Busy Mee's Last Leg

Busy_Mee

It is pay day today and all the accounts are tidy, so an early October update.

October Update
Repayment Mortgage.          £40,607.05

IO Mortgage.                      £157,500.00
Total.                                   £198,107.05. (Sub £200k  )

Reduction this month.        £2456.16 

Ring fenced savings.          £213,000
Increase in savings.               £0

Savings less Mortgage.     £14,892.95 (towards forever fund)

Odds and Sods account.                   £8.94

Principality.                                    £1500.00
Chipped off Mortgage                   £1500.00
Total Odds and Sods 2020             £3508.94

So another £1500 chipped off the IO this month and the total mortgage is now sub £200k. Still a very large sum, but going in the right direction. Feeling very happy that we can pay it off anytime we like, but would need a general anaesthetic to remove that amount from savings 

The savings should increase next month as Mr Mee's FD regular saver matures, along the Principality regular saver.

The nectar double up thing starts on 11 November. I have £37 in points, so will have £70 to spend. Mainly wine and household stuff I think, but need to make a list of what I need.

We are moving into Tier 3 on Monday, but don't think it will make much difference.  The pubs, bars and clubs close, but that doesn't really affect us. We already can't meet other households indoors. Interestingly you can still go on holiday abroad. 

Have a great weekend.

Suffolk_lass

That's another great update and just to reflect back on your two and a half years in this diary (and because you said you were a bit bored with your finances) I wanted to post this little extract from your original diary post:

"Thankfully we managed to get all the debt paid off and we now just have our mortgage which currently stands at a still eye watering £238,491.35.
We are lucky in that we have a great mortgage product and pay just 1.19% (0.69% lifetime tracker). We have been therefore saving hard in higher interest savings accounts to offset the mortgage. We currently have £65k saved "

So what that means is:
£238,491.35 is now £198,107.05 = £40,384.30 paid off
£65k saved is now £213,000.00 = £148,000 saved
                                       = total of £188,384.30 (plus odds and sods) material improvements in your finances. In 30 months!

Be very proud. And keep going!

Busy_Mee

Good Morning. It's the 1st November. How did that happen ? 

Mr Mee has now been retired for over a year. It hasn't been the retirement he planned but he has no regrets and loves not going to work.

And we are in lockdown again from Thursday. That has scuppered another holiday. A week in the Canaries booked back in January. I didn't think we would be going and then the Canaries opened up again last weekend, so I thought we could be going... but no....... sigh !  

Instead I jumped onto the B&Q website and ordered paint for the study. I will still have at least a couple of days off and strip off the detested wallpapers. 

I might also have ordered some new curtains from N3xt and cushion covers from H&M   We might as well use the lockdown productively and sort the study out. I spend a lot of time in there and the wallpaper is annoying me.

I am also thinking that I will try and use the month to get fitter and lose a bit of weight. It is a nice finite period of time and will put me in better shape heading into Christmas. Otherwise it could be one long period of eating and drinking through lockdown and straight into Christmas.

I also hope to do some Christmas faffing. I have ordered a wreath base to have a go at making my own wreath and will make Christmas cake too.

There I have plans. I feel better already about lockdown 

Suffolk_lass

Ooh, we posted at exactly the same time again! - I'm going to join you in the fitter/lose weight thing. I'm due to shop tomorrow for the first proper shop since the 12th October. Got my list, and my stores and hoping to stay under £100 for all but a bit of extra fruit and veg later in the month - it's a good opportunity not to buy any snacks or treats and do a month of the 8-week (I know!) blood sugar diet. And I continue to paint kitchen cupboards

Busy_Mee

Gosh that was a bit spooky SuffolkLass. And thank you so much for the little review of what we have achieved. 

TBH I was going to say we cheated a bit on the savings. A good chunk came from Mr Mee's pension lump sum.  I suppose they were savings, he contributed to his pension for 42 years, but we didn't save that amount in the 30 months of the diary IYSWIM. 

Around  £50k was saved in the lifetime of this diary and £65k during the life time of the previous diaries. £115k in total. Still not bad and I am very thankful I found this place  

savingholmes

Wow they are phenomenal numbers

Suffolk_lass

Saying you cheated because Mr Mee's pension lump sum gave your savings a little boost is like me saying we cheated paying off the mortgage because I used some of mine when I retired to lose a lumpy bit off ours. If he had not worked in the public sector for that long he would not have it - and remember, back in the day, that Maggie T woman told the civil service that their pensions were why they were underpaid compared to private sector by 17% (more like 40% in IT!)  - so he earned it, every which way you look at it.

Suffolk_lass

Hope all is going well for you - my weight loss is trickling down. Just cutting down on treats and eating simple things

Busy_Mee

Gosh it has been two weeks since my last post. Not sure what happened there, I can't say I have been doing anything exciting. 

In financial news we got a refund for our holiday, four days after it was cancelled. Jet2 are excellent, if you want to book a holiday with confidence, they have been really good throughout the pandemic. The money has gone back into the holiday fund for next year ( fingers crossed we will be able to go)

We have two regular savers maturing next week, the Principality Christmas saver which will give us £1500+interest into the ring fenced savings and Mr Mee's FD regular saver which will give just the interest (capital is just recycled from savings). I am looking forward to a bit of spreadsheet fiddling once that drops in.

I have done the Sainsbreeze double up with Nectar points this weekend, £80 in vouchers. I bought a  few Christmas presents, a new table cloth for Christmas and a bottle of TTD Prosecco. Well worth saving up the points for this offer.

In other news I decided to use the leave I would have taken next week and take every Friday off up to the end of the year. My cunning plan is to convince my boss that I can do my job on four days a week. I am keeping an eye on my in box to make sure there are no disasters on a Friday. 

This Friday we redecorated the study and it looks tons better. The hated wallpaper has gone and all the paintwork redone. We now have a feature wall painted in Traquil Dawn ( Dulux ) and I am going for a Scandinavian look .

Weight is going fine Suffolklass, I've lost another lb. Not earth shattering but at least we haven't degenerated into the constant bank holiday eating and drinking of the last lockdown.

Think that is all the news. I am going for a dog walk with DS this afternoon and cooking Sunday roast ( he is in our bubble ). Have a great week  

savingholmes

Decorating and annual leave plans sound good. Well done on the weight loss too