Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Kittenkirst

In my haste to go and eat my lunch (chicken salad wrap, not the Nando’s wrap I’ve been craving a few weeks!) I didn’t post our mortgage overpayments; Calculated it up and for April it was ......£1064.78   

Which makes 2021 so far:
£558.48 for January
£168.50 for February
£436.35 for March
£1064.78 for April

Totalling: £2,228.11

Pretty pleased with that. As of Friday last week I’m not sending any more money over to the mortgage (concerned it wont be added as the mortgage will be cleared when we complete) so as soon as we have completed and moved our equity to the savings account, I will then start with the Tilly Tidies and the shoving of all the cash over to the pot!

Kittenkirst

I’m so glad that it is Friday! No updates from our solicitors other than they have contacted the developer, so we are just waiting in limbo for the time-being. Trying not to worry about it, because we literally cannot do anything to hurry it along, but it is hard.

Our mortgage payment is due on 20th however we sent the funds as an overpayment already at the start of the month anticipating that the completion would have happened well before our next payment....this may have been a little hasty 😛 so we may have to shuffle some funds around on the 19th if we haven’t completed by then, just to make sure the payment doesn’t default (we don’t want a black mark on our credit file now!)

Work for me has been super busy; Ive clocked up 12 extra hours in the evenings trying to get a migration project done; Ive still got a long way to go but will be finishing on time tonight (I don’t get paid overtime but they are flexible with appointments/when i was exhausted after my first vaccine etc so I get the time back eventually). 

Only managed to get to the gym on Wednesday morning before work; aimed to go this morning but Oscar managed to escape when Joey was let out at 3am, so we were in the street trying to get him back inside and i then couldn’t get back to sleep, so cancelled my gym booking for 7am. We are going to go at 4pm when we finish tonight so we still get the exercise in, and will be going tomorrow morning. On Sunday our friends have some David Lloyd guest passes (how lovely!) which we are going to use; we have badminton booked with them and will then use the gym. I don’t know whether I want to try the pool/ sauna areas or not; will pack my stuff and then take a nose at how busy it is and get a feel for the safety.

The great news is that in a fortnight of going to the gym a bit more (been 6 times now), using the bike more at home and trying to eat a little better (but still having pud daily ha!) Ive lost 2.1kg already, which has boosted my mood this morning. I’m feeling very sluggish and clothes just don’t fit now, so I’m keen to just be more active, feel better in myself and fit into some of my nice summer clothes again Slow steps and it will happen, just need to be patient and not get too hung up on it!

Prolific has been on fire the past few nights in the evenings after Ive finished work; I’m now at £20.93 cleared funds and £8.18 pending so quite far ahead of my £5 a week challenge (I need to be at £10 by the end of this week to be on track). I’m happy for the head start to my mini challenge as I’m sure other weeks will be much quieter/ Ill miss the surveys when available etc.

Kittenkirst

Morning all, Monday has rolled around again all too soon and its back to work (well, in half hour for me!)
We didn’t end up visiting David Lloyd as our friend got a little carried away watching the rugby and then Leicester winning the footie so was worse for wear yesterday  

Instead we nipped to our gym for an hours session to start the day right. That meant I managed the gym 3 x last week which I’m pleased with. Aiming for 4 times this week. I did also get more active in that on Friday night after work we couldn’t book into the gym so the girlfriend and I went for a walk; we saw a route people were turning off onto that we haven’t gone before so went for an explore and it looped onto the bridle way we know well so we did a nice 5km loop. So on Saturday and Sunday whilst the rest of the house had an afternoon snooze I went for a walk again. Saturday I managed 4.5km and yesterday 7km. Which I’m pleased with- my legs and bum know about it today though

In money saving, it was a fairly quiet weekend using our gym memberships, being outside and we resisted the takeaways (yay!). I popped some new bits on Olio app and went and collected from 2 food waste heroes too; we got some limes, new potatoes, 2x Bol salad pots and 2 bags of mozzarella. So yesterday lunch was ham, mozzarella and cranberry toastier (yum!) and we are having the Bol salads tonight with tuna steaks from the freezer (I’m very much looking forward to these!).

I did have a little splurge on Vinted; my recent purchase from Killstar clothing had 2 skirts sent back as they were just too tight really. I really loved one but it was £34.99 and just didn’t fit. Anyways, a lady had the next size up brand new with taxes on Vinted for £17 after delivery and buyer surcharge!! Result!! The very skirt I wanted (is versatile for more casual wear and can be styled up for nights out too/festivals/ gigs) at half the price delivered

I’m a little nervous today as its my 3 month probationary review at work- I have everything crossed; they seem to be giving good feedback and seem super happy with my output so i am hopeful they are keeping me on permanent!

