SLLM (Single Lady Large Mortgage)

Sistergold

Today seems to be a good day, had payment come in for some consultancy work I did, so another £775paid into building fund to bring total to £6475 so £93525 to find! 🏡

seventh88

Sistergold said:

Hello @seventh88
Well come to this thread! You will not be alone here and everyone on here is awesome and so are you! Please feel free to tell us more about yourself so that we can get to know you a little bit more! I do love to hear what your journey has been like to the land of Single lady with a mortgage! 

Xx

Thanks for the lovely warm welcome! x

Just catching up with posts - congratulations on your HouseVersary (I think I might do the same next year!), and the extension sounds really exciting too.

My story? Recenty separated from husband (not yet divorced)...got the mortgage in my name, in the process of buying him out (partly with another loan on top of the mortgage and partly in cash savings...which I'm still working towards...)... it's been a bit of a shock to the system just changing to 'single person' finances. We've done everything jointly for most of my adult life and now...well, it's a big change.
Thanks for this thread, it's helpful to know I'm not alone, to keep up with your post and to read stories from others too.

Sx

Sistergold

@seventh88
Its good that you have managed to sort out the most important aspect and worry of a single person -the mortgage. Nothing better than recovering in your own home. Once house is sorted the healing process can begin. It is such a struggle to be on single finance mode after being with someone for such a long time, the good part is once you have it all sorted it’s now under your control no one else and no fears of being let down. 

So well-done! 

Xx

HelloB

@Sistergold Well done on the OP and wiping more into your house renovations fund! It's gathering momentum and I can see you get reach your goals a lot sooner than your original plan. 😀

@seventh88 Echoing SG in welcoming in to the sisterhood of SLLM! This thread has been such a wonderful place for fellow ladies learning from each other. It gives me inspiration that I see so many ladies can make it on their own. Similar to you I've never had to consider finances as a single person. It's a bit of a minefield, not knowing where to start in mindset. But you're in control of your own life and that's to be celebrated! Wishing you an exciting new chapter in your life. 

joshiesaunt

@SistergoldI have not had time to read the full thread but you are doing well and are an inspiration.  Do you work in the finance industry may i ask?  I couldn't dream of saving as much as you but its good to see how single minded you are.

seventh88

Sistergold said:

@seventh88
Its good that you have managed to sort out the most important aspect and worry of a single person -the mortgage. Nothing better than recovering in your own home. Once house is sorted the healing process can begin. It is such a struggle to be on single finance mode after being with someone for such a long time, the good part is once you have it all sorted it’s now under your control no one else and no fears of being let down. 

So well-done! 

Xx

Thanks so much for your encouraging words. It's reassuring to hear that it is a struggle being on single finance mode after being with someone for a long time - it's not just me finding that!! You're right - it does come with an odd sense of empowerment as well - for the first time in my adult life, I 'own' a house by myself and that strangely makes me feel more grown up than when I got married?! Sx

seventh88

HelloB said:

@seventh88 Echoing SG in welcoming in to the sisterhood of SLLM! This thread has been such a wonderful place for fellow ladies learning from each other. It gives me inspiration that I see so many ladies can make it on their own. Similar to you I've never had to consider finances as a single person. It's a bit of a minefield, not knowing where to start in mindset. But you're in control of your own life and that's to be celebrated! Wishing you an exciting new chapter in your life. 

Thanks for the warm welcome @HelloB! It's reassuring to hear others are going through the same thing and also finding it a minefield. You're right - it is to be celebrated that I'm taking control of my own life. Thank you for your kind words. Sx

Sistergold

Good morning ladies 
Updates
I hope you are all well and good on your end? How are the OPs going should I say “post lockdown”? For me so far I have tried to keep a lid on my spending although it has gone up somewhat. I guess it’s expected? I have been itching to go cloths shopping but have been withholding myself and so far I have managed not to by sending all available funds to one account or another. HSBC has a function in my current account which I enabled and it will give me an overview of the anticipated bills and balance for the month, a bills cycle, so mine I set it from the 1st of each month to the last day of the month. So like now my balance after bills will be £60! So I just don’t have much to spend unless I dip into money I already put into savings. Next month I will start allocating money for shopping as, well, it’s difficult for a girl not to shop? 

Mortgage

Today the mortgage went out £2076.83, also sent an OP of £415 so new mortgage balance is about £466571 but will check for actual figure in a few days as they take sometime to update. Past few days mortgage balance was £469062 as they had lumped in daily interest. I did do little OPs here and there but not much due to sending money to the house extension savings account which I will be focusing on for a while. 

Savings

Today I have sent another £825 to the extension fund bringing the total so far to £7300 and so £92700 to find 🧐🤨. It’s not that easy to reach the first £10k it looks like😓? I feel that I will be greatly motivated once the balance in the account is five figures. It’s likely that I will only reach the £10k mark next month now with the way the finances are looking. The day I reach £50k will be the best day I should think as it will be truly looking more attainable than it feels now to get to £100k. But hey no giving up A GIRL HAS GOTTA DO WHAT A GIRL HAS GOTTA DO! 

Also managed to send £500 to the save £12k in 2020 fund and balance is at £7k am no longer prioritising this account due to wanting to save for the extension. 

HelloB

Morning @Sistergold. The HSBC function looks great. I don't have that with my bank and I just have to scroll down to check what usual direct debits I have to anticipate. During lockdown I have hardly spent any money, but now shops are reopening I have an urge to go out and spend. But also worried about 2nd spike with covid. But I totally get the urge. Mulberry is having a sale and I have my eye on one of their handbags. Then I think I really should build up my EF.

Well done on wiping savings into the extension fund. Hopefully you will hit the £10k mark next month. Psychologically it'd give you that boost when it's 5 figures. 

I have to say that you have a lot of discipline!

For me, I can't OP any more into my mortgage for this year. So any surplus I have been paying off my divorce lawyer (who knew divorce can cost so much), car (had it serviced then got called to say I need new tyres and new brake sets), roof needs fixing, etc. 

For those of you doing the save £12k a year challenge, is that for your EF? Or just because? 

Sistergold

Good morning @HelloB
Yes the HSBC bills function showed up a few weeks ago or I noticed it a few weeks ago as it was prompting me to enable it whenever I went into my app. I then enabled it and wallah there it was! Everyday it will have a list of all the pending bills including any stop orders I have set up and they drop off the list as they get paid and it will be saying how much I  will have left at the end of my bills! So if I notice it will be negative I can put in the necessary funds. So I have now started to use a Monzo account card for my everyday shopping so that I have my main account in order. Monzo account is good in that it sends message whenever I spend and it also tells me what I have left until my next month end. Monzo can also split bills with friends etc and as it’s not my main account I don’t worry about using it in corner shops just in case my card gets cloned. 

Welldone dear for having reached your yearly OP limit! I don’t have a limit but even then its going to take me a while to pay 10% of my mortgage in any one year but will give it a go one year. Which makes me wonder if I should forget about  insisting on no OP limit when I remortgage next year? Will see as 10% does not seem little for what it will for now £46k. 

A Mulberry bag sounds like the kind of thing to do after a lockdown! I do understand your “urge” to go shopping. 

Yes divorce is the kind of expense which you can only count after you are done for it surely can have its twists and turns as the other party can just make it unnecessarily expensive due to unnecessary complications. I hope your divorce will finalise soon so that you can close that chapter. Hugs X

For me the save 12k in 2020 is something I just stumbled upon and decided to take up but I don’t have any plans with the money. So it’s a “just because”. 

X