VelvetFreak is saving up to buy a house!

sofarbehind

Well done on the taps - mine need doing, they have been leaking for a while and as it's a small job I have struggled to get a plumber out. I need to just be brave and tackle it..

Cherryfudge

I'm sorry work's been so bad. I wouldn't worry about the takeaway and chocolate: you need a treat sometimes. I hope you got some decent sleep.

VelvetFreak

Happy Sunday Not even going to bother updating my weekly goals, as they all went out the window :mad:

Had a good day yesterday, I got my grocery shopping done early and then drove an hour to visit with my friend and her kids. Was nice but children are exhausting :eek:

I woke up early today but have been lazing around. Need to get butt into gear and do the huge pile of washing that is currently overflowing in my closet

Have done a money shuffle, somehow I had $72.56 left in grocery/petrol budget, so have moved it into House Savings :j New total is $5,530.79

Other random MSE things:

• The reserve bank has dropped interest rates (again), so my mortgage rate will drop by .15%. New rate will be 3.5% as of 16th October :T
• For the first time ever, my monthly interest is below $400. This is due to utilising my offset account, having a larger amount in it, and rates going down. My monthly payment is $776, and about $400 of that goes to interest :eek:. It's an awful fact to type out. Must work on keeping account balance going up to save on interest.
• I got a new battery for my garage door remote, so I can finally park in the garage again.

Tomorrow is a public holiday (Queen's Birthday) so I get an extra day off! Yay :j

Goals for today and tomorrow.

-4 loads of washing (:eek:)
-vacuum & mop
-make lasagne to take for work lunches
-go on treadmill twice

Cherryfudge

It made me laugh about the Queen's birthday - here in the UK the official one is April and then there's her real one as well. Same Queen. I wonder how many birthdays she has across the world?

Interest payments: I think awareness of this grim fact is useful, it helps keep you aware of paying it off. I'm not sure if you're going to go on paying the same as before, and thus pay off faster? You are surely making a big dint in the amount though.

VelvetFreak

Cherry - yes, I will keep the same payment amount for now. I did consider changing it to the lowest amount possible, to free up more money in the budget to put towards the House Savings, but at this stage it would be such a small difference that it's not really worth the bother.

VelvetFreak

Today was highly productive. I have not gone on the treadmill, but have more than made up with it with other physical labour. I have done 5 loads of washing, pulled the fridge out and scrubbed the tiles underneath it, painted the front door (cleaned it first), patched and painted various bits throughout the house, re-arranged furniture, vacuumed and mopped, completed an online grocery order, watered the garden and other things that I'm sure I'm forgetting.

It got up to 37C today. Can you believe such nonsense? It was good weather for painting. I live in fear that it will never rain again.

Cherryfudge

37C!!! (Wilts at the very thought). We are currently wishing it would stop raining: there are floods and flood warnings galore in the UK. Swap?

I could never be so amazingly productive on a mild, fresh day, let alone in such heat.

Re the interest: I would have thought all overpayments would net you more than interest on an account, even an offset account, so long as you aren't penalised for the amount you overpay.

VelvetFreak

Hi Cherry, I'm not quite sure what you mean re. your last sentence above^^. I would save the same amount of interest by having money in the offset as I would if I actually paid it into the loan, so am better off keeping it in offset where I can still access it if/when I am ready to purchase another property. I hope that makes sense.

VelvetFreak

Payday was yesterday, so I have put my usual $450 into the House Savings.

I submitted a complaint to the bank a few weeks ago about some insurance that I was sold when I was 18 (don't ask) and today I received a refund cheque in the mail of $24.27 :j I will deposit it in the ATM tomorrow on the way to work, and will add the funds to my House Savings, which will bring the balance to $6,005.06 . I am very pleased to be in the 6's already.

I am feeling very tired despite getting a pretty good sleep last night. All attempts at the treadmill are out the window this week, I'm just focusing on keeping up at work, not eating junk and keeping the house tidy.

It is so dry and dusty here. There are so many fires around. I really hope it rains soon

Cherryfudge

Cherryfudge wrote: »

Re the interest: I would have thought all overpayments would net you more than interest on an account, even an offset account, so long as you aren't penalised for the amount you overpay.

Sorry, it really doesn't make sense, does it! :rotfl: I was thinking that money in the bank earning interest would earn less interest than the amount you'd be paying in interest on a mortgage. However if your savings are in an offset account (which is quite rare here) then any interest would benefit you as you'd have more set against the mortgage.
I did try for an offset account but as we are quite near the end of the mortgage they wouldn't let us have one.

I see we still have your rain. I hope you get some soon.