Squirreling Away Those Nuts

Squirrelz92

I have spent endless hours on this forum reading through countless people's diaries from start to finish, forever inspired by everyone's life goals, unexpected events and motivation to get those extra pennies knocked off their balance come month end! After much thought, I have finally decided it was about time to take the plunge and create my own mortgage free wannabe diary. 

I bought my first home on the 3rd August 2020 after saving vigorously for many years in-between studying at university full time, working 20 hours a week and taking care of my two minions (now 6 and 8). It's been damn tough and I have had to sacrifice a lot along the way, but god it's worth it in the end to finally have a house that's YOURS! My house is a rough and ready reno job which will no doubt still not be finished by the time I decide to sell up and buy my forever home in 10-12 years time I would love to be able to pay off whatever I can as and when I can afford to do so, in order to give me as much of a shot as possible to reach that end goal of being able to afford my little countryside plot.

I have three lots of savings going on which makes it so much harder to juggle and prioritise; the first batch of savings being the renovation pot. Work needs doing to the house from top to bottom and I am saving up to get these done as and when I have enough money. Rewiring was paid for and completed on the day of moving in. I have just had a brand new bathroom suite fitted which emptied the pot again! My second lot of savings is my emergency fund. I plan to get that up to £5000 initially and then go from there. Finally, I have my overpayments pot. I try to put bits and bobs in to tidy things up every week and then at the end of each week I transfer to my mortgage

A bit of background: I am currently on a 3 year grad scheme (at the ripe old age of 27) after achieving my 1st class in Accounting. I am now studying for my ACCA exams (during the evening once the minions are in bed) to gain my qualified status. Once I achieve this, then the only way is up for my salary! My partner is fully on board with my finance plan and is happy to let me do my thing. I'm the very organised one when it comes to money and I'm keen on teaching him my ways I've a hectic life which shows no chance of slowing down any time soon so it's all systems go with the finances and this diary to help me keep track of how far I've come and the long journey ahead. 
Looking forward to sharing! 

Gemma x

Squirrelz92

Ok, so my mortgage on the 3rd August was £97,750 The first month I made no overpayments naturally as I was solely focusing on moving in, unpacking and trying not to blow a gasket! It's so stressful. Thank the gods I won't have to do it again now for many moons to come. I have moved from rental to rental since I was 18 so it's soooo nice to be able to settle in one place that isn't going to get taken away from me. 

In September (including my final overpayment today) I have managed to squirrel away £198.45 to my mortgage overpayments This takes me to £97,100 for the 30th Sept before my normal mortgage payment of £313 comes out on the first. It's rather annoying that I get paid on the 20th as I have to wait 10/11 days for all of my main direct debits/standing orders to come out before I feel as though I am allowed buy anything I need or want. Don't want to risk spending money that's actually not there once the bills have been paid. Might be worth ringing Halifax to ask if I can move my mortgage to the 20th along with all my other bills....

Gemma x

the_cross_rabbit

Good luck 
CRx

Hazelnutty

Welcome and good luck! 

Squirrelz92

I received an email stating that the second half of my holiday refund had been returned to me today. Turns out they have tried to credit it to an old card that no longer exists. Absolute nightmare trying to ring them up. They wont release my £1200 back to me without sending them a copy of the closing bank statement to prove it is no longer valid. I spent 50 minutes on the phone in a queue whilst at work trying to get through to Halifax before they cut me off! If it were possible to release steam from the ears I would have looked like a steam train! Finally got through to someone on the second attempt and they are sending out a copy of the closed bank account. 5-10 working days it will take! Aah well, at least the ball is rolling.

