This is it! 2027 is the goal...

Mrs_Binxtoria

Ok so today is the 1st of the month and account shuffles day.

Current mortgage balance - £81,538.87
OP pot - £3684.91/£14,000
Offset pot with mortgage - £77,853.96

This is the first time that I have actually written the figures down like this and it is quite a motivation to make every penny count. I will be making a mortgage OP today of £108.50 according to my spreadsheet but I might just round that up to £110 - it looks tidier :-)

I haven't been too MSE on the grocery front the past couple of days, it is that time of the month and I lose all interest in cooking plus the kids didn't want what was on the meal plan so we have gone to the shops and got pizza or indian meal deals.  Not the most cost effective but better than a takeaway.  Should all be back on track today seeing as it is a new month.

I need to phone up the travel insurance company today to confirm I am covered with my existing medical condition, all these websites are terrible some of them let you put the condition in and others don't.  This particular insurance didn't let me put it in so need to confirm with them before purchasing.

My savings account is going to be sorely depleted this month, as I have the water repair, roof extension and holiday to pay for.  The extension and holiday are all cash flowed from my sinking pots but I have had to dip into the e/f for the roof.  I haven't had the invoice for the water repair yet but have started building the e/f up again.  I will try the insurance company with whom I renewed the policy with earlier this week to see if they will pay out but I am not holding my breath.  Even the contractor said that they might not pay out as most companies find a way out of paying ..... it is so sad that we think we are being responsible and trying to cover ourselves should the worst happen and they always find a loophole somewhere :-(

savingholmes

Good you have an EF.

Right thing to check your travel insurance too.

On the mortgage - interest is calculated daily so the sooner you pay it the better.

Mrs_Binxtoria

I haven't posted for a while so thought that it was about time that I do so! 

It has been a bit of a funny end to the year, we are still battling with the insurance company to pay out for our water leak, that has now gone to the Ombudsman and I should find out at the end of February if they are going to pay out.  If they do any money will go towards an overpayment on the mortgage.

Our car needed some work doing to it so that further depleted the emergency fund, but that is what it is there for.  This year I have decided to track our car expenditure for this year as I really haven't increased the sinking fund with extra costs etc. so this will be a useful exercise.

The good news as that we now have a fully loaded emergency fund again so can tackle the mortgage a bit more.  Current figures in relation to the mortgage are:

Current Balance - £78,155.67
O/Ps made - £775
O/P pot - £4794.82
Total O/P pot - £5569.82/ £14,000
O/P pot offset against mortgage - £73, 360.85

I am really please with these figures and I can start to see the mortgage come down nicely and we are over a third of the way there with the amount needed to bring our mortgage down in time for when our fixed rate ends.

I was dithering about as to whether to save the money and make a lump sum payment or overpay the mortgage, so I have decided to do a bit of both.  My bank has withdrawn the online facility to make overpayments but when I phoned them they said it was all done via their banking app.  I made a £500 O/P on the phone (nice xmas bonus for DH) and downloaded the app, where I can see the facility still exists that you can make up to 3x the monthly mortgage payment without it adversely affecting the mortgage.  I am hoping that this is still around in a couple of years so that I can make my larger O/Ps as I am currently earning interest on the savings.

I am looking forward to this year and DH is onboard as well to have a low spend a year as possible.  If only I would stop looking at holidays......

savingholmes

Step away from the computer.... 

Mrs_Binxtoria

Haha, holidays are our one luxury that we budget for.  I did book a fairly expensive holiday but common sense took hold and we went for a cheaper option instead.  This then freed up some money in the budget to book a UK easter break.

I'm really looking forward to my twins finishing school (2 years) and being mortgage free to be able to go on a few more holidays when it will be cheaper to go out of school holidays!

Mrs_Binxtoria

Managed to make another £110 o/p today - totally unexpected.

I had our water bill through yesterday and with the £30 reward we got for topping up the reservoir my bill for the quarter was £49.19.  I usually budget £120 for the quarter, I never pay this much so any surplus I always shift to the o/p pot.  I had £34 in my tilly tidy pot plus £5 from Prolific, so this combined with the water money gave a nice £110 payment.  I haven't done two payments in a month before so this month have o/p'd by £610 - well chuffed with this.

Also gave me a chance to test out making payments via the app.  The first attempt didn't go through, then on my 3rd attempt at my 2nd attempt (if that makes sense!) it went through.  I was also given instructions to set up payments via my normal bank account straight to the mortgage account so I might see about setting that up for next time :-)

Mrs_Binxtoria

Well another month has passed and I did very well for January.  My food budget came in under budget by the princely sum of 19p - not a massive amount granted, but better this than being over budget.

I have upped my AVCs to 5% as i had an incremental uplift on my salary, so rather than it be absorbed into everyday spending I have directed it towards my pension.

I did my monthly money shuffles yesterday and managed to make another £100 mortgage o/p as DH got paid double time for working Christmas Bank Holidays, we paid some towards the mortgage and put some towards our holiday pot.

My figures for January are as follows:

Mortgage balance £77379.38
O/Ps £985
O/P pot £5128.54
Total O/P pot £6113.54/£14000
O/P offset £71265.84

I am really pleased with this and we are well on track to reaching the £14000 total needed for when we come to remortgage in November 2026.  I am hoping that we can increase it to £20000 and maybe get to a balance of £30000 for then.  Our current plan is then to fix for two years and clear the whole lot then - this of course all depends on interest rates etc.  I don't think we will clear the mortgage for 2027 but we will certainly hope to be mortgage neutral.

It is good to see the numbers reducing quite quickly and I have a goal of the mortgage being under £70000 by the end of the year.

Just off to do my meal plan for next week, we are a bit richer this week as it is the beginning of the month so can have some more adventurous meals.  We usually eat quite well for 3 weeks and then the 4th week is using up what is the freezer/cupboards.

Mrs_Binxtoria

It has been a little while since I last posted but that doesn't mean that I haven't been making any progress towards mortgage freedom.  The numbers are starting to really come down now and by the end of the year we will own 50% of the house.  DH doesn't quite get this as he says our house is worth so much more than we paid for it but I explain to him it is about the money that we owe the bank, once we are down to £70,000 then we will own more of the house than the bank.

The figures to date are as follows:

Mortgage balance £75976.57
O/Ps £1035
O/P pot £5897.89
Total O/P pot £6932.89/£14000
O/P offset £69043.68

I have a Fir$t D1rect regular saver about to mature so £2100 plus the interest will go towards another payment and then I will set up another one for a payment next year.

We have just come back from spending a week in Yorkshire, it was the first time that I have been there but it won't be the last, we will certainly be going back as the scenery is stunning with plenty of walking routes.  Admittedly we didn't do as many as we usually do as I have teenagers who just don't want to do anything   so DH and I will go back ourselves when they are older/flown the nest.

Our next holiday is to Spain in the summer, which I am looking forward to.  We haven't been there before so new adventures await 

I am back to work on Monday so making the most of my last few days left.  I have a meal plan to sort out for next week and unusually I have some requests for meals so that is half the job done.  I am really trying to follow a healthy lifestyle and fit in with a vegetarian in the house so try to plan 2 x meat, 3 x veggie and 2 x fish meals a week which seems to work.  But lately DS is really baulking against the veggie meals and resorts to cereal instead, I refuse to cook separate meals!!

I need to be frugal for the rest of this month so will look at emptying out the freezer first, I have loads of leftover meals to use up, fortunately it won't be pot luck surprise as it is all labelled   I am making some carrot and parsnip soup for lunch and will be making a big salad with chicken shawarma for tea this evening to use up what is left in the fridge before shopping.