Can definitely do better!

new_mortgageeee

Well, March turned out to be a long and spendy month!! Gearing up for my bathroom fitting, so picking up bits and pieces for that. Ordered and collected my tiles, and booked in the flooring. Also the year's breakdown cover, annual service charge on my house, and some expenditure on the allotment.

Enjoyed seeing the interest on my new house savings going up though - nearly up to £50 a month now!

Mortgage payments sorted for April:
Mortgage 1 regular OP: £100/£100
Mortgage 1 nice round number: £75.71/£75.71
Mortgage 2 10% OP: £250/£250

I think I should have £230 spare this month which will drop into savings. Not as good as last month, but my pay was slightly less, and my (larger than normal) first mortgage payment was taken today.

Is it weird to be looking forward to doing my tax return?! I shouldn't have to pay any additional personal tax this year, but will have student loan payments to make on my additional income. That should knock a chunk off my student loan. I think about £2k - so hopefully less than 4 years remaining on it. It'll be so nice not to lose a chunk of salary every month!

new_mortgageeee

Life has really precluded my regular weekly shop of £40 for the last couple of weeks which has been a bit of a shame. Lots of eating away from home and odd meals. I don't think I'm particularly over-budget, but it's really tricky to tell at the moment. Currently away for Easter so mixed eating in/out.

My savings have taken a £500 hit (lagged from last month due to paying off credit card) as expected (though also had to fork out for a new tyre after mine had a nail in it )

Lots of private work on at the moment (currently paying myself c. £700 a month), so in a couple of months (post invoice and receiving payment) I should feel the benefit of all of these hard-worked hours! The private work has limited my transcribing, so I haven't built up enough for another payout ($25) yet.

Not much else to report I don't think! I hope all have a lovely Easter NMx

new_mortgageeee

Looking forward to being paid tomorrow - a couple of payrises should see me with c.£200 extra a month :j

Have done a draft tax return, which just sees me owing c.£600 in student loan on my extra income which was slightly less than expected :j once I’ve had my p11D confirmed I’ll submit.

I’ve reinstated my S&S ISA now building work is nearly complete - my ‘big bills account’ should be just that, and a rolling c.£2k for planned, annual outgoings. So I’ve decided to take it off my footer as a ‘savings account’, focus on OPs, emergency savings, new house deposit, and anything left over can drop into the ISA - no particular target there at the moment.

I’ve upped my emergency savings target to £5k - it had sat at £4K for a few years, and my outgoings have increased a little bit, so that seems sensible to aim for.

For prosperity, current footer at end of 18/19 tax year is below:

- Mortgage 1 started Oct 2016 [STRIKE]£120,000[/STRIKE] £102,800
- Mortgage 2 started Feb 2019 [STRIKE]£30,000[/STRIKE] £29,175
- Student loan started 2009 [STRIKE]£16,413[/STRIKE] £9,370
+ New house fund £37,592/£40,000
+ Emergency savings £4,000/£4,000
+ House renovations/big annual bills £2,586/£5,000

new_mortgageeee

Oh, whilst I’m at it:

April figures at financial month-end:
Mortgage 1 regular OP: £100/£100
Mortgage 1 nice round number: £75.71/£75.71
Mortgage 2 10% OP: £250/£250

New House savings: £300/£300
Big bills account: £285/£285

Extra savings top ups: £100

Money diverted to savings or OPs: £1010.71! Not as good as last month, but met all targets nonetheless

new_mortgageeee

Dropped £25 into my new house fund as I won't need it between now and payday. When interest (c.£45) is added at the end of the month that'll tip into £38k! :j

Not much else to report financially, it has been quite quiet. I had car tax and TV licence this month, both out of rolling bills account. I had one spendy day in the spring sales, but probably won't buy any clothes now until the Christmas/NY sales.

Eagerly anticipating payday on Saturday (maybe Friday?) and its associated regular OPs; I'm on the cusp of dropping into the £101ks on my main mortgage - which feels tantalizingly close to dropping below £100k!! The prospect of being into two figures on both mortgages is very exciting. Five months away at current OP rate. Might try to divert an extra £100 a month and see if I can do it by September!

In a spur of the moment decision last week I applied for a new job! Not that I'm really in need of a new job or particularly unhappy where I am - my current job is fine and suits me with its flexibility. But it was too good not to if that makes sense. Waiting to see if I'll get an interview. I almost hope I don't get it so that I then don't have a difficult decision to make!! We'll see.

new_mortgageeee

May figures at financial month-end:
Mortgage 1 regular OP: £105/£100
Mortgage 1 nice round number: £68.80/£68.80
Mortgage 2 10% OP: £250/£250

New House savings: £300/£300
Big bills account: £285/£285

Extra savings top ups: £200

Money diverted to savings or OPs: £1208.80 :beer:

new_mortgageeee

I've just set up a monthly transfer of £100 into my S&S ISA. I don't think I'll have a lot of cash spare this month, but I've made my min. OPs of £350, and should be fine to do the 'nice round number' of c.£70 into my main mortgage, tipping it down into the £101ks... :j It's funny how non-negotiable these standard payments have become, and it's reassuring to think that it wouldn't (quite!) be the End of The World if I chose not to make them one month if I needed the money for something else.

Have had a very productive morning at home sorting and tidying, vacuuming etc. I even went for a 7.5km run! I also spent £28 on a fairly big shop for the coming week. Will probably need a small top up, but hopefully in the £10 region to stay on budget this week.

Now I need to settle down to some work but I'm really struggling to focus even when I think of the extra income!!

I hope all are having nice Bank Holiday weekends - I've just spotted a wealth of decent films on TV for the afternoon... noooooooooo

NMx

new_mortgageeee

NSD today, feels like the first for ages though I suppose it isn't. I've finally got into the swing of things with my private work, and tentatively feel like I'm getting to grips with the enormous amount that I suddenly seem to find myself with. It's good, of course, to have the extra income, but it comes with extra time pressures that are often difficult to meet.

Looking forward to the end of the week/month - partly its time for invoicing and that should be very healthy this month, and partly because it'll see a couple of my accounts tip over nice milestones That said, I don't know where May has gone!!

Hoping for an early night; even though this is a short work week I feel shattered already!

NMx

new_mortgageeee

Doing a big batch cook today - a bolognese and a couple of curries - all to be portioned up and into the freezer.

New house fund tipped up to £38,000 yesterday with the monthly interest :j disappointingly the mortgage payments didn't move because of the weekend, so I'll have to update my spreadsheet tomorrow.

Otherwise a fairly quiet weekend thankfully. It's a grey day here today so much pottering amongst the cooking; hopefully it'll set me up well for next week!

Happy Sunday all.

NMx

zcrat41

Hi, really enjoyed reading your diary. Great achievements so far,
Well done