Getting rid of a London-sized Mortgage

Tropically

Apparently paying off student loans is a big pain!

He has to call the student loan company with all his payslips, and then get a settlement figure. Then he has to wait until next pay day and find out how much has come off for student loans, then he has to call back and get an updated settlement figure. Then switch to direct debit and then he will pay it off via direct debit and his mum will give him the money. Yes, it's true, he'd have to make the payment. I could not bear the wrath of the mother-in-law if I said he should lie about paying it off!

Super slow!

Work is also slow. I have been doing some surveys, making my own lunch, doing okay.

Tropically

So now I feel a little bit ashamed about being so complain-y about my MIL’s gift. Now I am really happy about it.

My OH has also been given an opportunity to potentially side hustle some economic assessment

Mini-goals:
Need to find £500 of spare cash to pay for hotels in Iceland.
Current total: £180.18

We haven't made any OPs yet this year. I have been scheming and we have to remortgage in June.

Tropically

Despite me complaining non-stop about the lodger (why does he put the soap NEXT to the soap dish????), he has given his notice and now I feel sad. No income for February!

I have also cashed out £20 from a survey site so current total of side hustle is £200.18.

My partner's side gig might pan out well, he gave a rate of £300/day which is sweeeeeeet.

edinburgher

We've got much bigger (debt) fish to fry at the moment, but I am slowly coming round to the idea of paying off our remaining student loans. As our salaries have gradually increased, we're no longer able to avoid making repayments (we used to use our pension payments to reduce our wages artificially).

Yes, money paid off the mortgage or invested could be financially better for us, but they won't actually improve our cashflow for years and years. I quite like the idea of say a year of hard saving and then getting a £100/month 'pay increase' forever (well, for the next 10 years at which point they'd disappear anyway).

No matter what MSE Martin says, it strikes me as one of the few ways to increase the earnings from your main job in an era of pay restraint.

michelle09

I was sad that our lodgers left early initially, but having the house back was amazing. So I really don't miss it (same, why did we go through a full toilet roll a day. WTH were they doing with it?). So enjoy your space to yourselves.

OH's student loan is actually a high interest rate than our mortgage so I am toying with throwing a little extra at the student loan when the repairs are doing. But the mortgage is far bigger... pros and cons to all situations, shame we don't know what the future will bring!

£300/day? That is...incredible. Everything crossed that it pans out.

Tropically

edinburgher, I think you are right. The trick will be not to spend it as his take home will go up.

£300 a day is really really good! He asked me what I thought his daily rate should be and I said £64/day - £8/hour for 8 hours. He gasped and couldn't believe I thought so little of him. He went for a contracting rate, as he will have to pay tax etc. on it. It is several times above the rate he gets at his day job, but I think contracting is like that. I don't think that there would be more after that but would be nice.

I am home sick today. I think I have the flu. I switched energy supplier with MSE and got a cheque for £25 but now need to deposit the cheque. I also used Shopmium to get a free lunch last week so transferred £4 to the holiday fund.

I am also thinking about doing a no-spend February. We've got a few things already paid for, e.g. Matilda which I got as a Christmas present! Plus I have two sets of work drinks, and visiting my OH's family.

I am also fighting Ry4nAir for some flight compensation. A month or two ago I had a weekend holiday to Europe. The flight before the flight before my flight was delayed due to weather. They only allow 45 mins between flights, so my flight was delayed due to the lack of a plane. THEN they didn't log a proper flight plan so we were delayed another 2 hours while sitting on the tarmac in the plane. I got my 5 euros worth of food. I think my claim is borderline. My flight was delayed because they don't allow for any resilience in their systems. They run the planes which such high intensity that they have no capacity for anything to go wrong. I will escalate my claim a bit and see what happens. I was out of pocket because my flight was originally meant to get in at 7 pm, and it got in after midnight on a Sunday night when I had to work. I had to pay £40 for a taxi instead of taking the train for free and still got to bed around 2 am. We will see.

I really need to find some market research or something else to do! I have been doing surveys but there are not enough.

Fletchasketch

Hello, if your delay was over 3 hours, then you definitely have a claim. I had a similar experience in 2009, and they originally declined my claim, but persisted and got £600 back! Good luck!

Tropically

I am going to go hardcore this month with a no-spend. I have £100 cash and that is all I am permitted. There might be many more posts from me compared to normal. I am going to have as much fun as possible this month, as much for free! There is ONE minor spend that is unavoidable - a close friend's baby shower. I will still need to get a present for her.

Win #1: Work was having a morning meeting and there were left over croissants. I had two including one chocolate one. Better than porridge! This is especially good because I have a packed lunch but it's cabbage and lentils, so not a thrill for the senses.

SWSEGirl

Good luck with No Spend Feb Tropically :T - I'm trying to really reduce spending too, but not sure I can manage that extreme, so watching admiringly! I might try in March /April but only because I'll be away with work for a month, so no expenses!

try_harder

I shall be watching your challenge with interest , im hoping to do the same this month .Good Luck.