Powers’s mortgage free thread

powerspowers

I feel like I should update on my 2024 goals but as always priorities have changed and what gfelt important and achievable in January has moved by August. 

We’ve had a really good year so far! Lots of adventures, mainly cycling based and just about to head off to France tomorrow, camping with the boys. Not the holiday I envisioned at the start of the year but we need time to recharge rather than another mad mission. 

Work and study is going well. T has stayed at his job after having a major wobble and deciding to leave. He seems more settled now but unsure what the future will bring. 

Boys are good. Both starting new schools in Sept. Youngest going up to secondary and oldest leaving that secondary s he can take the GCSEs he wants somewhere else. 

We’ll not talk about the DIY… 

have a good summer wannabes xx

powerspowers

Goals for 2024

Save £3600 to overpay mortgage in December 🏡 I’ve set up a £250pm standing order so the mission is to find £600 additional this year. On track 🍏 

Save £1000 for summer holiday with the boys🚂 done 🍏 

Increase long term savings pots by £600 each 🇮🇸 🚗 on track 🍏

improve my fitness by exercising 3x a week 🏃‍♀️ 🚲 maybe not 3 times a week but I’m fitter than this time last year. Could make better use of gym subscription but overall  🍏

Adventure wishlist
⛰🏕 hike and wild camp lasting 2 nights
🚴🏕 cycle camp with boys
🚴 cycle Northumberland coastal route ✅
🏔 adventure with mum ✅
🏃‍♀️ run edale skyline
I’ve had plenty of adventures but not the ones on the list! T and I have cycled Derby to Northumberland in 4 stages, next stage is to Edinburgh 🤩 


House jobs
🚽 finish en suite 🍊
🏠 finish conservatory ceiling 🍊
🏡 clear up front of house🍊
👷‍♀️sand kitchen worktops⛔️
🔨 Lay patio⛔️
small progress on first 3. I think we were over ambitious given how much we’ve been out and about. I think we need to start paying other people to get things done. 

Money jobs
💷 change to a more ethical bank 
💷 increase charitable donations to £150pm 
A bit of inertia here. Charity donations are at £110pm 

savingholmes

Hi Powers

Sounds like you are making good progress overall.

Hope you have a fabulous holiday and create lots of memories.

powerspowers

France was great thank you SH,seems a long time ago. We were camping in Normandy and there is so much to see and do in terms of WW2 history, also lots of cycling and playing in the sea. 

We’re plotting and scheming at the moment around several adventures and it means trying to mentally juggle our financial aims. 

I’m hoping to have time off next summer between my pre-doc and phd fellowships (or as a consolation prize if I don’t get phd funding), hoping to do a few weeks cycling and reset myself. We’re also planning a big holiday to celebrate milestone birthdays in 2026. Financial aims as of now are 

short term
* save £3k for my summer off (to cover my share of bills and adventure fund). Currently £350 in the pot. 

mid term
* save for big holiday in 2026. Rough budget 10k for 4 of us (and possibly more) currently £1600 saved here. 
* mortgage OP aiming for £5k pa to get us MF for when youngest turns 18. Feels achievable this year with £3600 already paid or planned/ £1k earmarked out of house pot. We usually chuck some at it after Christmas. 

long term
* pension planning for me to retire at same time as T (58 to his 68). 

things that have fallen off the list-
- house extension. Neither of us have brain space for this and unless we slow down, it’s not going to happen. So consciously making the decision to not pursue this in the next few years at least. 

- student loan. I only owe £1600 so it’ll be gone by March 2026. I was planning on settling it up this year but just going to let it run, certainly until after next summer. I make a £50 OP which I’m going to cancel and redirect to my summer fund. 

House wise, we have £2.5k in the pot (ignoring the £1k mortgage OP), going to use this to getting outstanding jobs done. T is itching to have a new shed but trying to get at least one thing inside finished before starting anything new. A perennial issue in our house. 

My head is spinning just writing that down. I’m sure things will change as life develops but that’s our current intentions. 

Have a good weekend wannabes. I’m off walking so should clear my head x

powerspowers

So as always when I think we have a plan, we’ve moved the goalposts a little! We’ve been talking for a while about swapping the car for a van. The car is super efficient and great for Ts commute but does not work when we’re adventuring at the weekend and need to transport kids and 4 bikes. We took a medium sized crew cab van for a test drive last week and have decided to go for it. We’re still sticking to the commitment to one vehicle so going to sell the car. It’s not that much bigger than the car but is a bit of a new experience for me, had to remember how to change gears. 

Finances
15250 including VAT and fitting a tow bar. 

We’ve borrowed 8k over 3 years and gone halves on the rest. Preference was to go for something newer (20 plate) rather than a nail. Hoping to sell the car for £3-4K. 

i had 1750 in my new vehicle fund so have had to put some EF towards it (still have savings in other pots in case of actual emergency)   Hopefully we’ll get what we want for the car so can replenish EF fairly quickly. 

I’m due pay rise & incremental this month which adds up to around my share of the car loan so evens out monthly budget. 

In other news, I’m having physio on my shoulder following a biking accident. Overall I came off really lucky as could have been nasty. Physio has encouraged me to get back to normal activities but tone down the bike miles for now. I cycled to work for the first time yesterday, which was nice to see the sunshine but did hurt my shoulder and was a bit nervy cycling back in the dark. Slowly onwards and upwards!

have a good week wannabes xx

powerspowers

Woohoo! I’ve broken up work for 2 weeks. I’m absolutely worn out with getting my PHD funding application in alongside finishing up for the year work wise. Last night, my mind was in overdrive and I know it will take several days to wind down. The Christmassing starts today, going to see my family and have our secret Santa. A few money jobs this morning and I should probably clean something 🤨 

Quick finance update- we sold the car and had some refunds on insurance etc so I’ve managed to replenish my EF after buying the van. Plots and schemes are in place to make a big mortgage OP when the fixed saver matures after Christmas. I know we could reinvest it, and earn slightly more interest but it’s marginal and there’s something psychological about seeing the mortgage tick down. 

I’ve put in an official request for a sabbatical over the summer and requested to carry over some AL to help fund it. The AL carry over needs senior sign off and isn’t guaranteed, so I’ve got a back up plan to spend an extra week off in March, I’d rather save it for the summer though! 

Have a lovely Christmas wannabes. I’ll pop in to do an end of year round up and some goal setting, is it sad that’s one of my favourite things this time of year? Oh and drink baileys and eat all the things. Hohoho! 

Aimingforthegoodlife

Wow congrats on all the adventures and I am so excited for the van! How exciting!

Have a wonderful Christmas, will keep my fingers crossed for the sign off for the sabbatical!

powerspowers

Big day today! Cashed in our fixed savers and paid off a big chunk of the mortgage. Total OP for the year is £6,055 bringing the total owed down to £83,240. 

That means we’ve paid off a total of £36,760 since we moved house in April 2021 - a whopping 30% of the mortgage at its highest point 🤯🤯🤯. 

Happy New Year wannabes!! 🍾🥂🍻

beanielou

Great result. 

South_coast

Excellent work 😀