Getting rid of a London-sized Mortgage

mark55man

I do hate being micro-managed, you know I am actually an adult with more years of experience than most - but having had a recent experience of working with someone who just wouldn't share anything that he was or wasn't doing, whilst telling me how to do my job I have a little more sympathy than previously.  Although your example - really she should just get over herself 

Tropically

Mortgage offer on its way!! Yay!! It sure costs a lot to remortgage though. I'm glad we've gone for a 5 year instead of a 2 year so that we don't have to remortgage again so soon. My mortgage in Cayman is at 6.5% and my mortgage in the UK will be 3.25%. I want to make some serious headway on the mortgage here. I've set up a new rule, where when my emergency fund gets over 6 months salary. 

I have been suffering a bit because I want a new hobby. But I don't want to spend money. Money saving as a hobby means doing a lot of nothing. I've tried to combine the two and am writing about free and cheap things to do here on a blog at freeandcheapcaymanislands. Are we allowed to post links? I don't make any money off it, I just wanted a new hobby outlet.

mark55man

sounds good - make sure you don't upset too many locals - if its like Cornwall people trying to help emmets not to spend money are not well received

could you try and find a craft hobby using local materials but maybe more western/London themes that you could find a local outlet for - I have never had any success with blogs unless they have a really narrow focus - not quite sure if your's would qualify.

sofarbehind

Congratulations on the fantastic OPs! you are doing so well.

I feel your pain on the micromanaging - I had an older, male boss drive me so nuts I just left. There must be better ways of dealing with it though....

Thanks for the discussion of your side hustles too. I have been thinking about what I could do for a long time but really struggled to think of anything other than badly paid surveys which are never going to make much of a dent. Did you do TEFL? Some food for thought there.

savingmore

De lurking.... found your site a few days ago and read all the way through.  enjoyed your writing and your journey.  I am at the other end of the working life and wanted to encourage you to keep plodding on.  Two key words anne intentionality and consistency and you are applying those in bucketfulls😀.  You will be surprised how quickly the years disappear and you have achieved so much already.  you have set yourself up well for the future years and you are having a good life at same time.  I lived abroad for several years on an excellent tax free salary, one regret is that I spent it all and didn’t save in that time.  you are doing both, so well done!  I will continue to follow you with great interest.  PS. your blog is great!

Tropically

Thank you!! 
I did do a TEFL, but it was from the language company and pretty easy. 
Mortgage offer is still progressing. Hopefully we will have it soon. 
I made an OP on the second mortgage. I OP'd $2030, which will bring mortgage 2 to $290,666 and change based on however the calculate it. There is still plenty to work on and I am looking forward to my total mortgages being under £500,000. So huge!!

Tropically

New mortgage!! We have now remortgaged. I miss my owner-occupied mortgage rate because I am now on a expat BTL at 3.25%. We had to extend the term in order to make sure we had enough set aside for repairs/vacancy etc, so we had to go back up to 25 years with a balance of £255,000. Not ideal, the goal is to decrease the mortgage term not increase it. But I didn't want to be in a position (especially with everything going on) where we didn't have enough for the mortgage. 

As of today we are looking at:

• Mortgage 1: £255,000 for 25 years @3.5%
• Mortgage 2: $290,886 for 30 years at @5.5%

But don't worry, we will improve on that. 

Once the dust settles on the mortgage, I am going to go through MSE's Money Makeover and see if we can make any improvements to our general financial situation. We save and invest too, but we're not mortgage neutral. 

mark55man

A horrible feeling to extend the term.  when we moved from last house to this one (over 20 years ago) the remortgage was termed at 25 years from 22.  Being young and naive I didn't really think too much of it, or to question it.  However for not much extra over that period I would now be in my last year rather than having 4 to go!!  

At least you know to have a plan to cut out those dead years.  Must be a relief to be settled for a bit though even if some of those interest numbers are a little eye watering by recent standards

Tropically

It is a horrible feeling. Scaling up the mortgage date, I realise I wouldn't be mortgage free until 2045 unless I overpay. But you are exactly right, it's great to know that I have 5 years before I have to do any more applications! I made a $700 OP today. I so want to reduce the mortgages by £18,000. It will take a while. 

My next goal is the Martin's Money Makeover. It has changed quite a bit since I last did it. 

Step 1 is to cut household bills. Electricity is only available for one provider and we try to be energy efficient. Let me go turn off some lights right now! I just changed the settings on the thermostat as well. Unfortunately, we need newer appliances as the ones we have are at least 15 years old. Food is a big one. I have some frugal meal plans I need to write up. I also just adjusted our water direct debit a little bit lower ($5/month), as we have been building up too much credit.  

So:
Electricity - I need to make consistent changes or spend more on energy efficient appliances. 
Water - Just reduced by $5/month
Internet - I could save $20/month by going down in the package (internet is really really expensive here). I don't know if I can persuade my husband to do so and he has the account. 
Netflix - I just looked at the plans available, but I don't want to go down from HD to Standard Definition.
Direct Debits - I just went through my accounts and I don't have any wayward direct debits. I think my husband has one or two. 
Food - WIP. I am going to take some time now to read up on menus etc. 

mark55man

sounds like a plan - I will investigate the makeover, things have changed a lot since we last did one