Keeping our options open

savingholmes

Good luck with the diagnosis and the desired OPs. 

becky170

DS has been diagnosed with Autism which is a relief in some ways. I hope it brings him peace within himself when he's older too, but for now hopefully we can get more support in place at school. 

I have made a £147 mortgage overpayment this month as that's how much I have estimated our repayments will go up by when our fix rate finishes. 

fionaandphil

Really useful to have the formal diagnosis and hopefully that will help with getting the proper support he needs. Good luck 

savingholmes

Great to have it confirmed. Hopefully now they'll be forced to take his needs more seriously and you can get more help. Not sure if you've already applied for DLA for him - but if not do.

becky170

Thanks fionaandphil and savingsholmes. I haven't applied for DLA yet but I need to add it to my to do list. We have been able to absorb the extra costs up until now, but as we have now hit the point where he is being suspended from school I need to plan ahead in case we reach crisis and he is expelled and i need to homeschool. Homeschooling is not really a route I want to take but it may end up being the only option. 

Anyway onto more cheerful subjects...I have overpaid £ 35 to our mortgage today as I had a payout from Quidc0. From looking at our mortgage it looks like we will hit the under £110,000 point next month 

Bargainhunter30

Hi Becky, my friend has a son on the spectrum, who had issues at Primary school and swapped schools once and saw no change. She was nervous of high school, but a year in he is loving it. I think the change of pace and level of responsibility and change of teachers has been great for him. Good luck 

becky170

Wow I can't believe I haven't updated here since June! I have continued making small overpayments to our mortgage and our total overpayments for the year are £1174.50  I'm pleased with that as we have had a lot of outgoings to medical/dental/vet reasons. Hopefully there will be less big outgoings next year, but who knows 

Our mortgage fixed rate of 1.74% is due to finish at the end of the year  we have signed up to a new 3 year fix of 4.29% which will add about £80 to our monthly repayment. 4.29% was the interest rate we had when we first took this mortgage out so I suppose I can't complain too much! 

In other news to have started the process of applying for an EHCP for our son. Our council is not running to the legal timeframes for the EHNCA process so I have no idea when they will issue but at least it's in progress and will be in place before secondary school (unless they won't issue but I will fight that it that's the outcome). School are supporting him which is the main thing. Our DD is showing signs of dyslexia too. It's heartbreaking seeing her try so hard but struggling. I'm saving up our child benefit to pay for a dyslexia assessment once she is old enough. 

I wish you all a happy Christmas and a good new year. I have broken up from work for a week which couldn't have come soon enough as to be honest I'm not sure how much longer I could have physically carried on. I have two very excited children who can't wait for tomorrow. The plan for today is a bit of tidying, followed by Christmas films and a salad tea  oh and maybe a bit of online sale shopping 

Cornish_mum

Hi good to hear your update, and that your DS is getting some better support. I hope you have a great Christmas. I am dyslexic and DS was also diagnosed this year (late because it was being masked by his other issues). It was expensive but we were glad to have it done. Merry Christmas CM

becky170

Thanks Cornish mum. My DS was diagnosed with dyslexia earlier this year too so it wouldn't be unexpected if DD also was. My DS will be having his SATs next year and school have already said that he'll have a scribe, so doing the assessment was worth it for that alone. Hopefully it will help him understand why he finds things difficult, rather than him just thinking he's stupid which he definitely isn't. Same will go for DD 

becky170

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. We had a nice one and have been having lots of down time to recharge or batteries. The plan for the next couple of weeks is to do some tidying and decluttering. We started on our bedroom yesterday and then plan will be to do the kids bedrooms next weekend l. It's made me realise that we need a detox from buying stuff and we have far too much. My goal for January is to have a no spend Jan...well about from food as can't do without that! 

I have been looking at our finances for 2025. If we overpay the mortgage by £250 per month we will be clear of the mortgage in 10 years. That should be doable and it would be so nice to be clear of the mortgage. We do need to do work on the house this year. Ideally new windows and decorating. Our bedroom desperately needs decorating so I think that will be job number 1 in spring. Not sure what colour we will go for yet but I want to wait for warmer weather before decorating so we have time to decide 

So here's to overpaying the mortgage by £3000 in 2025!