The Piano Diary

South_coast

All sounding very positive 😀 Enjoy your break

savingholmes

Lovely to be  planning mortgage is freedom and retirement

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

We were both back at work on Wednesday although not actually yet physically back but working remotely still. We enjoyed the trip to the Peaks, it was nice to have a change of scene. We stayed at a Pub B&B and they were very diligent with the hygiene and social distancing so it felt safe. We went on a couple of walks and were lucky with the weather so that was nice. On our return we have been doing the odd day trip, catching up on various jobs around the house and tidying up the garden a bit. August has been a bit more spendy than budgeted. We have had a couple of visits from friends and gone out for two meals. DS is enjoying the pause between end of Uni and start of the next phase of his life. We are off today to go mountain biking at our favourite destination.

On the money front, the renovation of the rooms also cost a bit more than expected. The upshot of this is that I needed to use about £600 of savings, so I need to replace than when we get paid at the end of August. I made an extra OP on the mortgage of £83 this week to take the total to £52,999. This means I got to move two marbles across between my jars because each marble represent a whole £ thousand remaining. A couple more payments and we will break through the £50k barrier.

Have a great day all!

savingholmes

Well done on the 2 marbles. Great system

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

The bedroom furniture for DS’s room has just arrived. I have a day of furniture assembly ahead of me! The problem with doing up a room is that it has a domino effect as you start to look at the rest of the house. OH has suggested that we get the bathroom done next. The house is now getting towards 25 years old so everything is approaching its design life and is looking a bit tired. Trouble is its all quite expensive! I have agreed with her that we will take on one ‘project’ per year. This year was DS’s rooms. I’m ok with spending some of our money on redecorating / renovating, but not willing to borrow any money to do so, or to break into our emergency fund. It is very tempting as it really lifts the house when you get a room done. I’m thinking of making an additional OP of £300 in September. This is just because if I do it will take the mortgage below the magic £50K in November.

Better get on!

Have a great day all!

savingholmes

Great target to aim for with the OP. I am with you on the danger of house projects - snowballing into something bigger. I'm having to fight really hard to stop myself launching into another project before I've finished my current one.

glass_half_full

Dear diary,

Finished assembling the furniture for DS’s room over two days on the Bank Holiday. Slow and steady progress, I was pleased with the results. The garage is now full of stuff to take to the tip including the previous furniture, bed etc as well as all the packaging and cardboard from the new furniture. I have a slot booked at the local tip this afternoon so I will at least shift a car load. I think there may be 3 car loads in total there.

We received the quote from a builder for a new bathroom. It looks like it would be £4K to £5K including the bathroom suite. Spoke to OH and we agreed that right now a) we don’t have the money and b) this isn’t enough of a priority for us. We could save the money by around Easter next year, but then we would drain all our savings to do this. We are going to see what we can do by redecorating and replacing some of the fixtures and fittings to refresh it for the meantime. Besides, we agreed that if we are going to spend money on the house then it would be on the living room and dining room, spaces we use all the time. So we have hit pause on this for the meantime.

I have made an additional OP of £300 this month. This is so that the mortgage will dip below £50K in November. I will be 54 in November. I find goals motivating, so I am setting myself the goal to clear the mortgage by November 2022 when I am 56. This will mean paying circa £2,000 per month, the budget says it is possible.

Have a great day all!

savingholmes

It will be fab when you are mortgage free. To be so close must be amazing.

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

Somehow September has been quite spendy with various gifts and unexpected expenses. This has been offset by the fact that some of the other costs are still down ie petrol, train travel and eating out. We seem to be spending less on clothes as well since we are not getting to the shops as much. Still we have OP’d by £600 this month and with the regular payment, the balance is down to £51,460. By this time next month we will get it under £50,000 which will be great and I think I may raise a glass to that when the time comes! Total OPs for this year have reached just over £4,000.

DS seems to be enjoying his course and he is really working hard and being diligent which is great. I think he had had enough of being a bit aimless over the summer, having goals can be really helpful. We need to get him a desk for his room so he can work more effectively from home.

Work is going to be quite demanding for some time, we will need to pace ourselves if we are not going to get burned out! We have pencilled in a long weekend in October, although at this rate it we may not be going anywhere.

I haven’t had a piano lesson since before lockdown. I’m looking into online lessons. May give it a go.

 

savingholmes

Online lesson sounds in positive. Glad everything else is going well