New Empty Nest Mum starts battle of mortgage ...

shopaholicnumber1

Thought I should quickly update my sadly neglected diary! Happy New Year to you all too We had a fabulous Christmas, lots of laughs, quality time together, time to chill and of course tons of food!

December (and the start of January) have been a bit spendy but doubt I'm alone in that! At least nothing went on the credit cards for a change - even if I am now having to watch the pennies carefully

Overpayment went out with mortgage payment on 27th so new total is £78171.71 ... looking forward to next month when it'll come under another £1000 mark.

I did put £100 into savings, but had to "borrow" that plus another £100 back until a payment goes in tomorrow (hopefully!) when it'll be replaced (again, hopefully!).

DD went back to uni on Saturday as she has a presentation this week. She took the train as had thought about coming back, but looking at her deadlines etc, she would only be back for a night before she came home again so she took all her stuff with her in a very big, very heavy suitcase :-( Did save me petrol money and a whole day on the road though.

DS goes back this Saturday but I'm driving him and his girlfriend down, so the empty nest will be back with a vengeance on Sunday! My washing machine (and bank account) will be relieved even if I'm not! :rotfl:

Anyway, am back on the no/low spends, overpayments and savings train for 2020 - lets see how the year goes!

shopaholicnumber1

Another lengthy absence ... this time due to uni runs up and down the country immediately followed by a very gruelling OFSTED inspection and then by a stinking cold On the up side, it has meant 19 NSD's so far this month as I've mainly been at work!!

Anyway, January is almost done. Just my DD's 21st birthday tomorrow which will see the Birthday/Christmas savings pot somewhat diminished!

Financial update:

Mortgage - regular OP of £100 done for January so new balance has dropped below another £1000 threshold at £77804.72.

Savings borrowed were replaced but haven't moved (up or down) since so are still at £2500.

I also have my sofa on 0% over 4 years and have ummed and aahed for ages about overpaying this to get rid of it. It only makes sense from a personal perspective but I've decided to top up the payment to £50 a month (from £29.12) which will see it cleared by Christmas 2021. An extra £20 a month isn't going to hurt my finances, but my sense of satisfaction when it's gone at the end of next year will be worth it. I had thought about putting the money in savings then paying it off when I had enough to clear it, but with the pitiful interest it would earn, I'd rather know my debt is disappearing. I do have enough in savings already to clear it completely but that really doesn't make sense!

2020 birthday and Christmas pot is up and running - will take a bit of a hit tomorrow but am on track for this year.

February might be a bit spendy as the dog needs an operation and my car needs a couple of bits doing unfortunately ... we shall see!

shopaholicnumber1

Oops! Another absence from my ramblings

The only financial news is disappointing. I had an opticians appointment on Saturday as I've been really struggling with my contact lens prescription for the last couple of months. I use one contact lens for distance (which is my issue) and a much lower prescription in the other eye so I can still see close up (pretty useful when you're in admin!). In November/December time I noticed I was seriously struggling to read so ditched the lenses in favour of my very old (and embarrassingly outdated) glasses. Anyway, I finally got in for a sight test and, unsurprisingly, my prescription has changed massively which explains it!

The problem is, in order to correct my reading, it will adversely affect my distance vision making it impossible to drive. End result was that after a lot of umming and aahhing, I ordered some varifocals - got £84 discount, but still cost a shocking £234 :eek::eek::eek:

It was also suggested that I try "ready-readers" from the pound shop over my contacts so after an hour trailing round trying to find some with the right "prescription" I took them home - couldn't try them as had the yellow dye put in my eyes so was wearing my glasses. Turns out, it doesn't work so i guess it's a good job I ordered those glasses after all!

I also took the pooch to the groomers - she was way overdue for a groom and ends up like a matted sheep if left too long (she's a cockerpoo) so off she went. She is booked in to be spayed on 14th Feb so needed doing before then. So that was another £40 :eek:

So it was all a bit "ouch" this weekend I haven't spent anything since Sunday though so that is a slight help! I also had to "borrow" £100 from my savings towards the glasses - in my little head I knew I would need new glasses but hadn't factored in any cost whatsoever! Total dizzy moment there I should be able to replace that once I get paid again though so only a temporary blip hopefully.

