The Piano Diary

savingholmes

Well done on the payments

glass_half_full

caeler said:

Hi @glass_half_full I've also paid an ERC and will have another one when I pay the mortgage off but in saved interest it definitely works out okay.  Obviously I'd rather not pay an ERC and strangely Nationwide refunded most of the last one due to "loyalty and unused allowance" which was odd as I had used up the 10% I had been allowed to pay for 3 years on the trot.  I did not question it!  PS.  Woop woop on your balance, getting close!

Hi caeler,
Its good to know there is another ERC payer out there! Its great that Nationwide refunded, its rare that the banks make a mistake in our favour. I see from your signature that you are close to the finishing line, fantastic . I am going to catch up on your diary and follow your progress.

glass_half_full

savingholmes said:

Well done on the payments

Thanks savingholmes!

caeler

glass_half_full said:

caeler said:

Hi @glass_half_full I've also paid an ERC and will have another one when I pay the mortgage off but in saved interest it definitely works out okay.  Obviously I'd rather not pay an ERC and strangely Nationwide refunded most of the last one due to "loyalty and unused allowance" which was odd as I had used up the 10% I had been allowed to pay for 3 years on the trot.  I did not question it!  PS.  Woop woop on your balance, getting close!

Hi caeler,
Its good to know there is another ERC payer out there! Its great that Nationwide refunded, its rare that the banks make a mistake in our favour. I see from your signature that you are close to the finishing line, fantastic . I am going to catch up on your diary and follow your progress.

Thank you! When I make my final payment on 1 June, it is the start of a 'new allowance year' so I'm thinking I'll pay my full 10% payment and then the balance in the hope I'll pay even less on the ERC.  It is worth £300! My fault for taking a 5 year fix in 2019, I totally didn't think my circumstances would change so dramatically and I figured with all the uncertainty with Brexit I'd be better to fix!

glass_half_full

Hi @caeler, sounds like a plan! I took out a 5 year fix in 2018, at the time I was more interested in security of payments rather than paying off the mortgage as fast as possible. But my focus has changed now too.

South_coast

Yep, 5 year fix in 2018 here too 🙄

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

So after a long delay it looks like we might be getting our rescue dog after all. The latest lockdown slowed everything up but all the checks have now been done and he should be coming to us next Thursday. He is a 10 year old Jack Russell terrier. We have been out today buying some of the basic bits and pieces. We are all really looking forward to him coming to us. I have been briefed by the shelter on all the does and donts regarding settling him in so I’m hoping all will be ok. They have been really good and will be available to us if we have any questions or need any support.

In money related matters, car insurance came up for renewal. My existing insurer’s quote was £650 but I managed to find an alternative at £350. I am paying the annual fee to save a bit. Its not really a saving, more cost avoidance. My current energy deal comes to an end at the end of March so will be seeking quotes in a few days. It seems like finding savings on energy is going to get harder it may be a case of avoiding rises as much as possible.

I have received a message from HMRC it looks like my tax code will change in April as I have underpaid on my Tax but only by a small amount. It may reduce my take home pay a bit, not sure I guess I will find out.

Otherwise, the budget is generally on track so should be ok to make the mortgage payment in a couple of weeks time.

savingholmes

Well done for rescuing a dog. It's sad how many are struggling right now. Hope your dog brings you lots of joy.

glass_half_full

Dear Diary and all,

Both OH and I have the day off. We have nothing special planned, maybe go for a walk later, watch a film etc. Although we won’t have a proper break until Easter we decided to find the odd day where we can both be off together.

Unfortunately, the rescue dog hasn’t worked out. Sadly, he has some serious health problems. There was some miscommunication as we thought everything was ok, but it seems there were some other test results to do with a lump that had not come back and now they have, and the results are not good. We are of course disappointed. I think we will leave it now until after lockdown to investigate further options.

On the money front, I have switched energy suppliers yet again. I’m going back to a supplier I had before who fitted my car charger and my smart meter. I did prefer their tools for monitoring useage so I’m quite glad to be going back to them. The saving is small over my current supplier, only £10-15 per month on dual fuel. I think that energy prices are going up so maybe avoiding increases is the best we can hope for. We have used more gas due to being at home 24/7 throughout the winter. Of course these extra costs are offset by not having to pay out for commuting and eating out etc.

The mortgage payment will go out this week with the usual £1000 overpayment. I won’t be OPing any extra this month. There may be some extra savings in the coming months, so I might be able to do a bit more, but I’m happy if I can just stick to the £2000 per month commitment I made to myself in December. If I can sustain that then it will be gone in 22 months.

On the work front, its been pretty intense. When we get to Easter we will be able to take a break and it will be less busy.

Let’s hope that we can soon emerge from this latest lockdown.

 

savingholmes

Enjoy your time off. My energy bills are rising too. 

Must be lovely to be so close to mortgage free.