Cutting it Fine - the challenge is on!

SandyShores

So all the payday transfers sorted.  We have around 10% equity in the house, we are debt neutral and the £6k in the premium bonds for our emergency fund will be completely paid up by 1 April 2022.  Anyone reading this who is in debt, please keep going, it wasn't so long ago that I never thought this would be possible.  Never thought we'd pay off our debts, never mind get back on the property ladder, all that hard work and scrimping and saving has definitely paid off - my advice is to keep going.  That's the advice I'm now following to work on paying down the mortgage.  Looking forward to the premium bond results this month - first time with the £6k in, and I've bought a lottery ticket for tonight's rollover, just in case   The brilliant thing about being debt neutral is that any small saving, or even win, is a positive - rather than disappearing into a black hole of debt.  We're in a good position to face the future and what it might throw at us - good or bad.

savingholmes

Congratulations that's fantastic Sandy. Keep it up. I am sure you will. Thanks for your encouragement on my diary too

Jessy103

Congratulations Sandy! 😀

SandyShores

Thanks @savingholmes and @Jessy103 .  I know I have a long way to go with the huge mortgage, but I've made a start on the journey

Have redone the To Do List.  Added a couple more things to do, but its still less than one page and all still manageable - unlike previous lists which were endless and unachievable.  But I take your point savingholmes, its easy to have a never ending list of things to do, and which could stop me from doing the things I really want to do.  I need to keep an eye on that.

SandyShores

I was reading another thread last night - someone's question about paying off a H2B loan.  I was checking our mortgage balance this morning and saw a link for additional borrowing, which said they will lend 'up to 85%' of the property value which would mean we could be in a position to repay our H2B loan very soon.  We purchased with 5% equity and have already paid another 5%, so we are currently at 10% and that isn't taking into account the rise in house prices.  I need to do some calculations comparing paying no interest on the H2B loan vs the estimated rise in prices.  We've both had pay rises so there's no worry about affordability either.  Exciting prospect to be able to remove the H2B sooner rather than later.

SandyShores

...although it will be a little bit later rather than sooner, but hopefully by next Spring.  Feels very nice that its within our reach though.  I'll need to save up for the related fees, which I think are around £1k.  We'll just have to write it off to the price of us being able to get back on the property ladder.  Definitely my number one target for 2022.

In other news today, I managed to cross off one item on my list of 22 To Do items.  Planning to do quite a few more by the end of the weekend.  Its not going to be a growing list though - its going to be a shrinking list - a bit like my mortgage soon

Feeling quite positive at the moment, its a really lovely feeling.  

savingholmes

Lovely to read your positivity. Great goal to aim for.

SandyShores

Thanks savingholmes.  I had a bit of an 'end of the week slump' but that was to be expected - Friday is always low energy for me, and I also thought I'd made a mistake at work, only to find it wasn't really a mistake.  So have had a busy but productive week, not ending on a huge high, but more importantly not ending on a low

I love the new goal.  I was just looking at the house price index for our area and I'm sure we have 15% equity now, but if we pay a bit more off we'll be sure - and I'd like to be in a really strong position to apply to the mortgage lenders.  It will mean that we know exactly where we are debt-wise, which is always good as I hate too many unknowns.  

Good luck with the premium bonds tomorrow everyone

SandyShores

No premium bonds prize today.  Oh well, there's always another month.

Couple of items ordered this morning for the garden, sadly neither were on my ToDo list - which is still looking pretty full.  Debt-neutral day is now 1st November - its that ever illusive day, but fairly confident it will be next month or at the latest by the year end.  Can't believe that its nearly here, exciting things happening next year so must keep going - onwards and upwards.  I'm always conscious that the negative may happen, but its more from a practical perspective now, rather than a feeling of dread.

Will need to pop out shopping later for a few bits for dinner, need to get some staples as well but might leave that for tomorrow, depending on how I feel.  Would be good to move the decluttering and clearing along this weekend.

savingholmes

Being close to debt neutral is fab. I am trying to get Ex and DS to bring stuff down from the loft so we can sort through and hopefully get rid of a load of stuff.