10 years to go .... maybe, with a fair wind

Lauraebrad

So we're home from a great trip to Slovenia.  It came in around the budget I'd expected and very much helped by doing a few extra days at work.  We travelled by sleeper train in both directions and also hired a car whilst we there (including a trip on the motor rail train through a mountain which was fun!).  Buying groceries really put a fresh perspective on food costs here though - 2 large nectarines and a massive tomato cost €6 from a market stall! 

And now back to a normal working week, whilst the small one is away with his dad, before we head off for a week in a cottage with my mum.  No child means more interesting, and more healthy/vegetarian food which I, and my food budget, am enjoying.  So far fennel and butterbean gratin, aubergine parmigiana, courgette and feta tart and summer pasta with melting brie mmmm. 

Nearly made a massive non-MSE error today.  I had sorted out car insurance early - so it didn't get missed whilst I was on holiday.  Then this morning woke to an email to say my (old) car insurance had auto-renewed.  Got on to them as soon as their call centre was open though and have managed to cancel it so a refund to my credit card is now on the way.  I'm juggling too many balls as usual and something was bound to get dropped.  I really don't like auto-renew policies though!

Anyway ... should really get some ironing done before bedtime.  Happy August MFW-ers!

savingholmes

Glad the holiday and memory making went well.

Lauraebrad

So as the small one headed off for his first day at secondary school today, fully suited and booted, I suddenly realised that the name of my thread should now really be something more like ‘7 years to go with a fair wind’!  My aim has always roughly been to get rid of the mortgage before he leaves home, or around that time.  That involves the big assumption that he’d be leaving home for uni at 18, which is obviously a long way off, and not a given!  Anyway …. He’s now got 7 years at school left so I’d better crack on.

A quick look at my mortgage account now has my balance at £48,763 with 13 years 1 month of my original term remaining so I’m looking at a 6 year reduction on that.  I think it’s still do-able, although very much depends on the state of the world over the next 7 years and I don’t feel like I’m going to be getting any richer!  Over the next 7 years I have 2 years 5 months remaining on my current fix at 1.88% so planning to make as much inroad as possible  over this time to pay down in advance of the inevitable interest rate rise at the end of the fix.  I doubt I’d ever be lucky enough to get it that low again, even if things have settled down by Feb 2026. 

Instead of making direct over payments, I’m putting nearly all my money into savings now instead to beat the interest rate.  It’s not going to be as satisfying as seeing the mortgage balance go down, but makes sense mathematically so I’m just having to get my head around that. 

In other news, having had a brilliant summer, and a couple of great holidays, I’ve now got a plan to pay those off (pay back my own savings) – helped by a few extra days work and hopefully some back pay for a pay rise at some point if the unions ever agree it.  On the flip side though my gas and electric is about to go up £50 a month as I come out of a fix, so there won’t be a load of spare money sloshing around.  I’ll need to up the game on extra money.  So tomorrow I’ve signed up for a focus group with my water provider for £50.  Every little helps and actually might be quite interesting.

Being a bit thriftier than usual this month which is helped by the abundance of homegrown (mine, my mums and friends) fruit and veg and my mum’s hens finally starting to lay again.  So I foresee a lot of courgette, tomato and bean based dishes in our near future. 

Happy sunny September all.

savingholmes

Congrats to DS. Time flies. Your future self will thank you if you do manage to get mortgage free by his 18th. It will help with those uni costs - just don't neglect your pension either as that needs time to mature. I too am saving rather than direct OPing while I'm on such a good rate.

Lauraebrad

Not much to update, but I just realised we’re half way through November and it’s been a while!! 

Thanks for the reminder @savingholmes I’m not toooo worried about my pension as I’m solidly in the Local Government Pension Scheme (19 years so far).  That also means that I’m also one of the people for whom our pay rises have finally been agreed for this year and so I’m waiting with bated breath for back pay to arrive at the end of November.  Unfortunately, it’s not going to be an exciting windfall as I owe HMRC some money – but it will at least be put to good use in paying that!

The last couple of months I’ve been using all my secret squirrel money (pr0lific, sh0pp*x etc) to start to refill the holiday fund as I’ve already reached my mortgage OP target for the year.  It’s very much depleted after adventures this summer, but I’m going to use a bit of it in a couple of weeks when the small one has a couple of random late-November inset days.  We decided to go on a mini-adventure …. Criteria (1) somewhere we’d not been before (2) no more than 2 hours from home (3) no more than £30 return on the train (with railcard) and (4) not an obvious choice.  So we’re off to Leicester for a couple of days.  Genuinely quite excited!

