Mortgage free ASAP

bubblycrazy

That sounds great kitenkirst! I love Halloween, it's just a good fun celebration with none of the stress and unnecessary expectations of Christmas. No pressure to buy each other presents, and if someone doesn't want to celebrate then people don't think it's wrong, they just say ok! Also autumn's my favourite time of year so even better.
Do you have a simple recipe for the soup? I've had it before and loved it, but I'm no cook, so preferably few ingredients and a slow cooker!

We're having a Halloween party after school, just with close family and friends. I bought some reduced invitations for 20p a few years ago, so going to help my son write them out tonight. His half term is the week before Halloween so we'll put the decorations up then. I can't wait! :j

bubblycrazy

Hello MSE's! I don't have time to keep this diary updated at the moment, I haven't since my Masters started, however I've only got 2 modules to go and a dissertation which is due at the end of August and then I'm done with education for life! I don't have the stamina or motivation for this anymore, life gets in the way far too much! Can't wait to get back to having the time for hobbies and housework   
I just wanted to update this to say I'm in the process of remortgaging and adding my partner to the mortgage  We have managed to reduce the term to 10 years and have fixed for 5 years at 1.74%. The balance left is approximately £39300. I'm quietly confident we can be finished before the 10 years is up but we'll have to wait and see. Bye for now!

bubblycrazy

Well, here we are, September 2020. What a crazy year.

I've finally finished my Masters, writing a dissertation in lockdown times was, erm, different? Harder because my son was off school and I, like everyone else, had 'lockdown brain', but easier because the university almost halved the word count and I've been off work so had more writing time whilst my son was at his dad's.

I've been off work since lockdown began and won't be back until the 1st October. It's been strange being off for so long and I've felt guilty not being back to work when many people returned weeks ago. I quite enjoyed the new routine we got into as a family, however, I'm desperate for my son to return to school as his behaviour has been terrible the last few weeks.  

Since finishing studying I've been focusing my attention on the house. We had french doors installed in July (the deposit was actually paid the beginning of March and then the work had to be postponed) and have chosen new flooring for the whole house apart from the kitchen. Before the flooring gets done I plan on pulling up all the old carpet and painting the whole house without having to worry about paint drops on the new floor. 

I've started matched betting this week. I've wanted to do it for years but just didn't have the time to devote to it, however I feel ready to give it a go. I've set up a new email address and freed up a bank account so I can keep it all in one place, and have a notebook which I'm going to use to keep a record of sign ups. Registered and put on my first bets tonight ready to (hopefully if I've done it right! ) make a profit tomorrow evening. 

Our mortgage balance currently stands at £37619. There hasn't been many overpayments happening with all the worldly uncertainty, however we are both saving money regularly in our separate accounts. Our goal is to have the mortgage balance ready to pay off once our fixed term is up in 4.5 years. We will have around £20000 still owing, so are trying to save up £10000 each before then. I'm feeling pretty confident that this is achievable. 

I'm not very good at keeping my diary updated and I always feel like there's nothing exciting happening to talk about, however I'll try my best to update it as much as I can. 

bubblycrazy

Here's an updated SOA. I've added my partner's monthly contribution and my average overtime payments. The gas and electric has shot up this month so I'm going to shop around for a better deal. I've only just realised it may be cheaper to get them from separate suppliers so going to look into that this weekend. 

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information

Number of adults in household........... 2

Number of children in household......... 1

Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 740.32

Partners monthly income after tax....... 334

Benefits................................ 0

Other income............................ 200

Total monthly income.................... 1274.32

Monthly Expense Details

Mortgage................................ 358.9

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 110

Electricity............................. 46

Gas..................................... 45

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 17

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 5

TV Licence.............................. 0

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0

Internet Services....................... 18

Groceries etc. ......................... 150

Clothing................................ 5

Petrol/diesel........................... 140

Road tax................................ 2.5

Car Insurance........................... 27

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25

Car parking............................. 0

Other travel............................ 0

Childcare/nursery....................... 0

Other child related expenses............ 0

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10

Buildings insurance..................... 12

Contents insurance...................... 0

Life assurance ......................... 7.89

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15

Haircuts................................ 0

Entertainment........................... 80

Holiday................................. 20

Emergency fund.......................... 20

S&S ISA................................. 50

Help to save............................ 50

Total monthly expenses.................. 1214.29

Assets

Cash.................................... 6500

House value (Gross)..................... 67000

Shares and bonds........................ 0

Car(s).................................. 2200

Other assets............................ 0

Total Assets............................ 75700

Secured & HP Debts

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 37619....(358.9)....1.74

Total secured & HP debts...... 37619.....-.........-   

Unsecured Debts

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-  

Monthly Budget Summary

Total monthly income.................... 1,274.32

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,214.29

Available for debt repayments........... 60.03

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0

Amount left after debt repayments....... 60.03

Personal Balance Sheet Summary

Total assets (things you own)........... 75,700

Total HP & Secured debt................. -37,619

Total Unsecured debt.................... -0

Net Assets.............................. 38,081

bubblycrazy

I've changed gas and elec supplier so the monthly amount will reduce to £68 instead of £91! Our gas usage is classed as high and I'm fairly certain it's due to all our heat going straight up and out of the flat roof. Wondering if we can get this insulated with the new government deal, however I'm a bit dubious about it being a good offer when they probably just charge more to start with. 

