Eagerlearners journey to Terminate the mortgage

EagerLearner

Woo very happy, booked a hotel for £110 inc breakfast for all 3 of us (will be closer to £100 once cashback on Quidco has tracked), plus keeps my Hotel rewards safe. Plus booked train travel for us all over 2 days for £31. Now just spending money to find ;-)

VDOT47

Yes, CB gets paid every 4 weeks, so the date varies every month and one month per year you will get two payments. The date that it is paid seems to vary though from person to person, ours will be paid on 15th this month I think.

EagerLearner

It's great news as coincides with our London trip yay. I shall 'borrow' in that travel category in YNAB and then pay in when it hits the account.

Current task list:

- Check train fares and book trip for us for half term **DONE**
- Measure cat flap again, one we ordered is too small doh **DONE and ordered**
- Sell some items on FB
- Research a hotel so I book and do not lose my accumulated rewards **DONE**
- Buy or borrow a tool for hubby to make changes to internal door to try to fit it before it gets too cold - hmm no idea where to start, it's to plane down the door, worth buying prob

Nowt much else to report, made a lovely spinach, Kale, potato and chorizo soup which worked out at £2, for 3 lunches and 2 joint dinners, so £0.40p per portion, pretty pleased with that. Thanks Leedl! I was trying to recreate a portuguese dish called Caldo Verde, came reasonably close I think.

The second pack of chorizo will go into a chicken, chorizo and red pepper pasta sauce tomorrow night.

We've got Leedl reduced Bramley apple sausages with mash and veg tonight, a portion of which little man will have tomorrow for his dinner.

This week I will also make a big portion of lentil & bacon soup, that will do some lunches & dinners for the month too. On the menu is also a slow cooked shredded pork chilli. We have lots of beans in this house to use up as I bulk bought from Amazon a few months back ha.

What's everyone bulk cooking to give me some inspiration?

Skinnylatte

I’m not very inspirational when it comes to bulk cooking. Just loads of mince, either chilli or spaghetti Bol. I usually chuck in some lentils to bulk it out a bit.
One of my favourite dishes right now is roasted veg and sausages. Just chop up lots of chunky veg, peppers, corgette, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, onions etc. What ever is left in the fridge, with a load of sausages, and roast for 40 mins in olive oil and whatever seasoning you like. Shake a couple of times during cooking. Yum.

VDOT47

Skinnylatte - we do this sort of sausage traybake quite often too - usually stick some passata over it towards the end rather than olive oil, also add some chickpeas near the end of the cooking too. Think we worked out that a large bowl of this can do your five a day in one meal lol

Skinnylatte

VDOT47 wrote: »

Skinnylatte - we do this sort of sausage traybake quite often too - usually stick some passata over it towards the end rather than olive oil, also add some chickpeas near the end of the cooking too. Think we worked out that a large bowl of this can do your five a day in one meal lol

I love the can of chick peas idea :T

EagerLearner

Sorry for the delay, am full of cold and taking a day to myself today to down tools.

Thanks guys this is great as actually 1) very easy and 2) nutritionally complete 3) uses up my supply of chickpeas, black beans and red kidney beans.

Yesterday made some bacon and lentil soup with sweet potatoes and carrots (which I call Orange soup ha). Also made slow pulled pork and chilli beans. Sadly way too spicy for MiniEL so next time will remove the chilli and it will still be fine. This sorts out several meals this week and next, the rest will be easy ones from freezer until my energy levels are back up.

Saved some money on car repairs, came in £4.59 less than expected. This was pricey at just under £200 but needed and our little car is old but reliable so worth the spend. Was happy with the little unexpected saving and put this into our offset category in YNAB, then today Stupid Virgin charged nearly £65 on DD. I know £5 was a treat movie for MiniEL but we only have basic tv, cable and phone, it's crazy how much they charge.
We are still in contract, can we get a reduction do you think?

Received mortgage statement, 16 years and 4 months left. £88,601.08 left to pay and latest interest was lowest ever at £114.46. Would have been £123.63 without the offset. Projected repayment date 01 Nov 2034, far too far away for my liking. It was Jan 2035 last month, so has come down 3 months not sure why as I would expect 1 month reduction?

£193.63 in the offset category now, ready for 1st Nov. Def much more needed there over the coming weeks given that I have chopped my pension DD by £300 to grow cash funds.

I think lately with redecoration etc, I have let spending get away a lot, so now reigning back in. We do not NEED anything else.
We want to sure up cash levels in the mortgage offset so they are accessible and so that if Brexit gets any worse, we could choose to buy index funds on 'sale', which would go towards our 16 years pay off date on the mortgage, or keeping them beyond that if better to keep the funds going.

Really between now and Christmas we need nothing new for the house. I had been toying with a new coffee table, but our 9 year old one is fine and we love it. It's easy to clean and beautiful. Same thing for our antique dining table, which I can restore for around £25 and will keep me happy for a good while. I can live with it being a little too chunky.

£139.20 left in grocery fund, not bad given some bulk buys recently.

Things we do not need until Jan 2019 or beyond:

- Peanut butter
- Cleaning products
- Washing powder or liquid
- Bin bags
- Teabags
- Beans - kidney beans, black beans from Amazon stock up earlier this year
- Wine, technically, if we behave. Might need more at Christmas
- Toilet roll possibly - found some more at £0.22p at Aldi and Savers, which for good quality seems to be the rock bottom I have seen. Cupboard is bulging but worth it.
- Winter clothes - we're all set pretty much so hopefully nothing to buy there

Our bulk buy cheese purchase is still going, won't need any until 10 days time maybe 2 weeks. We have found some great offers on biscuits for the boys so stocked up. No drinking this month is saving cash, even if it was just £6 a week it all counts. We need very little protein at the mo for our next food shop as eating from the freezer.

Hope you are all having a good Monday - back to the sofa for me ;-)

EagerLearner

Not much to report today, £1 spent on milk, no online transactions which is great.

We are having pulled pork & rice again for dinner, thankfully no need to cook as still feel pretty tired.

I have been listening to ChooseFI podcast at lunch, some great tidbits there and quite motivated even if it is USA based.

Some more work to do then enjoying the sunshine at the park after school as it's such nice weather. Hope everyone is having a great day...

EagerLearner

Lovely day today and plenty of work which is good. I have a dilemma about one piece of work I have been offered, less than my current rate so I am sticking with a No unless they value my quality of work. Hard but needed I think.

Am going to start to invest in funds again soon instead of the offset, after all it all goes in the virtual offset balance anyway. I just worry about 1.69% being very low, when esp in worldwide funds there may be higher rates available. The UK seems iffy for now for any large amounts but who knows what opportunities next year may bring. £225.63 currently ready in the offset pot for November.

Need to sort HSBC new bank acc, and check Quidco for any tracked cashback, i think something is due next week perhaps. Also awaiting couple of client invoices too so some YNAB fun today then hopefully again on Friday, ooo doesn't take much to keep me happy :rotfl:

NSD planned for today and it's sunny :T

EagerLearner

Thankfully another NSD today both in the real world and electronically.

Had a lovely lunch of beans on toast which is so nice on a cooler day and there's been lots of work on.

Have had MiniEL tantrums yesterday so today seems calmer, very hard being 7 I know but at the same time my energy is so low this week, I am glad today is better!

Hubby is working overtime tonight so a night snuggled on sofa with something girlie planned plus comfort food of tuna pasta, might stretch to rice pudding and jam too

Must decide on pet insurance, seems comparison sites offer a slightly better deal than MrT who we're with now, I just worry how they are when you come to make a claim