FinancialBliss: My mortgage free journey…

financialbliss

SmlSave wrote: »

Thanks for the offer of the ING voucher FB, shame me and OH have been ING customers before.

I bet your mail box is full now thou!

@ SmlSave / everyone else.

Both the two ING voucher codes have now gone! Apologies if you missed out.

@ Dreamingalound - my mother who is an existing customer got the mail shot inviting her to sign up others for her to get £25 for each new sign up. You may yet get a letter. Looks like this promotion has been going for a while.

FB.

financialbliss

Nice to be back… Where have I been?

Telephone line and broadband was off from 09.48 yesterday morning until 04.33 this morning due to excavations breaking a main telecoms trunk line. Apparently just Talk Talk and Virgin media lines were affected.


Thought I better get this down on “paper” as it’s relevant to April and we’re rapidly running out of April. Last day tomorrow – mortgage interest day

Anyone with an extremely good memory may remember I talked in January 2008 about a travel ticket scheme that my employer runs. This runs from April to March, so the scheme was up for renewal this month.

My employer liaises with local bus / rail operators and negotiates a discount on annual ticket prices. My bus pass last year was £590 annually. Via the work scheme, I got this for £546 - £44 saving, but instead of paying this in one hit, I paid via a salary deduction scheme over 12 months at £45.50. So not only am I getting a discount, I’m getting an interest free loan over 12 months. Nice

What’s the catch? Not much really. There are clauses covering paying the loan back if I leave or damage/loose the pass, but other than that, it’s a pretty good deal.

However, this year the annual price has gone up a staggering 11% :eek: to £656. Over 12 months, I’m now paying £50.57 or approximately £606 – still a £50 saving compared to the standard price, but this is still a big hike in price over last year.

FB.

setmefree2

to travel price increases

financialbliss

Regulars will note that I post the mortgage payments and interest for the month on the last day of the month. I like doing these posts as you can see a definite decrease in mortgage interest month on month It looks like this for April:

Mortgage at start of year: 59,500.00

Month: Payment / Interest (per day) / Net reduction / Balance.

January: 1,200.00 / 237.37 (7.66) / 962.63 / 58,537.37
February: 1,200.00 / 210.99 (7.54) / 989.01 / 57,548.36
March: 1,200.00 / 229.56 (7.41) / 970.44 / 56,577.92
April: 1,025.00 / 218.94 (7.30) / 806.06 / 55,771.86

Totals: Payment / Interest / Net reduction.

Minimum: 1,025.00 / 210.99 / 806.06
Maximum: 1,200.00 / 237.37 / 989.01
Average: 1,156.25 / 224.22 / 932.04
Grand Total: 4,625.00 / 896.86 / 3,728.14

As I've only paid £1,025 towards the mortgage this month, compared to £1,200 in previous months, the net reduction is less at £806.06.

May will see the mortgage interest break through the £1,000 barrier, but we'll also get below the 55k barrier and if my calculations are accurate, we'll remain in the 54,9xx's and not break through into the 55's again.

Getting ever closer to that magical 50k - don't know why but I feel there's a physcological barrier that disappears when you have a mortgage under 50k - perhaps I'm then considering it a "small" mortgage.

Put £2,350 in place out of savings to fund £1k mortgage tomorrow, £950 towards regular savers and the remainder covering other bills in the next few days from 1st May onwards.

I'll update the usual charts and post #1 when the mortgage clears.

Financial Bliss.

SmlSave

this year the annual price has gone up a staggering 11%

Same here FB

Put £2,350 in place out of savings to fund £1k mortgage tomorrow, £950 towards regular savers and the remainder covering other bills in the next few days from 1st May onwards

Sounds like you've got it all covered ) here's to sub 50k!

financialbliss

I give our electric and gas meter readings monthly on the first of the month which gives a cost for the previous month. Here's how it stacks up for January to April.

Electric (Units / Cost):

• January: 331 / 36.04
• February: 313 / 33.77
• March: 295 / 32.90
• April: 268 / 30.31

Gas (Units / Cost):

• January: 65 / 68.22
• February: 55 / 57.53
• March: 42 / 45.49
• April: 23 / 27.34

Total, ie Electric and Gas (Units / Cost / Balance):

• January: 396 / 104.26 / 22.75
• February: 368 / 91.31 / 8.45
• March: 337 / 78.39 / 7.06
• April: 291 / 57.65 / 26.41

I've previous been paying £77 a month to cover both electric and gas. When I entered these values yesterday, I was informed that Scottish Power would be reducing the direct debit to £69 a month starting in May. Just a small reduction, but better in my pocket than theirs.

Don't know if the new shower (which the kids are using more) and the new washing machine, a cold fill and heats the water up to the programme temperature, eg 30c are helping us see slightly reduced bills ?

FB.

setmefree2

well done on those energy reductions :T:T:T

SmlSave

I was informed that Scottish Power would be reducing the direct debit to £69 a month starting in May

That's wonderful! That means you're £96 better off every year Yay!

financialbliss

Oops - dropped under the radar for a while...

Intending on doing updates this evening. Just posting here now as an incentive / reminder to do so.

FB.

SmlSave

A friendly reminder.......DO UPDATES! :-)