does isn’t it!).

The last two sundays we have had to do the Sunday paper round as the paper person didn’t show. Luckily today the gfs parents have hired a new person so we got to stay home (it was super cold this
Morning) and set to cleaning the upstairs. The shower has been deep-cleaned and is gleaming but is now not heating up. Quick google on the issue and think we’ll need to get a tradesperson in to look at it!

Sorted the buildings & contents insurance last week- compared using comparison site but then went direct (via Quidco) to get cashback and the same cover was £9 cheaper with £15 cashback tracked too! 

Oscars replacement tracker has arrived and is back on- he had a grump yesterday about it but seems to have accepted it now. Thankful we paid the £18 for the insurance as he’s a cheeky scamp losing it again in the brambles on the edge of the cornfields! 

The standard overpayment was made to the mortgage at the start of the month of £17.69 which will round our monthly payment up to £700. We have the service charge for our estate to pay this month and I have my cars MOT plus the remaining payment on the yoga retreat at the end of the month (not sure if will happen but will see). 

Kittenkirst

Update time- I’ve had the news from work and they have rejected my request for voluntary redundancy, again.
Frustratingly, a teammate put in for it this time (didn’t last year) and had his accepted

I’m now very anxious about what my job will be in the future as the job I’m currently doing isn’t in the new design, and my pool is of 77 jobs which are mostly analyst style jobs which are VERY different to what I do and my skill set.

This news seems to have been the last straw for me as my anxiety symptoms have been awful recently and I’ve been very tearful daily. Spoken to my doctors and they have advised to take some time out and put me into medication for anxiety and depression. Which sucks but  needs must as I want to be back to my positive bouncy self ASAP.  

On a brighter note we have been looking at our mortgage OPs and I have made a nice £50 one from my wages this month, as well as a £6 from Pinecone and £6.21 from prolific surveys so this is ticking by nicely.

This means we have now managed a nice £1013.81 this year to the mortgage which is great and feels good that we’re slowly chipping away at it.

We were given some apples from gfs aunty at the weekend so I made an apple streusel cake (recipe- https://www.kitchensanctuary.com/apple-crumble-cake/#commentform ). It was a huge square cake so we’ve given some to the parents and have been having a slice every day for either 3pm tea break together or for dessert. Delicious!

Planning to make some Halloween cupcakes tomorrow as a treat as I have a call with a  counsellor today, so the cupcake baking is to reward myself for getting it done!

VelvetFreak

Ahh! How annoying that they didn’t give it to you. Totally understand being anxious and depressed because of work. Remember to put yourself first. Take time out if you need to. Try not to stress about things that are out of your control (ha!). 

So disappointed for you x  

themadvix

Hugs, Kittenkirst! That's rubbish news about the lack of redundancy and the uncertainty around your future role. I hope they can clarify that soon - it sounds like the main cause of your anxiety at the moment. Well done for going to the docs though and getting the help you need - and I'm sure the counsellor will help too. 

The streusel cake sounds delicious! And enjoy the cupcakes too - sounds like a good reward. 

Take care and make sure you get lots of catty cuddles in - I find they work wonders for my mood!

Kittenkirst

Happy New Year everyone!

Ive been a bit absent the past few months as it’s been a bit of a tough time- I’ve been struggling with the depression and anxiety however I’m starting to feel a bit brighter and more positive now.

The good news is we have been keeping up with most of our thrifty habits and have recently started using Olio more as we have a food waste hero that lives 5 minutes away. I’ve got some Mediterranean roasting veg to eat today from olio and we got a mini wholemeal loaf in the fridge for lunch- thinking eggs or Pate on toast.

One downside of the meds is that my weight has ballooned. Alongside Christmas eating and the lower heart rate from the beta blockers it’s meant a lot of weight gain which has been getting me down (many of my jeans now don’t fit). So I’m trying to combat that with more daily movement and gentle exercise as well as reducing the Christmas treats down a bit

Mortgage overpayments have continued and we  finished the year on £1300 which I am super pleased with. This makes our total overpayments since October 2016 

£11,595.48 !

We’re both pleased with this amount as during the pandemic we’ve tried to be cautious and build up our personal savings just in case. We both now have £7k of savings thanks to reduced spending in the last half of the year.

My resolutions for this year are to come through the other side of the pandemic and change careers. If that is not possible to keep ploughing money aside for when we can make it happen.

We have 2 trips abroad planned & two festivals to cash flow (tickets paid for already) all covid permitting so have lots to look forward to in 2021.

Off to update our accounts app with our naughty food delivery last night- looking forward to leftovers tonight

debtfreeoneday

Nice to see you back and glad you are feeling brighter. Happy new year c