Twenty-something's aim to be mortgage free

wh_em

varfor said:

Good luck with the work situation

Things are obviously not back to normal but it makes such a difference being able to visit family, watch the football etc

It's great having the premier league games back. I've quite enjoyed turning the fake crowd noise off and hearing the players / coaching staff

Thank you! It definitely does make a difference, you're right
I've kept the crowd noise on, I think it adds to the excitement!

wh_em

Competsoph said:

@wh_em

Are you intending on saving up a bulk and then using that to pay off a chunk of the mortgage or overpaying each month? Just curious as I’m hoping I’ll be able to pay extra and unsure in which way to do it. 

We went back to see our house today, it made me even more excited. And the floors and ceilings are better than I remember! So looking forward to things moving on. 

I send my overpayments as soon as possible. Interest is charged daily so the quicker the OPs go on the less balance there is to charge interest!

Oh how lovely! Does it need much work when you move in or is it fairly new?

wh_em

Good morning!

I finally had a bit of a lie in this morning. For the last week I've been awake before 6:30am every day, full with energy. Managed to sleep in until 7:30am today! 

Yesterday was really lovely for the most part, Mrs wh_em's parents and grandparents came over, however her grandma was rubbish at socially distancing - it was incredibly frustrating. And we differ vastly on political stances with her grandad and he HAS to start some sort of "debate" every time we see him. I left the table and started clearing up. I don't mind a discussion when somebody is willing to listen but he will ask something and then never let you finish because he's too busy trying to get jabs in. It's a waste of energy but Mrs wh_em still entertains it. Although I felt very smug at one point when they were talking about pensions and he said to Mrs wh_em and I: "This probably goes right over your head" and Mrs wh_em and her mum jumped in and said "no Wh_em is very good at that sort of thing" and he seemed shocked so HA!

I think I've had about 3 NSDs this week so that's really promising, nothing else financial to report really. Have a good one

Competsoph

@wh_em oh yes I suppose it makes sense then. I have savings so I suppose I don’t need to save a chunk before paying it off. That’s a good idea then!

And yes, I understand your family situation we also have a member like that in the family. Very irritating at times! I often have NSD without really noticing and even though we nipped to the shops this weekend and I had a voucher I really couldn’t be bothered queuing when I don’t really want or need anything. I think now we have a goal it’ll be even easier to look towards something. 

wh_em

@Competsoph I think its the days where I forget about NSD are the more successful ones!

wh_em

Good morning - brace yourselves this could be a long one!

Bit of a lazy one yesterday. I woke up later than usual, put a load of laundry on and put it out when finished, loaded the dishwasher, sat outside and ate lunch and then decided I needed a nap! 2 hours later I resurfaced and carried on sitting outside in the sun and then finished off tidying the kitchen and doing another load of laundry. I still managed to sleep when I went to bed last night so I must have needed that extra! I think sometimes it can be like that, you can go fine on less sleep for a few days/a week and then all of a sudden you just need that little bit more to top yourself back up.

Payday today! I have kept back my usual £44 that I normally put in my investments category and sent it to my emergency fund. I'm conscious that I've only got 3 more furlough paydays left and our mortgage payment starts again in August. I'll keep hold of it for now but I love seeing my LISA balance creep up every Tuesday so that's gutting   This month I've managed to contribute a total of £166.32 into the E-fund which makes the total £926.73. My aim this month was to push it over the £900 mark so I'm pretty pleased with that. So £926.73 plus another £800 lined up for the August mortgage payment will ensure all my share of the bills for July and August are paid, buying me two extra months of unemployment should the worst happen! Fingers crossed July will be back to normal though.

I'm really pleased with my spending this month, here are some spending figures after removing the mortgage payment:
March - £1890
April - £1165
May - £1350
June - £930

So to go from £1890 of spending in March to £930 this month is really good. If I only I had done that for the last 3 months! However, some of the overspending for that time was much needed, if I hadn't spent so much on DIY and the garden I think I probably would have gone mad. And besides March started out as a normal month with normal pay, how was I to know that the whole country was going to come to a standstill?! That's no excuse, I know.

This whole thing has made me realise how important an Emergency fund is and how important it is to have income insurance. I do have income insurance but it doesn't cover me for situations like this, I think it covers me after 3 months of illness. When its all over I might give them a call and make some changes so I'm covered for absolutely EVERYTHING. Does anyone else have income insurance? How has it worked out for you?

Have a good one x

ruby_eskimo

You've just prompted me to go and look at my emergency fund situation and while my actual EF could only cover a month of expenses at the moment, I have easy access to the other savings pots which can be called on to cover any shortfalls (especially the holiday fund which looks like it won't be getting much use this year!) so I don't feel quite so bad!  You've done really well to get your spending down so much in such a short space of time.  I assume this is for all your outgoings including bills etc?  

We have income insurance tied up with our critical illness and life insurance cover which we got when we took out the mortgage.  Due to DH's pre-exisiting medical issues we could only get cover with LV but it worked out half the cost of the standard offering from Scottish Widows so was actually pretty pleased with that.  I think the income insurance covers us for 6 months for a few things  but would have to double check the policy and pretty sure it doesn't cover global pandemics  

wh_em

@ruby_eskimo it’s all my outgoings (inc bills) except for the mortgage. I thought it would be a better representation as we haven’t paid it for 2 months!
I’m glad you have over a month of emergency fund, that’s a nice secure feeling to have!

My income insurance was really difficult to get because I have had mental health issues in the past and I obviously have to disclose that to them. Only after 15 years since the last “episode” can I get insurance that doesn’t have constraints. I do wonder if ANY policy covers you for pandemics!!

wh_em

wh_em said:

I'm really pleased with my spending this month, here are some spending figures after removing the mortgage payment:
March - £1990
April - £1300
May - £1600
June - £1200

I've just realised that these figures include any contributions I've made to my investments category! I'm going to go back and amend my comment as I feel like its not really "spending" if its being saved elsewhere!

wh_em

wh_em said:

I'm really pleased with my spending this month, here are some spending figures after removing the mortgage payment:
March - £1890
April - £1165
May - £1350
June - £930

So to go from £1890 of spending in March to £930 this month is really good. If I only I had done that for the last 3 months! However, some of the overspending for that time was much needed, if I hadn't spent so much on DIY and the garden I think I probably would have gone mad. And besides March started out as a normal month with normal pay, how was I to know that the whole country was going to come to a standstill?! That's no excuse, I know.

There we go, that's better! I have HALVED my non-mortgage outgoings from March. Incredible! I can see that my savings rate into my investments (LISA, S&S ISA & mortgage OPs) has more than doubled from March, I really wanted to focus on getting my savings rate up so that's nice to see. March was an expensive month because that was when I moved in (Mrs wh_em came along two weeks later) which meant I had to start the food cupboards from scratch and buy lots of little bits and pieces here and there for the flat that we needed. It's not looking nearly as bad as I thought, we are getting there! Hopefully I can maintain it for the foreseeable future.