Stephen's Journey to Mortgage freedom

lcfcstephen

LW is on a mission. She's wanting to do lots of things to help the environment through our usage of things.
She wants to become vegetarian at least for a bit of the week (we're going to start trying some veggie recipes before we commit - though we'll probably start during Lent, it's as good a time as any!)
She also wants to reduce the waste we produce which is going to be much harder. But with vegetarian that should probably be easier. But we're also going to start trying to grow out own fruit and veg. Hopefully it all works! Think it may take us a while to grow effectively, but should be worth it in the long run.
I'm hoping we can actually make an impact on what we do and our effect on the enviroment

freshcotton

what a lovely lifestyle change that would be for you both. I have been a veggie for over 15 years but my partner isnt. As I do most of the cooking, he has ended up almost giving up meat himself. Its better for the environment and saves money!

lcfcstephen

freshcotton wrote: »

what a lovely lifestyle change that would be for you both. I have been a veggie for over 15 years but my partner isnt. As I do most of the cooking, he has ended up almost giving up meat himself. Its better for the environment and saves money!

Hi Freshcotton, I am fighting it a bit, but know it's probably the right thing to do. Would you mind sending some recipes that you enjoy over so we can start on a good foot with recipes that should work?!

lcfcstephen

We're planning to build our shed tomorrow. Still waiting for the base to arrive, but we can stick it on the paving slabs until the base has arrived. Still mulling over the budget and stuff for the coming year, but I have already increased my monthly mortgage payments from 500 to 600 (because of LW's job) this will reduce the balance a lot quicker, but also mean that we will have to reduce our payments in the final two years to stay under the overpayment threshold. I'm happy with this though as it means we will end up paying less, but also that we have more of a buffer in a few years when other costs might come up, or we can just put all that money towards saving for the next house/doing it up etc.
I am very lucky (fortunate might be a better word) to be in the position that I'm in

lcfcstephen

Paid £8.70 to the Mortgage yesterday as I was on the phone to TSB and so asked for the details to send money online so I can do it easier than in the past, strange number to make it a round figure, just before the interest makes it non round. Paid out slightly more than a fiver from a cashback site too. When we get to January I will share my new budget and plans etc, but if we get the car that will throw everything out of the window, at least for a bit.
Busy couple of days now - night shelter for asylum seekers tonight, new years, then across to LW's family for pantomime but I'm off for all of next week so can hopefully rest and get lots of house things done thatweek

lcfcstephen

I've been off work for a week, first day back today. It's been a good week off, we got lots of things sorted for the house, the second sofa is coming a week today, and we've reduced our mortgage amount by quite a bit.
We are looking at cars. We want to have an economical and environmentally friendly car which makes things hard, but at the moment I am looking at used cars from car manufacturers and looking at some new cars with low mileage for relatively cheap (compared to buying new) Thinking of taking a loan out to help this to happen (with it ending before the mortgage is due for renewal).
Decisions are complicated however and we still need to spend quite a bit on various things, our first months budget is unlikely to be kept I think. Especially as we still need to get LW a bike.

lcfcstephen

I forgot to go through our budget! On base salary, and the amount of emergency fund we have, I expect us to make £2,225 a month.
I am currently paying £600 a month to the mortgage (plus the interest and cashback and little bits like that)
Our bills total about £240 - this should reduce soon, we spend about £300 on food and other costs, £200 goes to LW's HISA,
slightly over £200 is charitable giving,
£150 is towards buying things for the house,
£250 goes towards saving for a car, and then dealing with costs when we have one,
£75 goes towards presents including Christmas (LW has a big family)
£100 is saved for a holiday
£75 goes towards clothes (though this should reduce after the next couple of months as LW will have all the work clothes she needs and we won't need other clothes)

I expect this months food and stuff budget will go over budget - train tickets to see family, and we need to stay in a hotel for a dinner dance with LW's family. We are also combining the house budget with the car budget for the moment as we the next thing we want is a car and we now don't need anything for the house now the second sofa is coming, the shed is put up and we put the bed together.
I think it works and is a good expectation of what we will spend, but will constantly revisit especially as my salary will increase in March.

lcfcstephen

Found out yesterday that LW isn't starting on the 16th, but will be starting on the 1st Feb, and today found out that that might only be half days for the first two weeks. Not happy with how she's being treated by the company, hoping that it gets better, but it's definitely not making us want to think about owing them anything when it comes to the future

lcfcstephen

LW is looking for other jobs, hoping that we can get a better job that pays her more, especially if she can start earlier.
Also found out about an unexpected bill from Ecotricity relating to a bill from 2015 - when I originally had this bill I complained because they were charging me £80 for less than a months electricity usage in the summer. I complained because there were three people living there and felt this didn't reflect what had been used. It turns out they had recorded a meter exchange four days after moving in (which didn't happen) and thats why I had an abnormally large bill. The meter that was at the property they didn't recognise so they put it on a lock to investigate it. A week ago they took it off lock and the automated system wants me to pay. I called up and said that they'd look into it, got another text through today so need to ring them up and find out whats happening.

lcfcstephen

Nothings come up for LW yet, but need to keep applying and seeing. The extra time means she can do a first aid course which she needs to do for our youth work, so it's good timing.
Our second sofa came yesterday, it's nice and means the living room is basically complete! Thinking that the next thing we'll get is a screen for the shower (currently a curtain) and flooring/ladder for the loft so we can store stuff up there