Lolu's Mortgage Free odyssey

savingholmes

Really pleased you are settling into your new role. Great news on your emergency fund too. Sounds like you are in a good place financially.

misslolu

  Thanks, i feel like i'm in a better place in general. 

killerpeaty

Hey miss lolu, how are you doing? How is the job been this week?

misslolu

Hey @killerpeaty the job is coming along nicely I feel. I spent the first few weeks worrying they'd find out I was a fraud and tbh I sometimes still feel like that. But i'm definitely getting the hang of it more.

Mortgage wise i've been going through a bit of a dilemma. My sister and I frequently talk about how our upbringing made us hyper-independent and also very anxious about money. My family call me tight because I barely spend money, but even mum was shocked when she found out I saved £28k in less than 3 years for my deposit & fees.

Now i'm in a bit of a sweet spot. I've got an emergency fund of 1 month and a 3 month sustenance fund in case I lose my job. And i'm a bit tired of saving so much of my salary that i'm starting to go a bit mad with prurchases. Just bought myself a £500 dining table that has arrived and decided I don't like it, so i'm going to have to pay another £30 to return it. Because of this uncharacteristic spending i'm a bit loathe to OP because i'm low on accessible savings and want to keep my emergency fund for emergencies. We'll see how that goes. 

Current Status:
- current mortgage: £188,869
-current OP: £250
- starting mortgage 2022: £190,034 

savingholmes

Glad the job is settling down.

There is a lot of nice furniture on FB

South_coast

Could you go 50/50, so you've still got the feeling of safety with OP'ing and saving, but are able to enjoy your hard work some more by doing some spending too? Giving yourself some guilt-free spending money is definitely important

misslolu

savingholmes said:

Glad the job is settling down.

There is a lot of nice furniture on FB

I don't actually have FB but the bigger problem is I don't drive 🥲 so I'm unable to get items back to mine.

South_coast said:

Could you go 50/50, so you've still got the feeling of safety with OP'ing and saving, but are able to enjoy your hard work some more by doing some spending too? Giving yourself some guilt-free spending money is definitely important

Funny thing is I specifically use only survey money to OP to avoid this, but now i've got some in, I don't want to pay it 😂. What I might do is just wait until my table is returned and do my OP just before payday so I know i'm good for money.

killerpeaty

Mm, no car is a bit of an issue for marketplace or gumtree. Still, charity shops have some cracking pieces who can deliver but obviously only if you're happy with second hand furniture. I personally love second hand but I know a lot of people just don't like it.

As time goes on, you'll get there with furniture I'm sure.

Go mad with spending for a couple of months, get it out of your system! Everyone needs fun money.

misslolu

@killerpeaty charity shops is a good idea, i'll check out BHF. I might take you up on the spending though, i've been thinking about getting invisalign for a long time and a family member has recently gotten some. It's made a huge difference to her face in such a short time that I may get it done myself. I just had an appointment and it's a bit pricey £3500. But they do offer finance options so I can spread out over a year or so.

I'm just wary of getting into even more debt as it would bring me into negative liquid net worth 😩. I have some 0% debt that i'm always using as a buffer for unexpected or large purchases. This is fine because i'm not paying interest, but it does mean the amount isn't really going down much. I'm confident, I can get another card when the 0% ends early next year but i'm recognising that this is how a lot of people on the dfw boards managed to sleepwalk themselves into debt. Luckily I have a month to think before I commit myself so will think about it.

Aimingforthegoodlife

I think you are experiencing a bit of financial burn out! I have done this multiple times and I think it happens when we focus so hard on one thing, then it is all too much! Take some time out, set a fun budget so that it isn't all for the future. Also, if you are in control of your debt, it is 0% then don't punish yourself, work on having sensible debt, look at affordability of the debt, can you afford it if you can't get a 0%? I think finding the balance on this journey is one of the hardest things, the balance will also mean that this being a marathon feels more achievable!