I was reminded reading @Ladywithaplan diary earlier today that the best way to save is to stop spending.  Feel I’ve been taking my eye off the ball a bit too much recently.  Some things are lifestyle spends that I’m happy with (usually related to the small one – climbing / scout camp / school lunches rather than pack-ups) but others are just laziness and lack of planning.  So, counter-intuitively I’m going to have a low-spend December.  Don’t worry – it won’t been uber-frugal or lacking in fun as most spending in December is actually already covered by Xmas savings (that covers presents, tree, festive food and my work Christmas do).  But there’s enough extravagance already in December that I’m hoping I can keep some sensible grocery spending, not many other gifts, less coffee on the go etc and trim back a bit.  Let’s see!

In house news, I’ve found that spending more time indoors at home, as always happens in autumn, I’ve started to re-evaluate what works and what doesn’t.  As well as what clearly needs fixing.  To that end I have booked an external decorator to re-paint my bay window in the spring as it’s a bit of a shambles but don’t see that I’ll ever be able to replace it – so the next best thing is to get it fixed up.  I also had a small leak under my roof repaired – for the cost of a pint.  I hijacked two roofers on my street as I was going out one day and asked if they did small jobs.  They were just packing up, and so just walked their ladders up the road and sorted it out there and then and wouldn’t take any money.  Right place right time I think.  And to top it all off, I’ve bought a new rug for my sitting room which I’m absolutely in love with.  Although it’s a really sunny room in the afternoon, it’s also very cold and a bit soulless in the evening, as it’s above the cellar and I have very drab beige carpet, teamed with very ancient, drab beige curtains and 3 x fairly neutral walls.  I was sat watching TV one night looking at all the beige and inspired to make a snap purchase of a beautiful rug from n$xt.  The colours tie in with the 1 nice coloured wall which is a sort of dark teal.  I’m super impressed with how much it’s lifted the room and pulled it together into a much friendlier space.  Not particularly money saving though ….

Happy November everyone, and batten down the hatches for whichever storm is on the way today!

LadyWithAPlan

I think making ones home beautiful especially in the autumn is important, as long as you are not overspending its not a problem... Its about choosing where to spend your money in a wise happy way.,

I am joining you on a low spend last 6 weeks of the year - where I can as Xmas saving pot  is not yet finished 

You were lucky with the roofers

savingholmes

Very lucky with the roofers! My last bill to replace 4 tiles was about £180!

The rug sounds a good buy. 

Good luck with staying on the money plan in December. Sounds like you are ahead of the game having savings there. 

You very quietly slipped in that you'd met your OP target for the year - well done on that too!

Lauraebrad

Having the usual ‘twixtmas’ moment of disbelief at how fast another year has gone.  We’ve had a lovely, if very quiet, Christmas …. Today saw me finishing off the last of my part of the roast beef in a delicious beef rendang.  Tomorrow we start working on dealing with the ham - I see a lot of ham and leek quiche in the future!

As it’s the last week of the year I’ve totted up my final OPs for the year which have been very much on the back burner for the last few months.  Pleasantly surprised that my total is as high as it is given the amount of extra money I’ve ended up channelling elsewhere.  Next year definitely won’t be as much of a bumper year as this one. 

So the final scores on the doors: £1,200 sent to investment ISA, £1,930 in other overpayments.  Of this £1,720  has been paid straight off the mortgage and £220 is in a different savings account. As at today, after taking account of interest accrued, the mortgage stands at £5,182 less than 1st January. 

Now to spend the rest of the week thinking through some plans for next year …..

Lauraebrad

So the plan for 2024.  I’m still planning to save most of my squirrelled bits and bobs money for holidays so thinking carefully about how to make / save the money for OPs that I’d like to make (aim = £2,400)  

The £100 / month investments will continue, and I’m used to that going out every month so it’s not too much of a problem (total - £1,200).

The other £1,200 made up from bits and bobs will kick off with:

• £20 x 12 months - usual OP as my mortgage payment is rounded up (£240)

• 2 x months no Council Tax / Water (£297)

• Estimated increase in pay with reduced NI rate x £20/month (£240)

• That leaves £423 to find during the year  / £35 per month from Pr0lific/Sh0pp1x/Qu1dc0 etc ….

Let’s see how it goes!

savingholmes

Sounds like a plan. Always good to see the scores on the doors. Celebrating how far you've come - helps you keep going.