Trying to avoid a near life experience

NorthernPeach

Hi everyone,

I've been a lurker on the forums for a few years and considered joining many times. Just over 18 months into our mortgage free quest I've decided to join to keep me accountable.

A little bit about myself.....I live in the North of England with my SO and fur baby, we are 27 and 28 years old respectively! We bought our first home together in September 2016 with a mortgage of £134k at 3.29%. We carried out a lot of basic home improvements in the first year however we are still finding bits we want to change. I am an avid saver and often find myself with too many 'pots' I want to save into which holds me back from paying more off the mortgage.

We have a reasonably 'healthy' monthly income but spend far too much on food and I apparently have an obsession for buying gym wear :rotfl:

My main motivation to clear the mortgage early is to provide us with financial freedom and allow us to have more disposable income in the future! However, I am in a constant flux between living in the moment and saving for the future....trying to find a balance....hence the title of my thread 'Trying to avoid a near life experience'.

Mortgage currently stands at:

Mortgage Sept 2016 - £134000 April 2018 - £127239.39

Target 1: Pay off first £10k capital = £124k - December 2018
Target 2: 75% LTV = £112.5k - Summer 2021 :starmod:
Lets do this! :j

Tropically

I definitely feel you with the balance between living in the moment and saving for the future. Welcome and I look forward to reading your diary!!

beanielou

Finding a balance is always difficult.
Happy shiny new diary

Kittenkirst

Looking forward to reading your progress as you go.

We are also trying to find the right balance between savings, overpayments and enjoying life :heartpuls:

How long do you have left on your Mortgage and do you have any goals for overpayments?

NorthernPeach

Thank you everyone for your lovely replies!

Kittenkirst wrote: »

Looking forward to reading your progress as you go.

We are also trying to find the right balance between savings, overpayments and enjoying life :heartpuls:

How long do you have left on your Mortgage and do you have any goals for overpayments?

Our mortgage is due end in 2041 :eek: , it's very early days over here. We are currently in a 5 year fix so I'm hoping to get the balance down to £112,000 by summer 2021 which will take us to just under the 75% mark!
In the even shorter term my target is to make £1000 in OP's this year, easy does it! :beer:

NorthernPeach

What a sunny start to the weekend, I'm not working either, bonus!

The week has consisted of lots of work and new floor shopping, we are having some new laminate and skirting boards laid next weekend so we need to get on with painting the door frames and touching up the walls so it can look all nice and clean once laid :j

MSE Tasks:
- I finally cashed a birthday cheque (£30) from Feb which will pay off my small amount of CC expenses for the month.
- I managed to get the onions planted in the garden.
- We had a couple of fine weather days, so the washing has been drying on the line
- I sent back my overpriced gym leggings :rotfl:
- Remembered to use TCB when I bought the laminate underlay.

Not so MSE:
- I forgot to prep lunch for Friday (One expensive meal deal later )
- There was no free parking spaces in town so I had to pay a £1 to run my errands.
- We bailed on Friday evenings tea plans and got supermarket pizza

NorthernPeach

We found out this weekend OH car needs £500+ in repairs so that has scuppered our budget for the month and to top it off we realised he has ripped his trusty pair of jeans. Luckily we found a replacement pair in mat*lan for only £16, that beats a £40 pair from N*xt!

We attended a charity fundraiser on Saturday evening but we didn't know many people so ended up leaving early on, we took out £40 and came back with £17, quite happy with that! We paid our entry and bought raffle tickets etc so we didn't feel bad for leaving early, if we had stayed longer the money would just have gone behind the bar!

We managed to rip all the skirting boards off in the kitchen and conservatory and repaint under the windowsill, feel like we are getting somewhere after many months of no DIY :j. It should look fab once finished however all I can currently see is pound coins running away:rotfl:

Off to do a payday money shimmy and see if i can squeeze the budget any tighter!

NorthernPeach

Current account rewards cashed out £9.54...........Now where did I put those over-payment details!

NorthernPeach

It is technically my friday :j (the joy of shift work)

The week is going well so far;

• I have been checking for surveys on OP on a daily basis
• The onions I planted last week are showing signs of progress
• I sent my mini OP across to the mortgage
• Got 20% off some much needed replacement work shoes plus TCB
• Confirmation of my gymwear return came through
• I have taken my lunch to work and eaten from fridge/freezer for the past few days (By far our biggest weakness)

I also did some sums last night (favourite past-time:rotfl:) and worked out I need to find an extra £35 a month in addition to our regular OP to make our £1000 target for 2018. Hoping to find the majority through TCB, Surveys, Interest etc so I can put more money into savings for a newer car. Although I do always just want to chuck it at the mortgage balance ...soo torn!

Myself and a work friend have managed to get free access to a hotel gym with spa facilities tomorrow through work :money: I think that might just be my biggest freebie in a long time Note to self: Must shave legs this evening :eek::rotfl:

NorthernPeach

This months mortgage has come out today plus regular OP and my mini one from the other day - Balance now stands at £126,864.34

gallygirl

Chipping away slowly but surely .