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Dreaming of financial freedom!

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  • themadvix
    themadvix Posts: 8,780 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Mortgage-free Glee! Photogenic
    Glad you managed to get it all sorted!
    Mortgage free 16/06/2023! £132,500 cleared in 11 years, 3 months and 7 days

    'Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.' Ernest Hemingway


  • Thanks guys, I'm glad too :)

    We had the BIL round last night and I made my fajita pasta bake. It went down well and I think I'll try that one again, although perhaps with a bit more spice next time (unusual for me to say as I am usually a wimp when it comes to spice!). Before he arrived, I went to the Coop to pick up the last items I needed and there were loads of YS items. I bought 5 packs of reduced casserole beef, potatoes, parsnips and carrots. I'm going to make a batch of stew and a meat and potato pie with them and freeze most of it for next week. As it was the Co-Op, I got an additional 10% off as well with my NUS card.

    Speaking of my NUS card, I first used it on 29th January 2017 and in the year since I got it I have saved £75.63, not bad for the original cost of £30ish, and that's just the first year :)
    Mortgage: Mar 2018 -£300,000 / Jul 2021 -£255,000 / Oct 2024 -£172,835 (1.27% Interest until Feb 2027)
    Joint Savings: Aim £13.5k. Dec 2016 £1,700 / Jul 2021 £36,600 / Oct 2024 £106,450 (£100k in PBs. £5,850 at 4% interest. £600 Regular Saver at 7% Interst)
    Car Loan: Oct 2024 -£45,000 (0% APR Interest)
  • try_harder
    try_harder Posts: 1,532 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Youve made some great savings there Ch4rly ,i often shop in the co ox they do have some great reductions ,they reduce at one o clock and then again at six at our locals i have two near me and i look in both every day ,bread is the main thing i pick up reduced then half the bags and pop into the freezer .
  • That's great TH... have you considered getting an NUS card? The 10% works on reduced items as well. You can get an NUS card for online courses so if there's something you are interested in you can buy a cheap course, get the card and save on all your Co-Op purchases. Loads of shops take NUS too, not just the big C :)
    Mortgage: Mar 2018 -£300,000 / Jul 2021 -£255,000 / Oct 2024 -£172,835 (1.27% Interest until Feb 2027)
    Joint Savings: Aim £13.5k. Dec 2016 £1,700 / Jul 2021 £36,600 / Oct 2024 £106,450 (£100k in PBs. £5,850 at 4% interest. £600 Regular Saver at 7% Interst)
    Car Loan: Oct 2024 -£45,000 (0% APR Interest)
  • I almost forgot, it's 1st of the month - mortgage day :) I've made a Tilly Tidy payment of £26.24 to bring the mortgage to a nice round number. I'll have to wait a few days before I can ring the BTL mortgage provider and ask what the balance is on that one. If we end up keeping the BTL house instead of selling it, I will most certainly be moving the mortgage to a company with online banking - all this having to ring up every month and not even being given an accurate figure is dreadful. Now we have a completion date in March that means there's one last payment on this mortgage before we move to the new house and add another £100k+ to our mortgage :eek: I will be more focused than ever then to get the mortgage down!
    Mortgage: Mar 2018 -£300,000 / Jul 2021 -£255,000 / Oct 2024 -£172,835 (1.27% Interest until Feb 2027)
    Joint Savings: Aim £13.5k. Dec 2016 £1,700 / Jul 2021 £36,600 / Oct 2024 £106,450 (£100k in PBs. £5,850 at 4% interest. £600 Regular Saver at 7% Interst)
    Car Loan: Oct 2024 -£45,000 (0% APR Interest)
  • try_harder
    try_harder Posts: 1,532 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I did wonder what that was thank you for that i will look it up thats definitely worth having as i spend a lot of money just in those two shops alone.