Fortune_Smiles

Good luck with the probationary review - although I'm sure you won't need it 😉

Fortune x

Kittenkirst

Fortune_Smiles said:

Good luck with the probationary review - although I'm sure you won't need it 😉

Fortune x

Thank you Fortune! All went well, boss was happy with how I’m doing, pleased Ive picked up more than he envisaged and am getting stuck into a variety of areas. So I passed

We had a celebratory takeaway of chip supper last night (as the best chippy in Leicester are on Uber Eats and we had a 50% voucher too!) We ate like kings for £18 delivered (plus the tip, people got to earn ) and have so many chips leftover for today.

We were supposed to have those Bols we got from Olio, but we had them for lunch today - super tasty but next time we can share one bowl between two as the volume of food was a lot!

Worked super late last night (until 9pm) with a 30 min chip stop so my steps/activity was awful really, so we went to the gym this morning to get more movement in today. It does mean I’m shattered now this evening and am in bed already watching Motherland on Netflix.

Prolific has been quiet this week; so far only a £1.60 survey this evening; account is sat at £33.40 now though against my £15 topic - hoping tomorrow is a little busier on there. It may just be timing this week, or a bumper week last week making this week seem so slow!

Kittenkirst

Shortly after posting last night I had a Prolific survey for £8.45 on the Scottish Court system- it was a really interesting study too so quite pleased I kept checking  

Total amount (pending & confirmed): £41.85. Not too shabby at all! 

Early morning gym plans derailed this morning as woke at 3am in agony with my hip- took painkillers but could barely move in bed. A few hours sleep hasn’t really helped so gf has headed off, and I stayed home, got washed, dressed, more painkillers, did the pots from last night (there was a lot as mum-in-law made the most delicious veg lasagne- spoilt! ) now made a cuppa and sorting emails etc.

Tonight we are going to a friends new house for dinner as the rules now permit- she moved in in August so really looking forward to seeing her house. It’s also benefitted from the fact she has a large conservatory so we’re going to sit in there hopefully with the doors open to still be cautious as Ive not yet had my second vaccine 💉  She’s making us a homemade chinese crispy chicken and noodles recipe she loves to cook, and we are taking some handmade brownies from a local company we bought from a fair amount in lockdown (he does a combined brownie, cookie and caramel one; called the Brookie. It’s A-mmmmmmmazing!  (Not sure if the link will work but here: https://brownieeyedboi.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwy42FBhB2EiwAJY0yQtxhgOQmuPnKO7W4yc3Y_jMDgX6G5bgopNMrRqZsFHIfMsnxbLeSdxoCNYUQAvD_BwE 

They do nationwide delivery and I can vouch- every batch has been amazing. That should be it for our food spends until the 28th; we bought the takeaway on Monday (as it was my treat for passing probation), did some top-up shops for the house and got us all those fancy doughnuts at the weekend).

On the subject of rent, the in-laws wont take any money whatsoever from us whilst we stay here whilst the house is being built; so we will do a big shop every few weeks, buy the takeaways and contribute in other ways we can (i.e. if they need something on the internet we order it for them and cover it)- that way we feel as though we are still contributing financially to the home

Kittenkirst

We spoke with our estate agents yesterday and its not great news- essentially the buyers solicitor left and hadn’t done a lot of the necessary work for our case. So they have a new solicitor assigned which is why they suddenly requested additional paperwork last week. That paperwork was provided, but the solicitor is swamped and probably wont review the case this week, and is on annual leave next week without anyone to hand it over to.

I just have no words. It seems so unprofessional and the whole house buying process seems so outdated and archaic really. Grrrrrr!

themadvix

Oh no, not good news about the solicitor. I don't understand how they always seem to be on leave and there's never anyone to cover - it always seems to be the way! Don't they do any work?! Hopefully they will manage to review it this week and are just managing expectations.

Do not share sweet treat links - that's just far too tempting!

debtfreeoneday

I feel your solicitor pain and house moves pain. The whole system is just so rubbish and outdated and heaps a whole load of stress you don’t need. Fingers crossed something happens soon!

well done on passing probation. 

bubblycrazy

Kittenkirst said:

 the whole house buying process seems so outdated and archaic really. Grrrrrr!

My dad is currently buying and selling and I've done all of the looking and emailing so I couldn't agree more! Estate agents also seem so expensive and unnecessary and I could write better listings than most of them, they can't even put whether it's detached or terraced correctly on half the listings I've seen! 
I hope the solicitor gets through their paperwork quickly for you.