SLLM (Single Lady Large Mortgage)

LadyWithAPlan

Just popped in to see how you were doing Sister Gold. Your DIY continues to inspire me, I was watching the restoration workshop programme (free to watch on u.co.uk along side the brilliant and  lifechanging programme ' Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning')   and wishing I could learn to weld as I know you do. However I dont have an outdoor space  so am putting that off.
However I am looking at courses to start in September - may do more electrical wiring stuff  - the free courses seem to have dried up in the evening.

Well done on making space for the kids to focus - I recently changed round my study thanks to a free huge white desk and my focus has gone through the roof having a permanent  clear dedicated space to work

Hope you are chunking down your mortgage.

@Friday1989 well done on the OP's! I find it  scary how some people just spend without a budget -  (guilty as charged when I first had loads cash coming in) however it is often when money gets tight that leads to them (me!)  starting a budget   .. that then means when the money starts flowing in again you treat it with far more respect.
Having said that as a  paper/spreadsheeter/pots budgeter of well over a decade I started YNAB 9 months ago and it has led to next level budgeting/saving/tracking and decision making for me.

Friday1989

I wish I could bottle your productivity @Sistergold !

@LadyWithAPlan . Gentle art of Swedish death cleaning sounds right up my street! 

I've always been curious about YNAB. I don't actually have a budget (I know, not very MSE!) I just try to be sensible and semi-frugal (although I don't count pints in the pub 😶). I might have a look at YNAB 

Sistergold

Hello @LadyWithAPlan, @Friday1989, thanks for 
popping by. Did watch a few YouTube videos on Swedish death cleaning which I thought was a good idea. It is a nice approach not to leave your loved ones to go through all the rubbish one can keep. Decluttering is indeed a breath of fresh air. 

@Friday1989 I have also been impressed by @LadyWithAPlan’s consistent and disciplined budgeting. I definitely don’t make every penny work. Only thing I do is put aside a certain amount straight to savings and then the rest is left to whim. At the end of the month when I have spent like there is no tomorrow I then send to savings whatever is left 🫣!  I must say though I do tend to leave myself with only enough to live marginally unless I know there is something I need to spend on. After a reasonable saving each month if I run out of money I do have a dipping pot if that runs dry I use my credit card. If I use my credit card as soon as I get paid I then pay that off then decide how much I should save. Oh how I run my finances is confusing even to me. 

This summer I planted some kale but I must say all that did was give more green variety to the snails and slugs! Gardening is so challenging as nature does win. Did try the beer in a container to catch the slugs. Was almost thinking it will not work when after several days I finally emptied and found that the system managed to kill 15 slugs in total. I used 8 can of beer in total. Didn’t find that cost effective! 

To protect the kale from slugs I have now sewn som organza bag covers. Will see if that will work to get the greens growing. I do plan to build some frames to create some king of green house arrangement over the kale for next season. 

Oh @LadyWithAPlan good luck with the courses it’s good to keep our hands busy. New skills always good for future house ownership. 

LadyWithAPlan

Friday1989 said:

I wish I could bottle your productivity @Sistergold !

@LadyWithAPlan . Gentle art of Swedish death cleaning sounds right up my street! 

I've always been curious about YNAB. I don't actually have a budget (I know, not very MSE!) I just try to be sensible and semi-frugal (although I don't count pints in the pub 😶). I might have a look at YNAB 

I love ynab - after years of budgeting on paper/excel/virtual post and declaring i dont need anymore to track.. I have found ynab life-altering and I am now one of those reddit ynab devotees/evangelists.... I do count my glasses of bubbly/rose but I budget a set amount each month for my fun activities and when I have spent that all and want to go again at least I am clear I will be spending money  which I had had other plans  for - i can then decide it thats why I want. It really highlights what you say your money /life priorities are vs how you actually spend...

You get a 34 day free trial and if you use my referral link (DM me if you want it)  if you do decide to sign up then we both get a free month  My big suggestion is to watch loads of videos on it before the trail (NIck True on YT has loads inc the great 2022 live setup I literally watched whilst I set up mine and paused him when I needed to  plus the YNAB TEAM now have great live workshops and great support

@Sistergold the slugs sound like a nightmare..... as does your budget planning But if it works for you.... I have a tendency to spend as I wish and ignore my perviously set budget so ynab forces me to look at where I have spent v where I planned to spend  and I can see what my present self is doing to my future goals... My house dep savings had really decreased so the ynab makes me face where I am spending as I go.
Your DIY continues to inspire me... havent found any construction courses but am looking

Sistergold

You are right @LadyWithAPlan I could truly be saving more if I should commit to a budgeting tool. Will need to look into it at some point. 