    So exciting ,not long now until you go .That must be very annoying i know i like to look online at mine almost every day and especially if i want to have a little Op or a roundup of figures.
  • themadvix
    themadvix Posts: 8,780 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Mortgage-free Glee! Photogenic
    That's a good tip about the NUS card Charly - I don't think it's for me right now, but something to bear in mind, but I imagine it might be really helpful for TH as there's lots of Coops in rural Norfolk and it's much further to go elsewhere! I didn't know you could get a card for an online course :)

    You're very brave adding £100k to the mortgage, but.... it's means you'll be stuck with us for a while longer :D (And console yourself with the fact that we have friends who are moving today and taking on what must be at least £300k of mortgage debt! :eek:

    It's amazing how backwards some companies are about mortgage accounts, isn't it? And so frustrating!
    Mortgage free 16/06/2023! £132,500 cleared in 11 years, 3 months and 7 days

    'Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.' Ernest Hemingway


  • ch4rly2002
    ch4rly2002 Posts: 468 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 100 Posts Energy Saving Champion
    edited 1 February 2018 at 5:24PM
    Yes you can apply for NUS cards with an online course, which you can pick up for as little as £15. When I signed up there was a loophole that allowed you to get the NUS card without signing up to an online course, but it is a bit riskier so better to try and find a cheap course that you're interested in. My brother lives in Norfolk and there are plenty of Coops round his way - even one at the end of his street :)

    Brave, or stupid, I'm not sure but hopefully it will work out for the best. We love the house and don't want to move any time soon so we've chosen one that will meet our needs now and in future. One thing that has pushed up the price is that we would like to have 2-3 children (fingers crossed, we haven't had any luck on that front yet but that's another topic) and a couple of spare bedrooms for visitors as all of our family will live far away when we're in Nottingham (Yorkshire, Norfolk, Northampton and California) so we'd like to be able to put people up at our house. The 6 bedroom house we've gone for (5 bedrooms and a room with built in study furniture that can be removed later when needed) will push the mortgage up from it's current £192,200 to £300,000 but in terms of actual monthly amount it will go up by £300, which we can afford quite comfortably at the moment. If things go wrong we have the BTL house which we could sell that would release a current figure of £50k and if we lost our jobs we would get a decent amount of redundancy payment. Fingers crossed, we've hopefully worked it out alright and everything will be ok :)

    I've just received the monthly statement from our letting agent and there is a bill for a bit of electrical work and the electrical safety certificate so we've received £240 less than usual this month. Luckily there is a buffer in the joint account to pay for things like this, but not ideal as I know next month we will be charged for a boiler repair... It feels never ending! However, it needs to be done. We didn't become landlords to make profit, it was necessary to quickly release funds so we could mover closer to family, and I would hate to think that my tenants were unhappy for living in terrible conditions so that we could squeeze more profit out of the situation. If the tenants want to buy from us now that it is their home, then we're fine with that, but if they can't afford it (they currently don't have enough for a deposit) then we will look after the house as best as we can while they rent from us. Hopefully it's win-win for us and the tenants :)

    Next I have the landlord insurance to renew (it's up for renewal in a week) and I have spoken to the insurance company. They will be knocking off ££70 so it will work out £30 cheaper than last year. One huge step back with the bills, but one tiny step forward with this saving :)

    Yes, I can't believe in 2018 I have to ring up for a mortgage total because they don't do online banking!
    Mortgage: Mar 2018 -£300,000 / Jul 2021 -£255,000 / Oct 2024 -£172,835 (1.27% Interest until Feb 2027)
    Joint Savings: Aim £13.5k. Dec 2016 £1,700 / Jul 2021 £36,600 / Oct 2024 £106,450 (£100k in PBs. £5,850 at 4% interest. £600 Regular Saver at 7% Interst)
    Car Loan: Oct 2024 -£45,000 (0% APR Interest)
  • themadvix
    themadvix Posts: 8,780 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Mortgage-free Glee! Photogenic
    Sorry, I hope you didn't think I was suggesting you were stupid!! I just know that having worked to get our mortgage down, I'm not prepared to add any more than necessary to it. But I don't have plans for 2-3 children (also another story!) - I hope you have some luck on that front soon.

    There's always something with one house... can only imagine what it's like with two! But I'm sure your tenants really appreciate having you as landlords - so many aren't so considerate.
    Mortgage free 16/06/2023! £132,500 cleared in 11 years, 3 months and 7 days

    'Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.' Ernest Hemingway


  • No, of course I don't think you're suggesting I'm stupid, you're too nice for that :):):)
    Mortgage: Mar 2018 -£300,000 / Jul 2021 -£255,000 / Oct 2024 -£172,835 (1.27% Interest until Feb 2027)
    Joint Savings: Aim £13.5k. Dec 2016 £1,700 / Jul 2021 £36,600 / Oct 2024 £106,450 (£100k in PBs. £5,850 at 4% interest. £600 Regular Saver at 7% Interst)
    Car Loan: Oct 2024 -£45,000 (0% APR Interest)
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