The Hen House Chronicles

MerryHen

Hello folks,

Former lurker and MFW frequenter here returning with a new name and diary. I haven't been around these parts for a while but was part of the Mortgage Free Wannabees challenge in 2016 and 2017 and even started my own (short lived) MFW diary in summer 2017. Life took a horribly unexpected change of direction that autumn when our newborn son suddenly and unexpectedly died, there's no way to put a fine point on this, all our carefully laid out plans, our hopes for the future, just everything about our lives came crashing down and we've been working on building them up again since.

Since then I've barely looked at our mortgage or any of our finances and I stopped coming on here. Being at home more recently though got me thinking again about this little part of the internet so I plucked up the courage to look at my old diary and even though it was written by a different me in what feels like a different lifetime my plans for mortgage freedom and building my family's future remain the same, it didn't feel right resurrecting that diary though so here's my shiny new diary instead.

So, a few things that have happened since my last diary:

•  We put a pause on over-paying the mortgage with any sort of regularity after DS died, we just overpaid a lump sum every now and again.
• I stopped keeping an eye on our finances, we're still in an ok position financially and not in any debt or anything but I have less idea of what our money is doing or what our spending is like any more. This is something I'd like to start getting on top of again.
• Frugality went out the window, we're naturally quite frugal people anyway but I became less conscious of money saving and developed a but of an Amazon habit.
• DH changed jobs and now works from home.
• After finishing maternity leave I decided not to return to my main job, I had some self employment work I could do from home so I just did this.
• We welcomed our second child in early 2019, she is wonderful addition to our family (and in no way a replacement for our son.)

Between surviving grief, our second pregnancy and the first year parenting our living child I've only recently felt like I have the breathing space to start thinking about making house plans again, I'm quite excited!

So here goes! Here begins my plans for mortgage freedom and building our family's future while we build our family home. Here begins the Hen House Chronicles.

MerryHen

A few figures

As the stars of the show I thought they deserved their own post 

Mortgage Feb 16: £142,480 @ 2.89% on a five year fix, over an initial 16 year term.

Current balance: £75325.58
Total overpayments: £33,118.52
Total paid: £77878.58

Original redemption date: Feb 2032
Current redemption date: Dec 2027

Daily Interest: £11.28 Feb 16 to £5.95 today
Time off total term: 4 years and 2 months

Approx interest saved: £13-14k! (I can't remember how I used to work this one out but I think that's about right over the lifetime of the mortgage)

longway2go

Welcome Merry Hen, 
Firstly I would like to say how sorry I am to read about your son Xx
Secondly I want to wish you and your family happiness for the times ahead. You seem to be doing really well getting rid of the mortgage and posting in here really does help. I will be following your journey to freedom and cheering you along.
Lwtg x

[Deleted User]

Hey Merry Hen. Your title drew me in but then to read of the sadness that your family has been through. You sound ready to roll up your sleeves again. I have bookmarked your diary and will be cheering you on. 

Cornish_mum

Hi Merry Hen,
I am very sorry for the loss of your son. Best of luck with your MF journey.  xCM

teapot2

Welcome back Merryhen, sad to hear of the loss of your DS, you've been through a lot as a family and I wish you all the best with your plans.  I too returned to the MF forum after a long absence following a bereavement and found it to be a very welcoming space.  Like you I never completely lost my frugal ways but circumstances meant that I took my eye off the finances and lost my way a bit.  Having a diary on here has really helped me to refocus so I hope yours will do that too

dark^knight

Hi MerryHen, really sorry to hear about your son. Wishing you and your family the best wishes for the future.

x

Jessy103

So sorry for your loss, MerryHen and wishing all the best to you and your family. Good luck with your journey x

greent

Welcome back to MFW, MerryHen! Sorry to hear about your baby boy x 

Wishing you and your family all the best on your MF adventures from hereon in x

jenni_fer

welcome back MerryHen! Sorry for your loss. x

MerryHen

Thanks for the kind welcome backs everyone  

Noaidi said:

Hey Merry Hen. Your title drew me in but then to read of the sadness that your family has been through. You sound ready to roll up your sleeves again. I have bookmarked your diary and will be cheering you on. 

Thank you! I only thought to Google my diary name after choosing it and realised there's a book by the same name (to which I'm in no way connected  )

teapot2 said:

Welcome back Merryhen, sad to hear of the loss of your DS, you've been through a lot as a family and I wish you all the best with your plans.  I too returned to the MF forum after a long absence following a bereavement and found it to be a very welcoming space.  Like you I never completely lost my frugal ways but circumstances meant that I took my eye off the finances and lost my way a bit.  Having a diary on here has really helped me to refocus so I hope yours will do that too

Thanks Teapot, and I'm sorry about your DH. You're right, even as a previous lurker I remember it feeling like a very welcoming space, I'm glad to have found my way back