To mortgage neutral and beyond...

One-step-at-a-time

Financial goals for the next year and beyond-

• EF kept at £1000
• Three months' salary in the ISA (target date October 2022)  

We'll then decide on a strategy for when the fixed rate comes to an end. How we tackle it will depend on what interest rates are doing. 
The biggest potential fly in the ointment is the car - it got through the last MOT fine, but with 220k + miles on the clock we don't know how much longer it has. 

One-step-at-a-time

In my push to socking money away where I can't touch it for a while, it seems I've stretched things a little bit *too* thin this month and stuffed up the zero based budgeting slightly, with 8 days to payday and £15.68 left in the bank (£12 of which will be needed for commuting). Still have nearly £25 in Nectar points which can be used if any food top-ups are needed and about £20 in my Prolific account, but I'm trying not to touch that as it's earmarked for a tin of paint. So basically the next week will have to be a masterclass in NSDs, as bad planning does not warrant dipping into the emergency fund!

Teething problems...

powerspowers

Oh no! I’ve done that one a fair few times, ended up skint by being too money saving 😂 I’ve recently downloaded olio food sharing app which always seems to have bread products on it if that helps! 

One-step-at-a-time

powerspowers said:

Oh no! I’ve done that one a fair few times, ended up skint by being too money saving 😂 I’ve recently downloaded olio food sharing app which always seems to have bread products on it if that helps! 

Thanks! I'll have a look at that. Bready stuff is the area I generally never need to worry about as I make all ours, and always have ingredients stockpiled - probably got enough to last a good few months at the moment.  

LadyWithAPlan

One-step-at-a-time said:

In my push to become debt-free last month and enthusiasm to start socking money away where I can't touch it for a while, it seems I've stretched things a little bit *too* thin this month and stuffed up the zero based budgeting slightly, with 8 days to payday and £15.68 left in the bank (£12 of which will be needed for commuting). Still have nearly £25 in Nectar points which can be used if any food top-ups are needed (I think milk is the only thing that may get low) and about £20 in my Prolific account, but I'm trying not to touch that as it's earmarked for a tin of paint. So basically the next week will have to be a masterclass in NSDs, as bad planning does not warrant dipping into the emergency fund!

Teething problems when transitioning from 'all the debt' to 'fixing everything else'...

I have done this especially with unexpected expenses and I dont want to touch the emergency fund .. even though that is what it is there for! 
The more surveys the better I think in this case.

One-step-at-a-time

LadyWithAPlan said:

I have done this especially with unexpected expenses and I dont want to touch the emergency fund .. even though that is what it is there for! 
The more surveys the better I think in this case.

I'm going gentle on myself because I was expecting the odd bump in the road   I do have a free overdraft facility despite not having used it for at least a couple of years, and if I end up going £10-£20 over it won't be the end of the world. Surveys are building up nicely, though.

Today we've put some more home repair jobs in motion (things we can't or are unwilling to DIY). We're spreading the cost of the work by trying to arrange one affordable job per pay cycle (after automated savings have gone out). 

One-step-at-a-time

This evening is…odd. News of yet another untimely death in our circle, plus a close friend having quite a near miss. The feeling that life’s too short is getting stronger for both of us. One subject led to another and DH and I have had our first semi-serious conversation about changing things up, moving before we get too much older and putting some of the house equity to work for us. It’s not a subject either of us approaches lightly, as we adore our house (even the bits of it that are falling apart) and have very strong ties to the area, but we’ve decided to revisit the subject at a later date and try to figure out whether we're just feeling particularly sensitive at the moment or whether there's more to it than that and we're just feeling more able to voice ideas about change because the debt chapter is now behind us. 

Drawingaline

These conversations can really lead to big decisions. Good idea to park it and revisit. We love our new house, but are very aware that we won't be loving here forever. It's a proper family home, we don't want to be rattling around in it in retirement. 

One-step-at-a-time

Before we can think about moving on we have a lot still to sort out here. Although it's great to be finally making progress, I am not enjoying what feels like a constant haemorrhaging of cash at the moment. I shall be very happy when the most urgent of the maintenance jobs are finished. It's as tedious as paying off the debt was! 

One-step-at-a-time

This month the mortgage has dropped under £27k. 
It's been a DIY kind of week so far. We've done some cleaning and repairs on the garage guttering (elbow grease plus £1.60 on a replacement part), and will be replacing a couple of cracked (again, garage) roof tiles with free ones. Given how much we need to shell out on jobs we can't tackle ourselves over the next few months it's nice to be able to get a few things done frugally.