Single gal balancing my way to mortgage freedom!

frankersBri

I enjoyed this discussion of what we call that room! I think I only called it a cloakroom because that's what the builder called it on his quote. In normal conversation I think I call it the downstairs loo!

A new month and the first OP of £150 from DD and a little £5.07 Prolific payout. From an MFW perspective, it's good to see the OP's continue.
On the general finances balance, buying the new kitchen, appliances, tiles etc on the credit card (and immediatly paying off) feels less good, but also quite good because it's exciting..? But there's also a fair chunk of cashback pending on Quidco from the purchases, so when that eventually gets paid out there's some more free money for the mortgage too. 

Hoping to get an extra £45 or so in the OPs this month, so that I total £200 for the month. 

MovingForwards

I thought a cloakroom was where the coats get hung up. 

Your kitchen will all be worth it and the cashback is going to a good cause.

Sandyra

Wow, it’s been an age. Looking forward to seeing the final outcome. Quidco is great, over the years it does add up 👍🏾

frankersBri

Hello everyone, I'm here for what is turning out to be a monthly update these days.

OP's have understandably slowed as I had planned, given I'm paying out each month for the loan for part of the downstairs renovation and my lodger moving out. Total OP of £800 in 2021 so far is not to be scoffed at though! I took out the mortgage in May last year and there's a bit of me that wants to make an OP this month to round up the reduction in the loan balance (OP and standard payments) to a cool £20k... Ok, so it's quite a big bit of me that wants to do it! It is about £500 that is required, so we'll see where I land on that in the next week or 2!

In super positive news, the builders are in! They've been in for almost 2 weeks now, so I'm living in a dusty shell but it's very exciting! I was so anxious at the start; what if I've picked an unscrupulous builder? What if something big and costly comes up as a surprise? So far, so good and no major issues! Walls are knocked down, others built, plasterboard in, plastering nearly done. I think work on the downstairs loo starts today, and kitchen fitting towards the end of the week. Looking forward to seeing it take shape, and then I can start making decorating decisions - I haven't decided on wall or floor colours yet.

Work is busy so I've not had as much time for earning little bits on Prolific. Quidco cashback seems to be taking an age to come through too, but I know it will come through in time. I've germinated far too many tomato plants, so if I manage to raise most of them into proper plants I might be able to sell a few get a few quid for OPs!

MovingForwards

Can't grumble with that O/P.

How exciting the builders are in and everything is coming together. There's plenty of time to pick colours.

There's always calls for veg plants and often pop up on local selling sites, all helps with finance.

jimjames

frankersBri said:

I don't yet have a fixed goal of when I'd like to be mortgage free. I am planning on spending some of my savings on renovating the downstairs of house at the end of 2020; knocking down a wall to make a kitchen/diner, new kitchen, decorate the living room etc. But I am starting by committing to overpaying 1% of the original balance by the end of 2020, which means overpaying by £200 per month for the rest of 2020. This should be doable, providing I make some tweaks to my savings plan and how much I enjoy eating/drinking out

I haven't read all the posts but seeing this first one and the date makes you realise how things changed. You were lucky the government enforced action helped with your ability to save money and stop you eating/drinking out!

frankersBri

Monthly update time!

No extra OP's last month as was spending money left, right and centre on the remodel of the house. But I did just do an extra £42 OP on top of the £150 DD to bring the total OP for 2021 to a round £1000. Not bad. Not quite on plan for my target of £4k, but it's a choice I'm making to improve my home and I am ok with that decision

But I have officially had the mortgage for a year now, so an annual review so I can reflect on my progress is good to see how far I've come. Paying off 11% of the balance in the first year is beyond what I ever thought I could do. Gives me hope of hitting my longer term goals!

• Starting balance: £181,500
• Total reduction in balance in first 12 months: £19,231.75 (11%)
• Total OPs in first 12 months: £12,815.16
• Equity in home owned: 32.72%

In other news, the builders finished their work a couple of weeks ago. I'm now tiling, painting, wallpapering, laying floors etc in the dining room, living room, downstairs loo and hallway/stairs. Big jobs, eating money, but I'm also learning new skills! Off to pick up a new circular saw shortly - a woman with an ever growing set of power tools! Hopefully the only remaining tradesman I will need are carpet fitters for the stairs/living room and a carpenter to hang my new doors. 

Done a few Prolific surveys today, hopefully will pick up another £5-10 a month from that. Have listed bits on FB marketplace to sell, from where I bought extras for the renovations too. 

With the world opening up I'm having to adjust my budget to fit in the fun things I'd like to do. A roadtrip in Scotland with my best friend in June. A couple of train tickets to visit other friends and family for the weekend. I bought a family day out for my Mum's gift for her birthday - we're all going for a stand up paddle boarding session! She may be 64, but I reckon she'll enjoy it! 

Sistergold

Wow @frankersBri well done on paying 11% of your mortgage! 💪🏾 

Also well done for putting in some hard work doing your own house and learning all those new skills! 

One year with the mortgage is a big milestone! Xx

MovingForwards

That's a lot off in only a year.
I've power tool envy. It's well worth learning to do a lot of these jobs as the satisfaction value is priceless.

frankersBri

I just rounded down my mortgage balance to a more round number. Just a sub ~£30 payment, but every little helps, right?
Total OP of £231.95 for May, which I am pleased with as it's more than I thought I could. I'm toying with cancelling the £150 DD OP to give me more flexibility in my budget, but for now I am going to keep it. By keeping it automatically going out it means I keep moving slowly towards my MF goal which is one of my top priorities. By July I should be in the £150k's which will be a huge milestone. 

Seem to be splashing money everywhere on the house renovation, but it's worth it.. right? I have ordered new sofas for the living room, which will take 11 weeks to arrive. So that gives me a timeline for getting the rest of the downstairs decorated. Which may be hard now I have less weekend time now the world is opening up to fun again! But yeah, these expenses are eating into my EF. I'll have to get a plan to build that back up in the next few months. Hopefully come August when I've finished the decorating I will then be able to redirect more money to the EF to build it up by the end of the year. 

Hope everyone is good and ready to enjoy a sunny BH weekend! I'm going to visit a friend I have not seen since 2019, my parents, my brother and take my grandparents out for a sunday roast. I'm very, very excited for all of this!