julicorn's journey

julicorn

Karmacat wrote: »

Hi juli, thats a huge amount you've managed to pay off, well done you! SE England is really something for prices, isn't it - shocking how much things cost. Never mind, you've taken control now, thats brilliant.

Thank you Karmacat! :heart2:

julicorn

miss_undastood wrote: »

I’d suggest moving northwards to get a bit more for your money. I thought 500k for a house was expensive!

I've got to be honest, I wouldn't swap it for the world. We're in a small flat, definitely, but we're right by the sea, in what for us is just the perfect city. As much as I complain about the ludicrous prices, it feels like we're getting our money's worth :rotfl:
And 500k is roughly what we'd be looking at for a house I'd say, but will see what we can actually afford when the time comes. It's all scary big numbers either way!

julicorn

After almost a year of doing very little work on our flat, I think we've finally gotten our DIY mojo back! After getting new flooring in the hallway last Monday, I spent the weekend painting the woodwork in the hallway, and most of the doors as well (still got 2 left to do though), while Mr Julicorn was out in the garden cutting down all the shrubs, pulling weeds and wrestling a bramble or something like that :rotfl: It was so worth it though! We've also just ordered bricks and tiles to sort out the steps down into the garden (at the moment there's a huge steps at first, so it's a bit of a death trap) - first time either of us have tried to tackle something like that - wish us luck, we need it! I also thought that maybe I could paint the patio slabs, made the mistake of going on Pinterest (honestly, why do I do this to myself?!), and have now ordered a big stencil to decorate the floor with. Yeah, we'll see whether that will work out, but it's worth a shot and would look great if I manage to pull it off. :think:

We also went to Homebase today and bought a few more plants which Mr Julicorn planted straight away, turning our little garden into even more of a flower jungle than it already is. Oh, and we also ordered a fire pit! I'm so excited, I think it will mean that we can make the most of those chilly spring/summer/autumn evenings.

All in all, an expensive weekend, but very much budgeted for (thanks YNAB!). I'll keep you all posted on those DIY endeavours, feel like we may be punching a little bit above our weight, but it's worth a shot :rotfl:

julicorn

Just made most of our May overpayments - will pay another £200 in a few days. We're on track to hit a fair few milestones this month:
- £30,000 paid off the mortgage
- 15% paid off
- 63% LTV
- getting 3 years ahead (i.e. getting to a mortgage balance we would have normally reached in May 2021)

We'll also see what retention deals Accord are offering us from tomorrow. We most definitely won't get as good a rate as we're on at the moment, but that's ok.

On the DIY front, we built some of the steps on the weekend, but aren't quite done yet. Will see if we can get a little further over the long weekend

Hope you're all doing well, and have a lovely start into May!

beanielou

All good then

julicorn

beanielou wrote: »

All good then

Apart from that the MF-in-3-challenge has given me a real kick up the bum! We're doing alright so far, but in order to hit our fairly ambitious target we've got to overpay quite a bit more every month than we're currently planning on. I'm hoping that my Etsy shop can give us some of that money

julicorn

I just realised this diary is now a little over a year old!

:bdaycake:

That also meant that I could have a look what we overpaid over the course of the year - just over £20k :eek:I totally didn't realise this, because I've always looked at January to December instead. I'm honestly struggling to believe it. This also means we'll likely hit a bit of a limit on how much we're actually allowed to overpay over the next few years.... but I guess we can cross that bridge when we get to it.

Also, our allowance resets when we're remortgaging in August, I've checked with the provider. It looks like the retention deal is better than what we can get from competitors as well, which should make things nice and easy. It's a bit of a step up, but still a good rate (1.88% rather than 1.41% - still better than the 5 year fix we would have gotten when we first took out the mortgage).

Karmacat

Such an achievement! Congratulations very empowering.

beanielou

Excellent :j :j

Nichelette

Congratulations, what an achievement!