Mortgage free & able to live the dream!

VDOT47

Hi SWSE Girl - just read through your diary and had a couple of comments:


1) Did you ever get to the bottom of how your SOA showed basically £3000 pcm spare for saving/overpayment, yet you seem to be struggling to pay £2000 pcm (£1000 to mortgage and £1000 to savings?).


2) Re. your comments about preferring to see a bigger savings balance and feeling like money to the mortgage is 'disappearing' - I view this completely the opposite, and love seeing the mortgage balance come down each month, rather than a savings balance going up! The lower the mortgage, the less interest being paid and the better equity position when coming to remortgage or move (I know that is stating the obvious, so apologies if that sounded patronising). Personally there is no way I'd be putting so much into savings rather than mortgage overpayments (although it seems you are restricted to a certain amount per month by your lender, which is much less than the 10%pa that most lenders allow - maybe something to look into when you remortgage or move?).


Good luck getting the Student Loan money back ASAP!

SWSEGirl

Hi VDOT47,

I think there were obvious areas we were both frittering money, but our SOA was possibly deceptive in that I did it the first month of my husband's payrise, we also paid that month to go to a wedding & travel home (a good £600) - I've been trying to go through our bank statements forensically to determine where we're wasting money - and because I'm now splitting big spends (Christmas/birthdays/holidays) across the year & setting money aside Im hoping not to feel the hit any one month & be able to channel more into savings as a result.

In terms of paying down the mortgage - I don't think I articulated myself that well, because my bank doesn't offer the chance to see the decreasing balance online, I find it a bit demotivating - although updating my signature here helps. I'm only permitted to OP by £1000 a month on our current deal, but may consider more flexible terms when we remortgage in 18 months.

Having struggled financially in the past, I do find committing money to the mortgage difficult at times, although I appreciate £10k + is a decent rainy day fund. It's all psychological I guess.

SWSEGirl

Payday at last.

£1000 sent straight to the mortgage as planned, the biggest OP I've made to date.

£170 sent to our holiday fund.

There are a few bits I need to buy - a housewarming gift for a friend & anti mould paint for an advanced patch of black mould that seems to be taking over our flat.

Otherwise Im trying to minimise my spends & try not to get carried away. I will not dip into my overdraft this month!!!

SWSEGirl

A spendy day yesterday - but hopefully all constructive spends!

I invested in an Ocado smartpass, so we'll get 'free' delivery for a year, as well as access to some better offers.

I then did an online shop - which I hope will last us a week - it came in at £69 & included a few extras for guests we have coming to stay this weekend.

I still need to buy the mould paint - I just cant bear to part with my cash for something so tedious! :rotfl: It is necessary though, especially before our guests arrive.

Tahlullah

Needs must...

Tropically

Well done! A £1000 OP is incredible!

SWSEGirl

Thanks Tropically & Talluhlah!

I'm feeling good about money this month, like we're making real progress.

I've signed up to an offers site linked to my mobile contract & I redeemed my first free Costa this morning :T a cheeky hot chocolate on the way to work used to be my non MSE regular treat - so I havent had one in a while. It tastes doubly good for being free!

DH's pay day tomorrow, so hopefully savings will look healthier & I'm going to shift £5k into premium bonds.

*little.squirrel*

SWSEGirl wrote: »

Tallulah you're right - my coin pot is somewhat depleted :rotfl: - unfortunately I'm one of those people who spends cash if it's ìn my purse as though it were free (especially coins), so better for me to stick to using my card, or not!

Haha, I do this too. 'look, free money!' SO now Im trying to take all my pennies out and put them in the petty cash bowl so they don't get frittered.

Congrats on the £1000 OP, that's amazing!!

SWSEGirl

Thanks Talluhlah - I'm going to take my coin pot to Sainsbury's this weekend to convert into cold hard cash to put towards our next spends!

So an update this month, following DH's payday:

Savings = £12,213 (we paid our £962 bi annual service charge this month, so progress doesn't look great)

Mortgage OP = £1000/ £3900 total to date

Total saved/ OP'd = £2100.

A good month all in all - and with a few NSD's this month, I might be able to plough even more into savings next month :j

SWSEGirl

A lovely weekend - brunch with friends yesterday, then a market with DH today. As usual our weekend has revolved around food!

I'm determined to have as many NSD's this week as possible. I'm out for dinner with a friend on Wednesday, but other than that i should be able to avoid spending too much.

I got up before DH this morning & made a big shepherd's pie, so that should be a good addition to my frozen lunch stash!