And so it begins: The Pig Vs The Mortgage

South_coast

Lovely to see you back PP, I had been wondering how you were getting on and about school etc

pinkypig

Morning 😀

So lovely to ‘see ‘ you all again and thanks for your understanding regarding my being MIA 🙄

I’m still mulling over my goals and in particular the financial ones so the first step is to do my figures .  By happy coincidence, August is my mortgage anniversary and it will be three years since I started my official journey (and my diary ) although I had spent the previous two years squirrelling away every penny while my ex dragged his heels and derailed every effort to move towards a permanent separation of us and our finances.  So, August feels like a good place to begin with financial reviews, reflections and goals so that’s what’ll do.

My other goals have always related to physical health and wellbeing as the combination of financial security, a healthy lifestyle and a bit of self care equals a content and happy piggy 😀. Wish I’d worked this out in my 20’s but hey ho!!

As I’ve now kicked my financial musings a little further down the road I’ve focused my thoughts on these two things.  

My lockdown experience has been pretty positive in these areas on the whole. Initially, as it was the only time you could leave the house, I ran or cycled for an hour every day.  As it filled a bit of time I usually followed this with a long bubble bath, a face mask and a podcast so win win from a wellbeing point of view.  I’ve also taken up yoga.  I’ve found a great instructor on YouTube and do 20 minutes most days and I love it.  I’ve also seen a huge improvement in my flexibility which is nice😀

In terms of meals I’ve eaten well - mainly veggie, often vegan but with the odd but of chicken and fish.  However, before i polish my halo I must confess to literally ridiculous amounts of snacking😞. I’m just not used to time on my hands and although I keep busy I still found I had periods of time where I didn’t know what to do so snacking became my new hobby😩. I’ve also got into a really bad habit of eating at night and a fourth mini meal has crept in.  This needs to stop!

So my goal for the next week is to have a healthy mid morning and mid afternoon snack and nothing after dinner!  I’m going to food prep some healthy nibbles to help me.  I thought I’d start with pre chopped carrots and hm low fat hummus, air popped popcorn, sugar free jelly with some frozen berries in it and a veg soup.

As I’ve found a good exercise routine that works for me I’m going to stick with it but try and get a bit more balance between cardio and strength.  Ideally I’d like to run three times a week and do three weights classes (online- not going back to actual classes at the moment) and to use my bike rather than the car where possible. I’ll also keep up with my almost daily yoga as I find this so relaxing and it means almost no muscle stiffness despite the above!

So today’s plan is a run, some yoga, three healthy meals and two small snacks.  Wish me luck😂

In terms of my diary, I really want to keep it up as I’m so much more successful when I do but I need to be realistic.  So, once the ‘updating the last 6 months’ phase is done I think I’ll do for weekly goals and updates and the odd check in.  Even I should be able to stick to that 🙄

Happy Tuesday - have a good one 😀

PP x

Karmacat

Sounds good to me, PP.  And as for your diary, it has to work for you, thats what its for!  Its long been bookmarked for me, so I'll see it when you post, and I'm sure thats how it works for others.  Loving the emphasis on health.

pinkypig

Oh and I’m catching up on your diaries folks but I may be a while 😱😂😂

Hazelnutty

I literally have to diarise catching up or I fall woefully behind! I love hearing everyone's news though

pinkypig

Good morning 😀

Thanks for popping in KC and Nutty - it’s always so nice to ‘see’ you 😀

Miserable, rainy day here today but I’m feeling quite motivated so once I’ve posted I’m going to get my waterproof out and do a run!  There, said it so I’ve got to do it 😂

I’ve had a good week and have achieved to a point but it’s been a bit unstructured.  In some ways this has been nice but I don’t think it’s good for me long term as I when I have goals and a to do list I feel so much better and definitely achieve more.

One thing I have achieved is a full review of my finances.  It’s three years since I took out my £112k solo mortgage.  At the time it felt both liberating and a bit scary.  In the previous two years I’d saved and saved and I used this to pay down a mortgage that I had with my EH when I bought out a rental property that we had.

My plan was to live on my salary and use my two lots of rent to pay down the mortgage.  Once I got started it was addictive and I found a lot of my salary going into OPs as I used advice on here to drive my costs down.  Keeping a spending journal ( I use spreadsheets for grocery, personal spends etc), meal planning and batch cooking have be absolute game changers for me.

Anyhoo - enough waffle .  I am officially mortgage neutral 😀😀😀😀.   I also have an emergency fund and a small savings pot.  My original mortgage term was 10 years so I’m 7 years ahead of time and I’m still kind of pinching  myself !  As I have an offset mortgage I will not be paint it off until 2027 but essentially I’m now at the stage where I make a mortgage payment of £1024 a month and then take the same amount out of my os savings pot (you get no interest on any balance above the mortgage amount) and put this in my savings account (the bonus rate has finished but it’s still paying 1% which is pretty good at the moment).

My diary (despite absences 🙄) has been a huge driving force in achieving my goals so I’d really like to keep it going as I move into the next phase of my financial life.

My goals for the rest of the year is to;

Increases my AVC contributions 

Save for a new kitchen extension

Maintain my emergency fund

Save for a new to me car ( will keep mine going for as long as I can but the mileage is high and it won’t last for ever).

I want to achieve this whilst continuing to work a 4 day week as this has made such a huge difference to my quality of life.

My next steps are to put some actual figures around this to make sure it’s achievable.

Going forward, my short term goals will be focussed on money saving day to day to really maximise what I can save.  I love my home and spend a lot of time in my kitchen so saving for the kitchen of my dreams will be one heck of an incentive 😀

Happy Tuesday to you😀

PP x

rtandon27

Lovely plans PP - thanks for sharing & looking forward to your updates!

South_coast

Whoop, whoop - massive congratulations on achieving neutrality (and a savings account paying 1% 🤣!) 😀😀😀

PurpleFairy26

That’s fantastic news and a fantastic achievement. Love your balance of pay down and living. I’m sure you’re dad would be very proud of you right now. 

Karmacat

That's huge, PP!  Many, many congratulations, mortgage neutral is no small thing, wtih yours being set up so recently its especially fantastic.  And ... you're doing it on a 4 day week!  That's remarkable, a huge achievement.