Single gal balancing my way to mortgage freedom!

Hazelnutty

My first 'proper art' purchase was a lino-cut print (it had a number on it and everything!) That was over 20 years ago and it's still a precious possession for me  - a marker in my life I guess - so am sure you won't regret buying yours

frankersBri

Thanks for all of the kind words; I'm happy with my art purchase. Hopefully can budget in September for framing

Turns out I had thought I had a regular OP in my direct debit of £200, but it was only £150. So I have just paid £144.80 to make up the deficit for July and August to mean I hit my £300 OP target for both months. 

So that's August cleared up, and any additional bits of money I make will not go to the mortgage for August. So Prolific, ebay sales (sold my first thing this weekend!) and anything else will stay in my budget to be assigned to other categories.

In house stuff, my Dad and brother are visiting this weekend to help me install a new fence at the end of the garden. £200 of materials ordered and I'm excited to see them as I haven't seen them since January!

I also managed to get a fully built wardrobe from Ikea this weekend from their bargain corner. Even with hiring one of the vans they have available for £30, it meant with what I was able to return I have netted out saving over £120  I also drove a van for the first time and did all of the heavy lifting with my housemate. We felt AWESOME for doing it all without any help from men!

frankersBri

A few weeks on and quite a lot has changed!

On the mortgage, I did no further OPs in August, as I had planned. September has started with my usual £100 direct debit OP and I just paid £200 additional OP, to round up the OPs to the mothly target of £300. Once the payments today clear my remaining balance will be £167,801.29, on track for hitting £165k by the end of the year!

I reckon this month I will OP a bit more because... I got a promotion! So in the 3 weeks since my last post my company announced some restructuring, creating some new roles. I went for one, which was quite a step up but got it! Interviewed on the Friday afternoon and got told Monday evening I had the job! Comes with a hefty payrise, and I've been celebrating this whilst I've been on holiday recently. So more responsibility and a new challenge, which is great. But also the higher pay means I should definitely be able to OP more money, more regularly. But it also should give me the freedom to save more money towards the kitchen renovation fund.. So I need to start thinking about how much I want to save for for specifically what. Oh, and up my pension contribution too

All very exciting and I feel very lucky. It's a small company so I need to keep working hard to make sure we stay successful, with the uncertainty of the recession and Brexit being finalised in the next few months who knows what the economy will look like, and therefore the impact it will have on us in employment..

August also saw me almost finish my bedroom, just need to hang things on the wall now.. And I spent a weekend with my Dad and brother building a new fence in the garden. Looks great! Just needs painting...

Sistergold

Wow @frankersBri
congratulations on the promotion! Wow that is really good news! 

Welldone on the OPs and you are really on track to get to target of £165k by end of year for sure! Pay rise that’s really nice! More money more can be achieved!  

MovingForwards

Congratulations! I'm sure you will enjoy your new role 🤗

Jessy103

Congrats on the promotion

Hazelnutty

Hey, congratulations! Great news

Sandyra

Congratulations @frankersBri 👍🏾👏🏾👊🏾

frankersBri

Thank you everyone! Feeling positive about the new role, even if it will be stressful for a few months trying to build a new function within the company.
I want to keep going to try and earn more money to put to OPs. So I am getting back to Prolific and have a target of putting 5 things on eBay this week. 

sofarbehind

Congratulations! Fantastic news.