Single gal balancing my way to mortgage freedom!

frankersBri

November update:

Mortgage balance = £161,222.96 (including £2,100 offset in savings). I will be adding all interest earned to the mortgage OP savings, so I will benefit from the cumulative effect of those few pounds. Feels nice to be making some progress!

New lodger moving in on Thursday as the previous one moved out at the weekend. £25 more per month rent, which I'd like to commit to OP's but is more likely to cover the cost of energy or food or other general inflation! 

Work is pretty stressful/joy-less at the moment. I can deal with that for a while, providing it doesn't get much worse. And providing the business keeps going through the recession. With what I'm paying out for my sailing sabbatical, I really need to keep this income at least for the next 7-8 months (sailing will be paid off in June 2023). 

Speaking of sailing, I did my third week of official training last month. It was excellent - hard work but very rewarding. We had an interesting mix of people, weather and challenges but I really enjoyed myself. A lot of type 2 fun...! I won't be doing the 4th level of training until the summer once I'm assigned to a team as we do it with our race skipper and some of the other crew. So I'm currently working out how I can get more sailing in my life. 

frankersBri

£14.66 interest from my Santander account added to the OP fund. Babysteps.

MovingForwards

Can you find a few accounts with higher interest rates and squirrel money away each month? I've a couple of regular savers paying 5% max £150pm.

Hope your new lodger settles in quickly.

Your sailing is coming along well. The trip will bring enrichment and open up new ideas.

Belated birthday wishes, hope you had a lovely day 🎂

powerspowers

Your sailing adventure sounds really exciting! Could volunteering somewhere be a bargain way to get time on the water? Scouts/guides activity centres/ outward bound type places near you? 

frankersBri

MovingForwards said:

Can you find a few accounts with higher interest rates and squirrel money away each month? I've a couple of regular savers paying 5% max £150pm.

Hope your new lodger settles in quickly.

Your sailing is coming along well. The trip will bring enrichment and open up new ideas.

Belated birthday wishes, hope you had a lovely day 🎂

That's a good idea. I've not reviewed if I could open more current accounts and get some additional regular savers. I like to make sure I have balances in what is locked away (e.g. pension, LISA, fixed period savings accounts) and what is easy access. 

At the moment I have current accounts with First Direct and Santander. With First Direct I put £300 into their regular saver at 3.5%. That ends in April. For Santander, their regular saver is 2.75%, which is the same I have for a year in their eSaver account, so it's not worth doing the regular saver for the same interest and less flexibility in being able to access it. 

I also put £50 in a S&S LISA and £100 into a S&S ISA each month. 

frankersBri

powerspowers said:

Your sailing adventure sounds really exciting! Could volunteering somewhere be a bargain way to get time on the water? Scouts/guides activity centres/ outward bound type places near you? 

That's a good idea, thank you! There must be some near me, I'll get in touch with some and see what I can work out for the spring/summer. 

MovingForwards

I know £150pm or whatever may not be much, but grabbing them while they're available is worth doing. 

frankersBri

Been a bit of a spending month. I'm going to the Rugby World Cup in France next September with a friend, and we needed to pull our fingers out and get some things booked. Hotels were looking expensive, so we've decided on a campervan adventure instead! I've never used one before, but am an avid camper so hopefully it will feel more luxurious! But yeah, I spent about £500 on the first payment for the camper van and the flights to France. 

Better MSE news, I just put 20 mins of effort in and negotiated with Virgin Media for my broadband. My contract had ended this month so I was going to leave for a deal elsewhere, as VM wanted £48 which is insanity tbh. Relatively painless call, and I've got that down to £26 a month for the next 18 months. Pretty happy, and means I don't have to deal with the hassle of transferring to another company and going through the set up etc and is only £1 a month more than my previous 18 month contract was.

A few other MSE things - doing well on zero food waste. My weekly veg box delivery gets planned into meals and devoured. I only end up buying a few extra bits of protein and the like now, so my food outgoings are fairly sensible at the moment. 

Not done anymore moving of savings just yet. I think I will wait until after Christmas. I should have paid off my student loan in Jan/Feb so that will be a few hundred a month that I can whip into a regular saver without thinking twice about it. If I did it now I think I would be putting too much into accounts that locks it away, in case of an emergency.

Oh, and one more thing I'll have to spend on is some roof/chimney repairs. I can hear a drip in my chimney when it rains and I am pretty sure is because there is a cowl missing off of the chimney. But can I get a tradesperson out to quote and do such a small job? Nope, not yet. The hunt continues..

LeighofMar

All caught up on your diary. Your kitchen is wonderful and your sailing adventure sounds amazing. Hope everything with the new lodger goes well. 

frankersBri

December update:

Spend spend spend  Really not a very MSE month, but I'm alright with it. Everything affordable through my savings and what I had earmarked for Christmas, but still it's a high outgoings month! Hire car for Christmas, presents, meals out, heating.. all the usual suspects. 

I had to get a new phone as mine died a death. But did MSE on that - hopefully get £60 cashback and £200 for exchanging my old phone, so that it only costs me £140 outright. 

Added another £250 to the OP savings account in December. A little more to come mater in December, but there's a part of me that's wondering if I can find enough to get the balance down into the £159's... Even if I don't, I've paid off ~£11k this year through standard payments and OP's, so I'm happy!

Current balance: £160,285.92 (inc. offset in savings)
2022 OPs: £2,784.39