The ups, downs, and occasional sideways bits of trying to be mortgage free

armchairexpert

Mr E's back in bed after a night of shivering with fever. As a consequence, I haven't had a lot of sleep either. There's a horrible flu going around, I'm hoping he hasn't got it because the rest of us haven't had a flu shot this year. Fingers crossed.

Work's piling up: one of those months where things I think are done ping back and need changing, which drags my whole timetable out of whack and means I'm staring down a lot of late nights. It's still raining. Blah.

wildesavings

Hope work's calming down and Mr E is out of bed! x

armchairexpert

He got out of bed this morning to go back to work, but the weekend was mostly a write off. We're usually a very egalitarian little unit, and the household really relies on both of us working fairly hard (large house to clean, there's always gardening and DIY to do, animals to feed, dogs to work, we bake our own bread and brew kombucha and cook from scratch...) so I'm knackered today trying to take on his load as well as mine.

Nevertheless, the house is in decent shape, the girls and I made pizzas and apple muffins for lunchboxes and Doggie got some nice long walks. These are the dog days of winter, when everyone's a bit miserable and I can't remember what sunshine even looks like. But there's blossom on the trees and daffodils along the fenceline, so I suppose the plants think spring is around the corner even if I can't see it yet.

I also dug out the insurance paperwork to start the process of getting a new quote. It's hard to know how much to insure the place for. We did an online calculator which suggested that the contents of our house would be around $185K. I find it very hard to believe that we've spent that much over the years!

Cherryfudge

I always get so excited when the daffs bloom, and even more so over blossom - I count that as spring, regardless of snow to come! In this area there are often March snows, sometimes even later, and nothing blooms midwinter, so any flowers are a real sign of hope.

A few more weeks or days and spring will show itself again.

armchairexpert

Slightly spring-ey today! And I got a full night's sleep for the first time in about three weeks, thanks to a combination of Mr E feeling better and also we locked the cats in the laundry (with a cat bed) so that Kitten couldn't do his usual thing of scratching at my door to be let in and then jumping on my face because he's bored.

Felt like I could take on the world today, caught up on a bunch of work, and then this evening Little Girl has come down with a tummy bug. So that's my day gone tomorrow.

Finances: got the insurance quote back and it's the same as our current one. I can ask around more widely, but frankly it'll get moved down the priority list for now.

Mr E had a debrief with the surgeon who did his heart surgery today and also saw another expert about another issue (it's the year for it!) and we're down $300 for the month. Nothing to do about it but grit the teeth and move on.

armchairexpert

Mr E's payday tomorrow to close out the month. My new mortgage is supposed to be debited fortnightly, but the first payment isn't due till 11 September and is a months' worth, which is confusing me slightly. Perhaps they'll take it out fortnightly after that first one? I could ring and find out what's what, but I'm not really bothered which it is: I budget monthly no matter what the frequency so theoretically the money will be there. But until I know, I won't be able to see with any certainty what money's available for OPs.

Roast chicken with a potato, leek and spinach hash for dinner. Children and Doggie asleep. Mr E's making shortbread, bless him.

armchairexpert

I'm very pleased that my grocery shopping seems to be under control, finally. I spent $900 this month, which is the lowest I've ever got it and that included a shop this morning to get treaty picnic things for an outing that Mr E and the girls are going to tomorrow.

Less impressed by Mr E's spends. Every month I'm juggling money in order to cover things that blow out. None of it's particularly extravagant, but it's a nice work lunch with a couple of beers here ($30), a pair of good shoes there ($150), that sort of thing. He's put on weight this year and has needed a lot of new clothes, and a run of minor health issues has meant a lot of specialist fees. None of it's his fault, but it's frustrating. And some of it is just mismatched priorities: if we were in debt, it'd be different, but since we aren't I think Mr E finds it difficult to translate the aim of paying down the mortgage with the reality of going without.

I've just finalised the September budget, and after refunding the overspends from August we might just squeak in a $500 overpayment in September. I don't know if I'll do an August round up because the mortgage payment isn't due out until 11 September so there aren't any milestones to report as yet.

Tahlullah

It sounds as if you need a separate line on YNAB just for Mr ACE. Perhaps you will feel better about his over-spends if you budget for them.

A conversation about getting him on track may not work, because as you say, he may not see it as a priority in the same way you do. So alternative tactics are required that will make you feel more in control.

armchairexpert

I thought about that - dividing the clothing budget up by person, and the spending money, and things - but then I thought, what's the point except if I'm specifically Making A Point? We already have separate budget lines for hobbies, and he has an alcohol budget. Medical costs are just bad luck and will presumably go down but in the meantime I can hardly expect him to not see a doctor when he needs to! It's across a bunch of categories, so I think I just need to accept that those categories, as family costs, cost more than I thought they did.

<and breathe>

wildesavings

It's hard when you're the one who 'does' the money. My DH earns it all and that's about it - he want's very little to do with bills, budgets and balancing APART from when I want to move money from savings to cover expenses etc and then he gets involved and wants to know why and questions decisions that he had every opportunity to help make but wasn't interested at the time etc :rotfl: <and breathe>:rotfl: Boys!

Mind you he's loving how the mortgage is 'dropping like a stone' at the moment.... yes it must look like that when you check the balance every 3 months unlike me who's almost daily lol