Project Mortgage Neutral Begins

ajmoney

Cornish_mum said:

Hello

 I am also a huge planner and find it impossible not to. To enjoy anything it has to be part of a plan. I wish I wasn’t this way but I am, means I get absolutely loads done but find relaxing and taking advantage of spontaneous opportunities extremely difficult. DS often will add things like ‘play Lego with DS’ on my weekend to do list (which makes me feel absolutely wretched).

At those management assessments thing’s I scored off the chart for completer-finisher.

Let me know if you find any good solutions!

So far no ideas but I will let you know. 

Apart from 2 presents I have finished my Christmas shopping and this morning wrapped everything I have.  The intention was to write the general cards that I am sending tonight, I don't send that many so it shouldn't take too long.  The problem is right now I am generally struggling to do anything that doesn't involve sitting on the sofa.  Even though I am not a huge televsion fan I often have it on for background noise but I can't bear that or the radio so am sitting in silence which seems to make me a little calmer.  Life definitely seems to be sent to try me at the moment but at least I had a little productivity this morning.

Suffolk_lass

My sort of spur of the moment things are when I think of someone who is down or in need and do something a bit spontaneous to cheer them up - in our Village we will be delivering home-made mince pies to all those who are elderly, on their own or vulnerable. It is taking some planning to coordinate it but the idea is of spontaneous generosity - you could do something to reach out to your neighbours like writing each one a Christmas card and wish them a Merry Christmas and write something complimentary or otherwise nice about them, their garden or house - it's up to you then whether you put your name and location or just something like "one of your neighbours in x road" - then you might find others follow. The living in the moment for me is the reward I feel for being generous, and it does not have to be a monetary thing - reaching out with a bit of conversation is appreciated here by some of our older residents

ajmoney

Financials done for December and as I predicted last month I have met all the targets I set in June.

1. Reduce mortgages to £89710.82 Current total £89593.16 which is before this months standard payment and OP are taken off so well exceeded this target

2. Build up 3 months of emergency fund in immediately accessible money Target £4171.32 Current total £4227.35

3. Save 10% overall from June onwards Target was £30011.66 Current total £32813.49 - this has been helped a lot by my S&S ISA which had been stagnant for a while in this crazy world.

Seeing as I have made all of the targets I have redirected the money from my holiday fund and bolstered my Dec OP to £500.  I have some rough plans for next year but will wait until closer to the end of the year to confirm these.  I am looking forward to reviewing the full year goals too although I didn't keep a note of how much my total mortgage was at the start of the year, hopefully I will find that on a thread somewhere as I deleted it from my spreadsheet once I had paid the smaller one off.

I have signed up for a virtual 100 mile walking challenge for December to try and give me a bit of a focus and keep getting me out of the house during this tough time.  Other than that my plan for December is me - survive Christmas and not ask too much of myself while I come to terms with the recent changes in my life so that I can hopefully be ready to start 2021 in a better place.

ajmoney

2 mortgages both with the same interest rate, one is around £25k and the other £64k, which would you OP first?  I have been OPing the larger one as historically this has had the larger interest rate but now there is obviously no difference.

Suffolk_lass

ajmoney said:

2 mortgages both with the same interest rate, one is around £25k and the other £64k, which would you OP first?  I have been OPing the larger one as historically this has had the larger interest rate but now there is obviously no difference.

The one with the shorter fix date, or if the same, I would be looking to clear the smaller one first, to reduce complexity (and fees) if you intend remortgaging again in future. You could also look at whether stoozing a credit card at 0% (no fee or small fee BT) or cash advance at 0% might let you pay it off more quickly and challenge you in a different way

ajmoney

Thanks @Suffolk_lass I hadn't thought about potential fees and it would certainly be easier to get rid of the smaller one first.  At the moment I have been sending the larger OP to the bigger mortgage and covering the monthly interest on the smaller one but some thinking to be done.  It is crazy that at 1.34% for both mortgages this is my highest interest rate!

I am now off work until Tuesday and found out today that we are finishing at the end of next week so people can isolate before needing to travel.  I have made my management more than aware that I do not want this much time at home with it just being me.  I realise I should be very grateful that I have a job.

savingholmes

Hi you are doing amazing with financial figures. Local swims sound good too

Suffolk_lass

ajmoney said:

Thanks @Suffolk_lass I hadn't thought about potential fees and it would certainly be easier to get rid of the smaller one first.  At the moment I have been sending the larger OP to the bigger mortgage and covering the monthly interest on the smaller one but some thinking to be done.  It is crazy that at 1.34% for both mortgages this is my highest interest rate!

I am now off work until Tuesday and found out today that we are finishing at the end of next week so people can isolate before needing to travel.  I have made my management more than aware that I do not want this much time at home with it just being me.  I realise I should be very grateful that I have a job.

Have you got a plan to avoid this? Our local town is looking for people to help deliver Christmas meals to people who would normally join them for Christmas dinner at a community facility to avoid being on their own. That delivery is likely to be their only conversation so lots of volunteers needed to make sure there is time for a natter

ajmoney

@Suffolk_lass this is a really awkward one and one that affected many of us volunteering to help during the major lockdown.  Due to my job we are on standby to go and help out if required with not much notice and this time we are more likely to be used which means I can't really volunteer as I don't want to let anyone down.  We were categorically told not to last time although a couple got away with being able to help their churches etc who already knew them and so would understand a little more.

ajmoney

Snow, who knew?! I have given up checking the weather forecast. I was woken by a noise and couldn't work out what but it was cold so thought I would shut the window and looked out to see it snowing, I have since realised it was thunder and lightning too. All Windows now shut in the house and I suspect swimming might be given a miss today!