Project Mortgage Neutral Begins

ajmoney

Frugaliza - you have it spot on.

I actually get more in interest in my regular savings account that the mortgage rate, however our mortgage (especially the larger one) is the biggest monthly outlay we have so if we can get rid of that earlier it gives us more choices.

ajmoney

It is holiday time and I get to spend 20 nights with my husband :j
I am doing our last food shop before Christmas tomorrow so we don't have to experience the stress of the supermarkets.

We are off on holiday for Christmas to Berlin, I have a feeling atmosphere will be hugely different from when we were there last year. It feels like barriers keep being put in our way. First was the threat of the baggage handler strikes which luckily are not going ahead, then the terrible news from yesterday and now we are expected to have 60-90 mph winds on Saturday when we fly :eek: we have booked a lot of entertainment and are looking forward to doing our own thing. Berlin is my favourite city and yesterday has made me incredibly sad, we were intending on going to midnight mass on Saturday but I feel it is necessary now.

ajmoney

We had a great trip to Berlin and are now enjoying 10 days together at home.

We have had a good 2016 and have paid off over £10k on our larger mortgage. I am looking forward to seeing where we are at the end of 2017 and how close we will be to being able to clear the larger mortgage.

ajmoney

I have just updated our spreadsheets and shuffled my money about as required.

It is great to see how far I/we have come over the last year:

my savings have increased from £36129.51 to £44219.01 and our mortgage total has decreased from £143795.68 to £131243.56, this is without us making any changes to our lifestyle.

we are currently on target to clear our large mortgage in June 2018 and while this will clear us out of savings it will give us a lot more security and we will build up our savings after this. We are working towards August 2017 so we have the choice whether to stick to that and have a buffer in our savings of just clear it and then build our funds up again. 18 months and counting :j

ajmoney

Back to work tomorrow. I have a shopping list for my lunches so I can make them and take them across with me. If anyone has any suggestions for future weeks of things I can make in advance that will last 3 or 4 days or that need no cooking then please post away.

I have been quite low recently and until I know exactly what it is that is getting me down I am trying to put everything else in order, hence planning my meals. I am going to make an exercise plan too, this is what keeps me sane so I need to get back into the swing of it. The house is fairly disorganised at the moment so over the next few weeks I need to sort it out so that is another thing ticked off while I work out what is going on. I need to get Mr AJM to help me so I don't feel like I have the weight of it on my shoulders.

ajmoney

Bck at work and it feel like I have never been away. I am using this morning to organise my room, organise my work bag (this should have been done when I finished for Christmas) and make an exercise plan for the week. It intend to use these slots like diary entries until it becomes second nature again.

I am going to look into studying for A level business studies. I can do it and only pay 20% through a work scheme, will learn a bit on the way and see if a job in finance may interest me when my current job finishes. I need to contact the education centre this afternoon to check how I apply and sort the funding out. I am hoping it may give me a bit more purpose.

I have my food for breakfasts, lunches and snacks until I go back home on Thursday and I have £20 in my wallet which I want to live off for the week (if not 2). This should make it a little easier to budget moving forward.

ajmoney

First week back wasn't too bad. I managed to get out of the office by 2pm each day and do a little bit of exercise or have some time to myself. I am nearly at the stage where everything is organsed and I am working at planning for the coming year.

We booked our summer holiday yesterday. We were wanting to go back to Thailand, I had done some rough planning to see how much a holiday would cost if we did everything else ourselves. We are going to a couple of destinations less, are paying slightly more (£100 each) but have the safety of having booked a package deal. 10 days in a quiet beach resort, 2 nights doing an elephant safari and 9 nights in a beach resort with a but more to do so 21 nights away for £1864 each. We will have all the money in our account by the time we need to settle the balance and will still have 3 months to save before we go away.

ajmoney

January hasn't been a great month for me, I am not particularly happy being away from home which has led to me being extremely low. Today I feel things things are turning for the better so am striking while the iron's hot and am taking steps to get active again. I am restarting my running training from basics this week and Mr AJM is interested in joining me and I am already into my training for the Keswick to Barrow walk in May.

There are many times over the last month that I have wanted to use my page as a bit of therapy but also was hoping if I didn't mention to anyone how I was feeling it would all just go away.

Luckily my money savviness has continued through my dark patch and am looking forward to our council tax free months with enthusiasm. With approximately 18 months left of our larger mortgage if we continue on our current plan these extra OPs are very exciting.

ajmoney

13.5 mile walk today, I saw 2 deer, loads of robins and plenty of birds that I haven't got a clue about. The best part was when I thought there was a cyclist coming up behind me when in reality it was the flapping wings of 5 geese overhead. I am shattered after all that fresh air so Mr AJM is cooking dinner.

Back to work tomorrow but only for 2 nights this week, looking forward to getting back again so I can go for another walk on Friday.

ajmoney

I have done the money shuffle and updated all my spreadsheets. I am starting to get a little confused with what I need to do on each so I may need to look at changing them. It doesn't help that I am duty today so am doing it all in a limited time frame after a long day.

We are currently on target to be mortgage free on the larger mortgage by June 2018, if I got Mr AJM's totals we may be a month less that that, we also now own 40% of our house