5 months to emerge as a butterfly

benbenandme

Morning, made it to half-term
Last night we had a night out with work, I didn't drink  but am tired today. Today will mainly be a lazy one, football this afternoon and a mate coming over tonight again. Ds is working all day so I can just potter around the house today and plan my week ahead.

Buffythedebtslayer

First day of the holiday is so lovely isn't it? XX 

benbenandme

Holidays not really going to plan so far - have spent the weekend on the sofa with a streaming cold   I'm feeling a bit better today and have actually managed to get dressed Just been to Sainsburys and spent £20 on bread, milk, fruit, veg, cheese and ham. 

This morning I have tried to check the monthly banking but somehow I seem to have about £500 more than I should. Now i know that sounds great but it can't be right. I've double checked it all but can't see where my calculations have gone wrong. I'll come back to it later and try again. I'm hoping I have a few £££ to get me to the end of the month but it can't possibly be £500

I have cleaned the bathroom this morning and am generally just mooching a bit. I keep having ideas to get on with stuff but just don't have the energy once I get up and very quickly end up back on the sofa, so I'm admitting defeat and will get on with some laptop stuff instead. 

Drawingaline

There is an awful cold going round, my dad said he didn't do anything for over a week! Ok, he is 78, but is very very active and he said it just floored him. (Tested for Covid was negative)

benbenandme

Feeling better now, the week has been quite a chilled one. Today I'm pottering again at home (best way not to spend money) and am going to spend the next hour or two deciding whether it's worth me re-mortgaging at the moment or not. My fixed deal runs out in March next year but I am worried about rates going up suddenly. I've just phoned up and got my early redemption charge and now need to crunch some numbers and see what my options are. First off though I need to make a coffee

benbenandme

Well a quick look and it seems that I may as well stay with my current lender as they are offering closest to the best rate currently for a 5 year fix. I can do a product transfer once I am within 5 months of my current deal ending (Sunday) so I will think it over for the next day or so and then probably go ahead as it seems pretty certain rates will rise soon. On the new deal my repayments should drop from £346 a month to £320 a month. Not a huge difference but another £26 a month in my pocket and the security of 5 more years fixed. 

benbenandme

Today has been quite a productive day - after I'd looked into the mortgage I then moved on to the life insurance & critical illness cover. Currently I pay £29 a month for this, however having read the article on here about critical illness I'm planning on cancelling that part. That bit accounts for £20 of the monthly charge. I need to decide on the life insurance too as I have death in service benefit from work that would cover what is left of the mortgage if anything was to happen to me. A bit more thinking and deciding to be done first.

Then I submitted the meter reading for the gas and electric. After that I gutted my paperwork file and shredded lots of old stuff that wasn't needed. Lastly I moved some money into cryptocurrency. I know its a risk, I don't do risks! A guy at work has talked me through lots of it and is helping me step by step. The money has been sat in a savings account for the last year and has literally earned no interest at all so I thought I'd give it a try.

The other thing I did today was make a big vegetable curry in the slow cooker, I had plenty of bits in the cupboard and used some of the veg I bought yesterday. I had a huge portion for dinner and have portioned up the rest of it, ready to go in the freezer. I now have two drawers in the freezer that are all portioned up dinners; shepherds pie, fish pie, veggie stew and vegetable curry.

Tonight I'm chilling on the sofa with a blanket and a cup of tea

benbenandme

Today I'm having a pj day It's a great day for footie for me today (my team are on sky tonight). I've pottered about a bit and done a few more bits and pieces off my list. I've cancelled my sky tv - I'm not intending on cancelling, I'll wait for them to come back with a better offer before the 30 day cancellation period runs out, but at the moment its just too expensive to justify it so I will wait for them to knock a bit off it

I've mopped the floors and need to hoover through again. The washing machine has done its thing, the dishwasher is about to have its turn. I've also cashed out my pinecone research account and have cleared a chunk of old emails from my email account. Onwards ...

benbenandme

First day back at work, all went fine. I came home and have been super productive - firstly I phoned the medical centre as ds hasn't heard anything about his Covid vaccine (he was 18 in the summer), anyway it turns out they didn't have his new address details (we moved 4.5 years ago, oops!). That's now been sorted so hopefully he will get that soon.

Next I have sorted my mortgage! I'm feeling very proud and happy that it's secured. It's all confirmed and the new deal will start on January 1st. I extended the term by 4 months and that has brought the payments down to £315 a month, meaning an extra £31 a month in my pocket I can't wait to get on with the new years budget already!

Jacket potato is in the oven, now I can chill for the rest of the evening and start thinking about the next way to save some money or make some more

beanielou

Good news on the mortgage