Single gal balancing my way to mortgage freedom!

MovingForwards

Any O/P helps move that step closer to being mortgage free. You could always have them set up as a payee with your bank, then slip money across. It's how I do it, first payment I make on payday is to my lender.

Sometimes it feels like there's always money going out for the property, but it's not forever and when everything is done that's it for a while.

Enjoy your visits!

Sistergold

Hello 
@frankersBri it looks like the OPs are going well! Well done, it always feels great when you OP more thank you thought you could! Direct debit OP is good like you said you can “forget “about it! The only thing is you don’t really forget about the direct debit though! Emergency fund is always best topped up! Good that you are spending on yourself though by spending on the house! With the experience of lockdown we all realised even more how a nice home environment is! Xx

frankersBri

Thanks both - you're completely right. All OPs, no matter how small make a difference. I have my mortgage set up as a payee in my mobile banking - so convenient to send bits over!

I have spent a bit of time this morning doing some MSE activities:
- Was going to change my broadband provider, but Virgin Media offered me a good deal to stay. Saving £14pm, winner!
- Have emailed to cancel my gym membership. Obviously haven't paid much as it was closed for much of the pandemic, but I don't think I will go back to using it enough to justify it. I can always do PAYG or join a no frills one for half the price. So once they acknowledge that it will be £38pm saved. 
- Signed up for Oddbox veg delivery. A friend gave me a £10 off code, and I like the idea of a big of of veg just being delivered to me once a week to inspire my cooking! Will see how it goes for a few weeks and compare to what I spend normally! Also, if anyone gancies trying Oddbox I have a £10 off code I can share

MovingForwards

It's a good feeling when there are a couple of ways of saving costs, then being able to put some of it to better use. 

frankersBri

Been AWOL from here for a couple of months!
July OP - £250
August OP - £150

Keeping things ticking over, and with my regular repayments I'm feeling good about the progress. I need to up the OP rate a bit if I am going to go into the remortgage next spring/summer at/below the £150k mark which is a bit of a target

MovingForwards

You've got this. Recalculate, crunch numbers, have a look at local sold prices and cross reference it all. 

LadyWithAPlan

Just caught up on your diary, really well done with all the focus.

I am single and also planning a large mortgage (London) so be probably £350k+ (gulp) but the journey is the same for all of us. I think its both easier and harder when one is single - we get to make all the decisions and have less people to fund but harder as it is just all our responsibility. 

Do you have pics of the finished kitchen? I am not a DIYer but I am planning to do some classes in carpentry, drilling etc to get some skills to learn. 

frankersBri

Hey @LadyWithAPlan - thank you for your comment. That will be a whopper of a mortgage for sure, but a hurdle we all have to get over if we want to own property. As you say, the benefit of being able to make all of the decisions is a big one for me! Good luck with your purchase, and learning some powertool skills. Youtube and a sense of belief in yourself goes a long way.

I've got some photos, I'll pop them at the end of this post. The kitchen is pretty much done now.. The dining room part of that room is painted etc, but need to decide on furniture, make some shelves out of spare worktop, build a cupboard etc.. Feels like every room is like that in the house at the moment - done, but not quite finsihed!

My Dad has been helping me this week. He came to stay and we've redecorated one of the spare rooms. Hoping to get a lodger in towards the end of this year; that money will be very helpful!

So last month I took the decision to cancel my standard monthly OP. With all the money I am spending on decorating the house I needed to keep some funds available for that. Will be that way until the end of the year, hoping to restart some form of OP in the new year.

But also, I may not.. I've applied to do part of a round-the-world sailing race in 2023 or 2024. That would cost a huge chunk of change, bu would be fantastic adventure.. So yeah.. final interview for that is next week and we'll see if they want to offer me a space, as that will require some financial replanning!

Current mortgage balance - £157k. LTV
I got a letter today letting me know my fix ends at end of Feb. I thought it was later, but this is actually a good thing as hopefully means I can move to a new fix with them at the end of Nov. I want to lock in a fix whilst the rates are low, which will mean I can keep paying the same to the mortgage as now, but with regualr OPs as the main monthly repayment will be lower. I normally use a broker for this, but tbh the faff of having to get conveyancing done for a switch,versus an easy remortgage to a new product with TSB is putting me off doing that again..

LadyWithAPlan

Your kitchen looks fabulous! I love all the dark blue as well. Definitely worth all the time, effort and expense.


Every time I have done a big adventure it has always been amazing and changed me in a good way. So good luck with your final sailing interview.  Experiences I believe are always worth the money, its important to save yes but spending on a trip like that .. will be a great use of your cash )

Hopefully you can indeed get a fix easy, Nationwide have some pretty good deals as well if you can be bothered.  Hate to say it but is probably worth looking at the deals on offer for the kind of money it involves ..

MovingForwards

Your kitchen looked wonderful! 
As you're not moving you may as well grab a fix. Even if rates were stagnant or dropped a tiny bit more, it's the security of knowing each month the mortgage is £x.
Good luck with the interview, it sounds too good not to try for it.