Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Fortune_Smiles

Happy New Year @Kittenkirst.  I hope 2021 brings you health, wealth and happiness.

Fortune x

Kittenkirst

Thanks Debtfreeoneday & Fortune Smiles. It’s nice to be back on the forum- I have been updating instagram regularly with my thrifty ways, but will try to be a bit more regular on here this year.

Today, Ive been out for a morning walk and picked up both mine and the girlfriends prescriptions. We are back to shielding again so I was very cautious in the pharmacy. I have to say watching the Casualty episode on Saturday night, whilst it was very well done, really brought home the realities of the pandemic. We have thankfully been untouched from a health perspective in our families, which is so lucky when so many others haven’t. I definitely don’t take that for granted! 

Quite pleased as it was raining for my walk but I managed to get in 6,000 steps. I will try and sit on the exercise bike a little later if I can muster the energy, and I have the household chores to do.

On Friday we overpaid the mortgage to bring our January payment up to £800: Januarys payment goes out on the 20th for £687.55. Our monthly interest is approx £200 a month- I need to call the bank and confirm the amounts charged for the last few months to work it out exactly. Our mortgage renewal is on 1st May- looking at rates I think we will be hard pressed to beat our current 1.48% unfortunately, even if we are into the next LTV bracket.

In exciting news, I decided in the past few months its time to make an honest woman out of the lovely girlfriend- I know it’s something she wants, whereas I’ve not been too worried about it as always seen owning the house together as being the biggest commitment. But, it means a lot to her so I’m happy to get married (which I think will surprise her!). I’ve searched for ages and have found the perfect engagement ring- a smooth band with diamonds spaced out and inset all the way round in 18k white gold. She wears subtle jewellery and isn’t one for bling (unless its an Indian outfit for a wedding) so she will love it I am sure, and it arrived just after Christmas. I shopped around a lot and waited for a voucher to become available, saving £210 from the initial price. For Christmas she has bought us return Eurostar tickets to Paris (how exciting!) so I’m planning to pop the question then She doesn’t read on here so I know its safe to share!

Right, am off to read a few diaries with a cuppa, then its onto chores!!

themadvix

Oh how lovely KK! And Paris at Easter sounds so lovely too. Well done on being thrifty - you’ll need all the thriftiness you can get for the wedding too!

Fortune_Smiles

How wonderful @Kittenkirst - I love a bit of romance 💖

Fortune x

Jessy103

That's lovely @Kittenkirst ! Congratulations and best wishes to you both ❤

debtfreeoneday

how lovely x

Kittenkirst

Morning folks,
A rather frosty winter white scene outside this morning. Very grateful to be snug & warm at home. we have the heating on low, snuggle sock, slippers, jumpers and wheat bags microwaved to help keep warm, whilst girlfriend works away and I try to do some housework.

Ive managed a bit more movement the first half of this week- managed a short walk and a half hour on the bike daily which is progress and I’ve been more mindful about eating- I’m still eating Christmas food & junk but trying to be more aware of it, and less bingey.

Yesterday I tried a new recipe for a Brussels spout hash with poached eggs- it worked well and used up the Brussels we got the other week from Olio and the sourdough we picked up Tuesday night via Olio too (you added sourdough croutons). 

Our food waste hero had a collection late last night and is rest with contactless collections so we collected a fair few items:
*2 punnets green grapes
*2 small packs of beetroot
*snackpot pineapple
*0% Fage yogurt
*4 pack lemon Greek yogurts
*parsley
*2 bread rolls
*cinnamon danishes
*croissants.

The pastries and extra grapes & beetroot are being taken over to the girlfriends parents this morning- I am going to walk the 17mins to drop it off to the doorstep and back again, just waiting to see if the icy paths clear before noon. I am regularly amazed by how much the Olio lady collects- she had more than 21 different croissants, 6 punnets of grapes etc. Astounding that this would have just been wasted previously! As I re-registered with Olio (had issues with password reset and hotmail!) just before Christmas, it shows we have saved £103 of food from being wasted-   crazy really!

We have a Tesco delivery tomorrow morning (now we are back to shielding) so Ive already adjusted the order in light of the Olio items we collected last night. Planning a lovely Greek yogurt, coconut & pineapple breakfast bowl this morning 

Staffordia

Congratulations on your wedding plans. 

South_coast

I wish Olio was more of a thing round here. I keep looking, but we don't have a Tesco so my nearest food hero is 5 miles away and they don't seem to have stuff every day anyway. The only listings within 2 miles of me at the moment are some loose leaf green tea and two oranges - slightly less inspiring, but I live in hope!

Being by the sea is definitely a drawback whenever there is a scenario involving a radius from your home - I can only go north, east or west....🤣!

Kittenkirst

Oh that’s such a shame South_Coast. I live in a town just outside Leicester city centre, so there are some perks to city living.

Tried click & collect shopping today with my local Tescos and was pleased with how Covid secure it was- and the cost was only £1.50 instead of the higher delivery charge. To make it worthwhile I added groceries for the girlfriends parents, bagged them up separately and dropped them to their front door. They gave me some homemade paneer, Kheer (indian style rice pud) and some parathas. So we snacked on a paratha each as a mid morning late breakfast and have made a tasty chilli paneer for dinner, bulked out with white cabbage and served with some salad, including the last of the Olio fiery beetroot.

Managed an hour of Just Dance and half hour bike ride as was too icy to head out for a walk so have moved a bit, I’ve booked in for a yoga class tomorrow morning as that always lifts my mood.

Payday is on Friday.....I seem to be itching to spend what’s left in the account though- today I ordered two pairs of thermal leggings to hopefully help in the colder weather rather than constantly wearing jeans.....