varfor's mystical journey

varfor

Having enjoyed the diaries on here I thought it would be good to share my own progress.

DW and I moved from London to the Midlands just over a year ago. I loved being in London but would have struggled to buy even the smallest flat where we lived. We have family here too which is nice.

I work in IT and have been made redundant two times so far in my career. I am now paranoid and debt-averse! My main motivation is to become less dependent on any employer.

At the moment I have a 6 month emergency fund, contribute to an S&S ISA (work pension is not great) and overpay the mortgage with whatever is left each month.

Our initial mortgage balance in December 2018 was £155,000 and after one year of overpayments it is £139,731. There are 24 years left to go and I’m hoping to be mortgage neutral in 6 years and mortgage free in 12!

I'm sure everything will go exactly to plan

Jessy103

Good luck varfor

LeighofMar

Wow. Paying off $15,000+ in a year is impressive. Great job.

varfor

I’ve decided to give up matched betting for 2020. I spend 40+ hours a week behind a screen at work and I just don’t have the motivation to do that at weekends too!

It should free up about £1200 for additional OPs which I plan to spread over the year just in case I need it.

I’ve also decided to give away stuff rather than selling it online and it’s made decluttering a lot faster.

2020 is going to be a year of focus! (hopefully )

varfor

It has been a tiring week at work this week. Im thinking of putting together a ‘bad day’ fund where I can put a small OP in after a particularly crappy day. It’s good to remember what I’m working for.

This weekend I’m going to have a go decluttering the kitchen and also looking at the budget to see if I can find any extra OP money anywhere. I’ll also be doing parkrun tomorrow :j

varfor

Ahhh, I had a nice day off today and still have some leave to use up from last year. Time off really makes me appreciate not working!!

My boss is retiring next month at age 50. It's been funny seeing the reactions of some colleagues, some are worried about what she'll do with the free time!

I stumbled on this quote from Walden which seems apt: 'The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.'

varfor

What a mad year it has been!

I usually think I’m pretty on top of things but Covid has messed things up quite a bit. I’m on 90% pay at the moment and working in a much smaller team. My wife is on furlough but will soon be on maternity leave 😊 

As a result of all of uncertainty, lower pay and mini varfor we cut ISA contributions to £200 per month and mortgage OPs to £50 per month from March.

I am seeing things pick up a bit now and have secured some freelance work so for the next few months will bump OPs up to £180. Hopefully I’ll be able to scale back my working hours at some point.

The highlight of this week was getting ‘Things 3’ app and sorting out all the things I need to do. I’ve been living without a proper organisation tool for far too long!

 

varfor

I made an overpayment of £320 today, my largest for 2020 so far I think.

The freelance work has been interesting but not enough to enjoy working in the evenings! I’ll take it while I can get it though 

The mortgage stands at £137,400 at the moment. Based on current spending / saving I will be mortgage neutral in 2028, mortgage free in 2033 and retired by 2050! I’m not expecting these numbers to be realistic but it gives me an excuse to play with Excel 🤓

My highlight of the week was finally finishing ‘Benjamin Franklin: An American Life’. It was a great read about fascinating person who achieved many things (and had a few foibles!)

varfor

I made an overpayment of £370 today. The plan right now is to bump our total mortgage payment to £1000 per month. It's roughly what our rent used to be in London so I'm going to try and act as if nothing has changed!

Recently I started driving again after a break of 5 years. I never really liked driving and have found it a bit nerve-racking! I've been practicing on quiet roads and have built up to A roads. I'm definitely a bit rusty but I'm improving with each drive.

varfor

I've been doing some thinking about my financial goals this week and have decided to start focusing on the mortgage neutral (mn) figure rather than the mortgage balance (mb) itself. I've been feeling bad about putting money into savings, retirement, investments etc instead of overpayments and I think my focus on getting the mortgage finished asap has incentivised the wrong thing.

The mn figure is more volatile but it should trend down with a sustained effort. I can focus on mb when mn is £0+.

So that means £96,000 to go until mortgage neutrality!

varfor

Resurrecting this in an attempt to get back on track with my money goals.

In the past few years I've had two children and seemingly endless expenses. I managed to overpay in that period but have stopped for the last year. Nursery fees and the weekly shop have decimated our savings to the point of having none. Tiredness with family and work has seen me bury my head in the sand and make some poor financial choices.

Thankfully both children now get a discount on nursery fees and my wife has returned to higher paying work. This month will be the first one in a long time where the monthly budget is in the black.

Overall things are not too bad. Mortgage balance is ~£109,000. I also hit my mortgage neutral goal in February '24. That was completely driven by investments and a lot of luck and can go away just as quickly as it arrived!

My main goals for now are to take my head out of the sand re monthly budgeting and rebuild an emergency fund. Overpaying the mortgage is a way off right now.