Climbing hills

Every_penny

April is here and it's a bonus payout month! I also got my first solar panel FIT cheque so I'm feeling happy about that. The FIT return was only £130 for 5 and a half months but they were the winter period; I'm excited to see next quarters readings, especially after this recent spate of sunny weather. I managed an overpayment of over £530 which has brought the mortgage down to 231,000. It'll be nice to see it go below 230,000 in the next couple of months. I could have stretched to more, but I'm also trying to build up my savings for work on the house that needs doing - and it's still yet to be quoted. Non of the work is urgent though, we can live comfortably as-is for now but it'll be nice to get on with a larger project.
Council tax is still being taken out at the old, lower rate so I imagine I'm going to get hit will a bigger bill soon.
I have opened a Moneybox Stocks and Shares account, contributing small amounts each week. I imagine it won't be more than £75 a month, but it's nice to allocate some funds away so I don't get tempted to spend. It's a really nice app to use and I've already seen a 1% return in under a month! My goal is to use this pot for saving towards a new (to us) car. Our car still has plenty of life left in it so there's no urgency there, yet...
I have been dropping hints to my husband to reducing our outgoings, especially on food. We do spend a lot on convenience food and I'm hoping to do more from scratch cooking. My excuse is that it's pretty hard to get in the kitchen as the youngest is constantly wanted to be carried so everything has to be done one handed. Looking forward to this phase ending soon, not that I want to wish their time away faster! 
Happy Spring all! 

Every_penny

A small overpayment of £350 ish this month. It will feel nice to enter the £220K's next month but I'm still such a long way off!
Looking at my diary compared with others, I feel I could do a lot more to reduce the mortgage. However, I do like having the savings and I'm almost equally motivated to keep these increasing as I am to reduce the mortgage. I'm even toying with the idea to move the £10K ISA into a higher performing account or investment. I've enjoyed saving with moneybox and I'm currently seeing a 3.5% return but I'm not sure I want by bulk savings going into such a high risk account.

Once I start to near the end of my two year fixed mortgage period, I'll plan to evaluate the savings pots and dip into them to top up the overpayments as much as I feel comfortable with. Perhaps a better aim for me might be mortgage neutrality.

Great news is that my pay rise was quite a bit more than I was expecting which relates to an extra £350 per month but given the increase in council tax and cost of living in our bigger house, it's sort of neutralised. I am under no illusions that I can go on shopping sprees every month. Now that bills and pay rise have been settled I plan to do an SOA to see where I can improve.

Note: I have a chunk sat in Premium bonds but 2/3rds this pot have been put aside till January for my husbands self-employed tax return. Any return on this will be a happy bonus though!.

Every_penny

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information

Number of adults in household........... 2

Number of children in household......... 2

Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 3676.61

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

Benefits................................ 0

Other income............................ 0

Total monthly income.................... 3676.61

Monthly Expense Details

Mortgage 1................................ 639

Mortgage 2.............. 252

Council tax............................. 308

Electricity & Gas............................. 127

Water rates............................. 68.32

Telephone & Internet ................... 30.05

TV Licence.............................. 13.25

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 9.99

Groceries etc. ......................... 800

Clothing................................ 150

Petrol/diesel........................... 80

Road tax................................ 11

Car Insurance........................... 40

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20

Car parking............................. 6

Childcare/nursery....................... 132

Buildings insurance..................... 20

Life assurance ......................... 20

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 60

Haircuts................................ 30

Entertainment........................... 60

Holiday................................. 50

Emergency fund.......................... 75

Swimming Lessons........................ 108

Personal Pension ....................... 60

Total monthly expenses.................. 3169.61

Assets

Cash.................................... 15000

House value (Gross)..................... 304000

Shares and bonds........................ 1600

Car(s).................................. 5000

Other assets............................ 0

Total Assets............................ 325600

Secured & HP Debts

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 162612...(639)......2.24

Mortgage 2.....................67584....(252)......1.99

Total secured & HP debts...... 230196

Monthly Budget Summary

Total monthly income.................... 3,676.61

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,169.61

Available for debt repayments........... 507

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0

Amount left after debt repayments....... 507

Personal Balance Sheet Summary

Total assets (things you own)........... 325,600

Total HP & Secured debt................. -230,196

Total Unsecured debt.................... -0

Net Assets.............................. 95,404

Created using the SOA calculator at www.LemonFool.co.uk. 
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.
Notes:

• Mobile is paid for by work. 
• Excludes bonus of 2 x £1800 per year after tax
• Excludes any FIT from Solar panels - estimated £600 per year
  

caeler

Great news about the pay rise. Remember to go at your own pace, over pay what you feel comfortable with. And I agree having some savings is really nice. Think of savings as becoming mortgage neutral. It all counts! 

powerspowers

I think a good savings buffer is really important as you’re the only one earning. Are you feeling settled in the new home yet? 

remote_control

I had a look at the SOA and the thing that really jumped out was the groceries. We are a family of 4 and ours is around £550 a month and I've always thought that was high! Does the £800 include meals out? 

debtfreeoneday

We budget £11.50 a day for groceries and even that could reduce as I don’t always spend the budget each week.. so £800 jumped out at me too. 

Every_penny

The grocery budget is definitely the target to reduce. It doesn't help that my husband does the cooking and therefore most of the shopping. Also, that includes his tobacco as he smokes - another thing I'm desperate for him to stop. I could easily take £200 - 300 off this without the tobacco and if I were in charge of mealtimes. However, I'm the only one working and kids are home all the time so often meal prep is difficult and we resort to convenience food. Definitely something to address though.

debtfreeoneday

It isn’t easy to be fair. Life is busy enough. 

Every_penny

I missed last month's update due to a trying time at work and kids being sick. We returned from our week holiday away in a caravan on Friday so I feel more energised. The trip away was great but not very MSE as we ate out a lot, but I did budget for it and didn't overspend.

In revisiting my spending and looking more closely at where my money is going, I realise now that it is actually me splurging on luxury things like clothes I don't really need or facials, that I could really go without and put towards the mortgage.I was blaming my husband for overspending on the food, but in reality it's me!
I'm struggling to find a balance between rewarding myself and the long term benefits of paying off the mortgage so it really feels like I'm only making teeny tiny dents with the overpayments.

The last two months I made £150 overpayments as I decided that I would aim to get under £220K for October 2022 when the mortgage renewal is up. Overpaying by £150 each month would then give me access to 75% LTV mortgages even at a conservative valuation, 70% if the valuation is generous. Obviously I will try to pay more in when I can, but for now, I'm happy with this small goal. At least I think this target it is achievable based on my current woeful spending and splurging.

I'm in awe of those that manage to be so strict with their cash and overpay so much month in, month out. I do feel motivated when I read all your diaries so please keep up the good work. I strive to be amoung you!