Project Mortgage Neutral Begins

ajmoney

EatingTheElephant wrote: »

There is always a never ending stream of tasks here, but if at home I find it relaxing to read a book.

I finished a book I had been reading for ages last night. I wasn't going to start my next one for 2 weeks until we start our holidays but have just had a bath and read the first chapter, I have to be somewhere quiet while the scene is set! I have a few books by my bed at work, some have been started so need to play catch up. Mr AJM likes watching tv and would watch it all day but unless it is something that interests me it just irritates me. I figure if I get absorbed enough in the plot I can read alongside him while he watches the tv. I may as well be somewhere else though, once I get into a book I have to keep reading it until I have finished it...one holiday many years ago I read 12 books in a week, I may have gone away with someone who's company I realised I didn't enjoy though :rotfl:

ajmoney

Nearly another month without posting...ooops!

Moneywise I am feeling frustrated with the slow moving of my savings and the mortgage so I maybe need to spend some time sitting and working out what I want from them and then see if I can achieve it. Things are still progressing in the right direction though.

Still in a tough place, not sure where or how to move forward at the moment but I am starting to realise that doing nothing and hoping life will take care of decisions is not the way to resolve things.

ajmoney

After a lot of uncertainty I finally found out on Monday that I will be relocating with my job in September and will be living at home again after 4 years. I am unsure whether this will provide job satisfaction, I left this location unhappy with things so it will take a while to get used to it but did have a conversation with someone from there on Friday and feel slightly more reassured by some of the people who will be there to work alongside. It will be a strange work situation for 4 months but should ease me in gently...I hope. This may seem strange for others to understand but I truly live my job and have never been one for turning up, working and going home so I need to feel happy with where I am.

It will take a while to settle in at home too, I am not sure how this is going to go and am incredibly nervous about it...

I am doing the ground work to find groups I can join or things I can do once I return as I don't know anyone outside my working environment or Mr AJM's family (my family are at least 4 hous away) and this is definitely key for this move. I have an amazing social network where I am at the moment which I am going to try and preserve but am looking forward to hopefully recreating this at home too. Most of the things I am looking at are exercise related but I am slowly planning on working on the garden, working with what is there at first and then maybe doing something with it.

We are due to remortgage in August so it will be a good time to reassess my/our finances.

ajmoney

Attempted a bit of gardening this afternoon, apart from cutting the grass and digging stuff up I really haven't got a clue. I have made a start at getting rid of the grass that is in one of the flower beds. First step is to try and work out what the different plants are and how to cut them back properly. I am determined to get the front garden under control by the end of the summer while making a slow plan for the back. I found some grass weed and feed in a shop yesterday that gets rid of moss and apparently doesn't need raking, why didn't I find this a month ago!

I love the first day of the month, so much fun seeing where I am financially from the beginning of May. The plan over the weekend is to finally decide how much of a lump sum to OP to the large mortgage, my signature below is quite exciting for mortgage vs savings. Seeing as we are now in the remortgage window it makes sense to work out what we are happy to part with, I will then do the sums to see how it will affect out payments and how soon we can be rid of both mortgages.

I have also paid a loan off for my sister today, it had a huge interest rate and the plan is for her to pay me back. She was trying to do what she thought was right at the time while trying to improve her credit rating, she was getting quite demoralised by the amount she needed to pay back over the whole time so hopefully this way it will be gone quicker. I do have the worry of actually getting it all back but this is also safer for me as I was a guarantor and as I might be getting a loan next year I don't need any stumbling blocks in my way!

Moneyfordreams

It's nice for you to help family... hopefully your worries will turn to pride in yourself and your sister

ajmoney

Remortgage appointment booked for tomorrow, no large OP to go with it as originally planned as things are a little usettled and I would rather keep the savings in case I need them. Also going to try and haggle with $ky tomorrow then checking my SOA and making some financial plans with my own money. I seem to have taken my foot off the pedal with making my money work for me (partly down to a larger mortgage) but I want to make a real effort for the rest of the year.

ajmoney

Aim No 1 - reduce the larger mortgage to £47k (need to OP an extra £80 over my plans)
Aim No 2 - reduce both mortgages to under £100k in total (OP an extra £1500 I think)

I will be reviewing my savings targets in September/October and will update that when I have come up with a plan.

ajmoney

Obviously spurred on by a new mortgage and a new month/having been paid I have transferred the money left in my account at the end of July into my ISA.

I am going to make a small money goal for each month for the rest of the year, something very achievable that maybe doesn't even stretch me but that keeps me focussed. Not sure what this month's one will be yet.

ajmoney

Can anyone tell that I like the 1st day of the month? Already come up with my money aims for August.

1. Sort out a new deal with $ky
2. Track all my personal spends, it may be a spendy month compared to normal as I leave my current job at the end of the month so there will be a couple of leaving do's
3. Complete OU managing money course that I started a while ago, an hour a day on each week day will be more than enough.

I have had so much money moving between accounts the band probably wonders what on earth is going on! I need to see if there is an easier way of doing all this. Old fashioned paper and pen should help while I work this out and then I may work on some better spreadsheets than the ones I am using!

juliejim

Hi AJ

How are your feeling now your move is getting closer? Are you feeling any better about it?

Jue