SLLM (Single Lady Large Mortgage)

curlywurly82

I asked my mortgage broker about offsets when I was buying, for me it wasn't worth the extra.

He mentioned they were most suited to self employed people who could put a considerable deposit down but needed flexibility due to the nature of being self employed. Also if they had irregular incomes and could make a large payment at times but may need to draw it down in quieter times.

So I had a disasterous trip to IKEA, I got there and it was extremely busy. Then the item was too heavy for me to manhandle back of the trolley into the car. It never made it onto the trolley as I realised as soon as I picked it up so it went back on the pile.

IKEA charge £40 delivery so it will have to wait until I can find some help. 

Sistergold

@curlywurly82, I have also not ordered from IKEA due to their delivery charge, £40 is a lot. At least some places once you shop for a certain amount there is no cleverly charge. 

LadyWithAPlan

curlywurly82 said:

I asked my mortgage broker about offsets when I was buying, for me it wasn't worth the extra.

He mentioned they were most suited to self employed people who could put a considerable deposit down but needed flexibility due to the nature of being self employed. Also if they had irregular incomes and could make a large payment at times but may need to draw it down in quieter times.

This is super useful as this describes me, so thanks for posting his feedback  They are about 0.6% more at present but I think after my first fix I will be on that offset as they do look motivating as well.

slm6002

Hi all, I hope you are all doing ok.  I have a query for you all.  I have asked several architects to come and quote to do some work for me over the past 3-4 weeks.  So far only 1 has gotten back to me out of 6 or 7 after this long.  Should I wait and hope i can find some others in order to compare prices, or should I get going and take his quote and start the process.  Having never had a project like this before I have no idea what to expect price wise.  To draw a porch including toilet is £980.  This will include applying for planning permission on my behalf too.  I am in the southeast UK.  My heart wants to just go with it so it has started but head needs to be sensible as I don't have an endless pot of money

Sistergold

Hello @slm6002, anything to do with construction seems to be really difficult at the moment. Somehow due to covid we all want our houses to be better and also there was a bit of slowdown due to us all just focusing on staying alive. Getting anyone in for anything is really tricky. If I were you I would look at if the architect is in-fact reputable then I will just go ahead and do it rather than wait for the sake of the price. If you want to get more quotes then you might be better off waiting altogether for a year plus and hope that construction will go back to normal? At present I think they are overwhelmed and would not want to turn up for “smaller projects”. XX  

slm6002

Thank you.  My family say I must always get at least 3 quotes but at the moment its just not possible.  I have been trying but no luck.  I appreciate your advice.  He seemed nice which is a good start but I will look at his reviews.  I really do just want to get going as I feel I have been in limbo for so long already.

slm6002

I've had a look and all the reviews that I can find are 5 start ones.  I expected maybe a disgruntled person to have put something in maybe but nothing as far as I can see.  I think after seeing these and the feel that I got, I will go for it.  I have just sent him an email

Sistergold

@slm6002, good luck with the architect. 

Sistergold

Hello all you lovely ladies. 

It’s Monday already and August almost coming to an end! Time is surely flying! 

I have not done a financial update in a while. 

Mortgage payments and regular OP has been going like clockwork and I am happy to announce that I have reached the little exciting milestone of below £420k balance being ~£419k! 👯‍♀️👯‍♀️👯‍♀️🎉🎉🎉🥳🥳🥳

Last week though I took the painful decision of reducing my regular OP from £840 to £50 only. This reduction will start in September. I just want to push all funds into the building fund as it has now been stuck at £35k. I have had some expenditures renovating my mom’s property abroad as it was in a state of disrepair. I don’t really mind doing this for her but it has really drained quite a bit of my savings and diverted my savings potential. I am at the end of financing the renovations and a few more thousands should finish that up. It has been nice seeing the house restored to its former glory, don’t really mind doing that for her - lovely woman she is. 

Well now it’s back to doing things for my own comfort and I now need to get back on track and see how I can inch towards my savings goal of £100k in the building fund. I want to be able to save an extra £1k a month and that’s why I have to divert money from OPs for now. This is okay as previously I pumped in over £20k towards OPs. I am hoping that if I bump up savings if the building industry starts getting normal I can get some or all of the extensions and renovations done. I need to build up for a possible opportunity to do the works. 

Decluttering is still ongoing and have been to the dumps here and there. As the children have been away I just remembered that I have a robotic vacuum and so have been letting her do her thing. I just realised how much I have missed my Sue. I did name the robot Suzan I really don’t know why but that’s the name which came to mind in 2019 when I made the purchase, it has been called Susan ever since.  I do apologise to any one named Susan reading this now or in the future, please take comfort in knowing that I love my Sue to bits! As we all know robot vacuums can not cope with objects on the floor so when children are around I just don’t bother getting Sue to work as she will be getting stuck it’s hopeless! 

Front garden has been doing well! Not much fox 💩 but saw some poo pile over the weekend so I will need to ask dear son to wee in a potty and pour over the poo so that Mr fox can stay away for some time! Things we have to do to keep our territory, hey? 

My older sister is visiting me this Friday and going back Sunday. I have not seen her for the longest time. She came to visit 2019 when I moved into my house and then covid hit and we just never bothered as she is up north! Now the length of time without seeing each other is embarrassingly long and it now has to be done just incase another lockdown happens!(hopefully not) 

Happy savings ladies! Xx

LadyWithAPlan

Well done on hitiiting the £419s.
It must be annoying to divert the savings but even a little payment of £50 will at least feel like you are still moving forward.

What is the 100k going on, is it an extension or new kitchen etc?

I am going to start home hunting from Sept 1st so.. it will take a fair amount of time I think as I still am not decided on the area.