Mortgage free & able to live the dream!

SWSEGirl

Well, it's my payday - a few small bits juggled, but mortgage and savings payments will wait until DH is paid on Thursday.

Current figures as follows:

Savings: £18,006 (pitiful interest earned!!)
Mortgage OP: £7900
FD regular saver: £900
Holiday Fund: £1685
Christmas Fund: £670
Bank Balance: £3,000

I'm taking DH away for his big birthday next weekend, which will eat a large chunk out of our holiday fund - I don't mind, as it's what I've been saving for all this time and hopefully it will be a real treat. I've also managed to get some cheap tickets for a weekend in Amsterdam in September - as I'm really keen to make the most of our final baby free days. I think I'm going to use some of my Christmas fund to go towards some baby clothes, I think we'll start making some purchases this month, as we're now past the 20 week scan. I'll update again once DH gets paid and we can decide how much to throw at the mortgage!

Runders

SWSEGirl wrote: »

Current figures as follows:

Savings: £18,006 (pitiful interest earned!!)
Mortgage OP: £7900
FD regular saver: £900
Holiday Fund: £1685
Christmas Fund: £670
Bank Balance: £3,000

I

Wow SWSEGirl, these figures and the OP especially are pretty impressive!

I love Amsterdam, I used to play in a basketball tournament there and I also sometimes end up there with work. Do you have any plans of the things you want to see there?

I hope you have a great time away for your DH big birthday!

SWSEGirl

Thanks Runders! I'm really excited to go to Amsterdam - no plans as such, I'd like to do a canal boat ride & eat out at any lovely restaurants. I'll be 8 months pregnant by the time we go, so I might be more limited than usual. If you have any recommendations I'd love to hear them! x

SWSEGirl

Back again, and not posting the sort of progress I had hoped, but for a number of relatively good reasons.

Below are my current balances:

Savings: £18,459
Mortgage OP: £8900
FD regular saver: £1200
Holiday Fund: £200
Christmas Fund: £720
Bank Balance: £2,216

I missed my mortgage over payment last month - which I intended to be £700. But this month I've made an OP of £1000, and plan to increase upcoming payments to meet the shortfall.

We had our holiday, hence the reason our holiday fund looks somewhat depleted - I think DH enjoyed it, I really hope he did anyway!

Our savings have not increased as much as they should have, although we are awaiting DH's payday. This month we've bought our pushchair & cot, and took that money from savings. I did look at the most cost effective buggies - but we are very restricted by needing a small, compact model that will fit up our narrow staircase, happily we did find a very cheap cot! I think we are now almost set in terms of baby items and family have already been incredibly generous.

In other news - I am seriously struggling in the heat, my commute is becoming unbearable & I confess I have taken Ubers on a few occasions, when I've been feeling particularly unwell. I invested in a fan for our flat just in order that I can get some sleep. I'm now dreading our electricity bill since it is on 8 hours a day

I'm trying to decide when I am best to finish work for maternity leave, it's 13 weeks until our baby arrives, but I'm increasingly feeling that I would like just a bit of time off before D Day (whenever this might be!)

Moneyfordreams

I can empathise, our DD2 was born in September...
I always feel women push themselves too hard to work as close to due date as possible... 20 years ago 34 weeks was normal , with a couple of weeks AL tagged on

SWSEGirl

Thanks Moneyfordreams - I think I am now decided that I will finish work on the 28th September - which gives me a good 3.5 weeks prior to my due date - the countdown really begins now! I have a lot of holiday to take, so this will carry me right up until DD and I'll even have enough for a couple of long weekends in between.

So a brief update following DH's payday - he's ploughed a lot into savings this month, but because he has to pay his work expenses up front, there is every chance he will need to plunder the pot before next payday (he can't quite get his head around cash flow). But we're going in the right direction at least.

Savings: £20,009
Mortgage OP: £8900
FD regular saver: £1500
Holiday Fund: £446
Christmas Fund: £500
Bank Balance: £1078

I have been fretting this weekend having read all the information around Brexit, that perhaps we should not be leaving our savings languishing in a standard savings account...but I am quite a loss over what to do with them. I think we need to spread them over a few investments - but I am such an amateur and really don't want to risk our hard earned cash in uncertain times!

SWSEGirl

I'm feeling a bit demoralised at the moment - I am not taking proper care of my finances due to general tiredness and just a lack of motivation. I'm 32 weeks pregnant today & struggling to make good money decisions - I keep buying convenience food to get me through the day & I just haven't been as conscientious as I should have been.

Thankfully - due to my husband being far more sensible with money we are still doing well in terms of savings and OP's as below:

Savings: £20,500
Mortgage OP: £9,900
FD regular saver: £1800
Holiday Fund: £700
Christmas Fund: £500
Moneybox Account £592
Bank Balance: £1,175

After last months worries about money after Brexit, I now think our best strategy is to throw all savings at the mortgage whilst I'm on maternity leave, There seems little point in having £20,000 sitting in our savings earning no interest.

I now have 4 weeks left of work before I go on maternity leave and I really need to organise my finances - I need to set up another sub account within my banking app, so I can divide my monthly income over the 12 months I plan to take off, and then just have the £1200 per month to live on. I also need to change my various direct debits, so that my husband and I are paying bills proportionally. I also need to cancel all my little direct debits which I've inadvertently signed up for

SWSEGirl

It's payday & my finances are on a slightly different trajectory - the holiday fund is spent on a lovely weekend in Amsterdam & I have opened my maternity account - purely for the purpose of organising my money to be split into equal instalments over the next 12 months of my leave. I have 4 days of work left now & 4 weeks until the baby arrives.

My direct debits have all been altered so that DH & I now pay a proportional amount yowards bills according to income. All my unnecessary DDs have gone.

Going forwards I still need to keep £300 going into my FD saver in order to secure the max 5% interest by March - anything else we manage to save will go towards the mortgage & this will all come from DH's pay packet.

The balances below should change once DH is paid & no progress has been made on last month - it's been expensive in terms of trips away so no great surprise.

Savings: £20,326
Mortgage OP: £9,900
FD regular saver: £1800
Holiday Fund: £0
Christmas Fund: £537
Moneybox Account £623
Bank Balance: £1,775
Maternity Account: £1450

Our annual mortgage statement is due on the 30th September, so I hope it tallies with where I think we're at - I'll update again when it is received :beer:

therocket_2

Great numbers there! All the best with baby and maternity!

Rocket

jodles16

Massive congratulations on imminent baby arrival!! Money has been very impressive! Amazing work!


Jodles