The Piano Diary

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

Pay days have come and gone. I decided to make another OP after all. The mortgage was sitting at £42,679 and the £679 was annoying me. So I made a payment of £680 taking the balance to £41,999. This means the next payment towards the end of March will take it down to into the thirties. Silly really since interest will mess up my tidy numbers anyway, but it makes sense to me. I have decided that 2021 really is the year of the mortgage. I’ve flipped flopped with my other major outgoing, the pension contributions, but I’ve come to realise that I like to primarily focus on one thing at a time. My next birthday will be 55 and I’ve decided I want most of this mortgage gone by then. So I’m going to target an additional £1000 OP per month, with a stretch goal of £1500.  So with 10 months to go I should be able to pay off £30K with a stretch goal of £35K. This would leave between £7K to £12K left. Once the mortgage is gone I will turn my attention to maxing out the pension contributions.

The weather is improving and there is a plan out of lockdown. I’m looking forward to being able to go back to work. I haven’t hated working from home, but I would like to see people face to face rather than on a screen. A few good things have come from this situation. We meal plan for the whole week now and do one large supermarket shop. This covers all food for seven days, breakfast, lunch and dinner for three adults. We don’t eat out at all now or have any takeaways. It will be interesting to see if we carry these habits on post lockdown. I have spoked to OH about holidays. Neither of us are feeling like doing anything particularly adventurous. A trip somewhere in the UK with good walking, pubs and beer would feel super amazing if that were to be possible. Its funny how when your horizons have been shrunk down that the small things seem quite extraordinary again.

DS is going into his school next week. I feel for him as he has not seen his GF since the start of this latest lockdown. He has been super responsible, but I think that the situation is starting to take its toll. I’m glad he will be getting out of the house next week, it will do him good.

South_coast

I'm definitely sticking with meal planning going forward - so much time saved on aimlessly wandering the supermarket on the way home from work, wondering what to have for dinner!

Great plans for the mortgage, looking forward to watching it shrinking 😀

glass_half_full

South_coast said:

I'm definitely sticking with meal planning going forward - so much time saved on aimlessly wandering the supermarket on the way home from work, wondering what to have for dinner!

Great plans for the mortgage, looking forward to watching it shrinking 😀

Yes, I was the same, always popping into the local shop on the way home and spending lots. You must be getting close to the finishing line now?

South_coast

Yes, getting there! I'm aiming for anywhere between July-October, depending on how ambitious I can make the OP's 🤣!

caeler

I totally get why you made the OP! how exciting! 

savingholmes

Great progress on the mortgage. It will be nice when things can safely go back to normal. DH and I are getting our vaccines next week which we are very happy about.

glass_half_full

@caeler
Thanks, appreciated!
@savingholmes
That's wonderful news, really pleased for you both!

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

Both OH and I took Friday as a day off. It was nice to put the out of office notice on and go for a walk! We have both been paid and the mortgage payment of £2000 has gone out including an OP of £1000. I have made an extra OP of £1079 taking the balance to £38,999. Its nice to get into the thirties, but I’m really looking forward to reaching the twenties hopefully in 3 months time. Somehow the twenties feels like the end is in sight, don’t know why but there we are. If we can keep going at this rate it will be gone in 13 months time.

We have made a booking for a few days in a hotel in July for a walking holiday with friends. Hoping that it will happen. We also plan to spend a few days in the Peak District again at the same place we visited last summer, again hoping that this turns out to be possible. Although things will be opening back up, I must admit to feeling a bit institutionalised with this lockdown. It will take me a while to get used to doing normal things again.

savingholmes

Well done on the OP. Know what you mean about becoming institutionalised. Take it slow and easy.

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

We have been through a rather turbulent time over the last few weeks. A few weeks ago DS confided in us that he has been suffering from a mental health problem for a long time, but hadn’t spoken about it. I think partly because it wasn’t affecting him too badly but also perhaps because these things are just hard to talk about. Anyway it was affecting his ability to do his teaching practice. We have been able to get him an appointment with a consultant psychiatrist (we had to pay for it) who diagnosed General Anxiety Disorder. She has put him on medication and recommended other therapies etc. We thought things were getting under control but when he went back into school after Easter he found it too hard and has been signed off work for 2 weeks by his GP. This has affected OH also a lot and she is understandably upset. We’ll see how things develop from here.

In money related matters, our mortgage payment was reduced to £800 in April due to the impact of all the OPs in the previous 12 months. Mortgage is now £38K. I have been saving the OPs for now and have £3,000 saved ready to go. I’m keeping it back for now, the situation above has made me think maybe hold onto it for now in case we need it for some reason.

Things are opening back up, there is much to be positive about.