Cottage Countdown

LeighofMar

Thanks, SH. I love having color in my home. Not a plain white wall in sight around here.

Oh, September is going to be such a spendy month. This is the month where I hope to pay the rest of my official mortgage payments for the year. I hope to pay December's payment this week and January 2021's payment on October 1st. But while I'm planning all this, I bought my sideboard as I mentioned. Want to pay that off in two checks. DH has decided to start the driveway project, but that involves first cutting down a tree, cleaning up the bigger tree, and pruning/trimming the branches hanging over my sweet neighbor's house. Plus the chainsaw to cut the roots that would be in the way of said driveway. So before the driveway even begins, it will cost about $1000.00-$1500.00 to do all of this. I'm not sure whether I should put that on my CC for the 1% cashback, then pay the CC with my LOC, then pay that as I go. Sounds awful complicated when I really just want to pay and be done with it. But I also want to make sure my plans don't get interfered with mortgage-wise, so I will need the cash flow. Oh well. I'll decide one way or the other. 

savingholmes

I think with the CC - it is fine as long as you are very disciplined - which you sound. Your place sounds like it is really coming together. Did you get all your final monies through from the sale?

LeighofMar

Thanks, SH. Yes, thank goodness we got all the monies due. Plus with what I already had in the business savings, it is sitting there nice and snug until I pinch off a few thou for the driveway where DH will have his work van. The tree thing is preparing for the driveway and the turnabouts that we'll need. And it turned into trimming the sides that hang over my neighbor's house and then pruning the front one that touches the power lines. And now we're looking at $2600.00 for everything. I balked, but DH said let's just do it and get it over with instead of them having to come back another time. So that's fine, I guess. The good thing is with my plan to pay off the rest of the year's mortgage in advance plus January, I should be able to pay off the trees next month, maybe a little into November depending how things go. Paying the mortgage ahead of time has really saved me. I can't wait to see if I can do the same for next year and knock out all the year's payments in the first 3 months. And I really can't wait until I'm mortgage-free and then any big projects for the house won't even faze me. 

savingholmes

Lovely to hear you so excited. 

LeighofMar

Paid December's mortgage payment today. Hooray!! Balance is $35,500.00. In two weeks, I'll pay January's payment and then I can OP for the rest of this year as much as I want all going to principle. We'll see how much I will be able to OP as I will be paying $2600.00 worth of tree trimming and cutting, but it's still a goal that I have reached and I'm very excited. We are on payment 218/360. Should be on payment 59 if we never OPed. That's my motivation. 

All savings accounts topped up today. E-fund received $16.00. House fund received $75.00 and general savings received 85.00. My sideboard cost $615.00 and I paid $206.00 towards it today on my CC. That should be paid off no later than mid-October so no interest will accrue. Retirement accounts contributed to yesterday. 

We should dry out soon from the remnants of Hurricane Sally and then we will have fall temperatures. I love it. My favorite time of year. I'm already looking at sweaters and boots for this season. I've ordered my groceries and will pick them up today. Started running out of food, but that's good since that means we've been eating everything and cooking at home. The grocery bill for two weeks was $160.00, then I went to another grocery store that stocks some things I can eat that the other one doesn't, another $25.00. I would love it if I can get DH to not spend any more on small side trips to the store as I budget $200.00 for two weeks, and we have $15.00 left. We'll see though  Besides, these days, the store always has some things that they can't fulfill, so the $160.00 is tentative. But I really do want to get in the practice of staying in our food budget. If we didn't get it this time, too bad. 

LeighofMar

I was right. September is a very spendy month. Trees are done to the tune of $2600.00. And I absolutely hate it. My backyard has lost almost all of its shade and feels very barren with more of a view of the school and the neighbors than before. I'm already sketching (very badly) how I want to remake it as I cannot stand the non view and no shade. Then I tried to put the amount on my CC, which I would have gotten $40.00 cash back, but they also wanted to charge me a 5% fee just for using the CC. I said heck no! So canceled that transaction and wrote a check from my line of credit. The business will pay $750.00 of that amount as we had to remove a tree where the work van and tool trailer will be parked. But the rest is on us. The good thing is I will pay it out of wages as I will have no mortgage payments due for the rest of the year and can just pay the amount off from our paychecks. Can't pay from the house account as that only has $400.00 in it since I'm slowly rebuilding that from the roof last month. 

Was only able to Tilly Tidy $7.80 to the mortgage this week. Balance is $35,490.00. 