Busy evening. My youngest has gymnastics, my other half is out for the evening looking after his children and I as always have my studying to attack. My eldest will no doubt beg to play Fortnite, but we are currently implementing a reward system. Earn stars for time on the Xbox. He is slowly running out of his star accumulation from the last 3 weeks so he is starting to play less and less to try and keep hold of them! I've no idea why he doesnt just read for 15 minutes or do a job for me and earn more stars! Omelette for tea as scheduled. Debating a run with the eldest and the dogs as I didn't return home at lunch time as normal today due to work cleaning my car (was damaged during building works with industrial spray paint). On a plus note, my car is very sparkly  

Gemma x

longway2go

Hi, just wanted to pop on and wish you lots of luck with everything. It sounds like you have lots going on but that's clearly something that you take in your stride. I'm sure you will do great. 

Squirrelz92

Morning Well i am obviously new to this whole mortgage/overpayments and interest malarky so I am rather confuzzled as to why my mortgage balance has hardly moved and why the interest added is so monstrous. I started on £97,750 on the 3rd August. I made my first mortgage payment on the 1st Sept including interest which came to £451.55. Payments would then resume at their normal amount of £313 on the 1st of every month after. Today my mortgage payment was £312.91. In the month of September I overpaid £198.45. So why is it that they have added back on £281.29 worth of interest when my fixed rate is only 1.79%?! Rather gutted as it means that my monthly mortgage payment is barely touching the sides and overpaying in small amounts is hardly worth it?! Is there anyone who can shed some light as I am stumped. Sorry if it's a stupid question....

Anyway, moving onto brighter things its my last full day at work for the week as I have booked the afternoon off tomorrow to run some errands before going away for the weekend for my partners birthday Excited as he has he no idea where I am taking him! I have managed to keep it to myself for almost 8 weeks and it's killing me! He wont work it out until we actually get there so I am hoping the surprise makes it all the more enjoyable and worthwhile  

Gemma x

Squirrelz92

After a little bit of googling and research, I now understand why my interest added is so high. For the first few years you tend to pay off more interest using your monthly payments than the principal amount. As time passes and your overall amount owed reduces, your monthly payments start to pay off more of the principal and less of the interest as this reduces over time due as it directly relates to the amount you owe the bank  Got to love a bit of light reading! Don't feel so crappy about it now! I shall continue to forage and pay off what I can. I would like to aim for around £200 in overpayments a month Sorry for the ramble!

Gemma x

Young_worker

Squirrelz92 said:

Ok, so my mortgage on the 3rd August was £97,750 The first month I made no overpayments naturally as I was solely focusing on moving in, unpacking and trying not to blow a gasket! It's so stressful. Thank the gods I won't have to do it again now for many moons to come. I have moved from rental to rental since I was 18 so it's soooo nice to be able to settle in one place that isn't going to get taken away from me. 

In September (including my final overpayment today) I have managed to squirrel away £198.45 to my mortgage overpayments This takes me to £97,100 for the 30th Sept before my normal mortgage payment of £313 comes out on the first. It's rather annoying that I get paid on the 20th as I have to wait 10/11 days for all of my main direct debits/standing orders to come out before I feel as though I am allowed buy anything I need or want. Don't want to risk spending money that's actually not there once the bills have been paid. Might be worth ringing Halifax to ask if I can move my mortgage to the 20th along with all my other bills....

Gemma x

Could you set up a separate current account for all bill direct debits (presuming you are on direct debit) and the mortgage payment? If its all set up so that the direct debits/standing orders are the same amounts every month you can just make one transfer on pay day to this bills account and then the rest of the money left in your spending current account is just for spending and no need to worry about what is coming out when. Just a thought

Squirrelz92

@Young_worker That is a smashing idea! I shall look into this today! Dear dear why did I not ever think of this?! Thank youuu!

Squirrelz92

Summary of September:

Mortgage Outstanding at 1st September     £97298.45
Overpayments Made During September     £198.45
Interest Added Back On    £281.29
Mortgage Payment     £312.91
Mortgage Outstanding at 1st Oct     £97068.38

Not bad for the first month. I know it will feel as though making a dent in my mortgage amount owed will take forever, but overpayments will soon play their part Here's to another month of scavenging!

Gemma x