No other news on the mortgage front - it's a right pain waiting to update it every month! Feels like progress is so, so slow

shopaholicnumber1

Well it's been a funny couple of weeks - seem to have been hemorrhaging money... First my glasses, then my hoover gave up and of course the vet bill.  My furry little friend was spayed on 14th February and I'd booked a few days off last week to keep an eye on her.  She whinged and cried for a couple of days and then got a terribly upset stomach (from the painkiller apparently) so I spent my days off mopping up the kitchen from around 4am each morning - wonderful!  It did mean I didn't go anywhere though so was a cheap few days off!

DD's graduation date has been confirmed in July so that is exciting!  I'm far more excited about it than she is.  Managed to find an apartment that will sleep the 3 of us (DC x 2 plus me) which isn't extortionate and also doesn't need to be paid for until July which gives me time to budget properly for the celebrations.

It's payday tomorrow so I will re-set the rather stretched budget for March - it's also mortgage payment day so I'll update my signature then.  It will be the final payment of my first year with my new mortgage so feels like a bit of a mini-milestone.  I'm determined not to be paying this until I'm 68 - it might be a stretch, but I want it gone by the time I'm 60 (11 years and 1 month which sounds frighteningly soon!!).  That will give me some time to top up the pension or even consider going part time... hmmm, decisions for a few years time.

mirko

It's important not to get too down with expenses like dog and eyes (both are important for different reasons). They're not extravagant splurges after all!

shopaholicnumber1

Well ... safe to say it's been a while!!  A year and a day to be precise and hasn't the whole world changed since then??!!  Looking at my last post it seems disturbingly normal.
DD didn't have her graduation (obviously!) which was a huge disappointment. She got a 2:1 in English with Creative Writing, and has now started teaching English at a local Secondary School through Teach First.  She will qualify this summer and after another year of training (Masters level) we should get another shot at having a Graduation ceremony!  But what an extrodinarily challenging year to become a teacher, bless her.
Meanwhile, my son is now in his 2nd year at uni so he should graduate in 2022 as well - I would never have thought they would be graduating at the same time :-)
Like everyone else, we haven't been anywhere over the last year.  Work sent us all to work at home on 23rd March and here we still are ... A lot of my co-workers were furloughed over the summer and my boss was made redundant at the end of March,  which meant I was super crazy busy covering 4 peoples jobs at one point.
But far and away the saddest, and toughest thing of the last year however, was that in June I lost my wonderful Mum after an 8 year battle with cancer. Mum and Dad live quite a distance from me, so due to Covid restrictions I was doing a 200 mile round trip every day while she was in the MacMillan unit (who were incredible I might add), but those final days were so precious that I am so glad I did. 
Well, onto more mundane things.  Frankly, I spent a total fortune last year!  I did get 2 payrises in quick succession as I had to absorb quite a bit of more senior responsibilities into my role, but boy, did I manage to get through some cash!  I had only been in the house for 12 months when lockdown 1 started and the kids came home, so it soon became clear that some things were needed like storage, blinds for the bedrooms etc, and on top of that I spent a bit on the garden (new build, so nothing at all there).  And the food bill.  OMG, the food bill!!!  How did 3 adults and a small dog EAT SO MUCH??? But we did.  And I am now a stone heavier and quite a few ££££s lighter!  But I did stop smoking (in June, going cold turkey 9 days before Mum died), and haven't touched one since which I blame for some of the weight gain!!
Mortgage-wise, I continued the extra £100 a month payments until December, and then upped it to £200 a month from January this year.  A bit early to say if this is going well or not, but it now feels like the normal amount.  I haven't saved anything, but I haven't spent my savings either (except for £400 which paid for some bedroom furniture) so given the expenditure last year, I'm OK with that.
NSD's - erm... haven't really been tracking those to be honest!  Suffice to say, there haven't been that many!!  I have reigned things in now though as I have some bigger "house type" projects I want to do which require saving up and therefore some discipline!  So, hopefully being back on MSE will help with the accountability and stop me undoing all the good work I had done :-) I have lots and lots of your lovely diaries to catch up on so that will, at least, stop me shopping!

jak

What a lovely diary. I must confess I was sad to hear about your little cat. You are doing really well with your mortgage xx

LeighofMar

So sorry to hear about your Mom. I'm glad she was in a wonderful unit though and very well taken care of. 
Kudos to your daughter who graduated amid a pandemic and her first job teaching is "trial by fire" basically with all the chaos. Sounds like your son is on track and doing well too. And it's nice you can enjoy the house again and projects too plus all your OPs.