Project Mortgage Neutral Begins

ajmoney

The worst thing to do is not make a decision right?  Inertia wastes money? I have actively chosen to do nothing until August!  It is only a month but I think it would be silly to make a set plan when I don't have an exact figure for the remortgage and by then hopefully I will know if an extension from work is likely.  I have been watching loads of youtube videos, read a lot and looked at different savings options today but my head is now bombarded and I need to let things settle a little.  What I have done is set myself some financial aims for the rest of 2020, it is just about halfway through the year so a perfect time.

1. Remortgage larger mortgage in July 2020 - I expect the new monthly cost to be about £325, up from the current £303 but it was at the higher amount before the interest rates dropped.

2. Make a savings and OP plan for each month.  For now this is likely to be fluid but the main aim is to keep the OP at £250 pm and save the rest, for now in my ISA but this will be tweaked in August.

3. Track my spending and the various categories they come under for the rest of the year.  Currently my shopping budget covers everything which is ok but it includes food, cleaning products, toiletries and gardening purchases from the supermarket.  This will allow me to make a garden purchase budget as I am more than happy to keep everything else in the shopping one.  £250 seems a lot for one person but I want to start easy, the most I have spent since I started tracking it was £214 and there were quite a few garden bits bought in that, it would definitely have been below £200.

4. Make my annual S&S ISA review for December 2020.  If I do each of the things above this will give me a great idea of how much more I can possibly divert to this side of my portfolio without leaving me short.

I have started in earnest and have set up a SO of £350 into my ISA for next month, I have also transferred £210 - made up of this month's fuel budget which I am unlikely to need and the £50 I kept for gardening purchases from last month but I am now in June so it comes from this month's pay!!!!!  As it stands I have £229.36 unallocated from this month's pay and it will be interesting to see what this amount is in 20 days time.

Off to check my cupboards and meal plan.

ajmoney

I have meal planned until Monday and just come back from getting shopping which wasn't the cheapest and I didn't manage to get everything on my list!  I have topped up my tin cupboard which should do me for a month or two, picked up a few toiletries and have some extra meat in the freezer so I guess in the longer term it will pay off.  I made a mistake really though as I drive past one of the cheaper supermarkets to get to Mr M and could actually go via both, lesson learned...I will go to those first when I have the time and then get anything I can't in the bigger supermarket.  I used to do this but have got out of the habit.

ajmoney

I am thinking of keeping a mood diary during lockdown and maybe beyond to see if there are any patterns as mine is low again and I am wondering if there is a pattern.  I think I probably need to add more than just my moos though to see where the patterns form so will have a little look online and see if I can find any suggestions.  In such strange times if I can avoid any triggers I think it could be wise.  I have naturally started withdrawing from fb a bit, I do have a quick look to see what people are saying but the 30 day mute thing has been great.  I am not listening to the news as much, in the early days I was using the daily updates for my news because they present the facts, although I do understand it is the lead party's bias but it is better than individual people's bias or people turning things for their own political gain or to fit their own beliefs. 

Someone from the triathlon club got in touch yesterday to ask if I would like to meet for a socially distant walk on Sunday, such a lovely thought especially as I have only seen three people (not counting the random passing of neighbours) to have physical conversations with it over the last 12 weeks and it is certainly taking its toll.  I don't see the situation changing much for me over the next couple of months.

Work virtual meeting in 15 minutes so off to prepare my mind more than my points, we are getting a little frustrated with some of the processes that aren't happening at the moment and I need to make sure my mood doesn't lead my voice today - stick to the facts and speak up for those I represent and all should be fine.

ajmoney

I have broken down this month's spending so far into categories so the whole shopping total is a little more realistic.  So far I have spent:

£82.89 Food

£27.49 Toiletries - I topped up yesterday so shouldn't need much more for the rest of the month

£1.50 Cards/presents

£0.69 Cleaning

£4.98 Misc - replacement gasket for my pressure cooker

£0.00 Garden stuff

£117.55 total so far - the breakdown doesn't make this seem so bad.

savingholmes

You are very disciplined and I'm sure you will achieve any goal you set yourself. Be kind to yourself along the way. Enjoy the garden and your socially distanced meet up.

ajmoney

savingholmes said:

You are very disciplined and I'm sure you will achieve any goal you set yourself. Be kind to yourself along the way. Enjoy the garden and your socially distanced meet up.

Thanks, your comment is very kind.  I don't have much else to do at the moment so it is fairly easy to sit here and look at figure.  Annoyingly we got word to say the result on a possible extension won't be out until next week now, if I plan for the end of Friday next week any earlier is a bonus but a lot of decisions are taking far too long at the moment so I am not holding my breath.

ajmoney

I have rejigged my meal plan slightly so I don't need to go shopping again before Sunday, I just need to work out what I can bake with the ingredients I have rather than buying others.

I forgot, I got two letters from the bank this week.  The first one told me my reduced term from the OP at the beginning of the month and the difference is shown below:

01/04/20 £534.17 OP Remaining Term 19 years 1 month

30/04/20 £1503.58 OP Remaining Term 13 years 10 months

01/05/20 £558.25 OP Remaining Term 11 years 11 months

01/06/20 £574.03 OP Remaining Term 10 years

The second letter was to tell me that account was closed after my large OP

ajmoney

Premium bonds, what are your thoughts and do you count them towards your cash assets if you have them?  I don't have many at the moment but I am wondering about getting more.  I have never won but let's face it, unless I put more into my S&S ISA I am not really going to get much of a return on my money in any accounts at the moment.

Suffolk_lass

My rationale for buying some was that you are in with a chance (in it to win it, and all that). The need for readily available cash is usually met form a second cash fund (instant saver, attached to the Coop account) but it only pays 0.1% from next month, so I took £10k out and bunged it into bonds about a week ago - first draw August. By setting up my NS&I account it also makes it easy if I want to sell them or some of them, and if I want to buy other NS&I products that is easy too. Our mortgage has two years and two months until it reaches its' term and the interest is only 0.59% so covered by the loyalty payment on the Coop account now - so I thought I would take a safe punt.

ajmoney

It doesn't take that long to get money if it is needed either.  I have a grand total of £310 in mine at the moment.  I have been transferring left over money into my ISA at the end of the month but I might divert it into bonds instead.