SLLM (Single Lady Large Mortgage)

Sistergold

wow @trix-a-belle your mortgage paid off? Very encouraging, I wait for that day myself! 

My current sofas are now old they have really done a fair job. Also my current sofas are the ones from my marriage so they make me sad somehow although I could and have tolerated them just so I can get the house in order first. With the old sofas memories or not, old or not they are also not what I would choose now. 

You have raised valid points and I have worried about those very issues, what will I do about upholstery, how will they look, how much will it cost? The cost, mmm I can not even calculate it now but I hope it will not be too much too, but might be more than just buying them ready made. I don’t expect them to be cheap so that’s not the question, what I worry about is if I will be able to make what I am picturing? I will make one sofa from start to finish, throw away one old sofa to create space. I will then use sample one to see whether to carry on or not. There is really nothing to lose as I need to get new set anyway. If I decide I need to abort the plan after first sofa I will then just go and buy.

@trix-a-belle, any advice on the best foam for the seats? Where to buy?  🫣 I have made up my mind so much so that at least one sofa will be made. Need to see how I will feel about the first finished product. If I love them half as much as I loved the kitchen then that’s enough for me to carry on and finish the whole lot. 

fantasyvsreality

Hello ladies, hopefully this thread will keep going as finally I am ready to join the Single Lady Smallish Mortgage club. I am coming close to exchanging contract. I'm in my 50s and separating from my partner of 25 years, it's complicated. We still love each other but after a few difficult years we decided to try living separately but close to each other in distance. We did it years ago and it really worked for us. I am buying a small house and will have a small mortgage BUT I earn a low wage so the mortgage and bills will feel a lot for me and I will need to be sensible. I really want to pay my mortgage off in 5 years with overpayments. If I am frugal I could do it. My self-employed job is very competitive and as I get older I find the work harder so a time will come where I will need to look at alternative work. The property I am buying needs work but all decorative, the kitchen is 1980s but well cared for and with a few tweaks I can live with it. Realistically I will never have the budget to do any big changes. The thing I am most excited about is having a little garden to look after. 

So wish me luck. I am very nervous coming close to the exchange point. I have signed all the paperwork, just got to get all of the money ready to transfer into one account and then the final big completion payment sent. Has anyone else experience of this? Do I just go into branch and set up a CHAPS payment before completion. 

slm6002

Good luck @fantasyvsreality with it all.  It's been a long long time since completing on my house so afraid I cant help there, but wish you luck

Sistergold

Oh hello @fantasyvsreality, welcome to the club. Oh this thread is going strong and we are even stronger with you joining in! 🌺 
Yes you just walk into your bank and  instruct the transfer. Hopefully you have paid some other small monies from the account you want to use to the account of the solicitors you want to money sent to? This is me I NEVER  like to pay a Big amount into a new set up. Also just do the transfer 2 days or so before D-day so that you don’t get stressed. Sorry @fantasyvsreality about the need to be apart/space a bit from your partner but it’s good to hear that it’s all amicable and you love each other. Space does do wonders for relationships I hear. Congratulations on the coming completion, please keep us updated! 🥳

Sistergold

Oh hello ladies I am on here just to do an update after a long time. 

Mortgage 

Monthly payments have been going out like clockwork including the £999.99 monthly overpayment. My mortgage product is ending 30th of June and well like many others with a mortgage my payments will go up even further as the percentage over the Bank of England on new product will be higher than it is now. So basically the products are getting worse as the interest rate is getting worse. It’s like a double jeopardy. 

It turns out that if you are switching products you have a grace period in the last month to overpay as much as you can without any penalties 🤷‍♀️. So I have from the the 1st of June to the 30th of June to make any lump sum payments. With this in mind I have decided that I will use the money I have been saving in the building fund to pay down my mortgage as some of you had suggested. To be honest I did go through some months where I tried to buy a second property but could not find one I liked. The properties were really overpriced I thought and then I just got tired of viewings after a while. Also interest rate on buy to let’s have also been skyrocketing so it seemed best to press the pause button. 

After much thought, yesterday I called my bank and made an extra payment of £10k. I wanted to pay £80k in one go but could not as they don’t take over £50k over the phone in one go and when I then tried to pay the £50k my bank declined. I then tried a different card/account with same bank and reduced it to £10k which then went through. I later called my bank to find out why the £50k did not go through and was told it was over the limit. Turns out the limit per account is £21k. So from Monday I will start to pay from different accounts over some days so that by end of next week £80k should have gone in. After the £80k has gone in I will see what effect it has on my balance and monthly payments and then pay the final £20k sometime before end of June if I feel it’s okay to so(funds needed for all the DIY I have been doing).

So balance on 16th of May was  £375912, this was before monthly interest was added 

I then paid the £10k yesterday and now new balance 

I am really on a sprint for now and I just want to see the numbers on the balance tumble down a bit. To be honest I just want my monthly payments to really go down. I will not be reducing the term for who knows when these interest rates will go down if ever they will? 

I hope you have all been enjoying the sunshine? 

Kitchen update
All the kitchen units are now officially done! I just need some organising bits like baskets and stuff but all is in place. Now I need to sort out the kitchen walls.  I will also need to choose some tiles for the kitchen walls. I am going to only tile around the stove area as I have been using the kitchen without any tiles and it has actually been okay. It will make sense to tile around the stove for an easier to clean surface I suppose. 

Building fund/Save £100k in 48 months. Started 01/07/2020 managed to reach £100k last month (30/05/2023) 👯‍♀️

Merlin's_Beard

You've really done  amazingly @Sistergold - proper discipline in getting that outstanding balance down. Feel like you're being sensible in getting those extra OPs down while the mortgage allows as well, and keeping the term long. You can always do a bulk OP at the end of the next fix but you won't be able to reduce your mandatory payments. Sounds like the kitchen is coming along too.

SecondStar

Hello all, as of 5th May I am a proud single lady with large (for me) mortgage!

The first payment came out on 1st June, almost double my regularly expected payment as it was the first. I don’t know a damn thing about overpaying on a mortgage, so I’m looking forward to picking your collective brains about that.

Sistergold

Merlin's_Beard said:

You've really done  amazingly @Sistergold - proper discipline in getting that outstanding balance down. Feel like you're being sensible in getting those extra OPs down while the mortgage allows as well, and keeping the term long. You can always do a bulk OP at the end of the next fix but you won't be able to reduce your mandatory payments. Sounds like the kitchen is coming along too.

Thank you, really just want it all paid but I know it’s going to be a long process 

Sistergold

Oh hello @SecondStar and welcome to SLLMS. Weldone on your completion, now you will nicely settle into your new house! Yes we like overpaying on here and nothing is too small. You will soon get the hang of OPs and it can be addictive overpaying and seeing the positive impact after. 

badmemory

The first thing would appear to be online access to your mortgage account.