Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Kittenkirst

 @South_coast

What a mixed bag weather wise this weekend! Yesterday was threatening rain and snow all day but ended up beautifully sunny. We met up with some friends we last saw early January and went for a 5.5km walk which was lovely; really good to catch up with them and see their baby. She’s growing so much; looking forward to being able to see them more regularly as the lockdowns reduce slowly.

We had some really sad news this weekend, an old colleague for us both has passed away at the age of 32. He was suffering with blood clots which I’m told was related to his Covid vaccine, they tried to put him into an induced coma but it didn’t work and he passed away. I was his line manager for a few years and he was a right lad always bending and breaking the rules but he had such a cheeky grin and glint in his eye that he got away with a lot as he just made you laugh. We both shed a little tear for him yesterday and his family that he leaves behind.

Life is so precious isn’t it 

South_coast

So sorry to hear that x

themadvix

Likewise, that’s very sad news.

Fortune_Smiles

So sorry to hear your news.

Fortune x

Kittenkirst

Thanks all, we’re okay just really sad for his family and its hard to imagine not seeing him again. We used to see him in various bars in town and he’d always give us a big tipsy hug and tell everyone that we were his old managers and how good we were to him. He was such a lad; always laughing and joking. Hard to comprehend that he’s just not here anymore.

Onto less tearful subjects: I packed 6 more boxes yesterday and got lots more listed on Olio and book of face marketplace- a lady collected the old cat water fountain that they both refuse to use (Oscar and Gfs parents cat!) for £8 so that was overpaid to the mortgage. We brought over the Barbeque and the (free) pizza oven to girlfriends parents for the summer- we’ll use the barbeque here, and the pizza oven I bought suitable spray paint last autumn and that’s my mini project this summer; get it all cleaned up again, sand down the rusted areas, do any repairs needed and give it a good respray so its good as new (almost!)

I also put  some large Starbucks mugs on Bay of E as the gf no longer likes them so if they sell we will get new for the new house. If they don’t they will be coming with us (!) and am dropping 2 Harry Potter mugs off to a local lady who requested them on a group- we are now facebook friends (not too sure how that happened) but she’s 82 and been stuck inside the past year so said she’s looking forward to chatting to someone through her window- how sweet does she sound.

On the way there I’m also stopping at a local ‘Wombles’ house to collect some council approved litter picking bags, as we went out and did a little half hour pick yesterday afternoon just in the woods by the house. Half hour and we had a very heavy full bag- including a set of plates that had writing all over and were all smashed up). Going to get some bags and we’ll try and get out for half hour 3x a week until we move. The local lady on our estate who does it, her Hubbie has had an op so she can’t do the picking and hold her dog lead at the same time, so we offered to take up the mantle for whilst Hubbie is recovering. We signed up to the local womble group just before lockdown, but then with shielding we couldn’t go out on any organised picks, so this seemed a great way to get involved, even if only for a few weeks until we move/ her Hubbie is better

Fortune_Smiles

Well done Kitten!  We litter pick a couple of times a month.  Siuch a shame that it's needed but very uplifting to here about all the Wombles out there helping out.

Fortune x

themadvix

You've just inspired me - I often do litter picks but it's been a while and I've been meaning to go round the block with my bucket for the last week or so - I'll go now! I did report an abandoned BBQ that had been flytipped using the Clear Waste app this morning - it had gone when I went out a bit later - but that might have been a coincidence!

Kittenkirst

Good on you guys with your litter picking escapades @themadvix & @Fortune_Smiles -I always find it inspiring to see/ hear of people doing things for their communities

We had a stressful afternoon yesterday as everyone started calling us about the new house: Apparently Redrow have a 42 day exchange timeline when you reserve the house. We were aware of this when we reserved and before we paid any money we gave the lady at Redrow our Memorandum of sale with all our dates on it (showing our exchange is planned for next Friday!) they said that was no problem at all....however yesterday they called our estate agents to push them for info on the deal, who rang the girlfriend to chase up the mortgage as we’ve still not heard from Leeds Buiding Society following all the additional details they wanted on gfs flat. 
So I call our mortgage broker to chase up Leeds - broker admin lady was lovely and said not to worry and leave it with her.

Then the Redrow lady calls me to warn we could lose our reservation fee and our payments we have made for our extras (£1000 reservation, £5290 for the extras!!!!!) so I said we shared the memorandum of sale as part of the reservation process; she said head office are pushing them to get it exchanged and for us to call and chase our solicitor for draft contracts. She then made a comment about making sure we sign all paperwork and respond to all enquiries straight away so I told her off: we have returned all paperwork/emails/queries/ documents within a day. The only thing we had to wait for was our boiler certificate but that wasnt holding anything up!!! Grrrrr  

I emailed solicitors who said they can’t do draft contracts until they have the mortgage offer (and that Redrow would know this). They said not to worry about Redrow as developers often do this and that we wont lose our money, everything is going to plan and not to stress. It has however caused us to start worrying about whether Leeds may not offer us the mortgage after all of this.....so we’re both trying to think positively and not stress, but we’ve both admitted its worrying us a lot.

Trying to do this whilst juggling work calls and emails isn’t the easiest and I can understand why people say house buying is one of the most stressful experiences!!

On a better note, I had £5.29 approve on prolific in the evening so that got sent straight over to the mortgage as an overpayment, and then we had 3 lots of Quidco cashback approved so I have requested that; it was 3 chunky bits so was a great £84.70 (£40 for my sim only mobile deal, £30 for our home contents  and buildings insurance, then £14.70 from the girlfriends engagement ring purchase!). Looking forward to that clearing and going to the mortgage pot

SandyShores

I'm sure it will all be fine Kittenkirst, its such a stressful time.  They won't want to start the process all over again with someone else.  We had a deadline for exchange and for some reason it ran over (Xmas I think).  I was really worried but the pressure is just to make sure you are going ahead, but after all that investment in extras you are hardly going to pull out.  I would say try not to worry, but its hard not to be on tenterhooks.  

Kittenkirst

Thanks @SandyShores its reassuring to hear your experience; its one of those things that stresses you out until you chat to people and they experienced similar that you feel a bit less het up about it!

Not much money saving yesterday really; work, a small prolific survey, a few OnePoll ones and dinner using up the polenta that had just gone past its date (used it for polenta chips using the air-fryer- yum!).

My weight has gone up more, and I’m feeling decidedly bloaty at the moment. I know i need to do something about it, but I’m just lacking all determination to do anything about it. I am trying to cut out chocolate this week to see if it helps with the headaches Ive been experiencing, and trying for a bit more fruit this week, but I know I really need to get off my butt and do some exercise.....