Other spends, I still need to finish paying off my sideboard, two more payments and I'll be done with that. We ordered a pillow for DH that is supposed to be good for neck and shoulder pain. We are at the point where we have to start paying more to see if he can get some relief as his pain is chronic and doesn't allow him to sleep on top of his sleep apnea. Poor thing. Pillow from Amazon did have 20% off though, so all in all paid $47.00. But if it helps him, it will be money well-spent. I ordered a pair of jeans and leggings from QVC, which had 10% one-day-only cashback as well on Rakuten. I am doing the 5 payments on those that I can pay along with my groceries every two weeks. I want to say I'm done with spending, but I saw a gorgeous faux fur coat on QVC on clearance that I want. I will have to control myself as I have a beautiful green faux fur coat that I absolutely adore, but sometimes, you just want something a little glam. Really though, I want to pay off the trees hopefully during all of October. I will just make principle payment OPs if possible and take it from there. So glad that I did prepay the mortgage though through next year. I would not want to pay off almost $2,000 worth of line of credit while still trying to juggle mortgage payments. 

DH grilled the ribs today, and I roasted the veggies. He also went 1.5 hours away to go to the only supermarket that sells a dairy-free, sugar-free ice cream that I can have. I was so surprised and happy as I made banana nut blondies the other night. The ice cream goes perfectly with them when warmed. 

Today's chilly and rainy so I turned on my electric fireplace. We are starting to look into how much the sunroom will cost so I can add a real wood-burning fireplace. But for now, it is nice and warm. I know lots of people have lockdown fatigue, but I must admit on nights like this, it's nice to not have to leave the house for anything. 

savingholmes

Ouch to the huge tree bill

LeighofMar

Well, I decided to relieve the pressure on me to go ahead and take $1400.00 from my general savings which still leaves me with $10,000. I don't like going below that. That went straight to the trees, plus the business paid $750.00. So all that's left is $453.00 which I can knock out mid-October. With all the spending, I'm glad I got 90% of the biggest bill out the way instead of it weighing on me all next month. 

The quote for the driveway was outrageous. $12,500.00!!! If those are regular prices, how in the world does anyone get them done? We will be getting quotes for asphalt instead of concrete or worst case scenario, a combo of gravel and asphalt driveway. DH is looking into all of that now. We may even have to do some DIY portions because I wasn't looking to spend more than $3,000 or $3,500. 

I did buy the coat. They had sold out in Medium but then they got some more in last minute. I jumped on it and can't wait to receive it. 

Payday will be this week, so I will make January's official mortgage payment, and then I'm done for the rest of the year. I can OP freely depending on finances but will take care of all the spending/debt before I do. I will pay off the remainder of my sideboard and be done with that, and the rest will just be the miscellaneous clothing/items we've bought. So excited to have the last quarter of the year paid up mortgage-wise and not having to worry about it. I will definitely make it a challenge to see if I can do the same next year and pay all the official mortgage payments up front and then have the rest of the year just for OPs. We'll see. I'm hoping we can give ourselves a small raise too, which every little penny helps. 

savingholmes

All sounds good and balanced. Your mortgage and debt is dropping rapidly.

LeighofMar

Starting to get my days mixed up. I keep thinking it's the day before or the weekend. Payday today. I sent the official payment for Jan 2021 to the mortgage. I did it! Reached the goal of paying this year's mortgage payments early. Now I can take these next 3 months to pay back my savings account and overpay at least the principle payments to the mortgage as OPs. I doubt I will hit my goal of being at $30,000 at the end of the year. That would be my dream. But I'll take what I can get. 

I paid off my sideboard on my CC. Paid my other CC where I put my groceries and prescriptions on. I still have $453.00 left on my LOC for the trees which I will pay next payday and then little items here and there that I will pay on my CCs. I know they're little now, but I'm aware how quickly they grow if you don't manage it. So I will be watching and make sure I pay off all debts before repaying my savings. With that said, should be done with the spending. I ordered my two-weeks of groceries and it came in at $170.00. Budget is $200.00. So hopefully, DH will not make the dreaded small trips to the grocery store to "pick up a few things" and wreck my budget  I will stick to making simple meals with ingredients on hand. 

Cashed out my transcription earnings this month. $270.00. I will use some of that for the weekend and small debts, the rest will stay in the business account. Now to sit outside for a minute and enjoy the sunshine.