Cheery's country living adventure

Cheery_Daff

Urgh, I've had a right old busy day and forgot to ring Sainsburys. Must stick a big post it on my desk for tomorrow! 

Nowt else to report. No post so far this week, weather's probably too bad - although we walked out to the road this evening and it was gritted and clear, just our drive and lane that were snowy - and our new all weather tyres coped perfectly well with that. Very glad as we ran out of milk! We have plenty of UHT in the store cupboard of course but it was a nice excuse to try the snow tyres when it wasn't important whether we got out of the drive or not... (the drive is quite long, and a bit uphill, so if we get out of that, it's very likely we'll get out of the lane (flat and ploughed, but not gritted), and then the road is usually fine). 

So we have milk, and booze, and chocolate, which is a good job because I had a funding bid rejected today so I'm sulking 🤨 Not surprised,  and it's pretty standard (hand many rejected before!) but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. 

Still, got two others in at the minute so fingers crossed for them...

Not that I personally get any of the money of course... but they would lend weight to my next promotion application... Which, incidentally, is not going to be this year, as I just haven't met enough extra criteria since last time... 🙄 

Hey ho. Let's focus on the booze and chocolate for tonight, shall we?! And lest you think I have let go of my MSE ways, we have a bottle of imitation Baileys and a Freddo to share... 😂😂

Karmacat

Hurray, booze and chocolate - even if we're stuck at home, socialising has to go on  

South_coast

Don't forget the milk too, Cheery. Good to see you got all the essential food groups covered with that shop 🤣

Cheery_Daff

Morning chums 😊

Well I had a bit of a grumpity evening, and I'm still quite grumpy this morning 🙄 but I'll get over it I imagine. 

The sun is shining today, and looks very pretty on the snow. Andy the glass in my phone camera has broken 😮 I've watched a couple of videos and ordered a replacement lens and will attempt a DIY repair when it arrives, hopefully in a couple of days...

Not much else to report. Will ring and cancel the insurance in a minute. Windows geezer is coming to give us a quote, although he may cancel because of the weather - hope not, it should just be our lane/drive that might cause an issue and it's only 5 mins to walk down if necessary. We'll see. 

Got leftovers ready for lunch. Four hours of video meetings today, yawn. Looks like my mail merge attempt the other day didn't work (why??) which is annoying, but does mean that tomorrow's anticipated day of student meetings will have to be postponed so I have most of the dy free, then I'm taking Friday off this week - very ready for it, and going to attempt to get a substantial part of the ceiling done...

Must check the LPG tank today. Heating was on when I got up again this morning and I confess I could get used to not being freezing while I get dressed 😂 But there's a problem with the thermostat - it comes on when it drops below the temp, but doesn't turn off again, ever. So we turn it down to 10 at night, doesn't usually drop below 10 in the house so doesn't matter, but the last few days it has, so it comes on, but then stays on for hours, and is at about 15 when I get up. Toasty, but expensive. 

I'd likely ignore it if we were on mains gas... but we're not! 

Anyway, enough waffling. Must ring insurance! 

Oh, and latest covid vouchers arrived so I'll print those and transfer another £50 to the mortgage 😁

Cheery_Daff

Insurance cancelled, vouchers printed, £50 paid off mortgage, doesn't change end date but saves us £27.78 in interest over the remaining term.

Quick question to those of you making overpayments... We've increased our standing order so it's automatically overpaying each month. I've put that new amount as our monthly payment right til the mortgage ends to calculate our end date, then each month I add extra overpayments manually. 

Is that what you do? Or do you have your contractual payment down til the end of the mortgage, and then add in ALL overpayments, including regular ones, each month? 

I'm saying in my signature that we've reduced the mortgage length by 10 years - but that assumes the interest rate stays the same, and our standing order stays the same for that whole time.

Is that how the rest of you calculate it? 

missymoo81

Hey Cheery, I’m sorry you’ve had a bit of a grumpity time. Have hugs from me! Chocolate and booze sound like the best diet at this point in time! I get you on the waking up warm front. Our thermostat doesn’t work when we want it to either but we’ve messed around with it and it seems to be on all day, but it’s on at 6am when I get up and I LOVE it! Do need to sort it though. It sounds like you’ll have a very much deserved rest (from work) on Friday. I hope you have a lovely productive but stress free day x

bubblycrazy

Cheery_Daff said:

Quick question to those of you making overpayments... We've increased our standing order so it's automatically overpaying each month. I've put that new amount as our monthly payment right til the mortgage ends to calculate our end date, then each month I add extra overpayments manually. 

Is that what you do? Or do you have your contractual payment down til the end of the mortgage, and then add in ALL overpayments, including regular ones, each month? 

I'm saying in my signature that we've reduced the mortgage length by 10 years - but that assumes the interest rate stays the same, and our standing order stays the same for that whole time.

Is that how the rest of you calculate it? 

Yes I include regular overpayments as the monthly payment and add any extras manually, and yes I work out the end date on the assumption that the interest rate stays the same, as that is how the mortgage company also work it out. 

I hope your grumpy mood has disappeared 

Cheery_Daff

Thanks bubbly, that's helpful to know 😊 

Hi Missy, good to see you! 

Nowt much to report. Noticed today the LPG delivery people have stuck a massive sticker over the side of the tank 😠 I know it's because the tank was originally owned by another company, and has their name on, but it looks dreadful, like a big advert, and it's not even straight! It's got the emergency number on, but not sure why I have to have a massive advert facing up my driveway! Cheeky bunch! 

Got to thinking earlier... Mortgage fix runs out in Oct 2024, so just over 3.5 years. In the last 3 years we've knocked 10 years off the mortgage term 😮 Clearly we won't be cutting off another ten years that quickly as that would mean we'd have paid off the entire thing before the end of the fix 😂 there's currently about £188k left, which, failing a premium bonds win, we're very unlikely to pay off in 3 years, not least because we're not even going to earn that much in 3 years 😂😂

But... there are currently about 12 years left to run. By the end of the fix, at current rates with no extra overpayments there will be 8.5. It would be nice to get that under 5 years by the end of the fix, wouldn't it?? So knock another 3.5 years off in 3.5 years?? That would also meet my other goal of paying the whole thing off before I was 50... Hmmm...

South_coast

Sounds like a good target Cheery 😀

Surely the most satisfying course of action re the LPG tank is to make up your own sticker saying something rude about the company to go over the top, so it's the first thing they see too next time they come to do a top-up???

Cheery_Daff

Ha, good suggestion! Sadly it would be the first thing we would see as well and we come down the drive far more than they do! 

Tempted to just put a short fence round the tank 🙄 But I have no idea whether that's even allowed, and quite frankly I have enough to do without adding that to the list! 

Realised last night it's a year since we took Mr Cheery's works pension! 😮 So exciting. It's not a massive amount but it makes up the majority of our mortgage overpayments so I am VERY grateful for it!

Nothing money wise to report today. Got a clear day at work, and tomorrow off, and the sun is shining (bet it won't be tomorrow though!) 

Best get on and not waste the day...