Busy Mee's Last Leg

shangaijimmy

I concur on the dog front. Best thing I ever bought was our first dog, as he has led to buying our second dog!

try_harder

Wow !! Absolutely amazing ..You have done such an amazing job Busy Mee1 and worked so very hard you thoroughly deserve those great results

Busy_Mee1

Well NYE ended up being a very quiet affair. Neither of us could be bothered to go out last night so we ordered a takeaway and opened a bottle of wine. I just about made it until midnight, although I did snooze through some of the first series of Bancroft.

Today has been a great start to the New Year. We were both bright eyed and bushy tailed and set off to a localish National Trust property (20 miles away) to walk the dog. The weather was amazing, bright blue skies and sunshine and we walked around 5 miles. The "pup" ( 2 years old and 35 kilos :rotfl:) had a great time and even had a swim in the river.

We spent our first money of the year to park (£5). I didn't mind paying as it helps for the upkeep of the properties and we don't visit enough to warrant an annual membership.

I have been spreadsheet fiddling on the mortgage and a very clear goal has emerged. If we continue to pay the repayment mortgage at the current level we will owe £39,330 by end of December 2020. If we chip £500 per month off the IO mortgage 162,5000 will be outstanding by December 2020. This will leave a total outstanding mortgage of £201,830. Therefore the obvious ( to me) target is to reduce the mortgage to less than £200k. So my mortgage goals will be as follows:

• Repayment mortgage. £39,330
• IO Mortgage. £160,000
• Total Mortgage £199,330

This will be a reduction of £19,243.33 :eek:

I also want to aim to be mortgage neutral by June 2020

I will also be trying to grow our ring fenced savings and will try and wring around £2k worth of interest out of our various accounts. This will grow our £210k into £212k.

I will also continue to sweat the small stuff and continue paying Tilly Tidies, rewards and TCB into my odds and sods account. This is already set up to siphon £125 per month into a regular saver with the Principality BS paying 2.75% interest. This will mature in December with £1500. + interest. This can be paid off the IO mortgage but I now need to step this up and find a further £1000 to ensure that we reduce the mortgage to below £200k by December.
Savings goals are therefore:

• Ring fenced savings. £212,000
• Odds and sods account. £2,500

Simples :rotfl:

Cornish_mum

Congratulations on your great numbers... and happy new year.

themadvix

Happy New Year Busy Mee !

Your plans look great for 2020!

teapot2

Great to have a clear goal, and lots of plans for 2020

Busy_Mee1

Well I have managed to make it to the afternoon without eating any rubbish :rotfl: My body is now a temple and I have thrown away the leftover peanuts and Quality St toffees that only I will eat :rotfl:

Work is still quiet, but a few more folk are back in today, so I have had a few catch ups.

I claimed my expenses from before Christmas and a very helpful £72.30 should be paid next week. I also chased up some arrears of pay that I am due back to last August and am told that this will be paid at the end of January. Should be around £600 :T

The reality of my 2020 goals has hit me today _pale_ In addition to finding a regular £500 a month to chip off the mortgage, I need to find £2500 in odds and sods. Currently I have the following:

Odds and Sods account £296.12
Principality BS. £375.00
Total. £671.12

Left to find. £1828.88/12. = £152.41 per month :eek:

This is going to be tough with our recently reduced income, but I am more focused with a clear target. A bit of tension on the finances also stops us leaking money unnecessarily . I don't want a tight existence but I want us to consciously consider our spending.

I have started today with a £10.55 Tilly Tidy :T

I am making curry for dinner tonight to use up some bendy veg. Hopefully this will stretch to cover a few meals.

beanielou

The 600 quid pack pay too?

shangaijimmy

You claim it'll be tough but you sound like you're well on top of eveything! What would we all do without our MF hobby???

Suffolk_lass

My body is definitely not a temple. The chocolate mountain has barely reduced and there remains a basket of crisps, nuts and corn chips in the larder! :eek: -

Your plans sound brilliant. We are still talking ours through after finally losing all but one of the Christmas visitors (Mother here until Monday). I can see three 2.75% regular savers but that return halves to 1.41% over the year whereas our mortgage is 1.49% so at the moment, reducing that seems our likely focus.

Happy New Year!