Our Mortgage Free Journey

Ami-Rose

helensbiggestfan said:

Hi.  Well done you on deciding to overpay your mortgage before you have even bought your house. You must be super efficient and organised.  

Hope the move goes smoothly. It would be nice if you could be in your new home for Christmas.   

Thanks helensbiggestfan! I come across as organised, but I usually fall down at the execution. 😂 Hoping that by having a diary it will hold me accountable!

Ami-Rose

Morning!

SOA was a bit of a bust yesterday in terms of getting one I can share, but it did highlight some of the extra things we'll need to put money aside for each month such as a house maintenance fund. Over the weekend if I get a chance I'll do it on the laptop so I can share it.

Checked my bank this morning and the cheque I paid in the other day has cleared. We had to scrap my car because it was d.e.a.d. so that was the £50 tax refund we got back. Moved it into the emergency/furniture fund so we're up to £423.64 in there. Thinking of setting an actual goal to track, but that will have to wait until Little's nap later.

This morning's task is to call the solicitor for an update and then we're off to feed the ducks!

Have a good day everyone!

Ami-Rose

Spoke to the solicitor and things are a lot closer to completing than their last estimate! I didn't know things are different in NI (forgot to mention I'm originally from England), we don't actually exchange over here. Once everyone has their mortgage offers in place and all other checks are done we both sign the offer and that's that!

So since everyone has their offers, our solicitor is going to see where we're all at with other checks and get back to me with a more realistic timeline. He said it's possible, but unlikely, that things could go through as soon as next week! 😳 So I'm adjusting my expectations to the second half of November.

Now we have to work out HOW to move, since we likely won't have any help. My mum might come over from England to help (she's been visiting to provide care/medical assistance already, we are very careful and taking it seriously) but realistically that's still only 3 of us compared to the whole family that would usually pitch in.

Guess we could be starting our mortgage free journey sooner than planned!

Ami-Rose

Had a good day in that I clocked in some freelance hours, but then spent more than I should have at Tesco! Forgot my purse too so OH had to bring it to me, memory hasn't been the same since I was pregnant with Little and this was just another example. 🤦🏼‍♀️ My purchases were all kitchen equipment though (hoping to make mini muffins with Little tomorrow) and the only completely frivolous buy was some reusable, resealable bags so my justification is that they'll stop me buying disposable bags! 😂

OH is a spreadsheet whizz and has very kindly made me one for mortgage OPs. It now tells me the daily interest change, term change and LTV change depending on what OP I enter each month and lets me do all kinds of fancy things. I am in heaven!

Decided to do TTs after reading about them on someone else's diary, so today it was 47p! New furniture fund up to £424.11/£1000 which is the initial goal I set for us. Obviously more would be better!

Now for a relaxing evening off and looking forward to my turn for a lie in tomorrow. Little was up 4 times in 5 hours last night so I am d.o.n.e!

Cornish_mum

Hello and congratulations on your new home, it sounds like you are really organised. We tended not to start OPIng for 6-months to a year after we bought a place because of all the setting up costs. (I am on my 4th property now and we rented flats for a year when we relocated cities in between, flat 1 & house 1 and also house 2 & 3).  

Once we slept on an air bed for a whole year and it was fine even though I was pregnant.  But we discovered we couldn’t manage without a sofa and after a week spent some of our emergency fund on one. You might be able to pick up something second hand on Gumtree even in the lockdown. For my first place I bought a brand new but very cheap sofa-bed (it was just made of foam from Habitat) for about £300ish. It only lasted about 4 years but did the job. 

Good luck with your journey 

Ami-Rose

Cornish_mum said:

Hello and congratulations on your new home, it sounds like you are really organised. We tended not to start OPIng for 6-months to a year after we bought a place because of all the setting up costs. (I am on my 4th property now and we rented flats for a year when we relocated cities in between, flat 1 & house 1 and also house 2 & 3).  

Once we slept on an air bed for a whole year and it was fine even though I was pregnant.  But we discovered we couldn’t manage without a sofa and after a week spent some of our emergency fund on one. You might be able to pick up something second hand on Gumtree even in the lockdown. For my first place I bought a brand new but very cheap sofa-bed (it was just made of foam from Habitat) for about £300ish. It only lasted about 4 years but did the job. 

Good luck with your journey 

Thanks is for the advice! I know realistically OPs probably won't happen for a while, especially as we might be moving sooner than we thought. Luckily we live close to IKEA, so early days we'll most likely be filling the house with cheap but cheerful stuff.

That said, according to our spreadsheet, even OP'ing £1/month saved £600 over the whole term, so I might try to throw at least a couple of £s at it each month just for the motivating factor. 😊

helensbiggestfan

Well every little helps......😂.   Even if it's just £10 a month.  And I think it would be a huge psychological boost.  

Looks like you will have your wish to be in by Christmas.  👍.  exciting!!  

Ami-Rose

I'm so impatient now, I want to hound the solicitor every day but I know they're not even open today! I packed another box this morning because I'm trying to break down the mammoth task. That makes two. 😂

Also found an old topcashback Tesco gift card for £35 so set a reminder to pop up on my phone next time I'm there to spend it. Either on stuff needed for the house or on the regular shop and then transfer the money instead.

Today is miserable, but still made it to feed the ducks. It's turning into a nice routine. 😊 Making mini muffins with Little when she wakes up, wish me luck!

Grogged

Well done on the new home!
We started life (many a moon ago) with second hand stuff.
This was gradually replaced over time.
Your first home with having to buy stuff can be daunting money wise, just concentrate on what you need cheap and then build on that, replacing as you get the feel for the new house.
The most important thing is to enjoy it and keep making muffins, plenty of time after that for everything else.
ATB,
G.

Ami-Rose

Not sure if there are many second hand furniture places around here, other than FB marketplace. Will have to do some scouting. You wouldn't believe how little I know the area despite living here the last 4 years! 🤦🏼‍♀️

Didn't end up making the muffins, I have a deadline coming up (technically past but it's been extended) so I spent the afternoon working instead. It's an extra £18 in the furniture fund though once I get paid, so wasn't wasted. My income is kind of seen as a bonus, so we use it as pure savings.

Another TT of 47p today even though we didn't spend anything from the account, not sure what happened there! But not complaining either. £424.58 is the new total.