I'm meant to have a phone call from work tomorrow to tell me what is happening about returning. I'm both psyching myself up to be told I'm back at work in 2 weeks, and that I don't have a job. Really not sure which one it will be, it could be somewhere in between, maybe reduced hours?
I've made £58.29 on matched betting so far. I've only put on 3 bets, I really need to get going with this and spend a bit more time registering new accounts. It's been really easy to do, the only part I've found difficult is finding bets for similar amounts on both sites. 

I was talking to some mates at the weekend who were very surprised to hear we had less than 10 years left on our mortgage, as they still have around 30 years. If I was still on the original projection there'd still be 29 years to go. It was definitely a nice reminder as to how well we're doing compared to non MSE people! 

bubblycrazy

Well my first shift back at work is October 1st (unless further lockdowns happen). They have reduced their opening hours for the time being, however it won't affect my shifts. I'm not sure I'm ready to go back if I'm honest. It's been lovely having every evening at home with my partner instead of being out 4 evenings a week. However I'm sure I'll get back into a routine quickly, and I do feel lucky to still have a job to go back to. 
I'll have to get cracking with sorting out the house before I go back. 

bubblycrazy

So I've been back to work for a few months and now working on reduced hours due to the latest lockdown. Luckily I'm still getting paid my full contracted pay, whilst working less than a third of the hours.
Home schooling is going better this time round as the school are putting set work online each day.

The new flooring was put down in November which looks brilliant, really happy with it and we used money from savings to pay for it. Next on the list is the garden. We are purchasing some council land out the front of our house and are waiting to find out the valuation for that. Due to Covid the process is even slower than usual so I'm not sure when we will hear from them. At least it gives me more time to save some money.
I've just got back into matched betting - £24 profit yesterday. Going to save the MB money for the land purchase.
I've been going through all my finances and will do a separate post with the details. 

Hoping to make a mortgage OP at some point this month. It's strange now that my partner is on the mortgage too, I can't just OP when I feel like it as he needs to match the amount to keep our shares equal. 

bubblycrazy

Phew, I'm all home schooled out, been a long day. Made another £15 from matched betting.

So I've been taking a look at my finances:
Help to save - £1050 tied up for another 2 years and the first £600 bonus is due to be paid the beginning of May.
S&S ISA -  This is a Vanguard80 with Fidelity, £50pm goes into this. Amount £2054.97 Gain +£308.97 +17.43%
Old company shares - Trying to cash these out but I haven't registered online and it's proving hard to get sorted over the phone. I think these were purchased for around £250 and are now worth about £440.
Pension - DB pension, been paying in for almost 5 years. As of August 2020 my current annual pension if I stop paying in, is £646.60. If I continue working there until I'm 65 (another 30 years!), my projected pension at today's wages is £5457.28pa or £25,537.80 lump sum and £3830.67pa. 
This seems pretty naff, however, I know it increases each year and a DB pension is not to be sniffed at. 
Mortgage - £36,399.84 interest 1.74% fixed for another 4 years.
Nationwide flexdirect - £1012.06 interest 0.25%
Lloyds saver - £2059 interest 1.44%
Main account - £3424.29 interest 0.6%
TSB classic plus - £433.43 interest 0%! This is the account I'm using for matched betting.
Credit cards - 3 cards all with zero balance and a combined credit of £20,150!

I need to move some money around to squeeze something out of the abysmal interest rates.
Think I'll open a Lloyds regular saver for £400pm at 1.5%. 
Does anyone have any money advice or views on my pension? 

bubblycrazy

It was OH birthday on Friday and we had a lovely virtual games night with friends and I made his favourite chicken casserole in the slow cooker.
This week's home schooling paid off as my son was named year 3 superstar for all the work he did 

Total made from matched betting so far (up until yesterday, waiting for more matches to finish today) is £161.21. I've started to do these more regularly now so hopefully this will increase more quickly. 

I've been reading the pensions forum over the last few day's, just getting clued up on the lingo.
I think for now I can only keep doing what I'm doing and see where things stand in another 10 years, as my pension options are so far in the future it's hard to know what to do for the best, and my current income stops me from doing much more. It's hard to imagine that my DB pension will still be around by the time I retire, people are already referring to them as unicorns now! 

caeler

Sounds like a nice lockdown birthday @bubblycrazy
I was in a DB pension scheme for about 6 months in 2001! Didn’t know what I had! They are very rare. I’m 20+ years off retirement but I plan to give it some proper attention once the mortgage is gone.