Thirty something dreaming of not paying mortgage

kaycastle

Thank you I'm looking forward to getting my head round vanguard - I'm the kind of person that needs to do a lot of reading and understanding before I do anything, but that times nicely with me learning how to budget on new salary. I do like the fact I don't have to overthink it - I can be a bit obsessive sometimes and I feel like if I had to manage my own funds like in more traditional investing it would consume me!

I got some AMAZING news last night, and it was better than I even thought it would be

My manager rang to let me know that I'm getting a £2100 bonus this year and a 3.5% pay rise :j :j I really can't believe how much I've been recognised so I'm really motivated again.

I'm so excited and I'm going to put everything towards new kitchen.The sooner we do that the sooner I can mass save for the loft conversion which will add tons of value to the house as we will go from a 2 double rooms to at least 3. From what I've seen when you go from a 2 to a 3 that adds the moneys

I'm really excited to start doing the 14% salary sacrifice as well and see my pension pot grow and grow, and I think I kind of get some sort of weird kick out of trying to make everything work on a slightly lower budget and still save tons - its like I'm setting myself a challenge...I'm weird.

I also finished transferring my old pension pot from my first job so I only have one fund now. Total worth of that was £383 which I think is not bad And worth doing so I don't forget it in 20 years.

kaycastle

Hiya diary

So my whopping bonus and pay rise was paid this week. Still sizeable after the tax man/student loans had their way with it. Not sure where to put it because I've maxed out what I can do in my monthly savers...I did open a new savings account but my current account has more interest than that. So I'm sitting tight on it until my husband sorts out final quotes for the kitchen so I can see how much that will need to be. I think I'm trustworthy with it.

April will be the last gym payment too yay And April will also be the start of 14% SS for pension...which will be interesting.

I have the task today of going up in the loft to find my student loan papers. As I really want to get access to my online portal, make sure address is up to date and get an idea of where my student loan is at. Not that I'd ever overpay it but want to know the amount.

I think I might land up having a bit of a sort of the loft. Its turned to an absolute mess over the past 2 years. And now I've seen it this morning, I won't be able to ignore it.

Also really interesting for Lent we have given up TV and we have made it this far yay. :T Its been really nice, I don't think I even want to go back to watching TV. Have slept better, caught up massively with my reading list too. I read like a 300 page book in a day last week!! And I'm just feeling happier for some reason.

I also had my lowest weighing for like 5 years this week As my eating has improved with the TV - dinner is filling me up a lot more as we are taking time. And I'm going out on more walks.

I've done quite well on the alcohol front too. Getting used to my diet coke ordering and tonight I'm going to a party where we are walking the 4 miles to it and I'm going to try not to have any alcohol all night. Will see how it goes

kaycastle

hmmm I'm feeling very grumpy at the wind. Its making it impossible to do all the outside gardening things I want to do. It just dries out my eyes and everything blows in my face. When will it stop being so windy - it feels like every weekend is super windy at the moment. Yesterday was the first non windy day in ages.

We did a skip trip today as we have tons of rubbish from DIY. Spent £55 at the gardening centre mostly for soil and for paint to upcycle some old chairs, and masonry paint for porch. Could barely get on with anything because of the wind but at least its there ready for us.... grumbles.

We've decided to do the kitchen next year instead because we want to prioritise reducing LTV when we remortgage by doing a lump sum overpayment. It was the sensible thing to do

kaycastle

Its looking like a lovely sunny day. We got out in the garden towards the end of yesterday and did a lot of chopping

I do have a bit of a question to any readers and I've been pondering this a lot as I feel I might get frustrated by it in the future. I've been trying to get OH more interested in our finances and savings and there has been a little give but not much. But I feel like I'm a bit alone in it even though I'm really trying hard for both of us. I don't think its appreciated or understood at all. What can I do to try to inspire OH to contribute or understand more at least?

FIREdoc

Fun to see some similar numbers to my own situation, nice to see how others are making things work, thanks for sharing!
Sorry to hear you are feeling alone on the finances front, interesting to see you splitting things (e.g. paying "half" of bills each) - do you think this could be contributing to this feeling? I wonder if this mindset might make you feel more like room mates than a team? Not sure if this resonates with you, but just a reflection. What we do (newly married 2018 so take this into account as clearly don't have any real answers) is put money into a joint acct for mortgage/bills, both on board to have this eventually cover all essential joint/house expenses (e.g. food shop). In my mind this helps us go from a my/his to an ours mindset -does that make sense?
Keep at it, and remember, a lot of this is for your own happiness and peace of mind, so as long as OH isn't sabotaging, sometimes I think it's ok to work to our strengths/do more of the heavy lifting in certain areas.
Be kind to yourself, you're doing great!

kaycastle

Thank you Firedoc that was a really insightful and helpful reply. We are also newly married last year He doesn't sabotage very often at all but sometimes there are things that remind me that he doesn't really work to a budget. I've been making sure to include him in every decision or amendment I make to finances and sharing with him my vision to help him get why I save so much.
I like the idea of the joint account and really see what you mean with that. I think it would help it be fairer as although I earn more I spend a lot more putting away for big spends and our future rather than any immediate spending on myself. I think our share of the food spend isn't always even either.
He has been more amenable this year and I even got him to increase his pension contribution as he sat down and listened and looked at my calculations. I think it's important he understands why I say things

One of the reasons that has always encouraged me to save is the stress and arguments mortgage and money caused my parents. So I want to get us working as a team on it before we have kids and plans to be more secure earlier so that it doesn't stress us later in life.

greent

Can't help - my OH likes the end result of what I do, but doesn't work to a budget and always has large CC bills each month (or at the very least, way larger than mine) We've been married since 1995, together since 1986 and have joint accounts. He has no interest in seeing what's in any account - he doesn't use online banking or look at any statements. x

kaycastle

I had a chat with my OH and he is on board with joint acccounts yay, I'm really excited about doing this. As then it will actually bring our savings more together as well.

I haven't got around to using my new married name - so I might start doing this on everything.

I'll wait for my passport until that actually renews in a couple of years as I don't want to pay early hehe and just make sure any abroad holidays are done in maiden name. That's easy enough.

I'm considering still using my maiden name at work and then changing bill/bank stuff. Not even sure where to start it seems like such a huge list!!

greent

I've always used my maiden name on everything - I'm just Mrs Maiden Name now I'll happily answer to Mrs Married Name, just as OH answers to Mr (my) Maiden Name
x

kaycastle

greent wrote: »

I've always used my maiden name on everything - I'm just Mrs Maiden Name now I'll happily answer to Mrs Married Name, just as OH answers to Mr (my) Maiden Name
x

After briefly looking at my list of all the things I would need to update, I'm definitely going to stick to my maiden name for now and do the same as you.

So not up for it at the moment after doing so much admin things this year already