Twenty-something's aim to be mortgage free

wh_em

Managed to make a small over payment of £16 on the mortgage yesterday, meaning the over payment total is at £141 now. These payments that I'm making at the moment aren't a lot but its all I can do which is better than nothing. 

Also managed to get £165 knocked off my car insurance renewal which feels great! £662 this year which is £150 less than last year. When I turned 25 I was so excited because I thought my car insurance was finally going to come down... nope! That was the year they decided to increase the premiums for everyone it seems. 

Another piece of good news is that my old boss called yesterday, he told me that my furlough is going to be until the end of July (not good news) and although he can't say what will happen after that he's looking to "poach" me for the next project. He even said that if I work with him he'll let me work from home, which would be amazing! No more commuting, time saved, money saved. Mrs wh_em got all excited about the idea but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. We just have to let these things play out.

Since effectively losing my job in March because of Covid-19 (and thankfully getting furloughed a month later) its really put things into perspective for me. I have always been somebody who wanted to work really hard when they're young so they can enjoy an early retirement but it dawned on me that retirement and later years is not guaranteed for everyone. I know that's a bleak way of looking at it. But imagine if I spent the next 15-20 years busting my hump to retire early, only to die a week later. Having these 3-4 months off, paid has been a godsend really. It's given me a good shake and made me reevaluate my priorities. I do want to be somewhat financially independent, pay off the mortgage sooner rather than later and retire a little earlier than most but I cannot do it at the cost of my younger years and the experiences I'll have now that can't/may not be had later. It's a balancing act that I need to perfect.

wh_em

So far this month we've only made one purchase for the garden £37 for some reed screening so we can make our patio area more private away from the neighbours. I was trying to go the whole month without spending any money on DIY or the garden but alas, it wasn't meant to be! Our neighbours are starting to have guests over (socially distanced) in their garden and Mrs Wh_em and I agreed we had better get the screening up as a priority. We really like our neighbours but we didn't feel like we could go out onto our patio while they were in their garden yesterday.

On Saturday we had a very chilled day of just having a tv binge. We haven't sat down and done nothing on a weekend for months, it was lovely! Yesterday I made up for it by hoovering Mrs wh_em's car, cleaning the bathroom and WC from top to bottom and then in the afternoon we picked up a cupboard for free from FB Marketplace. We're going to use the cupboard in the 3rd bedroom/utility area as storage for the cleaning stuff and all the cat food/litter etc. I was so tired of it all being in boxes or stacked on the floor so it was nice to finally do something about it.

Today I popped to B&Q, they didn't have the screening I wanted so I ordered it online, it'll get delivered in a few days. I've never put screening up before and for some strange reason Mrs Wh_em has put a lot of faith in me with DIY so when she says "we can put screening up" what she really means is "wh_em...YOU can put screening up!"

When I got back from the trip out I asked our neighbour opposite if I could use some of the wood he's got in his skip, he told me I could help myself. So I took enough to make a small garden trough/bed to put two tomato plants in. We picked up the tomato plants off the side of the road yesterday. They were free but we left some money in the tray anyway. I spent an hour or so putting a trough together and now I'm back to twiddling my thumbs. It's so difficult not spending money when you're not at work to keep you distracted!

julicorn

Hi wh_em! I'm excited to follow your diary, we've got a fair few things in common (South East, in our 20s, YNAB users, yay!), so I can't wait to see how you are getting on

wh_em

julicorn said:

Hi wh_em! I'm excited to follow your diary, we've got a fair few things in common (South East, in our 20s, YNAB users, yay!), so I can't wait to see how you are getting on

Ah thanks julicorn! I had no idea we had those things in common I'm really struggling with YNAB at the moment, I feel like its shaming me haha

wh_em

Ok so remember when I said we weren't going to spend any money on the flat/garden this month? Turns out that was a lie! At about 4pm last night I saw this really nice outdoor wooden table on FB marketplace for £100 and I knew Mrs wh_em was really keen to get a patio table finally. I thought £100 was pretty reasonable as its in really good condition, seats six and after we set it up it really made the difference to our patio.

I worked really hard in April/May to get the patio sorted: digging up what was there, lowering the whole surface by about half a metre and then relaying the patio again. So its really nice to see a project that I started AND managed to finish. Our flat feels like a whole lot of unfinished things going on at the moment - it can be quite demotivating. 

Sometimes I think back fondly to the times (1.5 years ago) before we bought this place and before I moved in with Mrs Wh_em. I just rented a box room in my friend's mum's house. It just fit my small double bed and a chest of drawers with a little patch of carpet. It was so easy to keep that room immaculate and my only financial responsibility was paying £300 a month in rent! Then I remember that I've wanted the life I have now for years and I've finally got it. It's mad and I'm so thankful.

julicorn

wh_em said:

julicorn said:

Hi wh_em! I'm excited to follow your diary, we've got a fair few things in common (South East, in our 20s, YNAB users, yay!), so I can't wait to see how you are getting on

Ah thanks julicorn! I had no idea we had those things in common I'm really struggling with YNAB at the moment, I feel like its shaming me haha

Haha, I feel like that about the sheer amount of money we've been spending on groceries over the last few months  It's like YNAB is just angry at me. Ah well. 

kaycastle

hehe I sometimes have those thoughts back to when life was simpler But you're right, we wouldn't change it for the world!
I'm very jealous of your patio work :P This is something we need to get to work on and really need to start by chopping down a lot of bushes. I have the same thoughts about trying to make the most of life now while doing enough to not be worried if I'm made redundant in late 40s/50s and also having no mortgage so that I can literally do any job to get by as without mortgage I could do part time

wh_em

kaycastle said:

I have the same thoughts about trying to make the most of life now while doing enough to not be worried if I'm made redundant in late 40s/50s and also having no mortgage so that I can literally do any job to get by as without mortgage I could do part time

Its such a juggling act making sure everything is alright/will be alright! Are you in a job right now that would make it likely that you could be made redundant at a later stage?

wh_em

A couple of nights ago I had a chat with Mrs wh_em as we were falling asleep (probably not the best time!) and I started explaining that we need to get her set up with a S&S LISA and a S&S ISA. I mentioned it again yesterday and she's all for it. So this morning I have opened a S&S LISA for her with £1 (got to start somewhere!) and we've agreed that I'll get this account topped up to the £4000 threshold with the money I owe her. Its important to me that our finances are on an equal footing, I'm 4 years older than her so its natural that I'm a bit ahead.

Yesterday the screening arrived so I put that up around our patio area, it looks sooo nice now I can't believe it! What a transformation and we only spent about £200 on the whole thing. £100 of that on the table and chairs. We can't wait to add to it by buying some more shrubs and adding a bit of colour to the whole area.

wh_em

I just walked to the post office to drop off something I sold on ebay and as I was walking back I was doing some calculations in my head and it sent me into a bit of a spin. I'm basing all these sums off of my current furloughed income rather than my income before furlough (and hopefully my income when I get my job back!) so I know it seems worse than it is. But once I start adding up all my monthly and annual bills I feel a bit panicked. On top of all this I have to repay some personal loans AND try to save for our wedding. Yikes! I think I need to stop looking so hard at the budget for a while, just get my head down and save what I can but not over analyse it like I have been doing.