Project Mortgage Neutral Begins

bubblycrazy

I think if they have a DD set up then it will look good that they have kept to those payments. Sometimes paying things before the DD is due can cause confusion and double payments to come out. 

I have had to re-jig a couple of budgets due to prices increases, mainly petrol. 

Watty1

No idea on the CC sorry.
As for the house it is a tough one.  What is under the carpets?  My rental has no carpets but it doesn't make it as cold as one would think if i wear thick socks (heatholders are thermal and fabulous).  The cottage the ex and I own has a tiled floor downstairs and I have a rug which makes it much warmer.    Could removing the carpets and maybe finding a few rugs help out until you are ready to redecorate ?

ajmoney

Watty1 said:

No idea on the CC sorry.
As for the house it is a tough one.  What is under the carpets?  My rental has no carpets but it doesn't make it as cold as one would think if i wear thick socks (heatholders are thermal and fabulous).  The cottage the ex and I own has a tiled floor downstairs and I have a rug which makes it much warmer.    Could removing the carpets and maybe finding a few rugs help out until you are ready to redecorate ?

Maybe.  The worst room is my main spare one, my parents are coming to stay in a couple of weeks and after that I won't be expecting anyone else so I might take that one up then and see if it makes a difference.  It might at least show me any potential issues underneath.

ajmoney

My mortgage has fallen below £80k, exciting times.  It feels really strange not to be OPing this month but I need to give myself a bit of a break and suspect I will need the money to help me feel a little less stressed.

ajmoney

Before I assess where my money is going next year, I have decided to have a look at where my time goes. 

On a weekly basis I am at work, parkrun where I am on the core team and once a week go along to swim training with my triathlon club to a peer support group.  I would like to do more training either with the club or alone but have been struggling to motivate myself.

I am currently studying distance learning towards GCSE Psychology and am due to take the exam in summer 2022.  I am also training to be a level 1 triathlon coach, the online learning will be complete in 2 weeks time and the practical assessments are in the new year.  Once I have qualified I will be expected to coach at least one of the club training sessions each month, in reality it will be twice.

I have nearly done my qualifying sessions as a technical official at Triathlon events and I guess once this is done I may be at 4-5 events a year.

I am a fundraiser and ambassador for a mental health organisation which doesn't take up too much time and benefits me too.  I am also a qualified mental health first aid instructor and next year will be rolling out training for my work organisation.

On an ad hoc basis I volunteer at junior parkrun and at various local sporting events.

I don't know if this amount of plate spinning is normal or not and to be honest I am not sure I want to, whatever is right for me will feel right.  It wasn't and so I have just done the really uncomfortable thing of stepping back from something I had started to take on because I really feel I can't cope with anything more.  The weekly stuff is manageable when I am taking care of myself and I am trying to focus on me.  I need to reassess this because when I feel stressed and overwhelmed I end up feeling out of control with my money too so it makes sense to look at this first. 

I am hoping keeping a note of what I am doing each day for the last two weeks at work may show some things that may help.  I am the worst procrastinator ever and sometimes sit doing nothing when I could go for a walk or do some studying.  Then I will look at updating my SOA.

Watty1

I like the idea of looking at where your time goes.  I've been wondering where mine goes for sure.   I think I might work too much but chatting it over with a friend I think it might just be I am chaotic.

I will be reading along with interest. I'm not going to comment on the plate spinning because what might be right for you might be too much for one other person and too little for another!

ajmoney

Watty1 said:

I like the idea of looking at where your time goes.  I've been wondering where mine goes for sure.   I think I might work too much but chatting it over with a friend I think it might just be I am chaotic.

I will be reading along with interest. I'm not going to comment on the plate spinning because what might be right for you might be too much for one other person and too little for another!

I think I am chaotic too which is my reason for doing this, I also think there is an element of self-destruction which is clearly not healthy. I love being busy but not at the detriment of my inner peace and sanity so I am using this time to reevaluate. I have managed to turn a couple of things down this week but equally have taken something on to help someone else out. That is my downfall!!!! 

ajmoney

I have just been looking online as I am due a phone upgrade in the next week or so, it looks like the monthly cost is going to be going up.  Hopefully I am reading the info wrong and going into the shop will produce a better deal, but I guess a lot has changed in the world over the last couple of years and they are probably cashing in on connectivity.

I also realised that the reason I was short of cash each month, apart from maybe making a couple of purchases, is not factoring in higher fuel costs for my car and probably more expensive food bills too.  I was also saving or OPing just under £1k.  Yes, I love building up my funds, but not at the expense of living and with costs rising I really do need to reevaluate what I need on a monthly basis before I can think about what I am saving and OPing.

ajmoney

Here is my updated SOA so far

2626        Pay

443.61     Mortgage

168          Council Tax

83.33       Gas/electricity

89.50       Phone/tv/internet

24.16       Mobile - will be reviewed in the next 2 weeks

13.37       TV licence

250          Fuel

250          Shopping

12.50       Road tax

30            Car insurance

20            Car maintenance/servicing

15            Home insurance

70            Beauty/hair

10.36       Work insurance

25            Christmas

1504.83   Total so far

250          ISA

250          S&S ISA

250          OP

100          Holiday fund

2354.83   New total

271.17     Money left each month  

The S&S ISA is the only saving amount that is set in stone, I have yet to decide on the other totals so put these in as a guide.  I guess I should decide where my focus is going to be, savings or my mortgage and go from there.  I have included all the other outgoings.  I guess £271 a month extra is a lot but I prefer to have a buffer, when I was more flush with my cash I transferred whatever was left to my ISA at the end of each month.    Time to go and do some more sums...

ajmoney

If I add the totals above to my savings accounts, by the end of 2022 my easily accessible cash will be near £10k and my mortgage will be near £72k.  I am tempted to set these as goals but without any pressure to achieve them.  I do really want to become mortgage neutral/free, it is tough when I see the huge sums other people OP by, I guess I could add more if I redistributed my money but it is too much of a worry for me to tie my money up.  I am clearly in the mindset to look at these things which is progress in itself after a year of treading water with everything.  I might go and see what interim goals there are rather than focusing on the end result.