1 brick at a time

longway2go

Have had a hard week with my son not being well but thankfully he is so much better now.
Our new mortgage terms have been set up, so when see the lower payment comes out I will then send a top up but feel much better now we have the safety net in place.
Our overdrafts used to be around 1600 (over 3 accounts) each month but we have been working hard to reduce them and this month will finish on around 250 and next month fully cleared. I know it seems crazy making OPs and having an EF while we had/have an OD but I need to see the mortgage reduce to keep the motivation. We are so used to being in our OD that I think if I had done it any other way we would keep slipping back into it. Now we have 2 accounts not OD and a 3rd nearly cleared I believe we will be less likely to use them. Well that's the plan and I'm pleased with progress made alongside OPs. 
The pace of life has definitely slowed down with us both on furlough. Today we sorted shopping and then delivered stuff to family members. 
Hope everyone is well. 
Onwards and downwards 

longway2go

Just over a week til we can shuffle a bit of money so I might start maikg a plan for next month. We have the last month of car payment and another expense of 300 which I need to cover in this month's budget as well as getting out of the final overdraft (I'm also going to add a buffer to our bills account). We have been saving money being in lockdown and think that this month should be the last of the big bills. I'm going to pay our commited mortgage amount and look to see if I can out anymore into an OP pot. I think I'm also going to look at creating a few more monzo pots.
Hubby has started decorating the living room which is very exciting, when all the painting and wallpaper is done I would like to replace blinds and carpet so might start pots for that. (a nice reward when we can say we finally own that room based on amount we have paid and is about 4 k away). 
At the moment it's still up in the air in my mind if we move sooner or later but making house improvements will up the enjoyment of the house and also the saleability. 
My oldest will be allocated school work tomorrow and I have some bits to get together for my second job. 
Goals
Next months budget
Organise money poys
Decorate living room
Decking area to be repainted
Claim tax on ppi
Save for blinds, carpet
Save for plastering
Look at age mortgage will be finished based on OPs
Onwards and downwards

Brindlebabe

I understand about keeping paying the overpayments even when it seems to make more sense to put money in other places. It’s so weird how some debt is psychologically much easier than others. Definitely okay to do what feels right sometimes instead of getting obsessed with how much interest is being saved etc.

enjoying the diary. Sounds like you’re doing a great job with your family under hard circumstances.

longway2go

Brindlebabe said:

I understand about keeping paying the overpayments even when it seems to make more sense to put money in other places. It’s so weird how some debt is psychologically much easier than others. Definitely okay to do what feels right sometimes instead of getting obsessed with how much interest is being saved etc.

enjoying the diary. Sounds like you’re doing a great job with your family under hard circumstances.

Thanks Brindlebabe, looks like you are doing really well. Be under 200k soon :-) 

savingholmes

Hi - sorry I lost you in the forum changeover. Hadn't realised you weren't bookmarked. Just caught up. What a ride. I hope you can park the worry and just focus on enjoying the sunshine and your time with family. Sounds like you are doing that really well. Great to have a decent EF at this time. Wish mine was stronger too although we are both now working from home.

longway2go

savingholmes said:

Hi - sorry I lost you in the forum changeover. Hadn't realised you weren't bookmarked. Just caught up. What a ride. I hope you can park the worry and just focus on enjoying the sunshine and your time with family. Sounds like you are doing that really well. Great to have a decent EF at this time. Wish mine was stronger too although we are both now working from home.

Thank you. I think the worry will be at the back of my mind and am sure others feel the same but we are very lucky to have the time. I keep reminding myself that we are more financially savy and prepared than ever before.
Are you going to look to increase your EF? How are you finding working from home? 

longway2go

We went for a lovely walk this afternoon and then I did some work in the garden. I am trying to get some very stubborn paindlt off the decilking and atm am trying a pressure washer with various degrees of success.
It's been lovely to have a few days without school work. Nothing we get given is taxing but it all adds up. I spent the 2 mornings doing my second job over zoom which has been working really well and spent the few days before that preparing it which has kept me busy. 
Money wise it's very nearly payday so not much going on and trying not to spend. We had the final car bill come out and I decided to pay my other adhoc bill of 295 from my savings account. My aim next month is to top up EF and not go into the OD which I have been creating out of. I have a rough plan in my head but not committed anything to Ynab yet. 
Have had a bit more time to read diaries on here which has been good.

longway2go

Pay day has arrived and the money shuffle for the month has taken place. I have made a top up mortgage payment of 336 (to keep inline with 18 year term) and an OP of 115.53 (saving 66 in interest).
My next targets are:
to have 6k in an EF by the end of the month I will have 3164.38
To have saved 5k in interest, atm I have saved 3667.
Feel like the next targets are a bit of a way off and will take a few months. Once they are done we will have the safety net we need and will of paid off some more on the mortgage. We then shouldn't need to put much more towards savings and can refocus on OPs although I may aim to up it by 500 each mini target.
Other than the money shuffle I have been doing a bit of stuff over zoom for my second job and volunteering as well as home schooling and lots of nice snuggles with the boys. Do despite the rain and the current situation life is good.
Onwards and downwards 

savingholmes

Sounds like you are doing well with your money journey. Hope you are also getting out in the sunshine - even if it is between the showers.

longway2go

Thank you savingholmes, we are out in the sun when we can. Do you have a diary? I can't seem to locate one but for some reason have a feeling I have seen one before. 
Today I am feeling quite positive about my journey to MF. I have been reading super secret squirrels diary and feel very inspired. 

I had forgotten about 1k in a fixed account which is available from June so that goes towards my 6k EF target so I actually will have 4164.38 at the end of the month and I have a claim I need to put in for some tax back on ppi. 
This month I have paid back 789.76 to the EF which I had moved shortly before for the last car payment and a 1 off expense. I also made an OP of 115.53 and get 137.60 child benefit each month. So if I put all of that together and throw a few more pounds in for good measure I think/hope that once the EF is funded which should take 2 months max we can find/aim for an OP of 1050pm. Obviously sometimes we won't be able to make this but you have to push yourself don't you.
So for the moment the focus is filling up the EF to 6k, 1835.62 to go. Once we get to that point we can smash the OPs.
I know I haven't done this in the last few months but we have been working to clear our various ODs, save an EF and pay a big car bill. On paper it looks feasible so I'm going to try. 
I'm also going to do Friday Tilly tidys to boost the OPs.
Onwards and downwards.