Thanks Mum this is for you...single gal, a pony and a mission to beat the mortgage 24 May 2016 at 9:06AM in Mortgage-free wannabe 183 replies 28.6K views

Baldybear

Good morning world

As the title of the diary this is me a single gal, a pony and a mission to beat the mortgage.

Have had lots of diaries before on the DFW board but have managed to get free, have had so many changes in my life that am hoping to go on an upward trend now and beat my mortgage into submission.

So brief history....am 38, have a horse and a hamster I bought my current house with my ex, we split up and he has moved on but was trying to buy him out this started June 2014...roll forward to october 2015 and my mum suddenly got very ill, diagnosed with terminal cancer and died within 2 weeks So from then until now has been 6 months of pure hell. Everything that could have been thrown at my family has, this includes major injury for the hoss 10 days after my mum died resulting in 5 stitches and £1200 vet bill, my dad having a fall, worries about dad and current living situation and then him being diagnosed with Alzheimers, just to name a few.

A lot has gone on, but we have sold my dads house, sold my sisters house and my dad is now living in a larger property with my sister, her hubbie and 6 year old boy. Just moved in a few weeks ago but hopefully life will settle down.

The upside to this all is that dad gifted me part of the money from his estate which enabled me to become debt free (earlier although was working on it quite well), it also enabled me to buy my ex out, decrease the mortgage enough to take on myself.

So now we are here today Today is a special day to start this diary as it is my mums birthday, she would have been 71 today, so this forward venture in my life is dedicated to mum :A

Baldybear

So my financials.....

I have a mortgage which is £100K, have about 68% equity in the house already so a good start. Have a tracker mortgage so rates are low, repayment and if leave to term will have it paid of just after my 58th birthday, but no dont want that, want it paid of much earlier

Have a lodger at the moment, did have him to help pay bills before bought ex out, dont "need" the money but is useful to keep to build up savings etc.

So brief SOA:
Income £1578
Lodger £400

Outgoings:
Mortgage £476]
Council Tax £176
Electricity £35
Gas £16
Water Rates £37
Virgin (TV, broadband, phone) (on basic tv package) £45
TV Licence £12.12
A/C fee (get car breakdown, plus rewards, works out cash neutral) £18
Mobile £15
Fuel £60
Horse rent £182
Horse food £100
My food £100
Misc spending £100
Farrier £16

This leaves me approx £600 "spare".

Stevie_Palimo

Keep the upbeat attitude and having a lot of terrible things happen in a short period of time deserves some good luck, Hope things get better for you.

Baldybear

Want to get my savings built up as have minimal savings

So have some targets:

Emergency fund - £5K target - currently have £2.3K

Insurance (car mot, service etc, house, car insurance £1153 - currently have £229

House £1K - for general repairs - currently have £158

Horse - £1140 - for emergencies and annual bills - currently have 0

Holidays - £500 - currently have £151

Fun - £1K - days out etc, currently have 70p

Also have a savings builder account - no target yet

With my "spare" money have set up standing orders so have:-
£100 to savings builder (best interest)
£50 to fun
£100 to horse
£50 to house
£100 to insurance
£100 to emergency

With these standing orders should reach goals in about 12 months, hopefully less.

Am due in £500 from sister from bills paid out on her behalf recently, this will go straight to holiday fund for now. Also due £700 from mortgage overpayment on old mortgage, this will go straight to insurance fund.

Baldybear

So where am I now, well working full time, no chance of overtime, looking at current budget no major means for overpaying of mortgage, am going to get the savings up to full targets first and then crack on with the mortgage.

I do things like surveys, ebay etc and they do help bring in the pennies, they are no big deal so for now happy to carry these on.

I do have a holiday booked in a few weeks time, but dont worry and panic folks its a free one won of the comp board here Just 4 nights in wales, self catering but with the £600 odd I will have have more than enough to have as spending money for the week plus a lot left over. Want to abroad later in the year so going to aim to get that up to £1k by then to cover all costs.

Today for now, as its mums birthday, oh and payday (:)) am going to get mum some flowers, have cash in purse so no spends to be taken out of bank on new budget day, and go and sit in the sun with her at lunchtime, as the graveyard is just up the road from where I work and is such a nice pleasant setting

Baldybear

Stevie_Palimo wrote: »

Keep the upbeat attitude and having a lot of terrible things happen in a short period of time deserves some good luck, Hope things get better for you.

thank you, heres hoping, onwards and upwards

FloppyDisk

I totally echo Stevie's comments, you sound incredibly strong and you are certainly in charge of your own financial destiny. It sounds like I have a similar set up with the horse and the lodger and I also need to set up a vet bill savings account despite the insurance (so many exceptions now!), how are you managing so many SOers and different pots of money? Are they all regular savings accounts, or virtual pots?

darrrren

I dont post much but had to log in for this one. Really sorry to hear about your loss, and the hard times you have faced. The world can be a very tough place, and my best advice is to surround yourself by those who love and care for you. Its great you got out of debt. And the mortgage sounds like it going well, and you obviously budget which is spot on. Keep doing what your doing, moving forward, your doing brilliantly. Enjoy what you love, your pony or riding, and keep that head up lady. Very well done and I wish you nothing but good ahead. Darren.

Kittenkirst

Looking forward to reading all your upcoming posts on your shiny new thread.

I'm not as eloquent as some of the forum members above but wanted to echo their sentiments. Keep the fab attitude, andkeep on going. We're all here to cheer you on

A_Frayed_Knot

Lovely, touching fitting gesture to your mum, starting up this diary.

I'm sure she'll be reading with pride, just how far your come in such a sort time

newgirly

What a horrible time you have had baldybear, I think its a lovely tribute to your mum to try and do something so positive As you have been on the debt free boards I don't need to tell you how much help and support you get through the good times and the bad, I hope the mf board will be as helpful to you, best of luck

Ps, I am starting to feel left out as so many on here have horses now!