Sistergold

Oh hello ladies. I feel I have been a bit “overwhelmed” with all the interest rate rises. I have also been a bit “overwhelmed ” with life in general as I have had to be dealing with a lot on very little time. NOW I feel I am back to normal and feeling optimistic once again. 

On the interest rate side of things I logged into my mortgage account today and the rate was down! I did notice that the payment for September had gone down by about £30. I had not really checked though what the new rate was. My direct debit OP was set at £60 so I will now review it to £90! Yey! It is not that it is much but for some reason the constant rate increases were really weighing me down and now I just feel like there is a light at the end of this cost of living crisis(trying to be optimistic). 

So in July this is where I was 

Rate was 5.04%

 and today  rate is at 4.89%

So my payment was £2031 and now it will be £2005. Mortgage goes out tomorrow and I will be in the £250k range! Yey! 

I know I know £30 is a drop in this ocean but then in the spirit of MFW every little helps. 🥳

On the life in general side of things everything is lighter  too. What was causing stress was that one of my children (daughter) was consistently failing leading upto her GCSEs last summer. Laddies I had done everything I could as far as paying for extra lessons and buying books but no change. Infact her 2023 June mocks and the December mocks were all fails in all subjects but two. I was really feeling helpless as I have not had this issue before in my life and I think I was not accepting that children can just be different from us the parents and then their siblings. I found it difficult to comprehend how one can just fail their maths, science, English well like I said almost all subjects were fails. I was just now running out of ideas! I asked myself should it be more lessons or what? In the end in January I had to just accept that there was never going to be enough time to cover all the subjects after school unless I did the teaching myself and in any case all along I had always paid for extra lessons with no improvement. 

Well to cut a long story short I had to stop all extra lessons and teach her myself and that’s where I was now so overwhelmed and so could not keep up with my diary here and all. I was doing time with her before school, so early mornings, doing time after school and more time over weekends. Laddies it was back to my GCSEs again. Had to teach her science from scratch as she had U in her mocks, teach maths and so on. She now got her results 22 August 2024 and I am happy to say she passed 8 subjects and failed only 2! She passed maths, English and science so that was good as no retakes. Her final results were one 7; three 6s; three 5s and one 4. The fails were two 3s To be honest this was like a miracle as this was the first time for her to pass all her subjects. With that she got into the sixth form of her choice and also is now doing the subjects she loves. Her own words “mom I am so happy and enjoying sixth form as I don’t need to do all the other subjects now”. 

So now I feel I can have more me time and hope to be updating on here as before. 

Is there anyone else who had a child who got their GCSEs this summer 2024? A levels? I know it always comes out in the wash pass or fail but it’s just easier sometimes when it goes well. 

On the finances I am hoping to pay down the mortgage drastically next year sometime. The aim is to get to a point where I have as much in my emergency funds as the mortgage balance. What I am hoping to do is maybe pay down £150k next year. This will bring the mortgage balance down closer to £100k. I will then continue saving so as to have the final mortgage balance. Fingers crossed I can pay it all off in the next 3 to 4 yrs and get on with other goals. 

Wishing you a wonderful week. 

julicorn

Hi Sistergold, that sounds like a really stressful time, but what a positive result! It's also great to see your interest rate come down.

Sistergold

Yes @julicorn a few positives to celebrate this Christmas! 

dawnybabes

That’s amazing - my ASD son  has dyscalculia and failed his function skills maths, only managed 4 right (think a lot of demand avoidance at play in this exam) I told h8m to go into College and get put straight back in for it ! He sat it a few weeks later with lots and lots of stress from me teaching him and he passed - his teacher phoned me up he was so excited ! 

It’s such a good feeling when you’ve helped them 😆😆😆

LadyWithAPlan

Well done on all the tutoring @dawnybabes and @Sistergold -  can imagine its super stressful... -my niece just did her GCSE's and the workload seemed constant - 

I look forward to watching you  now get that mortgage down ... its shrinking rapidly